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ROMILEY

Chadkirk Country Park and back

Nature

3.29 kmabout 1 hr 15 minDifficulty: Easy

Includes a long flight of steps through the woods, stone steps down from the canal and several gates, including kissing gates. Not suitable for wheelchairs or pushchairs. The woodland path can be muddy, so wear walking shoes or boots, especially after rain.

A short loop from Romiley Station to Chadkirk Chapel, up through the woods and back along the Peak Forest Canal. Takes 1 to 1.5 hours. To avoid returning the same way, take the footpath on your left just after passing under the canal bridge (point 4a in the Friends of Romiley Station booklet). It comes out on Urwick Road, where you turn right and head back to Church Lane.

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Along the way

  1. Romiley Station

    From the station entrance, cross the road and go down Church Lane, to the right of the Romiley Arms. Stay on it as it becomes Chadkirk Road, sloping gently downhill and passing under the Peak Forest Canal.

  2. Chadkirk Chapel

    Keep to the road past the chapel on your left. The grounds and walled garden are open at all times. Use the walkway on the right, parallel to the road. At the gate at its end, by the Alan Newton Way sign, turn left and go through two more gates to reach the long flight of steps up through the wood.

  3. Top of the steps

    Follow the path with the stone wall on your right until you reach the canal. Turn left along the towpath for just under half a mile, until you see stone steps going down to the road on your left.

  4. Steps down from the canal

    At the bottom of the steps, by Burymewick Cottages, turn right and follow the road back towards the station.

  5. Church Lane and Urwick Road

    Carry straight on along Church Lane to return to the station.

About this walk

Chadkirk Chapel is the highlight of this walk. Early records show a chaplain at, or possibly from, Chadkirk in 1347, and the "kirk" in its name suggests the people who first worshipped here had Scandinavian origins.

The oldest part of the present building is the half-timbered east end, very probably from the 16th century. The chapel later fell into disuse and decay, passed through a succession of owners and is even said to have been used as a stable. Nonconformists used it until they were ejected in the reign of Queen Anne, when a new chapel was built at Hatherlow, on the hill above.

Chadkirk was "in a ruinous condition" until 1747, when the Church of England took it over again and substantially rebuilt it in stone. Repairs followed in 1761 and 1860, and a restoration in 1876. St Chad's Church, built in 1866, took over as the parish church.

The chapel was declared redundant in 1971 and acquired by Bredbury and Romiley Urban District Council, passing to Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council in 1974. Restored in 1995, it is now a visitor attraction, and the Friends of Chadkirk help to maintain the chapel, grounds and gardens. The booklet says the chapel opens on Saturday and Sunday afternoons, and that the grounds and walled garden are open at all times.

Look out for the timber bell-cote at the west end, with its pyramidal roof and weather-vane. The building is timber-framed with a slate roof, though most of its walls have been rebuilt in dressed stone. The east and north walls of the chancel keep their timber framing.

Alan Newton Way, near the start of the climb, is named after Alan Newton from Stockport, who won bronze in the cycling team pursuit at the 1952 Olympic Games.

Based on the Friends of Romiley Station's booklet of walks.