The Vault Regulars

Thursday, April 20, 2023

Moss Gate Trig Point - Higher Crompton. 253m

Thursday 20th April 2023. 

Today the weather forecast was dry with an easterly wind, sunshine and cloud. A good day for a walk.

A trig point quite close to home which I had never been to before seemed a good idea to go and check it out.

I picked a route which would give us a couple of hours out and would also introduce us to the area we had never walked before.

The car park on Rushcroft Rd, SD 92727 09736 was the start point and we followed the route on the map below in an anti-clockwise direction.

The path goes north through Higher Crompton Municipal park which is lovely and well kept with a kiddies play area and a Crown Green Bowling Green. There wasn't many people about.

Once through the park you more or less join the path into open farm land, a very boggy path/stream bed at Moss Gate is not a place you would stay dry footed after a spell of rain. However, today it was boggy but passable.

At this point the views start to open out and progress is easy under foot. 

We headed for an os benchmark which is marked on the system at SD9305 1045. It is supposed to be at the junction of 3 field walls. Unfortunately these walls are no more than rubble on the ground and no OS marker.

Manchester Skyline.
Lots of spring lambs and ewe's guided us up to our next os benchmark which just happened to be the trig point. For some reason it has a couple of names, Moss Gate and Hey Farm. GR. SD 93001 10581 with a Flush Bracket number S2788.

253metres.




Leaving the wonderful views south we followed the sheep NW along the Rochdale Way on a good green lane with high walls. Many footpaths veer off from the way so we had to take a little care ensuring we were going the right way. A very pleasant section.


Ewe ok?


We stopped a while to listen and search out the first Skylark of the year. Followed by a few Lapwings.
We passed a couple of people in a field close to Bryney Hayes Farm and thought they were setting mole traps. As it turned out they were metal detecting.

Close to the farm we made our one and only minor error, missing the path, which was "badged". So we retraced our steps a short distance rejoining the Rochdale Way. 

Walking along a very old route we passed a couple of farms dating to the 17century. Moorgate East was one of them and the other has slipped my mind.

1693 is the date above the door. Along with John Milne.



Crossing Rochdale Road and heading west along Pit Lane we passed the first person of the day. I say passed, he was actually on a hybrid mountain bike. Going too fast to say Hi.

We tried and failed to find another os benchmark just on Rochdale rd. Oh well we will try again next time.

Pit Lane is another ancient route which led us round and through Fentons Farm where we disturbed a Hare. For some reason we have seen an abundance of Hare's this year. Far more than any other year that I can recall. A horse in Fentons stayed aloof and ignored our passing.

A one eared Hare.


Once more across Rochdale rd and for a short time on the Crompton Circuit we found a good spot out of the cold breeze for a coffee.

We passed all the caravans at green Hill Farm before re- entering the park and finding our car safe and sound.

Our route.


Thursday, March 23, 2023

A photo trip to Hebden Bridge.

 Wednesday 22nd March 2023.

On this sunny day Sheila decided we should have a train trip to Hebden Bridge. It's not far from us, just half an hours journey. Hebden Bridge is now a quirky market town in the Calder Valley. It grew up as a town due to it's involvement in wool weaving. It's steep sided position giving plenty of access to fast flowing water which provided power.

During the 15th and 16th centuries this area made more millionaires than the rest of the world combined. Their legacies and buildings can still be found today.


The Rochdale canal, opened in 1804 passes through Hebden as well as the Rivers Hebden and Calder. The canal being the major transport for wool until the  Manchester to Leeds railway was built and opened in 1841.

Designer Lucy Casson's cast iron horse bench can be found on the canal towpath. Located in 2013 it represents the horses that once pulled the narrow boats. The seating is made from the same wood as the Black Pit Lock Gates.


The tourist street runs parallel to the River Hebden and is prone to flooding after heavy rain.

This weir on the Hebden is located next to an Archimedes screw turbine and a water wheel. I didn't photograph it as there was a picnic table sited over the grating. It was built in 2013 after the bad floods of 2012. It provides power for the attached building.

Looking North from the ancient pack horse bridge.

This is the "Ancient" pack horse bridge. It replaced an old wooden bridge. This one was built in 1510. The current bridge has been repaired a number of times and was the pack horse route between Halifax and Burnley. The pack horse section between Hebden and Heptonstall is called the Buttress. It is still a cobbled path and opens up great views of the town.

Start of the Buttress route.

The camera tells lies. It was much steeper than it looks.

I had to clean out this OS Bench Mark but it does not exist in the OS benchmark data sheets. It is shown on the 1894 map of the area. 

View of the town-1

View of the town-2

Part of the steep staircase from Heptonstall down to Hebden.



Back on the Rochdale Canal.

The narrow boat dry dock. (cannot be used very often).





Monday, February 13, 2023

The Singing Ringing Tree. A quick visit.

