Strenuous Leader: Julie Distance: 9 miles
We will head North along Baulk Lane past Brookfield Manor and North Lees through Stanage plantation onto Stanage Edge. Along Edge to High Neb then Crow Chin, return along bottom of Stanage Edge to Upper Burbage Bridge.
We will turn South to Higger Tor then West to Toothill farm and back into Hathersage.
Moderate Leader: Dave Distance: 7 ish miles
This is a hill walk so some parts will increase your heart rate.
We will set off the approach to the church is very steep. Then we head to North Lees there are toilets at this location. We then make are way to Stanage Edge this part of walk will have your heart asking what are you doing, we will have lots of rest breaks.
We then turn Left and make are way to Dennis Knoll. We then make our way back to Hathersage.
Easy Leader: Laura Distance: 5 miles, total ascent 643 feet.
We make our way uphill to Bank Top and the church at Camp Green to see Little John’s grave (Robin Hood’s side kick). We proceed downhill to the edge of Hathersage, admiring the cottage gardens and pick up a footpath that takes us uphill, through woodland to Higher Lees.
We continue on quiet roads downhill to Booths Edge, admiring views of the valley and follow wide downhill tracks via Greenwood Farm. We turn off and go through woodlands, over the railway line to pick up more or less level tracks upstream back to Hathersage via Leadmill.
Livestock – expect to walk through sheep along the river and briefly through cattle on Bank Top.
Please be advised that there appears to be loads of flying insects, so it may be worth bringing insect repellent. Watch when you take lunch as there are plenty of large ants too. There is a patch of firm mud near the river, some of the woodlands paths have tree roots across, otherwise tracks are good and mostly wide. One stile.
NOTES ON THE AREA
Stanage Edge divides featureless moorland from the verdant River Derwent. Prehistoric pathways, Roman roads, and packhorse trails criss cross the moors and converge below the confluence of the Derwent and the Noe. On the raised south-facing shoulder of the valley lies Hathersage (Heather’s Edge), a village built on passing trade and farming. Millstones were a local speciality in the 18th century, hewn directly from quarry faces. Then came the industrial revolution and five mills were built, to make pins and needles. The mills had a short life, as did the men who ground the needle-points and had to breathe in the dust.
The most interesting buildings in Hathersage are along the main road and off School Lane. Past 15th century Hathersage Hall and Farm, and up the narrow Church Bank, it is possible to walk around Bank Top, a knoll overlooking the alder-lined Hood Brook and valley. The church crouches on the grassy brow. To the south stands Bell House and The Bell Room, once an inn and barn beside the village green and stocks. To the west stands the Vicarage, and to the east is Camp Green, the ramparts of a 9th century stockade. The north wind whistles through the tall lime trees in the churchyard, a reminder that Stanage and the high moors are only a couple of miles away.
Hathersage’s lasting fame rests on two romances. The first involves Robin Hood, whose name can be found on anything from a nearby cave to a megalithic monument. Hood Brook divides the Dale (the old, interesting part of the village) from the new estate to the west, and in St Michael’s churchyard is the grave of Little John. The other romance revolves around Jane Eyre. Charlotte Bronte stayed at the vicarage for three weeks in 1845 and spent much of her time listening to local gossip and visiting nearby houses. She wove truth and fiction together to create a parallel universe for her heroine. Tourists today like to chase the shadows by visiting North Lees, where Agnes Ashurst, the model for mad Mrs Rochester, once lived, or Moorseats which was transmuted to Moor House. In the Bronte novel Hathersage is called Morton, a name borrowed from the landlord of the George Hotel.
Whether there was ever a real Little John, or John Nailor, hardly matters, clearly there should have been, and most visitors want to believe that it really is his grave they see in Hathersage’s churchyard. There is no doubt that a suitable cap and bow once resided in the church, but they were of medieval rather than Saxon origin. The grave close to the south porch has been excavated several times without producing any bones, though there is a story that a huge thighbone was unearthed here in 1784. In fact the half hidden stones at the head and foot of the grave were probably set there as the village perch, the standard measure used to mark out acres of land in the days of open-field or strip farming.