Madeley Walks: One Way or Another.
Walk 5: Hall Right Now: Snape Hall
There are two walks: a red walk (7 Miles) & a purple walk 6 miles); do them separately for two half day walks or combine them to make a full day walk. All distances are approximate. Start at The Madeley Centre, New Road, Madeley CW3 9DN (Grid Ref: 773451). Tel: 01782-751808. www.madeleycentre.co.uk. The Madeley Centre has car parking, catering & toilet facilities. Please enjoy a walk in the country, but if you can, support our local businesses, Listed under The Adverts – but check opening times beforehand!
Explorer Maps: 257 Crewe & Nantwich & 258 Stoke on Trent & Newcastle under Lyme
The Adverts:
• Croft at The Centre Cafe & Restaurant at The Madeley Centre: 01782-751808.
• One Stop Grocery & Convenience Store, Greyhound Corner: 01782-750373.
• Shepleys Butchers, Greyhound Corner: 01782-751775.
• Tang Dynasty Chinese Takeaway, Greyhound Court: 01782-752288.
• Village Shop & Newsagent, Greyhound Court: 01782-750525
• In 2 Wine Off Licence, Greyhound Court: 01782-751708.
• Raj Indian Takeaway, Greyhound Corner: 01782-752000.
• Homers Cafe, Greyhound Corner: 01782-751800.
• Madeley Spice Restaurant & Take Away, Greyhound Corner: 01782-750088.
• Poolside Fish Bar: 01782-750242.
• The Offley Arms, Poolside: 01782-750242.
• The Stables Restaurant at The Old Hall: 01782-750209.
• The Old Hall B&B, Wedding & Conference Centre: 01782-752543.
• The Sheet Anchor, Baldwin’s Gate: 01782-680804.
• Station Stores & Post Office, Baldwin’s Gate: 01782-680426 / 0857 22 33 44
• Mainwaring Arms, Whitmore: 01782-68085101
• Wrought Iron Madness: 01782-680594 6
• Staffordshire Organic Cheeses: New House Farm, Acton: 01782-680366ta
Organic Cheeses30
647672 – Mobile: 07860 333950 01630 647672 – Mobile: 07860
Legend:
BP = Bridle Path
FB = Foot Bridge
L = Left
MC = Madeley Centre
R = Right
TP = Telegraph Pole
Stile Counsel:
Red Route: 20 stiles.
Purple Route: 19 Stiles.
Snape Hall & Netherset Hey: Red Walk: 7 Miles [Areas at point 4 & 5 can be very muddy after rain]
[1] From The MC turn R & take the crossing by The One Stop & Shepleys Butchers, over to Homers Café, Raj Takeaway & Madeley Spice. Turn R, keeping The Pool over to the R & passing Madeley Fish Bar, The Offley Arms, The Stables Restaurant & Old Hall Country House Hotel [www.oldhallatmadeley.com]. Where A525 curves to R, carry straight on up The Holborn. After 300 yds, at the top, turn L into Castle Lane, pass Pastoral Close & turn R into Netherset Hey Lane.
[2] Pass Birches Farm Mews, after 200 yds go L over a stile. Head in same direction across field to double set of stiles, either side of concrete slabbed trackway. Head uphill to next stile, in line with an oak tree, which is in next field. Same direction, in middle of field, as crest rise, next stile is by farm gate & framed fore & aft by two more oak trees. Path now goes to L of farm buildings [Lower Stoney Low Farm] directly ahead, thru’ 2 fence stiles either side of a paddock. Straight ahead on to gravel way for 100 yds & meet T-junction. Fork L on to tarmac’d farm lane & walk down this for one mile, passing Stoney Low Farm.
[3] At end of track where a white cottage, ‘The Gables’, is opposite, turn R & walk down busy minor road (Three Mile Lane) with care for 400 yds. Just past Lane Cottage, & opposite Racecourse Farm, go over stile on R.
[4] Keep fence on R for 50 yds; when it ends, look half L: 3 oak trees are in middle of field; use gap between first two as marker to go between & aim for corner to the R of Yewtree Farm buildings; go L round corner. Cross stile ahead & same direction to stile into trackway & turn R.
[5] Follow trackway down & where it goes sharp L, carry on in same direction into a field going downhill (ignoring double set of gates on R into another field). Next double set of stiles are hidden in hedgerow below, about 150 yds in from R side of field (look to L of tall sloping tree). Turn L & follow field round on two sides, passing electricity pylon, & up towards Woodhouse Farm buildings. 50 yds before farm wall, cross stile on L then R & thru first farm gate & into farm yard.
[6] After 200 yds, turn L & follow lane away from farm for 500 yds, passing Meadowside, Fairfields, Greenacres, to a T-junction. Turn sharp R, & follow this lane for 800 yds, passing Dab Green Farm, Lake House (possibly the most picturesque setting in North Staffs) & 50 yds past Limpits, turn R into Snape Hall Road. Follow this down for 800 yds, passing Fox Dene & Snape Hall Cottage, 150 yds past Woodbury, where road curves L, turn R into Snape Hall Farm. [For the longer route skip on down to 11.]
