Barges, Bridges and the ‘Bollington Bug’, Bridgend Heritage Trails

Start : Start and end at the Bridgend Centre, 104, Palmerston Street, Bollington, Cheshire SK10 5PW.

(S/E) Turn left out of the Bridgend Centre, go past the Memorial Gardens and cross over Water Street (A). Walk through the Aqueduct and immediately left up the Hole-in-th’-Wall steps.

(1) At the top go through the gate and left along the towpath of the Macclesfield Canal (B). Continue past Clarence Mill and under Bridge No. 26. There is a milestone by the towpath. The names of places on the stone were obscured during the war so that if the enemy invaded they would not find their way! On the opposite side of the canal (C) is a pond.

(2) Go under Bridge No. 25 and immediately left through and out of the car park and Rushmere close to turn right onto Holehouse Lane. Go over the bridge and directly left down the steps and left onto the Middlewood Way (D). Continue forward.

(3) At Bridge No. 9 take a left up the steps then turn right passing the driveway to Hibbertbrow Farm. Turn right nearly immediately down the footpath into a copse (E), following the steps and boardwalks. Emerging onto Roundy Lane, turn left, cross the green triangle and past St. John’s Church on the right.

(4) Take an immediate left across the road, through a narrow stone slab stile and gate. Go forward across the field to a wooden stile in a fence and head up over the brow of the hill to cross another stile. Head diagonally right towards a pylon and go through trees to cross a stile in a fence onto a farm track where you turn left. Farm tracks were often used as cycleway. Follow the track to Harrop Green Farm, going straight through the often boggy farmyard and over the wooden stile by a metal gate.

(5) Continue forward along the track and over a second stile by a metal gate, with an overgrown pond on the right. Keep forward with a fence on the left. Ignoring the field entrance on the left, keep the hedge on your left and look for a stile ahead and slightly right.

(6) Crossing over turn left onto a farm track. Go over a stream and turn immediately left through a kissing gate, up the slope and over marshy land along a grassy path. Go through a kissing gate in a fence and straight on, keeping close to a hedge and fence on your left.

Go left through a stile and bridge over a stream, then straight forward with a hedge on your right for about 85 yards to cross a stile on the right. Carry on forward with a hedge on your left. Where the hedge bears sharp left round the field, continue forward under the wires keeping the pylon on your right.

(7) Aim for a gap in the hedge but rather than go through turn right at the Peak and Northern Footpaths Society sign following the arrow for Whiteley Green with the hedge on your left.

Veer right before a metal gate to go over a bridge and a stile and then forward with a hedge on the left to a kissing gate in a fence. Cross over the middle of the field and then slightly left over a stile and another bridge. Climb up the bank and the steps to go straight across the field to a kissing gate into a holly wood. (F)

(8) Continue along the possibly overgrown path between holly bushes to emerge between houses onto a road. Turn right and after Whiteley Green Farm (G) turn left after the barn and through a stone stile and gate. Head to a stile over the drive and follow straight ahead to another stile and over the cattle path through a narrow gap in the fences. Continue ahead over a stream and through a metal kissing gate.

Climb straight up and over the mound, down through two metal gates to cross over the track and forward over the field. Going through a wooden gate, you may see the Adelphi Mill (H) on your left, with Kerridge Ridge bearing the scars of the stone quarries behind.

(9) Keep forward with fence on left, passing Bollington Recycling Centre. Go through the metal kissing gate and forward along the road, crossing over the River Dean to reach Lowerhouse Mill. Follow the road around to the left and walk straight up Albert Road. At the top turn left into Wellington Road. Opposite West Bollington Post Office, cross over the road and then right, up Hawthorn Road.

Continue up to the bridge, turn right down the ramp and left along the Middlewood Way. (If you turned right along the Way, after about 100 yards you would come to the site of the old Bollington Station.) Passing under the bridge, you walk across the Bollington Viaduct. (I)

(10) At the end of the Viaduct, turn sharp right to go down the steps and left round the edge of the car park. Walking next to the River Dean, you will emerge onto Adlington Road, where you turn right. Near the top of the road, turn left round the back of the ‘Dog and Partridge’(J).

