Hayfield

Hayfield is a village and civil parish in High Peak, with around 2,700 people, in the basin of the River Sett; Wikipedia puts it 3 miles east of New Mills, 4.5 miles south of Glossop and 10 miles north of Buxton. The parish takes in a significant part of the Kinder Scout plateau, though the village centre itself lies outside the Peak District National Park. A mile east, at Bowden Bridge, the rivers Sett and Kinder meet, and rights of way lead from there past Kinder Reservoir, built in 1911, onto the plateau.

Why base here

Hayfield is where the Mass Trespass began. It set out from Bowden Bridge Quarry on 24 April 1932, and Wikipedia gives the Manchester Guardian’s estimate of about 400 walkers as the figure generally accepted. They went up William Clough to the plateau; five were arrested on the way back, and those convicted at Derby Assizes received between two and six months. Whether they reached the summit is still argued, and Tom Stephenson said in 1989 that they got only as far as Ashop Head. Wikipedia credits the protest with helping to build the case for the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000, and a plaque at the quarry, unveiled by Benny Rothman in April 1982, marks the start. That is a reason to stay.

On foot versus by car

Bleaklow, 8.7km away in a straight line, starts from a lay-by on the A57 below the top of the Snake Pass and runs 15.4km over peat, much of it pathless. Kinder Scout via Grindsbrook Clough, 8.9km, starts at Edale on the far side of the plateau, which makes Edale the better base for it. Mam Tor and the Great Ridge, 9.5km, begins at the National Trust car park at Mam Nick, and Winnats Pass, 10.8km, is the limestone gorge road west of Castleton. Reaching any of them from Hayfield means a drive, since the buses go to towns, not to those starts. What does begin in the village is the western approach to Kinder by Bowden Bridge, which the Ordnance Survey map shows.

Practicalities

Hayfield has no railway now. Wikipedia lists the nearest stations as Chinley and New Mills Central on the Sheffield to Manchester line, New Mills Newtown on the Buxton line and Glossop, the last three reached from Hayfield by bus. The bus station stands across the relief road from the village centre, with Stagecoach Manchester, part of TfGM’s Bee Network, running to Glossop, Chapel-en-le-Frith, New Mills, Buxton and Stockport. Walkers can also follow the Sett Valley Trail, the old branch line, which Wikipedia gives as 4km, from the bus station at its eastern end, where there is a car park and toilet. Check the operator’s timetable before relying on a bus.

Who this base does not suit

Anyone without a car will find Bleaklow, Grindsbrook, Mam Tor and Winnats Pass out of reach from here. Edale, which has its own station on the Hope Valley line and the Grindsbrook route from the village, is the better base for Kinder, and Castleton for Mam Tor and Winnats Pass.