Exploring Haslingden Grane

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Haslingden Grane was once a busy and thriving farming area; all that has now long since gone but what remains has become a popular place for walkers and it was somewhere I had been looking forward to visiting for some time.

The grid references are taken from the Ordnance Survey map OS287, West Pennine Moors (courtesy of TrackLogs Digital Maps).

The town name of Haslingden derives from Hazeldean or Valley of the Hazels. It lies 19 miles north of Manchester in the County of Lancashire in an area at one time noted in particular for its stone, but also played a big part in the woollen and then later cotton industries from the 18th and through the 19th and early to mid 20th Century.

The Haslingden Grane valley was once home to well over 1,300 people. Now of course many houses have vanished entirely, but many more remain, in varying states of decay. It's tempting to assume that it was the flooding of the lower valley to form the reservoirs that caused its depopulation, but in fact the story is considerably more complex.

Settlement began in the area, previously a deer park, in the early part of the 16th century, and the population grew over the next two centuries as woods were cleared. However, farming was nearly always marginal and most families supplemented their income by handloom weaving. Another widespread source of income was the distilling of illicit whisky. In facr many of the houses had secret passages or cellars to hide the stills.

As larger mills developed, handloom weaving became less viable. The construction of the Calf Hey Reservoir in the 1850s robbed the struggling community of its best land, but the final nail in the coffin was the crisis which afflicted agriculture in the 1880s, with drastic falls in commodity prices. This crisis of the 1880s led to the abandonment of poorer upland farms in many parts of the region, but the total depopulation of the Grane Valley is one of the most dramatic instances. There is an excellent web site produced by Stephen Fiask that gives good insight into the history of the Grane area.

There is a car park at the Clough Head Information Centre on the B6232 (Grane Road) but it is locked up at 5pm each day, and as I wasn't sure what time I would get back I decided to park in a layby just a few yards along the road (grid ref: SD747 230). This meant I would be starting the walk from the opposite end from where I had intended, but as I didn't have a set walk planned anyway it really didn't matter.

After donning my boots, putting the dogs on leads and locking up the car, the three of us walked a few yards along the grass verge before turning right onto a grassy path.

Just a few yards farther on we crossed over this stile. There wasn't a doggy hatch for Brett and Sam to get through but they soon realised that a little hurdling was in order.

A few more yards farther on we came to a T-junction and, after a quick perusal of the map I decided we should go left and head in the general direction of the reservoirs.

A short distance along the path a waymarker directed us to the right through a gap in the wall, although the map said go straight on along the walled path.

Having gone through the gap I continued to keep close to the wall on the left as we passed through an open gateway. There was lots of sheep about so I kept Brett and Sam on the leads, much to their disappointment as they were itching to have a good run around.

Just before reaching the corner of the field we passed through a gap in the wall onto the walled path to continue downhill.

Unfortunately the walls on either side of the path had long since collapsed and were strewn around, making walking a little tricky. A quick glance ahead though soon showed that the rubble didn't go far and there was a clearer path a short distance further downhill. And now I got my first glimpse of Calf Hey Reservoir

Once past the rubble strewn section the path was covered in a layer of gravel, making walking a good deal easier.

Soon the gravel path ended at a metal gate with a stile at the side (grid ref: SD754 229). Another quick look at the map showed thar we needed to turn right after the stile. On an Ordnance Survey map of 1894 this area was the village of Haslingden Grane and this road was Chapel Row (there was a Methodist chapel here). With the exception of a few houses it's all gone now I'm afraid.

A few yards down the road we took the right fork go head into the car park.

At the end of the car park we went ahead onto the narrow dirt path.

After passing through the gap in the wall we turned right for a few yards before reaching the tarmac path and turning left.

A few yards along to path we passed by this delightful little walled picnic area. Just as well I had already had my lunch as I was sorely tempted to tarry awhile.

A short distance along the path we came to the ruins of Hartley House. According to the information board the house probably dates back to the reign of Elizabeth I (1533-1603) and began life as a single farmhouse. By the 1790's it had been joined by another farmhouse and four cottages, and at the time it was sold in 1827 it consisted of four farmhouses (each with a cloth weaving handloom) and nine cottages (some of which also had their own handlooms).

