Todmorden - Walsden - Blackshaw Head - Cornholme - Marker Posts

Mick, Catherine & Richard A tackled jobs around Todmorden on a very wet Friday morning. The weather did gradually improve as the day went on. The trio resurrected three marker posts. Firstly on the path just after the hairpin bend on Allescholes Road. Then on to Blackshaw Head near Great Rock on a path below the Full of Joy animal sanctuary. And finally at Cornholme on the steep path above Monkroyd.

Today’s work was funded by Todmorden Town Council.  Thanks as always to all those who support our work.

Site of Job 1

Site of Job 2

Site of Job 3

This footpath post on Allescholes Road
needed to be reinstated.

Richard A admiring the finished job.

Then it was on to Blackshaw Head and
 a very muddy walk to the site!

Richard A with another reinstated marker post.

Then on to sunny Cornholme and a
steep hill to climb for the last job. 

The team got to admire a stunning view
with a tiny Stoodley Pike.

Mick and Richard A with the final post in place.

We'd noticed the stile above Monkroyd was a bit
slippery so Catherine knocked in some staples.

Wadsworth: Parrock Lane; Tricky stile!

 Parrock Lane: heavy going for a complicated stile

On a day when threatened rain was replaced by blue skies. light clouds, gentle breezes and ideal temperatures Paul and Frank joined by Kris (for the morning) and by Jan (for most of the day) worked at a 'cross-roads' of paths (all described as Wadsworth 028). See map.

Today's work is being funded by the landowner. Many thanks.

1.Worksite location: A stile in a wall corner

The views from the worksite were magnificent:

2. Panorama: Pasture, settlements, redundant mill chimney,
woodlands and distant moors.

The original stile was built over a railed-off wall corner where stone steps gave access through a drystone wall. The stile and rails had seen hard times and looked like this:

3. The old stile: collapsed rails, rotten step-leg,
unstable treadboard and a decayed strainer
post doubling as a rail post.

The sequence of tasks was to:

i) install a post to act as a right-hand support for new cross-rails.

ii) decided on the best position of new step legs and install them.

iii) add treadboards so the higher board was level with one of the stone steps.

iv) fix cross-rails at appropriate heights.

v) install an extra vertical support for the cross-rails and a high-step side grab pole..

vi) landscape and tidy the approaches.

Mmm! Lots to do here . . . and extremely difficult ground conditions. Time to flex muscles and crank up physical efforts to a maximum!

The Detail.

4. Hole for new right-hand post.

This simple task gave immediate problems. Immovable rock limited the depth of the hole so the post had additionally to be secured to the wall with hex-head screw and rawlplug.

5. Quality control?: "What no oats?" 
One of several curious but friendly horses.

6. Decisions! Decisions! Will four
legs and two treadboards fit?

7. Heavy digging.
Problem: Massive stonework just below the surface.
Solution: Batter with bar, stone-chisel & lump hammer

Some time later:

8. Progress: step-legs being positioned.

9. Two legs in place and braced but  . . .
. . . more resistant rock!

10. Cross-rail time: Cutting to length to fit wall batter.

11. Lower cross-rail in place. Awkward
perspective but it is 'spot-on' horizontal.

12. End result: Two-step, three-rail stile with grab pole. (Note extensive decay in right-hand
strainer post which originally doubled as the stile side-post!)

13. Testing! Testing!

This was a long and tiring session but perseverance prevailed. The stile is safe, secure and easily negotiated. Minor tweaks can be made if necessary but it has the twin essentials of being horse resistant and pedestrian friendly . . . and there's always the view to admire . . .

14. Panorama: Wonderful view but . .  .
"Is that old mill chimney on the lean?"

More next week once we have recovered!

TODMORDEN - Various

 There were three teams out from Todmorden today:

Team 1: Duncan, Gareth and Neil B were installing three new fingerposts in the area and fettled up a couple of flags (on marker posts below Mankinholes) which were rather hard to read. See separate Blog.

Team 2: Neil Mc and Richard A were working up near Hartley Royd (beyond Shore Green) to improve ease of access to two stile on Tod 049 - one near Ridgegate Farm and the second one further down the path towards Back Wood. They also re-erected some of the short yellow topped posts which mark the route of the Fielden Trail. These posts seem to have a habit of uprooting themselves and throwing themselves into nearby patches of soft rush! Mmm! . . . 

Team 3: Catherine and Kasher replaced the small boardwalk near Flailcroft on Tod 082 (which we checked a couple of weeks ago) and then went to survey a nearby stile on Tod 102 (which is the footpath which runs parallel to Stones Lane and Bacup Road). It is a stile we hope to replace in the next couple of weeks.

Many thanks to Todmorden Town Council for funding today's tasks and for the various landowners who have supported the work of CROWS.

The blue "pin" marks the location of one of today's stiles.

The blue "pin" marks the location of the replaced boardwalk.

Team 2:

The very high stile leg which certainly does not conform
to British Standards.

New legs being added. Please note that the footpath 
beyond the stile is rather narrow due to the conifers
on the RHS.

The new legs and treadboard now in place. Getting 
over the stile may be a little easier!

The two step stile with the two legs braced.

Team 3:

Removing the existing short boardwalk. The stringers
were not in bad condition but the majority of the 
cross-treads were rotten.

The basic framework of the boardwalk now in position and
being checked.

Catherine with the first of the cross-treads
being added.

The boardwalk nearing completion. We will return to 
add in the trim at the edge of the boardwalk. 

We had a visitor: a fast moving woolly caterpillar.

 A convenient place for lunch and cake!

TODMORDEN - Near Stones

David and Kasher returned to Tod 102, which is the footpath which runs parallel to Stones Lane and Bacup Road, to sort out the legs and treadboard on a stile.

The one-step stile is far from aesthetically pleasing but more importantly the legs were rotten and in need of replacement. One leg was positioned extremely close to a large stone gatepost and we had hoped to move the leg and treadboard to be more central. Unfortunately very large, deeply embedded stones which may have been wall footings (or even a built up track between the gateposts) prevented us from doing so.

The treadboard on this one-step stile is slightly higher than we would have liked but the stile itself is easy to use. We may return to sort out the mixture of rails and posts that comprise this stile.

After dealing with this stile, we carried timbers to a stile on Tod 080 which we hope to fettle up on Friday. This path runs between Todmorden Edge North and Dyke Green Barn.

Many thanks to the two landowners who have been most supportive in working with CROWS to improve these stiles.

Thanks too to Todmorden Town Council for continuing to fund CROWS to carry out footpath and bridleway maintenance in the Todmorden area.

The blue "pin" marks the location of the stile on Tod 102.

We hope to be able to repair this stile on Friday.

The stile  before.... note how close to the stone gatepost
the treadboard is positioned.

The rotten stile leg.

The legs were certainly well packed!

New legs in position.

David sorting out one of the stile legs.

The new legs and treadboard in position.

The stile to be repaired on Friday.

CRAGG VALE - Small Jobs

Andy, Chloe and Sean decided to have a day working on 3 smaller jobs in Cragg Vale. 

The first job of the day was to replace markerposts in Deacon Hill Wood (One of them doubled up as a support when climbing some steep steps). We also cut back some Rhododendrons.

The second job was cutting-back near Robin Hood rock

Job 3 was a replacing stile legs and a treadboard in the Topland Estate