A walk of about three miles, taking about an hour and a half.
General conditions and accessibility:
Village paths as well as paths around and across former grazing land and the reinstated quarry areas. A mixture of tarmac paths, firm granite chip walks and uneven muddy surfaces with some kissing gates to pass through.
Start and Finish:
Butter Market, Market Place, Mountsorrel, LE12 7BA
OR
The Green, opposite the Memorial Centre, Mountsorrel, LE12 7AG
Parking:
Mountsorrel Memorial Centre LE12 7AG OR Little Lane, LE12 7BA
(To get to the Butter Market from the Memorial Centre turn right and keep walking until you reach the domed building – the Butter Market. From the entrance to Little Lane turn right and walk towards the Butter Market OR turn right towards The Green)
Public Transport:
Start/finish points are on regular bus routes: Arriva 127 – Shepshed / Leicester; Winsons X26 – Loughborough / Rothley; Roberts 27 – Loughborough / Asda, Thurmaston
Eat, drink and toilet facilities:
Sorrel Youth Cafe (near Memorial Centre), The Green (Mon-Fri 9am-2pm),
Butter Market Cafe, Market Place (Mon-Fri 9am-3pm; Sat 9am-2pm).
There are public toilets in the Library (Church House) during opening hours, opposite the Memorial Centre.
Granite’s Coffee shop at Mountsorrel & Rothley Community Heritage Centre (about half way around) Swithland Lane, LE7 7UE (Every day all year 10am-5pm)
The Walk:
Either 1) From the Library
Photo A
walk up the Green towards Christ Church and then turn right up the Navins. Go past the former National School and former Quarry Cottage Hospital to
3) the junction of Watling St and Cufflins Pit Lane.
OR
2) From the Butter Market in Market Place
Photo B
walk up Watling St following the route of the Leicestershire Round to
3) the junction of Watling St and Cufflin’s Pit Lane. Go though the gateway into Cufflin’s Pit Lane……………………
Photo C
continuing along the route of the Leicestershire Round. Walk along the edge of the former Broad Hill (Mountsorrel No. 1 or Main) Quarry now reinstated and heavily covered at this southern side with Hawthorn and Blackthorn. Follow along the path, going past a smallholding – the site of Christ Church School allotments during World War II. To the left are the remnants of Enclosure Act fields on which medieval rig (ridge or rig) and furrow field cultivation is still just visible. The path deviates to the left slightly from its original route caused by the expansion of Broad Hill Quarry during the 20th Century.
4) At a sharp right-hand turn the remains of Cufflin’s Pit are under scrub growth on the right. Follow the path (now bending to the left having picked up its original route) and go past the turning on the right to a permissive path over the top of the reinstated quarry to Albert – a sculpture celebrating the work of Mountsorrel Quarrymen over the centuries.
[If you have time this is worth the diversion for the view across the valley of the river Soar and to Nottingham and Derby in the north and Leicester in the south] Continue along Cufflin’s Pit Lane until…………
5) the gate at the junction with Bond Lane
Photo D
Head west (left) along Bond Lane crossing over the bridge of the former mineral line that ran into the back of the quarry and connected it with the Great Central Line at Swithland.
6) Pass the new Mountsorrel Station on the left, go through a new field gate and take the newly laid path to the junction with Wood Lane. On the right you will pass the main part of Mountsorrel Common. Just before this new path turns left go through the field gate (on the right) and
7) head to the right along Wood Lane leading towards Quorn. After 100 yards there is a double bend road sign and just before it on the left is
Photo E
8) Buddon Wood Farm Path, a further permissive path taking a short circular route through the western edge of Mountsorrel Common and up the side of the reinstated eastern edge of Buddon Wood.
This area is still rather raw although the mixed birch plantation is developing. Beyond is the current Mountsorrel Quarry in what was Buddon Wood. Quarry development and re-instatement work is still in progress here but is safely fenced off from the pathway. In summer the open flank of the hill above the Common is rich with butterflies and Common Orchids have been found in the area.
Returning through the kissing gate walk back through the Common to Wood Lane
9) and turn right heading towards Cropston and Swithland.
10) Rejoin the path that you left previously and head south parallel with Swithland Lane, past, on the right, the donkey field, Rushy Lane and Kinchley Lane, coming out at
11) the Mountsorrel & Rothley Community Heritage Centre. This development linked to the Mountsorrel Railway sits on the site of what was Dobb Hall and Kinchley Hill quarry. The Centre has a wildlife area and information displays about Mountsorrel and Rothley and is focussed on industrial heritage.
Continue south a few yards then
12) turn left into Halstead Rd. Head east and past Centenary Pastures, an unimproved flower-rich pasture managed for wildlife. Pass on your right, Walton Way and Balmoral Rd junctions.
13) At Fort Rd turn left through a gateway……….
Photo F
into the playing fields. Head straight across through the trees making for a path the other side of a granite outcrop between the Skate Park and swings.
Walk up this path until you reach
14) Cufflin’s Pit corner and then turn right back along Cufflin’s Pit Lane. As you pass the smallholding on your right look for a path on the right at the end of the blackthorn hedge
.
Photo G
15) Take this path over a small granite outcrop and follow it down to the left and
16) through the “Rocks and Scillies”. This hollow area, quarried in the distant past, is now heavily wooded and was frequently used by villagers for church and social events in the early/mid 20th Century. Follow the path down to the Navins past
17) the wildflower meadow developed over the last ten years by the Mountsorrel Heritage Group and retrace your steps either toward the Green or the Buttermarket.
Prepared by John Doyle (1st July 2017)