Wednesday 14 June 2023 - Around Chadkirk with SWOG

This was an outing with about 25 of SWOG's evening wanderers. We started from the car park next to the Midland Hotel in Marple Bridge, heading uphill, along an overgrown path behind the tennis courts, and soon crossing the Peak Forest Canal.

We then followed a series of ginnels that led to the site of a once magnificent building - Marple Hall. This is the site of the hall, about which there is lots of information here, from which I've copied extracts below this rather sad picture.

The date of the original house on the Marple Hall site is uncertain. It was probably built by the Vernons of Haddon Hall during the reign of Henry VII. The Vernons held the manors of Marple and Wybersley through several generations, the last being Sir George Vernon. He died without male heirs, so the estates were divided between his two daughters. Margaret, the eldest, married Sir Thomas Stanley, second son of the Earl of Derby. The other daughter was the famous Dorothy Vernon who married Sir John Manners.

The demolition of Marple Hall in the late 1950's was a tragic loss to Marple's heritage. 300 years of history swept away almost without trace is a sad reflection on the Council of that time and also the members of the Isherwood family involved. That so little remains in Marple today to remind us of this historic place is deeply disappointing, as is the disgraceful vandalism which brought about the hall's demise.

In 1954, when Marple Hall was derelict and abandoned to the vandals, thankfully someone had the foresight to preserve a small part of the treasures it contained. The stained and painted glass shown here was salvaged from the entrance hall and reinstalled in the vestry of the ancient Church of Bunbury in South Cheshire, where it remains to this day.

Local man Alan Newton won a cycling medal in the 1952 olympics. He is celebrated in Stockport by way of a route that is named after him.

We continued through ginnels and lanes, eventually - after rescuing our leader from a wrong turn - reaching a relatively new bridge across the River Goyt where a ford previously provided the only means of crossing just here.

After huddling to one side to allow some horses to pass, we crossed this substantial bridge and headed towards Chadkirk Chapel.

A monk stands guard outside the chapel, the current building of which dates from the 1740s.

We enjoyed an unexpected audience with King Charles 111.

... and some Jerusalem Sage.

The Peak Forest Canal is nearby. We followed that back to Marple Bridge.

Soon we reached Hyde Bank Tunnel - about 300 metres in length - through which there is room for boats to pass, but no towpath, so barges had to 'leg it' before being reunited with their horses in days preceding the advent of motorised transport.

There's more information here.

The evening light was reflected by this wall of ivy by Hyde Bank Farm.

Then we proceeded along the towpath, over the aqueduct next to the later viaduct, and up the flight of locks to our starting point near Marple Bridge Station.

Here's our 8km (2 hours, 150 metres ascent) route, that tonight finished with beers in the sunshine outside the Norfolk Arms. A lovely outing.