Etherow Country Park, 10am

Etherow Country Park is located in a village called Compstall; between Marple and Romiley all situated in Stockport, Greater Manchester.

The Park itself first of all started off as part of the “Andrews” estate originating in the 1820’s.  At the time it incorporated a mine, a cotton mill and the lake.

Later on in 1968 it became one of England’s first country parks, and now attracts over a quarter million visitors a year.  They come to enjoy the natural beauty of ancient woodland along the river valley; in the foothills of the Peak District National Park.

Mr George Andrew originally built the mill and made the man made lake (Canal).  He also required a large workforce for the operation of the mill; so George also built a lot of the houses, along with the Church and School.

Also a lot of the street names are named after members of the Andrew’s family.

Etherow Country Park has steadily grown over the years, and now covers an area of around 200 acres.  It lies at the heart of the Etherow-Goyt Valley, this is also the start of The Goyt Way, which is a 10 mile walk to Whaley Bridge.

The River Etherow flows through the park which is the source for the lakes and was originally used as a reservoir to power the water wheel; which in turn provided motorized power for the cotton mill.  Later on, they used the canal to transport coal for heating and keeping the cotton dry, via a horse drawn canal barge from further downstream.

One of the water wheels (Big Lily) that powered the mill would use 50 million gallons of water per day; which would come down the canal and pass through what is now the car park to drive “Big Lilly”Etherow Country Park has a Pay and Display car park with 85 spaces.

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