Visit to Little Moreton Hall

Little Moreton Hall

Outside Little Moreton Hall

We are staying here today and are off to Little Moreton Hall. There is a footpath by the bridge which takes you through the fields to the Hall, it is about a mile each way and is on the flat not like yesterday!

The Great Hall

Bill is coming with us today so we set off on the footpath and soon we were at the Hall.  It is a lovely building. 

The long gallery

Little Moreton Hall, also known as Old Moreton Hall, is a moated half-timbered manor house which used to be owned by the Moreton family.  The earliest parts were built about 1504-08 and the reminder was constructed in stages by successive family members until about 1610.  The hall remained in the family for nearly 450 years and transferred to the National Trust in 1938.

The Loo!

Winky Wonky fireplace

We went on one of the guided tours which was really interesting and they take you around the ground floor rooms and tell you about the Moreton family and the history of the hall.  We then had a look in the upstairs rooms where there was a toilet (just a hole!) and a room with a small door, we managed to squeeze through!

We squeezed through here

We then went and sat in the gardens and had a cup of tea and a sandwich.  There was a tent in the garden and they were making gingerbread and other things for Lammas which is the festival of the wheat harvest and is the first harvest festival of the year.  In Tudor times, Gingerbread was made with fine breadcrumbs, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and honey which was all mixed together and pressed into a mould then turned out and decorated sometimes with gold leaf, hence the name Gingerbread.

Koi Carp in the Moat

Tudor wall covering

There is a knot garden in the grounds and a moat going around the Hall so we had a walk around and there was koi carp in the moat.

View of Mow Cop from footpath

We then walked back to the boat via the foot path through the fields and you got a nice view of Mow Cop in the distance, just think we were there yesterday.

Knot Garden

We really enjoyed our visit to Little Moreton Hall and the sun shone as well so what more could you ask for!

Just along the canal from where we are moored is Ramsdell Hall, built for the aristocratic Lowndes family in the mid-19th century.. It is set in some 18 acres of gracious parklands which which sweep right down to the canalside.  Opposite the house, ornate cast iron railings separate the towpath from the adjoining fields.  Thought to have been installed to appease the Lowndes at the time of the canal's constructions, they add a touch of Cheshire style to the view.  Ramsdell Hall is presently owned by Peter Coates, a Potteries boy made good, currently chairman and major shareholder of Stoke City Football Club.

We are staying here for one more night then off we go tomorrow morning.  

Ramsdell Hall Railings

Ramsdell Hall

Poole Aqueduct to Rowndes No. 2 Bridge (Macclesfield Canal)

Passing Bill

Approaching Hall Green Stop Lock

We are moving a couple of miles along the canal today and the sun was shining and it was already really warm as we set off.  We went past Bill who was moored the other side of the aqueduct.  He was waiting for Al to join him but if Al doesn’t show up, he will come on along to where we are going to moor. 

Coming into Hall Green Stop Lock

We soon came to Hall Green Stop Lock.  This was historically the terminus of the Macclesfield,  and the beginning  of the Trent & Mersey’s Hall Green Branch – the construction of a ‘linking canal’, along which they could charge their own tolls, being a favourite  trick of the Trent & Mersey.  Both companies built their own stop-lock here, which was either a sensible engineering solution to differing levels, or the biggest display of pettiness since Worcester Bar; and each stop lock had its own lock cottage.  Now only the Macclesfield’s chamber is in use, with a 1ft fall.  

Mow Cop Castle

It didn’t take us long to get through the lock and then we were on our way again, past Scholar Green where there is a nice pub but we will save that one for the way back and then we were at the moorings just before Bridge 86, Rowndes Bridge No. 2 and we moored up.  The view from these moorings is lovely, it’s a really fab spot to moor.  Bill turned up after a while and moored in front of us, there was no sign of Al so he decided to come on.

View from the top

Resting at the top

Kev at the top

Me at the top

Amazing View

Mow Cop Castle

There is an iconic landmark near here called Mow Cop Castle, which is about 1100ft above sea level, so we decided to see if we could walk up to the top.  We left the canal by the bridge and walked up onto the road then started our steady climb upwards.  We went up and up, it wasn’t too bad at first as it was very gradual, a few bits were steep then we came around a corner and looming ahead of us was this really steep road, it was 1 in 4 ratio, help!  We stopped for a breather then off we went and we trudged up to the top and there was Mow Cop Castle.  