This sketch from the information board shows the layout of the various farms and cottages.

And this artist's sketch shows how Hartley House once looked.

Another sketch from the information board depicts a typical handloom weaver from the 18th century.

Brett and Sam were getting rather bored just standing around whilst I perused the ruins of Hartley House, so as there were no sheep around I let them off the lead and carried on along the path towards the next set of ruins.


The next ruins were of Lower Ormerods, that was owned by the Ormerod family in the 16th and 17th centuries. The Ormerods were one of the wealthiest families in the area at that time and owned several of the farms. However, the construction of Calf Hey and Ogden Reservoirs in the late 19th and early 20th centuries led to the steady depopulation of most of the farms. During the latter stage of its occupation Lower Ormerods reverted back to being a smallholding, with the western wing becoming barns and the rear loomshops becoming pig styes.

This sketch from the information board shows the layout of Lower Ormerods as it developed.

And this sketch shows how the farm once looked.

From the ruins of Lower Ormerods we carried on down the path then through the gate and up the steps on the right (grid ref: SD748 224).

A narrow dirt path now took us through a small wood and began to rise above Calf Hey Reservoir.

Part way along the path we came upon this lovely little secluded picnic area.

As we came out of the woods there was this great view of Calf Hey Reservoir, with the hills in the distance overlooking the towns of Haslingden, Rawtenstall and Bacup along the Rossendale Valley.

The narrow dirt path now follows the line of a wire fence on the side of the hill overlooking the reservoirs

A quick glance back at this point gives a great view of the valley upstream of Calf Hey Reservoir.

At this point (grid ref: SD754 221) we got our first view of Ogden Reservoir. For the moment we ignored the path off to the left, but would be returning to it later on our way back.

A ittle farther along the path (grid ref: SD759 222) we came to the ruins of Under Heights Farm.

And a very short distance later we came to the junction of two paths (grid ref: SD761 222) where we went right to climb up towards Musbury Heights.

Part way up the narrow track we got our first view of Holden Wood reservoir.

A few breathless minutes later (at least for me, Brett and Sam weren't troubled by the steepness of the path) we came to the ruins of some old quarry buildings.

This tall chimney stack appears to be the only part of the ruins that is still intact and is thought to have been connected to the Scrubbing Mill where the quarried stones were cleaned. It was conserved with funding from English Heritage in 2004, reinstating the structure that was in danger of complete collapse.

After strolling around the ruins for a while we continued along the path leading uphill through this gap in a large wall.

On reaching this junction with another path we turned sharp left to make our way back.

The path took us around the ruins of the quarry buildings, and at this point we turned left to get back to the path that had brought us up onto the Heights.

Having descended from Musbury Heights we retraced our steps along the narrow dirt path till we came to the stile on the right (grid ref: SD754 221) where we turned right to head downhill towards Calf Hey Reservoir.

At the bottom of the hillside path we climbed over the stile and turned left to walk alongside Calf Hey Reservoir.

Having reached the upstream end of the reservoir we continued to follow the main path as it turned to the right.

Again at this point we followed the main path as it turned right to cross a stone footbridge.

Now we were in sight of the ruins of Lower Ormerods as we walked over the footbridge and through the gate.

As the main path went to the right as it passed the ruins of Lower Ormerods we turned sharp left. No, not to have a rest on the bench (tempting though it was), or to climb the fence, but across the grass to pass to the left of the ruins.

Hav ing passed by the ruins we followed the path uphill alongside a stone wall.

At the top of the rise the path veered to the left.

A few yards later we left the path to go right and through the gateway.

Having walked uphill across a field full of sheep (and lots of lambs bleating to their mums for more milk) we came to another path, where we turned left.

A couple of hundred yards along the path we turned right to head up the the Grane Road.

We climbed over the last stile and walked the few yards to the road and turned left.

Back at the car I got Brett and Sam on board (Sam soon chilled out but Brett seemed ready to go round again) all that remained was to don my shoes and drive home for a nice cup of tea and a couple of pain au chocolat.

Tagged as: calf hey reservoir, dogs, haslingden grane, holden wood reservoir, musbury heights, ogden reservoir, under heights farm, walking, walks, west pennine moors