Peel Tower Woodland Walk

Peel Tower Woodland Walk / 3.22 miles/ 207m elevation change/ Moderate Hike/ Dog Friendly/ Family Friendly/ Not pushchair accessible.

Start Location Postcode BL8 4NN (free parking is available in the car park on Lumb Carr Road just to the south of Holcombe Village).


Welcome to this best of both walk where you can take in fantastic views over Greater Manchester, as well as the peaceful sights and sounds of Redisher wood. Please note, parts of this walk will not be accessible when a red flag live firing exercise is issued by the army base at Holcombe Moor, so please be mindful of this and look out for these red flags on your walk.

Start of the walk

The walk starts at the car park on Lumb Carr Road, just to the south of Holcombe Village. From here cross Lumb Car road and head through the gate onto the public footpath. At the end of the footpath, pass through the gate and turn right up Holcombe Old Road.

Continue up Holcombe old road until you reach a junction with Moorbottom Road on your left. Turn Left up Moorbottom Road and continue up the road for 50 yards until a bridleway appears on your right, taking you up towards Peel Tower. Turn right up the bridleway.

Follow the bridleway as it bends around to your left and starts to ascend up towards the Tower. Continue up the bridleway for 0.2 miles, taking in the fantastic views over Greater Manchester to your left. The bridleway will now start to level out, and  bend around to your right. Continue to follow it around and you will find yourself heading directly towards Peel Tower.

Now that you are at Peel tower, reward yourself by having a break and take in the views over the Rossendale Valley and Greater Manchester. On a clear day, you can see all the way to the Peak District to the South West of Manchester.

Now that you have recovered from your ascent up to Peel Tower, follow the path into the moorland directly behind Peel Tower, heading off to the east. Continue along this path, for 0.2 miles, until you reach a gate in the wall in front of you. Pass through the gate and immediately turn left, descending down off the moorland.

At this point you will find that you have some amazing views, off to the east, over Turton and Edgeworth, with Winter Hill in the distance. Follow the path as it descends down off the moorland. Be careful with your footing at this point as the path does start to get rather steep.

You will eventually reach a gate in the fence in front of you. Pass through the gate, follow the path to the left and continue to descend down the side of the hill.

This path will eventually reach a junction with a bridleway. Follow the bridleway to the left until you reach a gate on the bridleway and a style to your right. Climb over the style to your right, taking the footpath through the farm field. Please note, if you have a dog with you, please have it on a lead as there is livestock in this field.

Follow the path as it starts to bend around to the right and head towards the strange looking style over the fence. Climb over the style taking extra care with your footing here. Once over the style, follow the path to the right and start to descend into the woodland. Continue along the path for 50 yards until you reach a fork in the path. Take the left path that descends down the valley side and deeper into the woodland.

Continue along the path, for 0.1 miles, until you reach the valley floor where you will find yourself at a junction between two paths, and a gate to your right. Pass through the gate and follow the path to the right of the large tree.

Follow the path as it ascends up the grass banking, towards the ancient farm buildings. At this point, you may have to take a diversion.

If red flags are flying on the army base on the hill in front of you, take the path to your left and continue along this path for 0.5 miles, until it descends into Redisher Woods and meets at footpath on it’s right. If you have chosen this route, please continue to follow the directions from the *.

If there are no red flags, once you reach the farm buildings, take the path to the right and then almost immediately take the bridleway on your left as it heads east towards the gate at the entrance to the woodland.

Pass through the gate, and follow the bridleway as it descends into the woodland. After 200 yards, you will reach a junction in the bridleway, follow the bridleway to the left  and head towards the weir crossing the stream. Take the stepping stones, and cross the stream.

After 100 yards a path will appear on the left, take this path and head towards the gate that has the “out of bounds” sign on it. Do not worry, you can pass through this gate when there are no red flags.

Pass through the gate and follow the path, crossing the bridge, and head up the banking on the far side of the stream. You will now follow this path for 0.5 miles passing an old mill pond to your right, passing through a gate at the end of the mill pond, and descending further into Redisher wood.

*After 0.5 miles you will reach a junction with 2 bridges. If you take the smaller bridge to the left, you can head up the path for 20 yards for a fantastic photo opportunity of a waterfall. If you don’t fancy this, take the large bridge to the right and follow the bridleway until you reach a bridge on your left, cross this bridge.

Once over the bridge, follow the path to the right and continue to follow it, keeping the stream on your right, as it descends further into the wood.

After 0.2 miles, a large construction site appears, with the path forking around the site. Take the path up the banking to the left, keeping the construction site on your right.

Follow this path for 0.2 miles until you reach a junction with Holcombe old road on your left. You are now nearing the end of your walk and there is a perfect opportunity for some refreshments. If you fancy a pint and some snacks, continue down the path until you reach Bolton Road West. Here you will find the Hare and Hounds pub on your right where you can have a refreshments pitstop.

Once you have had your pitstop, head back to the junction between the footpath and Holcombe Old road.

Turn up Holcombe Old Road and ascend up the cobbled road for 0.5 miles, crossing the junction with Branch Road as you do so.

After 0.5 miles, you will start to recognise the road and notice you have been here before, and you will find the small footpath on your right that leads back to Lumb Carr Road. Take the footpath and head towards Lumb Carr Road. Once your reach the road you will see a car park where you started the walk, straight in front of you. Congratulations, you have completed the Peel Tower Woodland Walk.



3 thoughts on “Peel Tower Woodland Walk

  1. Having walked Peel Tower it was a. Rey pleasant find to discover the peaceful and rewarding landscape of the valley beyond and Redisher Woods with its hidden gems. As one knows the start to Peel Tower gets the heart going but it mostly downhill on the other side.


  2. Fantastic walk today and easy to follow instructions. We used it for a ‘Friends of Forest’ group dog walk and it was lovely.

    Thank you


  3. Love photos. Holcombe Old Road was one of my routes home after getting off the bus at Holcombe Brook. No stone setts on the road then, they are a modern improvement. It was mud & puddles except in a dry summer. Setts are rectangular & flat, cobbles are round. Not much walking for pleasure for us in those days; walking was necessary to get to places we needed to be, even when Holcombe was served by buses. A cottage on Moorbottom Rd. was occupied until WW2. A ruined farm was Taylor’s Tenement. A family named Taylor, son & his father, lived there + at nearby Clarke’s Tenement in 19th century, although it was Taylor’s Tenement before they lived at it. The father previously lived at Simon’s, near Redisher Lane. They were small farmers, weavers and quarrymen. The name of a grandson, Walter Taylor is on the war memorial in Holcombe church lychgate. Thanks for the reminder about dogs on leads. Several of our sheep on Holcombe Moor near our farm were killed by dogs in a short time on a February day when I was young. We followed trails of blood across the snow and found a dead or badly injured sheep at the end of each trail. Mostly throat injuries so they didn’t have a chance. Some uninjured survivors miscarried in the weeks after. Btw it’s stile not style. A person on another website had to have the meaning of stile explained to her this week.


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