The section of the walk Lynda, Bernard and Eleanor worked on today, runs from the base of Scammonden Dam and follows Black Brook past the haunting ruins of the Scammonden Cotton Spinning Mill. ( The tragic history of this mill which never operated for a single day is worth Googling!)
At some point over the last few weeks, a number of conifers had fallen in the woodland and blocked the path.
It is definitely a chainsaw job to remove the tree trunks, but we spent a couple of hours lopping off the surrounding smaller branches to clear the area in preparation for the tree surgeon......
.... and created several piles of kindling.
We then moved on to the site of the mill, where some huge slabs of walling stone still fill the path. Some minor scrambling will be needed but we thought with a few crowbars and plenty of brawn, some of the smaller stones could be moved into place to make the way safer and more inviting!. A job for another day.
More hacking back of the holly revealed the path away from the mill which crosses a small stream. Again re-positioning of some stones at the crossing point would improve the path.
Although, the path was generally bone-dry, water was spreading out at one or two places soaking the path. Cutting back overhead holly and creating minor channels made a big difference. Back next week to continue the work......
This work is funded by Ripponden Parish Council
