VILLAGE LINK
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PILGRIMS' WAY
Follow the route of the Pilgrims 
from Whalley to Manchester.
For detailed information on this walk click
Pilgrims' Way
or click the picture.
Walk Reports
Monday 2nd March 2026
Three Centuries Heritage Trail Walk.
Today’s walk was in support of the Whitehead Gardens Improvement Project.
There is an obvious keen interest of local history in Tottington and Greenmount as forty five walkers were on last month’s Seven Mills Walk and forty three walkers, six of them new to the group, joined us for this month’s walk. The walk followed a route which included heritage sites, in Tottington and Greenmount, over the last three centuries that were brought to life through an illustrated leaflet produced by our local historian, Christine Taylor. We began the walk at Greenmount Old School, itself being part of our history, and after crossing Holcombe Road we walked down to the old stone cottages, on our right, which were originally a pub called The Bull. After walking over the Greenmount golf course, we arrived at our next site that of Whipney House, (1794) home of James and Dorothy Holt who were instrumental in fund raising for the building of St Anne’s Church, Tottington. Further along the lane we arrived at Hollymount, with its religious history, which dated back to 1873 and included a chapel, convent, orphanage, care home and more recently a junior school. The nuns, who ran the orphanage also planted an orchard that was renovated in 2010.
Hollymount
The Orchard
From the orchard we descended into the valley and the site of Fearn’s Mill, a cotton spinning mils that closed in 1885. From the mill we followed a track up onto Turton Road, where we turned left and headed down to our next historic sites, the Dungeon Inn, which the new landlady had kindly open to let us view the inside. The pub was built in 1904 and the actual Dungeon built in 1835 was mainly used to lock up local drunks for the night.
Site of Fearns Mill
The Dungeon
The Dungeon Inn
After crossing the road and passing the site of the old Printer’s Arms Pub, now an Italian restaurant we made our way to Whitehead Gardens. The gardens is a memorial, dedicated in 1950, commemorating seven local residents killed by a V-1 "doodlebug" flying bomb on Christmas Eve, 1944. The land was donated by Mr. and Mrs. S.D. Whitehead of Stormer Hill, the site on Chapel Street was intended to serve as a place of reflection.
Whitehead Gardens
Gardens and Church
As well as reflecting on the on the dramatic historic incident we used the time to take our morning coffee break before heading across the road to the church, our next historic site. St Anne’s Church was built on 1799 with the vicarage and school being built later.
St Anne's Church
After spending time in the church, we made our way up to Stormer Hill House, built by the Smally family in 1762, where we turned right and walked through Stormer Hill Fold and across the fields down to Mill Lane. Our next site of historic interest was Tower Court, originally named Tower Farm built by Joshua Knowles in 1840 to stable his horses and more recently converted into apartments. Our fine final stop was at Nabbs House, built by John Turner around 1840, he was brother in law of Joshua Knowles. Its most interesting feature is the castle like summerhouse with its gargoyles, said to depict local residents. It was just a short walk back to Greenmount Old School having covered four very informative miles.
Tower Court
Nabbs House
Thank you to the Heritage Fund and National Lottery Players for funding this walk.
Wednesday 18th February 2026
Eastern Hills Ramble
This walk was the last in the Winter Series of walks, which means it was the last to include an indoor lunch break. Twenty four walkers set out from Greenmount and headed through the fields to Redisher Lane. After reaching the gate, leading into the woods, we turned right and joined a narrow footpath which took us into Holcombe Brook, where we crossed the road and walked down Wood Hey Road, into Holcombe Valley. At the bottom of the valley, we turned left and climbed up some very muddy steps to join a path, that overlooked Summerseat. At the end of the path, we turned left and walked along the ancient cobbles into the village of Nuttall.
Holcombe Valley
Once in the park we turned right, crossing the small footbridge over the brook, before starting the steep climb up the steps known locally as Jacob’s Ladder. When we carried out the recce for this walk the path was blocked by a fallen tree, which we reported to the local Footpath Officer, and he has since had the tree removed.
Jacob's Ladder
Cleared path
Continuing the route, we walked over the motorway bridge, and headed through the fields to Manchester Road, which we crossed and started the climb up to the ruins of Grant’s Tower. The tower was built in remembrance of the Grant family, who established a calico printing business in the area. The tower, which was built in 1827, stands on the spot where the Grant family first viewed the Irwell Valley in 1783, having arrived from Morayshire, Scotland. Due to a lack of maintenance, the tower collapsed in 1944. We took the opportunity of the seating around the tower, to take our morning coffee before continuing the route up to Bury Old Road, where we turned left and joined the first footpath on our right where we began the steep climb, against a very strong and cold head wind, up to the trig point, on Harden Moor.
Climb to Grant's Tower
Remains of the tower
Windy trig point
The descent from the moor took us down to Buckhurst and onto Nangreaves, where it was just a short walk to our lunch stop at Falshaw’s Café. After a hearty meal we walked through Summerseat back to Greenmount having covered eleven windy miles.
Monday 9th February 2026
Woods Valleys and Waterways
Today’s walk began with twenty two walkers leaving Ramsbottom Railway Station car park and heading up Bridge Street and along Carr Street to the Rose & Crown. Just before the pub we turned right and joined a narrow footpath to the second hostelry of the day, that of the Old Mill Hotel, which we passed, and followed a wide track that overlooked one of the many mill lodges in the area. At the top of the path, we went through a wooden gate, into Ox Hey Wood, where the path descended steeply into Higher Stubbins. Once through the village we joined another wide track, with views of the mill below, on our right. After a short distance we stopped to look at the ruins of a Tentering Tower, above on our left. Tentering was the process of stretching newly made cloth and letting it dry out to prevent the cloth from shrinking as it dried.
Ox Hey Wood
Tentering Tower
At the end of the path, we crossed over a footbridge into Buckden Wood, where we turned right and walked down into Strongstry. From here we walked along the disused railway line, through Lumb and finally into Irwell Vale where we stopped to enjoy our morning coffee break, on the platform of the East Lancashire Railway. After the break we crossed the railway line and headed up Hardsough Lane into Edenfield.
Strongstry
Irwell Vale
Once across Blackburn Road we walked up East Street, turning right at the top and making our way through the fields to Gin croft Lane. On our way to the lane, we had glorious views over to Peel Tower.
Views of Peel Tower
After crossing the lane, we headed into Dearden Clough and followed the brook down to the ruins of Plunge Mill. Retracing our steps, from the mill, for a short distance we crossed over the brook and joined Michael Wife Lane, which we followed to Rochdale Road. From here it was just a short walk along Bury Old Road passed Bleakholt Animal Sanctuary, to the Duckworth Arms, where we had booked lunch.
Dearden Clough
The Plunge
Duckworth Arms
The final section of our walk took us down into Stubbins, where we turned left and joined a footpath that follows the River Irwell into Ramsbottom, the only problem was we first had to go through the lake district, a rather wet field just before Kenyon Street. Not deterred we arrived safely back to the car park having covered ten eventful miles.
The lake district