Kettleshulme
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The charming Peak District village of Kettleshulme lies close to Cheshire's border with Derbyshire, in the valley of Todd Brook, which joins the Goyt Valley at Whaley Bridge. The Swan Inn, at the centre of the vilage, serves excellent food.
The Swan Inn, Kettleshulme
The Bowstones, an early Christian stone sculpture, are situated near to Kettleshulme. Nearby Windgather Rocks, which lie around one mile south-east of the village, is a high viewpoint and a popular location for walkers and climbers.
The Bowstones
OS Grid ref-SJ974814
The Bowstones, which are situated on the Gritstone Trail on Park Moor, are the upper parts of the shafts of double Anglo Saxon crosses and date to the ninth or tenth century. The stones were probably placed in their current position at Bow Stone Gate by Sir Piers Legh in the late sixteenth century perhaps as boundary markers or guide posts.
The western shaft is 1.22 metres high and tapers from circumference of 1.25m at the base to 0.86m at the top. The eastern shaft is 0.98m high and has a circumference of 1.27m. Both are decorated with interlaced carvings in a style that indicates a date of the 10th century or earlier. There is some later lettering engraved.
The crosses were most likely destroyed shortly after the Reformation in the mid sixteenth century. Two cross heads, now at Lyme Park, were discovered in a field near Disley Church in the nineteenth century and may belong to the shafts. The stones were probably erected in their current position at Bow Stone Gate by Sir Piers Legh in the late 16th century perhaps as boundary markers or guide posts.
Nearby places of interest
Dunge Valley Gardens are situated just to the west of Windgather Rocks and are well worth a visit, especially in April and May when the rhododendron's are in bloom.
Lyme Park situated in a spectacular moorland setting at Disley near Stockport on the edge of the Peak District National Park. The house and surrounding estate are owned by the National Trust.
Mellor Iron Age Fort Iron Age settlement discovered in the 1990's, occupied from the Bronze Age to the Romano-British period, featuring a reconstructed Iron Age roundhouse.