RCH HU W C A IT L K H S Walk 1: Fields & Fairways W An abandoned branch The London and North West Railway opened the W 1 Tattenhall to Whitchurch branch in 1872 to link the ALK No. Distance: 4 miles / 6.4km • Duration: about 2¼ hours Crewe to Chester and Crewe to lines. Start point: Whitchurch Civic Centre On weekdays in 1910 there were seven trains in A gently undulating and scenic walk with plenty of interest. each direction. The line diverged from the Chester Field boundary crossings mainly involve stiles and to Crewe line at Tattenhall Junction four miles SE of there are some footbridges. Chester and headed south bridging the Chester to Whitchurch road (now the A41). For most of the six miles from Tattenhall it was climbing at around 1 in St. Alkmund’s – 115 reaching the summit of the line south of Malpas. a church with ‘previous’ Whitchurch takes its name from White Church A meeting of Ways – its second church, built of white stone in Just after point 5 on a sunken green lane 1087 on the site of the original Saxon church. known locally as Fairy Glen, our walk A third church on the site built in 1350 converges with two other routes. The collapsed in 1711 and was quickly replaced South Way is a splendid 34-mile by the present and fourth church which walk along canals and through wonderful was consecrated as St. Alkmund’s. It could and Cheshire countryside from hardly have been called White Church as its Grindley Brook, near Whitchurch, to Mow builders dispensed with all that old-fashioned Cop near Congleton. whiteness and used red sandstone whilst spending £4,000 to create the biggest church The Bishop Bennet Way, also 34 miles long, is a horse riding route in south in Shropshire outside Shrewsbury. Inside is west Cheshire which can also be used by walkers and cyclists. It is named the tomb of John Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, who was killed in the battle of after William Bennet (1745 – 1820), Bishop of Cork and Ross and subsequently Castillon in 1453 at the very end of the Hundred Years’ War with France. Bishop of Cloyne, who carried out detailed surveys of Roman roads including those between Deva (Chester) and Mediolanum (Whitchurch). The Way starts Alms and Grammar near Beeston Castle and finishes near Wirswall The current Georgian-style Higgin- on the Cheshire-Shropshire border. son’s Almshouses – for ‘six decayed housekeepers’ – were built in 1807 Tarporley goose chase on earlier foundations laid in 1647. Look out for lively Canada Geese at the delightful pool near the Tarporley Road (just The Old Grammar School was north of map point %). founded as a free school for boys in 1550 by Sir John Talbot, a former Hill Valley Golf rector of Whitchurch, not to be The golf courses of The Macdonald Hill Valley confused with the battling Earl Hotel and Spa are criss-crossed by a number John Talbot, mentioned above. It was rebuilt in 1848 in Elizabethan style. The of rights of way. Happily, walkers and golfers school closed in 1938 when it moved to its present location as the John Talbot co-exist easily thanks to some sensible School in Heath Road. management and mutual respect. Walk 1: Fields & Fairways

© Copyright Ordnance Survey Open Source data Turn right here and carry on 30 Route Description Grindley metres to a field gate. You are now Brook South Cheshire Hinton Manor From the Civic Centre 1 go up the on a delightful tree-lined sunken Way High Street and past the church of St. green lane and have joined the Bishop Bennet Alkmund’s. Way Reservoir . Reservoir

Pass some Almshouses and flats With a white house in sight there are The Fields Hinton Hinton Farm Old Hall occupying the Old Grammar School two gates and a stile to your left. The Bank on your right. Cross the roundabouts gate by the stile offers the easiest and go along the left side of access to the driveway leading to

T Tarporley Road to ‘Westmore House' A Hotel Hinton Manor 6. Continue on to R P

O 2, after the next house a wooden R cross the A49 7 and on to the L E

Y fingerpost will direct you down a R Hill Valley driveway opposite signed The Bishop O D A41 A Golf Club A stony track. A49 D O R Bennet Way. After about 180 metres B 5 K 4 N 7 T A 8 6 B turn right over a stile , and up a E

Turn right and cross the first field3 , R E Hotel R L I I grassy bank through shrubs and you C M K along a permissive path, joining the R O will find yourself on the golf course. A old Chester Railway branch line; turn Brooklands D left and walk along the old track-bed. Turn left along a tarmac path leading Turn off at the next stile to a small Mount Farm past a pool on your left. Bear right at D A footbridge; follow the hedge a short O R a waymarker post, following the line T Moat R way then cross a corner of a field to a O P of a ditch, across two fairways and a L stile leading on to the A49 bypass A tarmac path to reach another C H E S T E R R O A Supermarket D B5 T Hospital 4 0 KILOMETRES ½ 395 S road . T I waymarker post by a reed-filled pool P Y A B LONDON ROAD L A C 9 0 MILES ¼ R . G AT Cross the road with care – the traffic ES S T B COUNTRY RO can be fast – and go over the stile ST W N N N Look out for golfers and show PARK O H LO T H O W NG I J I G ST RD H S opposite into a field, bearing left A S T T HILL S R MILL Y T S consideration to them as this is a RY R E HER NE E Y S W E R E ST T T A T T O O W T M LB towards a wooden telegraph pole, ERS ST EN END TA walker-friendly course. Turn right N EPP RE Bridge Y SM OAD P G STR ALLBROOK R Jubilee CA ST MI STLE Supermarkets AT and then keep on the line of an House E L HIL ION H I Park L RD down the tarmac path, which goes C N Chemistry D ETW EN RE A T T ancient hedge to your right. This A S ER ! E V LL G T through part of the hotel . You will A495 IV I A E DR M T E PS L E Swimming TPoolR SHAR IL ST S field can be wet and muddy in H R ER K EE T pass under a glass-covered walkway R T A A EW N B G E W R E X H A M R O A D RID W places, especially where you cross a B5398 B P O with the restaurant and swimming R R O T

S E R

M O

stile and footbridge, which are partly A A R D pool to your left and then past a D Y O A LAN R E hidden by a holly hedge. Here bear O N small wooden pavilion to your right. L T E right of a telegraph pole to cross a A41 B Cross into a field, over a footbridge – E D D G % The path leadsA to Tarporley RoadE L . # S E stile in a wire fence. Bear left and At the next waymarker post turn O Y R E R and then over another footbridge N D O Turn left, crossO by the roundaboutG – A T F D cross another footbridge, which is right and re-join the tarmac path. At G O N R into the next field and pass a pool, I D there is aK pedestrian crossingY nearby

L A B a further waymarker post turn left 5 hidden in the hedge. Now head A N W 3 which may have Canada Geese on it. E 9 – and back towards theQ UchurchE and5 towards a prominent mound in this and cross the old Chester E ENU Cricket the High Street.H AV large field and go right at the hedge BEEC Ground Railway $ again. Look for the small Belton to a stile 5. DISMANTLED RAILWAY railway relic by the stile.