 THURSDAY 9TH FEBRUARY

After an overnight trip into Burnley we decided to go up to the Singing Ringing Tree located at SD8512 2894 on the way home. We hadn't been to it in the past and it is located very close to the car park. It only takes a few minutes to walk and on a decent path to get to it. 

The "Tree" is a wind powered orchestra of tubes, sculptured into a wind blown shape of a mountain tree.

It was erected in 2006 and is one of four sculptures created by the East Lancashire Environmental Arts Network. Desiged by Mike Tonkin and Anna Liu.

The singing ringing tree.

It was a good day to stand under the tree as the wind was relatively strong. The sounds were fantastic. It was bitterly cold and we didn't stay too long. At the car park a man had a flat tyre so I volunteered to change it for him. My fingers felt like they were about to fall off it was freezing.

It was an enjoyable 1/2 hr.




Wednesday, January 11, 2023

Boxing Day circular around Askam In Furness

 Our long time friends who have lived in Seathwaite, Duddon Valley for best part of 30yrs decided that age was catching up and they needed to be nearer to public services etc etc. 

After searching high and low for a new property they bought a new build in Askam in Furness. At first we thought they had made a mistake as the life style between Seathwaite and Askam is so different. Cutting a long story short we have been proved wrong, they made the right decision and they are very happy with their new life.

We have been staying with them and even did some work for them on Christmas Day. This brought out the old rhyme, "It was Christmas Day in the workhouse, the snow was raining fast, a bare footed made with clogs on.......... etc" anyway we had a lovely Christmas Day which included a quick walk down to the beach at Askam Pier before the heavens opened.

The area has yet to be explored for walking routes by our friends, so on Boxing Day I put together a circular walk. Alan (not me) was up for it but Tina who had a sore foot decided to stay at home. 

Here is the route I picked.


Starting at the kite mark in Askam, the red line is the walk we did which ended at the flag.

"A" is where the decision was taken to turn back.

The black line was part of the planned route which we didn't get to do.

It wasn't long after leaving the house that we found our way through the streets and onto well used tracks. Passing playing fields and a park we came to a corrugated iron city. I'm not sure what these enclosures were originally used for but to be honest, today, they look a mess, full of junk, rusted panels, old tat of all descriptions. It is known locally as The Lotts.

The good bit and small section of corrugated city.

Askam's history is the iron ore pits and the brick works. In years past the area was very industrial with large Blast Furnaces, tram ways of which lots of social archeology can still be found if you know where to look. (I don't as yet but I am so looking forward to finding out more).

We soon came to what was part of the Iron Ore works. Signs there told us to keep out, which we did. I guess it's because of the danger to kids swimming in the deep lake which remains or it is a sign from the past. The lake was where Chapmans Lot pit was worked. The actual trail we was walking on was originally the Mineral Railway Line. The old rails have been re-cycled as fencing which can be found along the route.

We passed a large solar farm which was a bit of a shock as we were just saying what lovely countryside we were in. That will be a huge re-cycle cost at some point in the future.


There was a track signposted Roanhead Cottages which looked promising to get down to the beach but to no avail. It was private and anyhow there didn't seem to be a route through.

We carried on, and on, I started to get a little worried because Alan is 82yrs old and has suffered a bleed on the brain, his balance is not good and I thought Tina might be getting a little worried as to why we were out so long. We rang her and said we had not found a way down to the beach but not to worry.

Checking the map the only route was to go to the road down to Roanhead and then back along the beach. 

Once at the beach we noticed the tide was in. One of the things I never thought of "Tides". We tried our best over a very pebbly beach, it was difficult walking and extremely windy. Alan was getting tired.

Black Combe across the bay.

Would we be able to get around the headland? Who knows, none of us had been here before. Alan started to falter, his balance and energy gone. What do I do now? We were at the furthest point from home. Do we carry on along the beach and maybe get caught by the tide or do we walk back from where we had come, which would be the longest route. 

Keeping hold of Alan so that he stayed on his feet Sheila ran to a dog walker to ask if we could get around the headland. Answer..... No. It was a high tide.

Sheila jogging down the beach to ask a dog walker for advise.

Shingle and pebble beach made for hard walking.

No choice then we had to go backwards. We both struggled getting Alan back along the shingle and large pebbles which slid away with every step. But we got back to the car park before the tide cut us off.

It was very cold and windy when we stopped at the car park and the information centre was shut. It was starting to rain. There was only one thing for it.

I gave Sheila my coat and camera and said I would run back to the house to get the car and pick them up. There was no shelter at the car park but the WC's were open so they sheltered there and I set off.

I hadn't  run for a while, since I had achilles problems but I never thought about it as I yomped my way back the 6km. I did the run surprisingly quick considering. It must have been the adrenaline. 

I picked them both up and fortunately Alan was ok. He got a bit of a telling off when we got home but we can laugh about it now.




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