Oldham East & Saddleworth – 14/10/26 – Leader Stephen D

It was a bright, breezy and chilly morning when 11 walkers gathered at the car park at Grains Bar. We walked up the nearby hill and had our first photo of the day taken at the trig point which is the highest point in Oldham at 1,244ft. The Bishop Park Monument nearby was erected to commemorate the local family who gave the land to the borough. From the obelisk we could make out the far end of the walk and the tower on Hartshead Pike. 

We walked downhill towards the trees, through a new housing estate, to a main road then down the hillside into Strinesdale Country Park where we had our banana break at the head of Lower Strinesdale Reservoir at some picnic tables. Leaving by the exit road we came to the Co-op Academy (is this where you go to learn how to be a shelf stacker?). Crossing Huddersfield Road, we walked down Sidebottom Street to reach another main road with two enormous mills facing.

These are Majestic Mill and Orme Mill at Waterhead, former cotton spinning mills though they both have a different purpose these days. A narrow path between the two giant mills led us into Greenacres Fold, another country park and eventually to a dismantled railway line (Oldham to Greenfield) which is now encompassed within Leesbrook Nature Park.

Walking along this wide green path we passed under St Johns Street Bridge – I was to show the group a very different view of this bridge later on. After ¾ mile on this pleasant path we took a right turn over a footbridge and over rough ground to Knowles Lane which led to St Agnes Primary School where we walked up ‘Lane Head’ opposite. This road led us to a stony track, that took us all the way to Hartshead Pike (name of the hill and tower). The monument itself is a grade II listed building and was built in 1863 to commemorate the wedding of the Prince of Wales to Princess Alexandra of Denmark. The views from the hill were fabulous and I intended to have lunch here but it was too cold and breezy.

We made a descent to Lily Lanes passing through a farm, and crossed fields to Broadcarr Lane. Taking a path on the left we walked across a field to the edge of a high ridge where all the land just dropped away before us revealing the whole of The Medlock Valley containing several towns and views across to Dove stones Reservoir and the Peak District hills. Walking along the top of the narrow ridge we reached the huge Mossley Cross – it was at this point that two mutineers left us to bag another trig point that was just off the main path, so the rest of us carried on down the hill and we all met up again just before the main road. We walked along this and took a footpath, left just before Grotton and had a late lunch at some curious brick circles which are all that remains of the Grotton Brickworks, this was an ideal lunch spot out of the wind. Passing through a residential area, going between houses etc, we arrived at the site of the former Grotton railway station, bits of the platform could still be seen in the undergrowth. I showed the group an information board showing a steam locomotive passing under the bridge we had walked under before lunch.

We walked up to Oldham Road and turn right to walk up the hill to turn left up a path. When the path ran out, we walked across a few fields to a farm at Wood Brook then up Platting Road to a crossroads. Turning right the views opened out once more to the hills around the Marsden Memorial above Uppermill, then we climbed through two fields to eventually reach Whitegates Lane, we could see Hartshead Pike in the distance across the valley. Turning right onto a sketchy uneven path beside High Moor Quarries we eventually reached Hill Top Lane and followed this tarmac lane back to the car park.

Many thanks to Paul for taking the pics.     Leader and Write up Steve D

‘If you wish to see a static view of the pics all in one go, then click here.’

Continuously running slideshow below – you can see it full screen by clicking in top left of picture