EAST CHESHIRE RAMBLERS
UNDER grey skies, the East Cheshire Ramblers recently set off on a 12-mile walk from Wigg Island Community Park on the edge of Runcorn.
Although not strictly an island, Wigg Island lies on a narrow strip of land hemmed in between the Mersey Estuary and the Manchester Ship Canal and connected to Runcorn by a swing bridge over the latter.
Nowadays, the area has been turned into a nature reserve but lying as it does in a rather isolated area, the location was once the site of an alkali works. During the Second World War the works was the location for the manufacture of mustard gas. Thankfully, today, all traces of these works have long gone.
Heading up through Runcorn, our route first headed to the historic village of Halton and, although swallowed up by Runcorn, the village retains many old houses including the ‘E-shaped’ Elizabethan Seneschal’s House which was built for the judge John King.
Nearby stands Hatton Old Hall which was heavily damaged during the English Civil War. Other buildings of note are the Halton Vicarage and the Chesshyre Library, the latter set up by the English lawyer Sir John Chesshyre. With a very successful career in London, he became one of the highest paid persons of his time.
Crowning the hill at Halton is Halton Castle which has a history dating back to the 11th century. As a royalist stronghold, the castle was besieged twice by the Parliamentarian forces during the English Civil War, which left the place in a ruinous state. Later, a courthouse was built on the site of the medieval gatehouse and the basement served to hold prisoners. The building is now the Castle Hotel.
Today, there is a path around the base of the walls which gives wide views of the surrounding area and is probably the best place to view the new Mersey Gateway Bridge.
Heading generally east, the group now followed the Mersey Valley Trail, which manages to avoid walking along any roads to reach the village of Moore. This section of the walk passed through woodland and used a short stretch of the towpath alongside the Bridgewater Canal.
With a lunch stop by the canal, the walk headed north on field paths to join Moore Lane with a return alongside the Manchester Ship Canal with views over the Mersey Estuary.