The
Torrs, New Mills
From the 'viewpoint' at
Reed Hill on the road to Disley via the Moorside Hotel ...
... Kettleshulme village
spread out below ...
... and here looking North-East,
over the Toddbrook Reservoir above Whaley Bridge in the right
foreground, and over Chinley beyond. On the left skyline the outcrops
on Kinder Edge with Brown Knoll and Colborne towards Rushup Edge.
This is what I was heading
for today. Not a postage stamp, as this is, but for the subject
portrayed in this less than perfect scanned image ~ The Torrs
Millennium Walkway.
Here is my version of the
stamp's picture showing at bottom a small section of the walkway.
This is Union Road, New
Mills, an unremarkable street but one which is a mere frontage,
one row deep, that here hides and then, lower down the road, overflies
the wooded river gorge of The Torrs.
The
Heritage Centre has a wealth
of information on the leisure facilities of the New Mills area
and lies in this old cobbled street behind the buildings in the
preceding picture. It is called Rock Mill Lane and is an old access
to the Torrs and specifically the complex of industrial buildings
which gave it its name. All long since demolished and the site
now overgrown, but a development dating originally from 1788.
At the foot of the lane,
the old quarry face now a playground for rock-climbers.
Through an archway in the
Rock Mill ruins we can glimpse the start of the walkway.
According to the plaque
the project was blessed by the Millennium Commission and supported
by funds from the National Lottery.
The start of the award-winning
walkway immediately revealing the drama of its setting and the
beauty of its construction.
Down closer to water level
the transition from pillared to cantilevered support is evident
as the walkway sweeps over the powerful rush and turbulence of
the River Goyt.
The cantilevered section
of the walkway clings to the 70/80 foot high wall built in the
mid 1800s to support the railway line to Hayfield from Manchester.
Three railway lines, as well as the roads and the canal use the
valley of the Goyt but only this walkway allows penetration and
through access of the deepest section of the gorge.
Torr Vale Mill, a Grade
II listed building and the last working mill in the Torrs, but
now unoccupied, stands opposite the cantilevered section of the
walkway. Seemingly on a level with the mill roof although much
higher again, the street level can be seen against the sky in
this picture.
Continued
- Part II
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