Gawsworth, Cheshire - A Walk Passing Gawsworth Hall & North Rode

We have returned to Gawsworth. I was here at the end of June when I told you I wouldn’t be able to run for a while due to a heart problem and so now I’ve had the operation and I’m beginning to regain my strength I’ve come back to explore.

I parked near the Harrington Arms and walked up to St James’ Church. Built from Ashlar Sandstone its a beautiful church the oldest part of which dates to 1430. Don’t miss the 18th century gate posts with skull and crossbones! Then we take the path that goes through the Gawsworth Hall Estate. The hall dates from 1480 and was built to replace and existing Norman house. It’s one of those traditional Cheshire black and white timber buildings. Originally owned by the Fitton family you can find their tombs in the chancel of the church. The most famous person to live here was Mary Fitton the so called ‘dark lady’ from Shakespeare’s sonnets. Its still in private hands owned by the Richards family but you can take a tour, find more details here

Passing the house we pass a statue of Sir John Peel which originally stood in a park in Salford but when the park was redeveloped , it was put in storage and later sold to the Richards family of Gawsworth Hall. We continue across the fields to Woodhouse Lane and turn right following the lane down to the Macclesfield Canal which we follow through Whitemoor to Bosley Locks. We then head right down the lane to the railway bridge and straight on on the path through the North Rode Manor estate to North Rode and then finally across the fields back to our starting point. The total route was just over 7 miles, very pretty with a pub at the end what more could you ask for? If you’d like to do the walk, visit my website where you can view a map and download a GPX file which you can download into your mapping app so you don’t get lost.