BIRCHOVER AND STANTON MOOR WALK
THE WALK
Birchover and Stanton Moor Walk is a delightful and rewarding walk that requires little effort yet still provides a rich diversity of scenery. At the start of the walk, Rowtor Rocks are passed before a path through fields takes you to Uppertown and Stanton Moor. Walking around the edge of the bracken-clad moor, you will see magnificent views across the surrounding countryside. Stanton Moor attracts considerable interest because of the remarkable amount of prehistoric remains found.
LOOK OUT FOR
Point 2 – Birchover Church hides in a steep-sided valley; the building is unusual because there are only windows on the East and South sides. The church was originally a privately endowed chapel that fell into disrepair. Fortunately, the Thornhill family of Stanton Hall improved it, and in 1870, it became a Church of England Parish church.
Point 5 – It seems likely that the village occupied a site at Uppertown on the road to Winster, where the farm standing beside the road used to be an inn. The Norman church and the village are no more. The stones used to construct them were scattered around field walls and cottages in the neighbourhood. The stocks remain outside Uppertown Farm, although possibly not in their original position.
Point 7 – Stanton Moor attracts considerable interest because of the remarkable amount of prehistoric remains found. Last century, the Heathcote family of Birchover excavated more than 70 burial mounds on the moor.
Point 8 – The Earl Grey Tower sits on the moor’s edge. It is a more recent building that commemorates the passing of the Reform Bill in 1832. The Thornhill family of Stanton-in-Peak erected it.
Point 9 – 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.
Point 12 –The Birchover Millennium Stone, sited by the roadside on the village’s western side, represents the former millstone production industry in the area. Millstones were made out of local gritstone and exported all over the world. The stone has a circular core and a carved motif on the base, a copy of a Romanesque carving discovered in a wall at Uppertown, where a church built in the late 11th century or early 12th century used to exist.
WALK DETAILS
Length: 4 miles.
Start: From Main Street, close to Red Lion Public House. Birchover is off the B5056 road between Ashbourne and Bakewell and links the A515 and A6 (SK239622).
Terrain: Easy walking through fields and along broad paths over Stanton Moor. No steep gradients.
Refreshments: The Red Lion and the Druid Inn are two excellent public houses in the village.
THE ROUTE
1. Walk down the street and continue straight on, passing to the left of the Druids Inn.
2. Continue with the church on your left and Rowtor Rocks on the right. After passing the Old Vicarage and a beautiful ornamental pond, turn left at a finger post sign and walk up a paved pathway to reach an access track, which you follow as it gently rises past Rocking Stone Farm.
3. Where the track starts to bend sharply to the right, go over a low stile by a metal gate and follow the field boundary, soon to walk along a narrow path enclosed by bushes.
4. Go through a gate stile, keeping close to Birchover Wood – look for a good show of bluebells in season – on your right. Continue through a further three gate stiles. Then, walk down a farm access track to reach a minor road.
5. Turn left in front of Uppertown Farm, in a few yards, opposite the stocks by the side of the road, and go to the right along Clough Lane. Follow the lane as it bends first to the right and then to the left. Shortly after passing the last building, you go left at a crossroads of paths.
6. Continue straight ahead, keeping close to the fence on the left for two fields. At another crossroad of paths, continue forward, signed for Stanton Moor, past some holiday cottages and follow the signed path through the yard at Barn Farm.
7. Leave the farm and ascend a fenced path leading to Birchover Quarry, where the path bends to the right to reach a minor road. Turn right and follow the road for a few yards before going to the left at a sign for Stanton Moor.
8. Continue forward until shortly after passing an Information Board, you take the right-hand fork in the track, which, after crossing a stile, takes you to Stanton Moor Edge. Turn left and walk along the edge until you reach the Earl Grey Tower.
9. Ascend the short flight of steps up to the tower, leaving by the stile at the rear, where you turn right and follow a rough access track to the Nine Ladies Stone Circle.
10. Turn left before the stone circle and follow the main path across the moor. On reaching the Cork Stone, turn right and walk off the moor. Just before you get to the road, turn left and follow a path that joins the road further down.
11. On reaching the end of the path, turn left down the road. Just after passing Birchover Stone’s Offices, go to the right at a finger post sign through a car park. The path continues through woodland, with Birchover village soon coming into sight below.
12. At the end of the path, turn left. The Millennium Stone is a few yards to the right. Follow the pavement around to the walk’s starting point.
Birchover
