Extract taken from the book

A New Guide To The  Cat & Fiddle

 c1880. Buxton Library  

The Cat & Fiddle to Buxton by Errwood Hall.

from the Cat and Fiddle there is a charming walk over Goyts Moss by Errwood Hall and up the Goyt Clough to Buxton, distance between six and seven miles. The following is the route:

Take the old carriage road about three hundred yards beyond the inn, on the right hand side of the Macclesfield main road. Follow it for a short distance, and then turn to the right up a cart track which leads past a shooting box on the moor. Continue along the path by a stone wall for about half-a-mile, and in a bend of the wall on the left a gate will be seen leading into a beautifully wooded ravine called Shooters Clough. Follow the path on the left to the bottom of the ravine, and then turn to the right and make for a farmhouse lying on the slope of the opposite hill, from which a fairly good cart road leads to Errwood Hall and into the Goyt Clough.

On reaching the bridge there, turn to the right and follow the road until the old Macclesfield road is reached, then turn to the left and proceed direct to Buxton. The views from the moors are very fine, and Shooters Clough is one of the most charming stretches of hill and dale, of wood and water, which the neighbourhood affords.

Near the farmhouse above mentioned, and at tlie rear of Errwood Hall, is a spacious knoll on which is a small Roman Catholic chapel and graveyard. This is the burial place of the Grimshaws, the owners of the Errwood estate. Errwood Hall was built by Mr. Grimshaw soon after he had purchased the estate. It is a mansion whose striking situation reminds one of a highland shooting lodge.   Tlie grounds are noted for their magnificent rhododendra which clothe the steep sides of the long avenue to the house for a considerable distance—a notable sight when in full, bloom, and a source of great attraction to visitors.

Goyts Clough is a very fine valley and richly wooded, through which tlie bright flashing waters of the Goyt river pour, fresh from their moorland home—the slopes of great Axe Edge. On each side of the dough rise the lofty hills, solemn and sombre, the home of the grouse, the black cock, and the curlew. The road through it runs above the stream, and is a direct one. There is no more charming walk in the district.

There is also a pleasant walk by tlie path exactly opposite the Cat and Fiddle, across the moors into the road leading from Congleton to Buxton. The way is direct. When the highroad is reached turn to the left and proceed onward into the Cat and Fiddle main road. The views are fine and varied, and the walk in dry weather is a delightful moorland one. Distance round, about two miles.

The road between Buxton and Macclesfield in the neighbourhood of the Cat and Fiddle is one of the highest carriage roads in Britain, being exceeded only by two in Durham and by two in Scotland—from Braemar to Blairgowrie and from Braemar to Loch Buly. At the summit level of it stands tlie Cat and F'iddle, 1690 feet above the sea, the highest inn in the kingdom.

To do the Cat and Fiddle on foot is common enough to Buxton visitors, and although the charms and advantages of this excursion are not to be compared with those of a visit to Edale, Castleton, or Dovedale, still this short excursion lias charms peculiar to itself as well as the advantages of pure mountain air nearly two thousand feet above sea level. The way is—the one usually taken—through Burbage, keeping the road on the right (the old road) just past Burbage Church. Shortly the old Cromford and High 1'cak railway is crossed near Ladmanlow and the coal pits.

On arriving at the summit of the hill a long stretch of moorland presents itself, a scene which one might imagine to resemble, in winter, "a waste, howling wilderness," whilst in summer its cool refreshing breezes, unfettered by obstructive hills and untainted by the smoke of towns, are most healthful and exhilarating.

On reaching the next valley, where there are a few small farm houses (Goyts Moss), it may lie well to note that a road strikes off here to the right by the side of the brook to Goyts Bridge, Err wood Hall, Whaley Bridge, and Buxton.   Following the main road we soon reach the junction of the two roads from Buxton (the old and the new). Here the inn is in full view, lonely and without magnificence, but welcome enough on account of its stock and variety of refreshments. A number of vehicles will probably be found around the building waiting to reload, their occupants being variously occupied—some gathering bilberries, it may be; some collecting wild flowers; some examining the face of the country, peering into the Mersey, or spotting Snowdon, Peckforton Castle, Beeston Castle, Shininy Tor, &c., and some testing the quality of the refreshments inside the house, or in the new tea room adjoining.

As to the journey back to Buxton, pedestrians cannot do better than return by way of Axe Edge. To do this, leave the main road and take the by-way on the right (not the sharp turn to Congleton) shortly after leaving the inn. Twenty minutes' walk in this direction brings us to the brow of Axe Edge, and looking south-cast will be seen the conical hills of Jericho, Sterndale, and Longnor, a charming scene which, as already stated, is most impressive. Ladmanlow, through which we pass, lies at our feet as it were, and in another twenty minutes, through Burbage, we are back in Buxton, all the better, let us hope, for the excursion.

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  extracted by R P Marchington. 1999