Enter the Recreation Ground by the metal gate on the left and carry on along the gravel path, with the River Dean on your left. Cross over the bridge and up the steps, turning right and then over the road. Turn left through the Aqueduct. Crossing over the road, continue along Palmerston Street and back to the Bridgend Centre. (S/E)

Start : Start and end at the Bridgend Centre, 104, Palmerston Street, Bollington, Cheshire SK10 5PW. Open Mon–Fri 10–4.30, Sat 10–1.
Parking: Pool Bank car park on Palmerston Street just along from the Centre.
Facilities : Toilets are available at the Bridgend Centre.
Recommended map: OS Explorer 268.
Official walk leaflet : Download it here
Markers : Follow the steam engine markers. Be aware that the waymarkers placed in the landscape may be subject to unknown forces such as the weather, groundwork and vandals. Treat the map and directions as your primary guide!
Note : Easy but can be muddy and overgrown in places! Although we aim to be accurate, be aware that things can change, structures become wobbly and surfaces slippery. Make your own judgements, stay safe and be prepared! As you stroll along you might share your route with cars, narrowboats, horses and bikes and consider how we use these today in comparison to our ancestors. For now, use Shanks’ pony to explore the farmland and villages north of Bollington.

Walking with Kids? Younger walkers! Follow the trail of steam engines, and look out for surprises along the way. Plus there’s a ‘Steaming ahead’ quiz to get you moving ... Ask for our ‘Steaming ahead’ kids quiz! or download it here.

Please report a problem on a Public Right of Way here if it about the description itself please leave a comment here or find more information and walk ideas at Bridgend Centre here.

(A) 'Water Street housed navvies building the Marple to Macclesfield Railway in the 1860s. The construction company forbade paying the navvies their wages within half a mile of a pub or beer house, which must have been very difficult in Bollington!'

(B) ‘Transportation by barge along the canal, that was the thing, you see. They were still using the canal for transport when I was a kid. Mr. Nolan was the boat-man here at the Clarence and they ran a boat between here and the Adelphi Mill.’

(C) ‘It was a clay pit and was excavated to line the canal – early 1800’s. Mineral bottles keep coming to the surface. They were probably used by the boat people or people digging the canal. They have the makers’ names – from Stockport to the Potteries.’

(D) ‘In 1912 a petrol-electric railcar was introduced to run a shuttle service between Bollington and Macclesfield, called the “Bollington Bug”. It ran ten services a day, 3rd Class only, at a maximum speed of 40mph.’

(E) ‘This little wood is full of birds and squirrels and birdsong. Bird boxes have been put up and you can see they are being lived in because the wood is all scratched around the holes.’

(F) ‘There’s a tree, which was carved by my parents on their honeymoon, near White Nancy in 1934. It was still there in 1947 and may be there today. When my sister and I went to visit White Nancy and looked at the heart with their names, we put our names underneath.’

(G) Whiteley Green Farm supplies milk to Bollington and surrounding areas. ‘Beeley’s used to deliver in the old horse-drawn milk cart. Churns – none of your pint bottles. In winter they used to have a horse and sleigh. We lived at the bottom of Adlington Road and my Grandmother used to bake bread, so the horse knew and used to push the cart into the middle of the road and completely block it, so he could get his head through the door ‘til he got some bread!’

(H) The floors in the Mill were always slippy with oil. ‘They started issuing rope-soled sandals and one of the common jokes was to get a big nail and when he wasn’t looking, hammer his sandals to the floor. When he came to put his feet into his sandals, he couldn’t move!’

(I) ‘That Viaduct is a great piece of engineering. It’s got 23 arches! Would have been easier to build an embankment but the canal embankment already restricted airflow through the valley, creating the ‘Gnat Hole’ and the worry was that another one would make it even more unhealthy!’

(J) ‘In the pub yard there’s a sign carved in stone and it says, “Bridewell 1832” – a lock- up to keep malefactors in. They were afraid of them getting out by the look of the bars – they’re about an inch and a half thick!’