December 15^th, and the plan was to walk from Mellor Church to Mellor Cross.  We did, but not by the originally planned route.  Twenty-one walkers and three dogs assembled in the church car park attracted by the promise of a mince pie on completion of the walk.  

The weather could best be described as inclement!  There was a pretence of interest at the ramblings of the walk leader about the history of Mellor Church and Mellor Hall but the focus was clearly on mince pies!  First down the hill to Brookbottom where textile mills were built in the early 1700’s but now an attractive cluster of residential properties.  Following a brief introduction to the Waller brothers: Thomas, Ralph, and Samuel who arrived in Mellor in the early 1800’s, Mill owners and ardent Methodists, we moved onto Moor End Road.  

Across the road and up to Lark Hill House, the former home of Thomas Waller junior, the son of Thomas Waller senior, Mill owner, local methodist lay preacher, and the centre of a scandal in 1876 when he eloped with someone else’s wife to Wales!  Still in shock, we walked up to Birchenclough Farm, then along Primrose Lane and Black Lane, which was a tad muddy!  We stopped at the trig point to learn about the Stone Age barrow which occupied the site and the burial site of the Mellor Princess.  

Then on to Mellor Cross where normally spectacular views over the Cheshire Plain are to be seen but the visibility was zero!  Descending across Mellor golf course we eventually arrived back in Mellor wet, cold, and ready for a minced pie.