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| The Wessenden Valley and Pule Hill from Sike Clough on a sunny day in Spring |
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Marsden (meaning "Boundary Valley") stands at the northern edge of the Peak District National Park, surrounded by the high gritstone moorlands of the South Pennines. This wild landscape rises to almost 500m (1600ft) and offers tranquillity, fresh air, challenging walks and spectacular views. Deep valleys ("cloughs"), dissect the moorland slopes, providing a variety of easier walks by streams, woods, canal, reservoirs and hill farms with much to interest both to natural historians and industrial archaeologists. The interaction between man and nature comes dramatically to life in the landscape here. You can trace the haunts of Stone Age hunters, the defensive sites of Iron Age Celtic farmers, the routes of Roman legionnaires and the homes of feudal forest dwellers.
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| Winter sun on the path from Hey Green to Close Gate Bridge and the Pack Horse Road. |
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| The late Bill Owen (Compo) & our dog Floss on location in Marsden for TV's Last of the Summer Wine |
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Modern Marsden (Pop.1991: 4,256) grew as a focal point of routes crossing the Pennines. Pack horse trails, turnpike roads, canal and railway have all left their mark and you can trace the impact of the industrial revolution both on the ground and on social history, notably the Luddite and Chartist movements.The village reached the peak of its prosperity as a textile manufacturing centre in the last decade of the 19th and first two decades of the twentieth century. The last of the textile mills closed in 2004 and the village is now experiencing a building boom as a commuter settlement.
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| Convoys of canal boats assemble at Tunnel End on the Hudderfield Narrow Canal |
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| Stone relief depicting a Celtic druidical figure, sacred oak tree and flowers, Marsden Park |
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A half-day walk over Marsden Moor and Wessenden to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the official opening of the Pennine Way on 24 April 2005. (1) Next to Marsden Fire Station at the top of Peel Street, catch the 184 Manchester (Mon-Sat) or 365 Oldham (Sun) bus. For timetable info. visit www.wymetro.com or telephone 0113 245 7626. Alight at "The Great Western" inn (GR 024098). (2) Follow the A62 for a few metres in the same direction as the bus. At the National Trust sign take a path that climbs alongside a fence on the left above the Standedge cutting to join the Pennine Way at a gate in the fence.(GR 021095). (3) Turn left here on the Pennine Way, crossing the stile and descending gently on a wide track with Redbrook Reservoir and the scarp face of Pule Hill on the left until you reach a stone marker post, marked "M 41" (GR 026094). (3) Go down a few steps to the right of the stone post and cross the stream to join a paved section of the Pennine Way that climbs steadily in a SSE direction to a stile near the summit. Climb the stile on the boundary of the National Trust's property and bear left on the Pennine Way just before reaching Black Moss Reservoir (GR 031088). (4) Follow the north side of Black Moss reservoir, turning SE to cross the dam wall and overflow channel, continuing across Black Moss on another paved stretch of the Pennine Way before descending Blakely Clough. Cross the stream and follow the path along the contour to reach a waterworks inspection hatch on a spur(GR 052088). (5) Continuing along the contour path bear SW up Short Grain Clough, crossing the stream (tricky, especially after heavy rain) by the waterfall (See photo below right). Continue along the contour on the opposite side of the clough then head downhill to cross the dam wall of Wessenden Reservoir (See photo below left) to Wessenden Lodge. (GR 027087). (6) Turn left onto the reservoir track and follow the Kirklees Way passing Blakeley and Butterley reservoirs on the left into Marsden village. Total walking distance: miles (km)
Ascent: ft (m)
Descent: ft (m)
Distance on Pennine Way: miles (km) There are several possibilities for lengthening or shortening this walk that we will be glad to show you.
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| Not quite Marsden! Bohinjsko Jezero, taken by your host John on a trip to Slovenia in June 2004. |
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| West Nab and Marsden Moor reflected in a perfectly calm Wessenden Reservoir on 12 August 2003 |
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"Wessenden" By Roger Redfern
From "A Country Diary"
"The Guardian" newspaper,
16 July 2000 The last cuckoo of the season had been heard but the rhododendron blooms were still at their best as we crossed the tussock moor from Shooter's Nab to come in sight of this grand, northward draining valley on a recent hot day. There was a mirage effect across Meltham Moor, towards the tor-dotted crest of West Nab. Wessenden's string of four reservoirs reflected in the shining summer sky; a dunlin piped repeatedly as we went, sure sign of high summer on the moor. And so we came down to the dark towers of encircling sycamores, shrouds for the forlorn shell of Wessenden Lodge where Edwardian shooting parties once assembled - in more recent times, rich repasts were served to walking parties. Wessenden was the only refreshment spot on the Pennine Way for many, many moorland miles but now that service is a fading memory, too. The official line of the long distance footpath used to keep to the watershed well to the west; now the so-called "Wessenden alternative" has been adopted as the proper route. It makes sense; keeping to the shelter of this Pennine dale gives pleasanter, more sheltered going. Once across the impounding wall of Wessenden Reservoir,the path contours in and out of a couple of dramatic, rock-girt cloughs and so climbs west again to the moorland skyline and on towards Standedge and Blackstone Edge. The climb out of Blakeley Clough has been inproved by the construction of stone steps, and the steady rise up the edge of Black Moss is now a flagged path. The former dance from peaty tussock to peaty tussock in a hopeless attempt to avoid the worst of the bog has been replaced by a steady progress on the welcome stone slabs, laid here in an attempt to preserve as much of the moor's natural surface as possible. The demise of the textile mills in the valleys on both sides made available large quantities of these useful stones. Even so, a handful of "purists" claim such path-laying to be wrong, that we should continue to wallow unpleasantly through raw nature!
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| Short Grain Clough waterfall on the Pennine Way looks spectacular after rain but is tricky to cross |
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