Bill O' Jacks and Pots & Pans

It was just me and Gaz who managed to get out on Saturday morning. We met up in Uppermill at 8.30am and headed off towards Greenfield on the canal. Came off at Well-i-hole and up to the cross roads at the Royal George pub. Up the hill a little and left turn up Shadworth Lane, up the very steep track and up to Moor Edge rd, turn left and follow it on to Intake Lane.

From there we went through the plantation and stayed above Dovestones Reservoir. Point number 1 (in yellow on the map) is where the two photo's below where taken. One of Dovestones and the one of me with Indians head in the background.

Dovestones, you can just make out Pots and Pans in the distance (top left corner).

From a distance and at a certain angle (with some imagination!) the rocks of Indian's Head resemble a face with a feathered headdress.

We followed Dovestones around and dropped back onto the damn wall and up the side of the second Reservoir. From there we took a left, up a steep climb to the A635 Holmfirth Rd. We passed through the area that was the scene of a brutal double murder way back in 1832, known as 'Bill O' Jacks' (Bill son of Jack) it's on the map as the yellow no 2. In brief: the landlord of the Moorcock Inn and his son were murdered and the killer was never found. At the time the murder was described as 'one of the most diabolical murders ever committed'. The top photo shows the site as it is now and the bottom one as it was back in the day. Here's a link if you're interested in reading more:

http://www.mysteriousbritain.co.uk/england/greater-manchester/folklore/the-bill-o-jacks-murders.html



The site of the Bill O' Jacks murder as it is today

A picture of the Moorcock Inn as it was in 1832 with the Greenfield Reservoir in the background

After a quick dash up the A635 we turned left (opposite Crowthers Farm) and up over to Pots & Pans war memorial (no 3 on the map). There's always a good turn out at Pots & Pans on Remembrance Sunday despite it being at the top of a hill in the middle of nowhere. As you can see from the earlier photo of Dovestones the monument can be seen for miles.



Gaz at Pots & Pans with a view of Greenfield/Mossley in the background

The Rememberance service in 2011. The number of people making the effort seems to grow every year.

From Pots & Pans it was back down the hill to Uppermill. About 11 miles in a little over 2 hours. I've switched my phone GPS App to 'My Tracks' and it seemed to work well. There's a screen shot of the route below from Google Earth but there's also a link to the route on Google Maps, so you can zoom in and play about with it or follow it exactly. The only thing a couldn't figure out how to do is display the elevation profile, it'll show on my phone but I've given up trying to view it on the PC - never mind!







https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=210653186902825491076.0004baec5fcd6a15e63d1

Cheers
Mick