 Walks
Around Marple No. 2 - The Roman Bridge
& Lakes |
One myth can be dispelled immediately: neither the lakes nor the bridge have any connection with the Romans. This walk passes many of the sites of one of Marple’s 18th century benefactors, Samuel Oldknow. Before Oldknow’s time Marple was mainly a collection of isolated homesteads involved in the cottage industries of the time.
1) We start in the
Memorial Park in the centre of Marple, home of Thomas Carver one of the owners of Hollins
Mill and another of Marple's benefactors in a later period.
From the front of Hollins House, now council offices and Citizens Advice Bureau, head towards the war memorial. You now have a choice of routes:
Route A.
Take the path passing to the right of the skateboard area, down to the canal towpath near Lock 12. Turn right and make your way towards Posset Bridge where Oldknow supplied ale posset to the workers to ensure the bridge was completed on time. Notice that there are two arches at the bridge; the blocked-off one on the left led to an arm of the canal running towards the Lime Kilns.
Alternative Route B.
If time permits, take the path down the centre of the park with the bowling green to your left. This offers magnificent views towards Mellor Church on your right. After about 150 yards, the path forks to the right and down to the canal by Lock 10. Turn right here to follow the towpath and rejoin the main route.
Climb up the steps at the bridge and
turn left. As you cross the bridge look to your right; this is how the scene would have
looked in the 1920s (Inset is the view now.). Proceed down Oldknow Road.
2) At the junction with
Arkright Road cross over and down Lakes Road. On the left where there is now a group of
bungalows stood the cottages of Stone Row. The 35 cottages were built by Oldknow to house
the workers at his nearby mill and their families.
Carry on ahead past Beechwood Manor, formerly a house belonging to the railway but now private flats. As we descend the hill we can appreciate the difficulties the railway engineers must have experienced when carving the line along the hillside.
3) At the bridge over the River
Goyt stood on the far side, Mellor Lodge Samuel Oldknow's house and on this side Marple
Lodge, the mill manager's house.
In the 1930's Oldknow's fine house became a girls school but later it was vandalised when it stood empty and was demolished in 1949.
4) Cross the bridge and bear
right at the fork. You will need a powerful imagination to picture the scene here over a
100 years ago. On the left was Oldknow's Mellor Mill or Bottoms Mill as it was also known.
The brick built building was over 400 feet long and was powered by 3 massive water wheels,
the largest of which was 22 feet in diameter and 17½
feet wide.
In 1892 a disastrous fire destroyed the mill but
the Corn Mill, which was a little apart from the main mill, escaped damage and survived
until the 1930s. The Corn Mill stood close to this junction of the two paths.
Looking to the left as we make our way up Lakes Road we can see the mill pool, which was adjacent to the back of the mill.
5) At the next
junction take the path to the right. Through the trees you can see Bottoms Hall built in
1800. This is where some of the 100 apprentices lived who worked in Oldknow's mill. The
children, both boys and girls, were mostly paupers from Clerkenwell in London. They worked
13 hours a day for 4 shillings (20p) a week, but it is understood that they were well
treated by the standards of that time.
Continuing along the track we pass the Roman Lake. This was a very popular spot in Victorian and Edwardian times when excursion trains would bring hundreds of visitors to Marple Station. Besides the rowing boats available for a small charge there were tea rooms and a dance floor.
A
little further on the river runs alongside the track and under the viaduct. The weir is
where Oldknow redirected the river to form the pools that would provide water power for
his mill. On the left is Flood Gates Cottage which many years ago was a popular place for
refreshments for the many visitors to the area.
6) The track moves away from the river and we turn right just by the “Roman Lodge” (following the sign to Strines) to reach the Roman Bridge. The “Roman” tag was coined in Victorian times to add a little romanticism to this packhorse bridge dating back to the 17th century.
Crossing the bridge we follow the
path beside the river ignoring the steps on the right. The path joins a narrow road near
two cottages and then makes its way up the hill to Strines Road. Cross over and up
Plucksbridge Road. As the canal is reached, turn right to enter the towpath just before
the bridge.
7) This is the Peak Forest Canal and Oldknow was a major sponsor for this waterway. The canal runs 6½ miles to Whaley Bridge and Buxworth and it was here that limestone was brought down from the Peak District by tramway. As we make our way along the towpath there are extensive views across the valley to Cobden Edge and Mellor Church.
8) Some 200 yards short of Brickbridge the canal on the far side is a little wider, and marshy ground leads into a woody section. This was the site of one of Oldknow's coal mines used for burning of the lime in the kilns.
Brickbridge is a roving bridge where the towpath changes sides and you will notice that we pass under the bridge before circling round to cross it. This was to enable the rope of the horse drawn narrowboats to remain attached.
As you cross the bridge you will notice a door set in the wall ahead. This leads to another Oldknow coal mine and also a footpath leading up to All Saints' Church which was used by the apprentices on their way to Sunday worship.
9) Turning right to
follow the towpath, ahead we can see a number of boats moored in a pool off the main
canal. This was adjacent to the top of the Lime Kilns where the lime and coal was dropped
into the kilns. Such was Oldknow's concern that the Lime Kilns did not present an eyesore,
that he built them in a gothic style that led later to visitors to the area to assume it was a
ruined abbey.
Top Lock House was the site of James
Jinks boat building yard. Cross the bridge at the Macclesfield Canal junction. [ If you
would like too see what remains of the Lime Kilns cross the bridge at the end of the top
lock and go on past the bungalows.]
Make
your way past the top four locks of this flight of sixteen. Pass under Posset Bridge using
the short horse tunnel and make your way back to the car park.
Location
Map
