Dark Peak Walks. Paul Besley

on either side. At a fork in the track, keep left and descend the moor until the track intersects with a well-made vehicle track. Turn left along the track, passing an ancient guide stoop on the right, to a gate leading onto the A621. Go directly across and over a wooden stile to Greaves’s Piece and along a grass footpath right, leading down into a valley.

      Guide stoops (stone guideposts) started appearing in the early 18th century to act as signposts on what had become trade routes across the moors. There are several examples on Big Moor; the one passed here indicates the way to Bakewell and Sheffield. Close to the guide stoop is a flat stone laid on the ground. This is a companion stone, part of an art project connected with the ancient ways around Big Moor.

      Continue along the footpath to go over a wooden stile and into a fenced lane, known as Car Road. Turn left down the lane and take the next footpath on the right into woodland. Follow the footpath by the stream below Hewetts Bank, crossing it at a ford then rising above the valley and stream through a wooden gate to open moorland, joining a track that leads to a gate and a minor road. Go right along the road for 600 metres and take the footpath through a gate leading to Ramsley Reservoir. Turn left through the wooden gate and walk along the breached dam exiting via a gate onto a grass trail that turns northwest after 75 metres to arrive at a gate on the A621. Go straight across and through the gate opposite onto a wide footpath on Big Moor. Follow the path along to the Stone Circle just off to the right then regain the path and continue along this to reach a gate leading on to a house beyond.

      There is much evidence of Bronze Age settlement on the moor with several stone circles, cairns and field systems. The area was suitable for settlement having a good water supply from Bar Brook and fertile land in which to grow crops.

      Go to the right of the house and walk up to go through a gate then follow a footpath around a disused reservoir eventually reaching a second gate. This is a good area to spot merlin, curlew, red start and skylark, among other birdlife; adders can also be seen basking on footpaths.

      Proceed through the gate along the footpath to return to Bar Brook. Cross the brook and turn left, ignoring the gate onto the road, but walk up the moorland path to pass Lady’s Cross on the left and arrive at a wooden gate in a wall at White Edge. Go through the gate and down the steep footpath to White Edge Lodge. Turn right along the vehicle track to the road junction. Go across the road junction and enter the Longshaw Estate by the wooden gate at Wooden Pole. Take the wide grass trail down to join a second heading for Longshaw Lodge. At the lodge carry on along the exit drive from the estate but do not go onto the road. Instead take the footpath to the right up through trees to a gate leading to Fox House Inn and the end of the walk.

      Lady’s Cross on White Edge

WALK 4

      Fox House to Stanedge Pole

Start/Finish	Fox House Inn SK 267 802
Distance	16km (10 miles)
Ascent	335m
Time	5hrs
Terrain	Open moorland, footpaths and tracks
Map	OS 1:25000 Explorer OL1 Dark Peak
Refreshments	Fox House Inn, Longshaw Estate Café
Parking	Fox House Inn SK 267 802

      There are no major ascents on this route, making it a restful walk through history with some wonderful views along the way. The Houndkirk Road and Long Causeway are both ancient trade routes linking Derbyshire and Yorkshire. Around the area are remnants of Second World War practice grounds and unusually the outline of a decoy town used to deflect bombers away from Sheffield. And finally there is Stanage Edge, with its new pole nearby, hidden caves, hundreds of climbing routes and spectacular views. This is a great walk that is easy on the feet.

      

      Walk northeast from Fox House Inn for 400 metres along the A6187. Where the road bends right carry on left along the broad track of Houndkirk Road. Cross a track leading to Parson House Outdoor Pursuit Centre, go through the gate and proceed along Houndkirk Road.

      Houndkirk Road was created in 1758 as a turnpike (toll) road from Sheffield to Tideswell and on to Buxton. The road has two milestones giving the distances to Tideswell and Buxton. Milestones became commonplace after 1709 and law by 1758, when local magistrates instructed that distance markers be placed every mile.

      Carry on along the track until a public footpath intersects the track by a walled enclosure on the right with Houndkirk Moor on your right.

      It was on Houndkirk Moor in the Second World War that a decoy town was established to lure German bombers away from the Sheffield steelworks. One of six that ringed Sheffield, the area would be set alight during bombing raids to draw attention away from the steelworks. Look carefully at the ground for the remnants of the town.

      Shortly after, the track crosses Thieves Bridge spanning Redcar Brook and is crossed by a second track. Walk left up the new track, passing through a farm gate with Lady Canning’s Plantation on your right. The route comes to a steel gate leading onto a road. Cross the road to the footpath directly opposite and continue over open moorland. Follow the footpath to just before a wall running almost east to west and turn left between two small hillocks to arrive at a stone stile crossing a wall at the far side of a farm gate. Cross the stile and go down the walled lane to a farm gate. Go through the gate and bear left between farm buildings to pick up the farm track leading to the road. At the road, go left to cross a ladder stile and walk along a permissive path, keeping a wall close on the left. Go through the right hand gate and up the field by the left hand wall to go through two wooden gates onto Rud Hill.

      Cross the moor following the waymarked concessionary footpath, paying close attention to the small marker posts. After a wooden stile the ground can be very boggy on this moor, so gaiters are advisable. The path drops down to a stile then a footbridge. Turn left onto the bridge and follow the path to a wooden squeeze stile leading onto a stone track.

      The track is Long Causeway, a packhorse route that connected Sheffield and Hathersage and probably followed the Roman Batham Gate road for part of its course. The route was paved with stone, some of which can be seen as the Causeway rises up to Stanedge Pole.

      Turn left and walk up Long Causeway passing through a gate and then along stone setts to reach Stanedge Pole.

      The new Stanedge Pole

      Stanedge Pole sits at the side of Long Causeway. This current pole was erected in 2016 on the anniversary of the founding of the Peak National Park, as it was then called. From the pole's establishment in the 16th century its main use was as a boundary marker for the border between Derbyshire and Yorkshire and the ecclesiastical boundary of Canterbury and York. Dates and initials on the gritstone around the pole denote the date a new pole was installed and the surveyor responsible. One quirk is the spelling on Ordnance Survey maps, which differs from the spelling of the gritstone edge that is nearby. Erroneously the metal casting holding the pole in place denotes Stanage Pole and not the correct Stanedge Pole.

      From Stanedge Pole continue along Long Causeway walking over rutted stones set a cart width apart until you reach a waymark post and stone-flagged path leading left towards the gritstone edge. Follow this path to a stile on the left which, if crossed, would deposit you onto Stanage Edge. Go along the footpath passing Stanage Plantation and progressing to Robin Hood’s Cave.