Footpaths

The parish of Holymoorside & Walton benefits from many miles of beautiful footpaths. Whilst the over-all responsibility of footpath maintenance lies with Derbyshire County Council, the parish council benefits from a minor maintenance agreement with them, which enables them to carry out minor repairs with the permission of the landowner and sanctioned by DCC.

To access a full map of the footpaths and bridleways in the parish please click / tap the button below to see the Derbyshire County Council Rights of Way portal.

Problems experienced with footpaths can be reported directly to either Derbyshire County Council Rights of way department or the parish council but you will need to provide as much information as possible, including the footpath number (see above portal).

To walk around the parish boundary is a full 14 miles and is historically known as ‘Beating the Bounds’. The walk visits eight inscribed boundary stones which were erected in 2000 to mark the Millennium, the first of which is to be found at the walk’s starting point, Holymoorside Village Hall car park. It is an ancient tradition which would have formerly been carried out across the land in an era before maps, GPS devices and satnavs. It involves an annual perambulation of the parish boundary in order to instil in younger generations where the outer edges of the parish lay, and ensure that there had been no encroachment by neighbouring parishes.

Although the annual walk now benefits from a ‘support vehicle’ to provide refreshments, this is a far cry from historic bound-beating walks, where children could be forcibly bumped on boundary stones, made to crawl through hedges or thrown into rivers as a way of drilling into them where the boundary points lay!

The annual summer walk offers a unique way for parishioners to experience their neighbourhood whilst providing a good opportunity for exercise and socialising. For more information please contact the Clerk.