STANTON-IN-PEAK WALK
THE WALK
Stanton-in-Peak Walk takes you through beautiful limestone country with some superb views. The walk climbs up steadily from Rowsley to reach the edge of Stanton Moor, before exploring Stanton and then returning through the fields.
On the return journey, you walk through the beautiful Wye Valley with its stunning views. The tiny hamlet of Congreave is passed through before the walk levels out and gets ever closer to the River Wye.
Rowsley is well worth exploring, and although Caudwell’s Mill is now closed, much of interest remains.
LOOK OUT FOR
Route Point 3 – Stanton Moor attracts considerable interest because of the remarkable amount of prehistoric remains found. In the last century, the Heathcote family of Birchover excavated more than 70 burial mounds on the moor. Nine Ladies Stone Circle is the moor’s most famous Bronze Age relic. Legend has it that the nine ladies danced here on the Sabbath Day and were turned to stone as a punishment, along with the fiddler who stands nearby.
Pont 4 – Stancliffe Stone gave up its 1952 planning permission to work Lees Cross and Endcliffe quarries after a long-running battle early this century about production taking place close to a historic site on Stanton Moor. Eco-warriors had camped for seven years near Stanton Moor to prevent further work starting. In return for giving up the planning permissions, the firm was granted an extension to the previously agreed level of production at Dale View Quarry.
Point 5 – In 1839, the Thornhill family built the Church of Holy Trinity as a private church. But, later that century, it became the parish church. It has a tall spire; unusually, the nave lies from south to north. Inside, there is a bronze Italian water stoup from Bellini’s workshop. The church stands almost adjacent to Stanton Hall on the steeply climbing hillside, surrounded by immaculate green lawns and a well-kept `Garden of Remembrance.’ Outside the church, by the roadside, is a pretty arbour with welcome benches on either side of the War Memorial for those toiling up the hillside.
Point 6 – Stanton-in-Peak Church of England Primary School was built in 1879, and at that time it consisted of a school and schoolhouse. Located on School Lane, it is a mixed school with a capacity of 70 students. It is now a Church of England voluntary-controlled school.
Point 9 – As you approach Congreave, you get a magnificent panoramic view over the Wye Valley where the River Bradford joins the Wye at Fillyford Bridge. To the east, in an elevated position above the River Wye, Congreave is a small hamlet consisting of just three properties: Congreave Farm, which is a listed building, Dove House Farm and, most significantly historically, Stanton Old Hall, which is also listed. The Old Hall predates today’s Stanton Hall in the village by several centuries.
Point 10 – The River Wye is a picturesque limestone river that rises west of Buxton, on Axe Edge Moor and flows into the River Derwent at Rowsley. It is one of Derbyshire’s best-known rivers due to the stunning countryside it flows through, and it is a popular destination for both locals and visitors, providing walking opportunities, fishing, and other recreational activities.
WALK DETAILS
Length: 5 miles.
Start: Roadside pull-in by the Recreation Ground on the road to Stanton.
Location: On the A6 between Matlock and Bakewell, approached from the south, you turn left opposite The Peacock Hotel and follow a minor road around over the River Wye Bridge. As the road bends sharply to the right, if you have travelled by car, look out for a parking space opposite Rowsley Recreation Ground.
Terrain: Steep in places, but nothing too strenuous along well-trodden paths and country lanes.
Refreshments: Pub, restaurant, and café meals are available in Rowsley as well as at the Shopping Village. The award-winning Stanton-in-Peak pub, Flying Childers, named after a racehorse, is a little gem. The Good Pub Guide has recommended it in the past.
THE ROUTE
1. From the car park, follow the private lane by a footpath sign towards Stanton Lees and continue along the lane as it gradually climbs through Holly Wood. Leave the lane to the right at a footpath sign and keep close to the wall on the left to climb a short hill.
2. Take the next footpath sign on the left and immediately bear right onto a stony track leading past Stanton Woodhouse Cottages and Farm. Pass through the metal gate in front of you into a field where the track bends to the right.
3. Go through an open gateway and follow the path as it bends to the right past Endcliffe Quarry, which is now redundant. On reaching a stile onto a minor road, turn right and shortly afterwards at a ‘T’ junction of roads, turn left to walk uphill. Ignore the footpath to the left onto Stanton Moor.
4. Continue along the road with the former Lees Cross Quarry on your right. Ignore all paths to the right and left as you enter the village of Stanton-in-Peak.
5. Walk down the steep village street with magnificent views in front of you. A few yards after passing the Parish Church of Holy Trinity, built by the Thornhill family in 1839, turn right along School Lane.
6. After passing the former Post Office and Village Shop, the Stanton-in-Peak Church of England Primary School is on your left.
7. Continue straight on through a gate, with the wall close on your left. Pass through a gateway into the next field and head towards the top end of a wood. Shortly after passing the wood, go through a gateway and angle slightly left through three fields.
8. Head diagonally down the next field, aiming just to the right of two trees about 80 yards from the bottom corner. Walk to the bottom right-hand corner of the next field to enter another field. In this field, aim towards a fingerpost sign you can see in the distance on the right.
9. Turn right and walk up Stantonhall Lane to the tiny hamlet of Congreave. Opposite Dove House Farm, go left along a track to a squeezer stile. Follow the path to the right as it leads around the base of the hill to a stile in the far corner. Go through two gate stiles in quick succession into a small wood and then cross the next field, angling slightly to the right, close to a line of trees to join a green farm track.
10. The grassy track eventually takes you to the water’s edge of the River Wye and along a farm track to a wooden fence stile by a metal gate to gain access to the road, turn left towards Rowsley and the starting point of the walk.
STANTON-IN-PEAK