Oh no, its getting steeper!

Mow Cop Castle is a folly in Cheshire.  In 1754, Randle Wilbraham of nearby Rode Hall built an elaborate summer house to look like a medival fortress and a round tower.  It was made to look like a ruin and was used for picnics and entertaining.

Mow Cop Castle

It was also on this spot that Hugh Bourne, a wheelwright, climbed to the summit to create the Primitive Methodists in 1807.  A hundred years later, 70,000 disciples climbed to the top to worship on what had become, for them, a Holy Mountain.  

Jodrell Bank Space Telescope

We walked to the top and the views were magnificent, you could see for miles across the Cheshire Plain, beyond Stoke and into Wales and we could also see Jodrell Bank Space Telescope.

 It was a hard walk all uphill on the way there but well worth it, we are really glad we went as it is fascinating and the views are wonderful. We had a walk around and also a sit down then we started our descent back to the boat

View from our mooring

Monument to Hugh Bourne

We are staying here tonight and also tomorrow as we are off to Little Moreton Hall tomorrow, a National Trust place, you can get to it from the canal via a footpath across the fields, so looking forward to that.

Moored at Rowndes Bridge No. 2

Westport Lake (Trent & Mersey Canal) to Poole Aqueduct (Macclesfield Canal)

We are moving onto day and going through Harecastle Tunnel which is 2,926yds long and takes on average about 45 minutes to go through, not our favourite place to be but it has to be done!  There were once two tunnels here: only one is now navigable.

Old Brindley Tunnel

Tunnel Keepers Cottage by Tunnel

Harecastle Tunnel Sign

Commemorative Plaque at Tunnel Entrance

Boat coming out of Tunnel

At Harecastle Tunnel

Dec, The Friendly Tunnel Keeper

In Harecastle Tunnel

We set off along the canal and got to the tunnel where we filled up with water.  In this tunnel  you  only go through one way at a time and there are tunnel keepers each end to count you in and count you out.  There were five boats in the tunnel coming towards us so we had to wait about 40 minutes or so for them, then the tunnel keeper checked our light and horn and then it was time to go in the tunnel. We were first and there were two boats behind us, in we went waving to Dec the friendly Tunnel keeper as we went into the dark.  The tunnel steeps down at various points and there is one part which is very low and somehow we went winky wonky and bounced from one side to the other for a bit, Kev managed to steady us and we went straight again and after just over 30 minutes we were coming out into the sunshine which is always a relief!  Unfortunately some of our back cover was hanging over the edge of the boat and it sustained some damage but we have managed to patch it up for now and will get it repaired when we can.

Hurray, I can see the end!

Nearly There

Sign post at Hardings Wood Junction

We chugged on around the corner and we were at Hardings Wood Junction, this is the junction where the Trent & Mersey Canal meets the Macclesfield Canal and that’s where we are off, so we turned left and on to the Macclesfield Canal we went.  Strictly speaking, this isn’t yet the Macclesfield canal, rather the Hall Green Branch of the Trent & Mersey.  Hall Green Stop Lock, with a rise and fall of just 1ft, marks the beginning of the Mac proper.

Turning onto the Mac

We went on along the canal and then turned sharp right onto Poole Aqueduct, an early example of a fly-over junction subsequently copied by road builders the world over.  We moored just up from the aqueduct.

Red Bull Pub

Poole Aqueduct

We then went for a walk up to Kidsgrove stopping off at the Bluebell Inn, an old ale pub with no tv, pool table, etc. and serving no trade name beers and lagers.  We then walked up to the shops and then back to the canal and on along to the Red Bull pub where Bill was having a drink in the garden.  We had a few drinks with him as today his is birthday then we all walked back to our boats.

We are staying here tonight and then moving on tomorrow.  We have not done this canal before so we are excited to get on and explore and see what new places we can find.

Moored at Poole Aqueduct