Waterfall and clockhouse woods walk
Wander through this peaceful area of Alderley Edge filled with history and wildlife.
Woodland paths offer meandering walks and different places to explore
See majestic beech trees and babbling brooks whilst roaming through areas where past generations have mined and farmed the landscape.
Map
Start:
Picnic area near the Alderley Edge car park, grid ref: SJ859773
1
Start at the picnic area by the carpark and follow the broad farm track that runs straight ahead. Throughout the walk you will be following the purple arrows on waymarkers.
2
Continue to follow the path which leads straight into the woods. After it has bent to the left look for an opening on your left-hand side, this is Engine Vein.
Engine Vein
Engine Vein is one of many mineral deposits which cross the Edge. The vein is a huge (300ft) 100m long and features opencast pits where Bronze Age inhabitants mined copper ores around 4,000 years ago. Archaeological evidence suggests that this area has also been quarried by the Romans and intermittently during the 18th and early 19th century.
3
Continue walking along the path until it bends shapely to the right at which point walk through the gate on your left hand site into Dickens Wood. Just before this look out for the Goldenstone, on the verge, 22yd (20m) ahead.
The Goldenstone
The stone, a large cleft sandstone rock on the edge of Dickens Wood, has acted as a boundary marker, since time immemorial. However it is also one of many places on the Edge to be connected with a local legend about a wizard. It is said that the wizard rode past here on his way to the Iron Gates, a magical entrance to the underworld
4
Once through the gate take the path to the right, passing a bench on your right-hand side. As the path drops downhill alongside fields, the view opens out looking towards the Peak District. Soon after the path forks into two, follow the purple arrow and take the higher path which descends into a deep gully at the heart of Waterfall Wood.
Waterfall Wood
This deep gully is a glacial spillway formed by water surging from a meltwater lake at the end of the last Ice Age.
5
Continue to follow the route until you reach a stream and use the stepping stone to cross into Clockhouse Woods. Begin to climb up the crude steps and you will soon arrive at the majestic Beech Cathedral, where the trees measure over 100 feet (35m) high.
Beech Cathedral
The trees were planted at the end of the 18th century by the Stanley family who owned vast areas of the Edge. In spring, the floor of this semi-natural ancient woodland is bright with fragrant bluebells.
6
Continue to follow the path as it bends 180 degrees around the top of the slope and runs downhill, between dark hollies, to emerge between Clockhouse farm.
7
Continue up the ancient sunken lane. Near the top of the slope on the right hand side is a rock overhang.
Rock shelter
This rock overhang is believed to be a possible prehistoric shelter. The upper layer of harder, pebbly sandstone forms a natural roof above the more easily eroded soft red sandstone below.
8
At the top of the lane turn right over a stile, towards two ponds. Bear left at the ponds, and then go right, over another stile. Ahead, a fenced in footpath crosses open pastures to join a sandy lane at the top of Waterfall Wood.
9
Go straight on, towards Edge House Farm. At the top of the lane, turn right and then left, uphill on a grassy track. The hollow on the right-hand side is the site of Abadine's Smelting House.
Abadine's Smelting House
Abadine's Smelting House was built in 1708. Unfortunately for Mr Abadine, his mines beneath Dickens Wood failed to yield enough copper ore to make a profit and he was later declared bankrupt.
10
At the top of the slope, the path crosses the old Carriage Drive. Continue straight ahead on a narrow footpath between wire fences to rejoin the farm track, and turn left, back to the car park.
End:
Picnic area near the Alderley Edge car park, grid ref: SJ859773