[7] Go thru gateway, keep farm buildings to L, & straight ahead thru’ another gateway into a hedged lane.
[8] Follow this lane for 800 yds & where it ends in a field; take the stile on the L into another field. Keep fence on L & where it ends carry on in same direction to stile in facing fenceline. Cross stile & keep field boundary to L for 500 yds until reach stile to go under old railway bridge [disused railway line is remains of the old North Staffordshire Railway, or ‘Knotty Line’] & into a field.
[9] Turn R in this field & follow round on two sides. [The woodland here is Hey Sprink & was a deer park for Lord Stafford; possibly a deer breeding park for The Great Park where the ruins of Madeley Old Manor are. Baldwin’s Gate would have been named after a parker & an entrance to the park.] When field boundary turns L, cross stile after 200 yds & turn L into lane for 500 yds. Reach T-junction after red brick farm house on L, & turn L & follow this tarmac’d road for ¾ mile, over two double sets of Cattle Grid’s. [During the 1960’s & early ‘70’s, this farm was owned by Quentin Crewe, a relative of the Crewe family. He was a friend of Princess Margaret & Lord Snowdon & they stayed here when she attended Keele University in her duties as Chancellor]
[10] 200 yds past Netherset Hey Industrial Estate, by a TP on L cross a stile into a field & follow well-trod path diagonally across to top corner, over stile, turn R, over next stile into hedge lined pathway [Madeley Old Vicarage, a 40 roomed house, is to the L: built in 1882 by Lord Hungerford for Rev Thomas William Daltry (1833-1904), curate1861 to1880 & then vicar to his death in 1904. He was a keen historian and secretary of the North Staffordshire Field Club for many years; their library is named after him. His father, Rev Thomas William Daltry (1804-1879) had been Vicar of Madeley from 1833 until his death in 1879: father & son Daltry were vicars of Madeley for 71 years!] & follow this down to Castle Lane / Vicarage Lane / Holborn junction & carry on in same direction back to MC.
Whitmore: Purple Walk: 6 Miles
[11] Follow Snape Hall Road round to L, passing Granary Cottage, Wood Crest, Greenacre, Birch Tree Lane, Lyndhurst, Hawkesmoor, Ravens Wood, Heather Hills, Rowan House, The Levels, Three Coins, Heath House. At a grass triangle, go L on to Common Lane, passing Mullion, The Coppice. 50 yards past Heath Road go L thru’ a squeezer stile & keep field hedge to R for ½ mile & then thru gate on to tarmac’d road for ¼ mile, passing Hawthorne Hill, The Old School, The Old Parsonage, Box Cottage. At the T junction go R over a bridge, passing Wrought Iron Madness [To the L is St Mary & All Saints Church. The west window depicts the coat of arms of the families who held Whitmore since the Norman Conquest; de Whitmore, de Verdon, de Boughey, Mainwaring and Cavenagh. The Church may have stood from Saxon times, but the earliest structure is Norman.] & The Mainwaring Arms, up to the A51. The route goes straight across, but use the crossing on the R, as the A51 is a very dangerous road.
[12] Carry on down lane for 100 yards, passing cottages dated 1796, then L up road to Acton. Take care up this lane & walk for ¾ mile, passing M & D Deaville, New Acton Farm, Staffordshire Organic Cheeses, just before Acton House & its brick wall, turn R & walk down a BP for 1 mile.
[13] When reach road, turn L. After 50 yds cross stile on R into field; head diagonally across field – use wooden TP as marker & look for stile to L in hedge. Turn R thru’ a BP gate, up to & over railway bridge, up lane for 300 yards, when reach tarmac road, turn sharp R thru’ a gate & into a field.
[14] Head downwards & L to reach West Coast Main Line. Turn L & keep railway line to R for 1¼ miles, crossing 7 stiles & 1 FB & then enter fenced alleyway. Emerge onto Fair-Green Road & straight across onto grass track: field on L, fence panels on R; track curves round to R; eventually reaches school on L & cross road with care & thru a landscaped area with benches.
[15] The Sheet Anchor & General Stores are to the R. Cross A51 with care, to L of blue plaqued Whitmore Station Booking Office [Station opened in 1837 on The Grand Junction Line. On the 29th June 1937 the Coronation Scot engine created a World Record of 115 mph while travelling through Whitmore station. Station closed in 1952.]. Down lane, keep railway to R & cottages to L, where cottages end, go past garage units into a walkway with railway fencing to R & residential housing to L. Cross 2 stiles & reach next hedge boundary, turn L up-field for 300 yds & cross stile on R by a water trough. Walk in same direction over 2 stiles then right over the railway bridge.
[16] Straight across field to double set of stiles & FB. Then half R to a galvanised gate & stile on opposite side of field & turn L & pick up from point 8.
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