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Walk 2456 - printer friendly version

Flask Edge from Dronfield Woodhouse Walk

Author - Jake Robertson

Length - 10.0 miles / 16.3 km

Ascent - 1650 feet / 500 metres

Grade - moderate

Start - OS grid reference SK337783
Lat 53.300586 + Long -1.4957972
Postcode S18 8ZQ (approx. location only)

Sometimes, a fine viewpoint and prominent hill is best reached by a walk through the foothills and vales beneath it so as to build excitement and also enjoy superb countryside that might otherwise be ignored. This lengthy but fairly gentle stroll from the Derbyshire town of Dronfield is a nice example.

The start is Pentland Road shops in Dronfield Woodhouse, reached by turning down either Leabrook Road or Pentland Road from Carr Lane. There are plenty of parking spaces, preferably park in the small section to the right of the shops.

START - Go onto Pentland Road and turn left to Sindlefingen Park. Cut across the park onto Gosforth Drive and go down the road until just past the end of Coniston Road. Cross over Gosforth Drive and take a signposted path through the houses into a wide grassy field. Take the first right (SK 339778) and follow the footpath over the gentle fields to emerge out at Cowley Hall (SK333773).

Go shortly right then left along a footpath, now following part of the Dronfield Rotary Walk. You should follow the clearly signposted route through the fields to Cartledge then up to Holmesfield (by the Angel Inn) before dropping down a track through Holmesfield Park Wood, emerging onto Fanshawe Gate Lane (SK316785). Brown Edge is the dominant moorland hill ahead and looks most enticing.

Turn left along the lane, which steadily climbs to a sharp left turn. A stile in the bend is crossed for a short, sharp descent to the eerie Storth House and then Storth Lodge, the home of Clarion Rambler GHB Ward. Walk right along Moorwoods Lane to the A621 by Moor Edge Farm (SK296786) then go right past the farm, cross the road to a hidden footpath in the trees. Climb through the woods then up to a crossing path. Keep heading uphill, veering left slightly across some marshy ground (the source of the River Sheaf) to a wall which is followed up the to the huge cairn and stake atop Brown Edge (1251ft)

This is a prominent local landmark, though seldom visited. The birds-eye view eastwards over Sheffield and north-east Derbyshire is superb but could I ask walkers not to damage the cairn? I've spent many happy days adding to it and pottering about but often return to find my work destroyed by local vandals which is very saddening.

Drop down to a shallow col then up to the OS column on the summit of Flask Edge at 1295ft (SK285788). This is one of the finest viewpoints in Peakland, a huge panorama stretching from Bleaklow and Axe Edge to the distant plains of Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire with the moor acting as a colourful foreground and the Peakland hills in between. This wild hilltop is my little piece of Pennine heaven.

From the trig point a path heads north to the Moss Road, which you descend on the right down the hillside to a small road by the disused rifle range (SK301798). Go right for about 100 yards then right again on a path up Needham's Dike to the main road. Cross the road and take a path into Gillfield Wood, following the little Totley Brook (which becomes the River Sheaf) for about a mile until you can cross a footbridge (SK 313790) and climb through a few fields to Fanshawe Gate Lane near Woodthorpe Hall.

Go right to a sharp corner (where you came out earlier) then take a left path along the edge of the woods, over a stream then up to Rod Moor. Fork right up the crest then through a series of fields by Hall Farm to a main road junction by the little Holmesfield Chapel (SK329787). Go straight onto Carr Lane then take the second right for a quick walk down Leabrook Road (SK332786) back to Sindelfingen Park and the Pentland shops thus ending this walk.

Walk 2456 Route Map

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