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 Frodsham to Willington Route Description  17km (10.7 miles)
 Frodsham to Willington Map
This route starts from Frodsham, passing Woodhouse Hill Fort and Alvanley Cliff, through Delamere Forest Park and into Willington.
| A steep climb from Frodsham town centre up to the War Memorial is rewarded with impressive views over the Mersey estuary, to the distinctive Liverpool skyline beyond.
From here, the Trail skirts a series of sandstone outcrops. Birch and oak woodland clothe the steep slopes, carpeted with ferns and bluebells in the Sprint. Once, the path dropped into Dunsdale Hollow down Jacob's Ladder, a steep staircase carved into the rock, but today there is an easier route. |
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Look out for the remains of Woodhouse Hill Fort. Several iron age families would have lived in huts within the fort, built to take advantage of the commanding views. Snidley Moor Wood is now managed by The Woodland Trust for nature conservation. Volunteers have cleared some of the rhododendron and replanted the banks with oak and other native trees.
The Trail follows the edge of the woodland along Alvanley Cliff. Particularly fine sandstone was quarried locally and used to rebuild Chester Castle and Eaton Hall. Potatoes were traditionally grown in the small fields in this area, which was handy for local markets.
New Pale at Manley Common was enclosed from the forest by a paling fence, in the seventeenth century. Delamere Forest Park is just a small remnant of the ancient hunting forest of Mara & Mondrum, used for hunting by the Earls of Chester and later the King. A cleared area just beyond Barnsbridge Gates gives a feeling of what the wildwood would have been like when wild boar roamed.
Kings Chair, the quarry to the east of Nettleford Wood, is thought to have been the source of stone for Vale Royal Abbey, built between 1277 & 1300. Just before the A54 the Trail crosses the line of Watling Street, the Roman road from Chester to Manchester. The A54 itself follows the old turnpike road. Travellers would have stopped at the cottage at Gresty's Waste to pay their tolls.
Much of Primrosehill Wood has been cleared in recent years, leading to an impressive flush of foxgloves in the summer. Weird and wonderful fungi follow in the autumn, including strange stinkhorns with their distinctive aroma.
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