Let’s Take A Walk…
JRR Tolkien wrote most of his novel ‘The Lord of the Rings’ from his base at Stonyhurst. Could Hobbiton be the village of Hurst Green? Was the River Shirebourne named after the Shireburn family?
IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF TOLKIEN
Distance: 6.5 miles
Time: 2.5 to 3 hours
Start point: Hurst Green BB7 9QJ
Terrain: Moderate, roads, lanes and field tracks
There is great speculation that JRR Tolkien must have been influenced by the Stonyhurst landscape and without doubt some of the local names found their way into his novel. One of Tolkien’s favourite walks was to the Hacking ferry crossing on the Ribble.
The towered and turreted Stonyhurst College is almost mystical, both in its grandeur and its location. Set among the green rolling hills, woodland and forest in the heart of the Ribble Valley, this walk has wonderful views of this inspirational landscape.
From Hurst Green cross walk through the car park of The Shireburn Arms to a gate and footpath. Keep the fence on your right, descend to a stile and the Ribble Way footpath. Turn left and descend through trees over a footbridge and stile to the riverbank of the Ribble.
A meadow leads to the aqueduct as Pendle Hill comes into view. A path leads along the riverbank, over stiles to reach a tarmac road at Jumbles.
From Jumbles rocks continue along the flat road to a cattle grid, a stile leads the path to the waters edge. Follow the riverbank as the river swings north. The stone mullions of the Jacobean Hacking Hall give a sense of history to this remote riverside spot, here the Calder joins the Ribble at the site of the old Hacking Ferry.
Carry on along the Ribble Way, onto a road and as the meeting of the Ribble and Hodder pass without ceremony, continue to Winckley Hall Farm. Turn left at the farm and into the farmyard. Turn right alongside the water lodge and into trees, Winckley Hall is on the left.
Immediately after its entrance there is a footpath on the right marked by an iron gate.
Cross the fields, through another iron gate and Stonyhurst unfolds before your eyes – is this ‘Middle Earth’?
The path descends to the road junction opposite. Turn right to Lower Hodder Bridge and Cromwell’s Bridge built by Sir Richard Shireburn in 1562 replacing an old wooden bridge.
Take the short tarmac driveway before the bridge to a wooden gate and a riverbank path along the clear waters of the Hodder. Pass the weir before a gate leads to a tree covered short climb before descending through trees to a stone bridge. Cross the bridge and turn left, over a footbridge and ascend 132 steps, along a path to emerge from the woodland at a stile.
The path continues at the edge of the meadow to a stile and path that joins a stony road.
Keep to the left and cross the road by the post box and a footpath opposite to Hall Barn Farm. Go past the stonemason’s yard and alongside the farm buildings before turning right at the junction to the Observatory. Bear left into fields, the cricket pavilion is on your left, progress across meadows through three iron gates to emerge in Hurst Green village on Smithy Row. Turn left along Avenue Road and continue to the start of the walk.
