A steady, easy-going walk with a moderate climb near the start and two steep steps to negotiate; beginning at the popular village of Hathersage and heading out to Brontë Cottage and North Lees before returning to the village church and the site of Little John’s Grave in Hathersage.
Bronte Cottage Walk Overview
Distance: 3.75 Miles (6 km)
Total Ascent: 636ft / 194m
Time: 1 hr 55min
Map: Ordnance Survey OL1 (The Peak District – Dark Peak Area)
Get this route on the OS maps website & app
The time is loosely based on Naismith’s Rule and will vary depending on the walker.
Getting There
By Car:
Pay & Display parking in the Oddbottle Road car park in Hathersage (S32 1DU)
Alternatively, if the car park is full there is a lay-by on the main A6187 west of Hathersage (on the left if you are heading west towards Bamford). You can park in this lay-by (free), cross the road and head east towards Hathersage, turn left at a footpath and stile, and head diagonally up fields, crossing the railway at the crossing point, and continuing diagonally uphill to reach Jaggers Lane and pick up the walk at paragraph 2
Public Transport:
Hathersage is served by the bus service 272 Sheffield-Castleton and also by the Sheffield-Manchester stopper train services
Hathersage to Bronte Cottage Walk Directions
From the car park, turn right on Oddfellows Road then right again on the B6001. Follow this road to the T-junction opposite the George Hotel. Cross the main road and turn left, then bear right heading up Jaggers Lane. Follow Jaggers Lane and keep straight ahead at a T-junction with a road to your right signposted ‘Stanage Moor’.
Pass a cottage on your left with a millstone in front of it, then pass a Public Footpath on your left, staying on the road.
If you choose the lay-by parking outside Hathersage you join the walk from this footpath and head left along the road
Continue west along the road to pass Sunny Bank Cottages on your right, then turn right up the Public Footpath, climbing steps and continuing uphill along a narrow path. Go through a metal gate and emerge at a tarmac drive.
Continue straight ahead with views to your left, with the gritstone of Bamford Edge at approximately 10 o’clock; farther left the pimple of Win Hill Pike
When you reach the end of the tarmac drive, keep straight ahead. Go through a metal gate and along the path between fences. Cross a stile and keep straight ahead, bearing slightly left to a gate into a small field. Cross the field and head through the gate opposite, cross a drive then over a stile. Continue in the same direction up the field to pass through a metal gate, after which turn right to a wooden gate and fingerpost.
Go through the wooden gate to the road and turn right, heading back downhill. very soon meet a road junction. Turn left along Birley Lane and follow the road. Pass Birley Farm on your right and stay on Burley Lane as it drops down, shaded by trees. Pass Brookfield Manor; the inspiration for Vale Hall in Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre. As you head farther down Birley Lane, Stanage Edge comes into view on the hillside.
Eventually, Birley Lane bears right over a small bridge. Stay on the lane and pass Brontë Cottage on your left. The cottage name references Charlotte Brontë’s stay at the Hathersage vicarage in 1845. Much of the landscape and buildings around this area were used as the setting for Jane Eyre
From Brontë Cottage walk to Little John’s Grave
Continue past Brontë cottage to a public footpath on your right opposite the entrance to North Lees Hall and Farm (“Thornfield Hall” in the novel). Turn right on the footpath, down two very steep steps, then bear right again onto a wider track.
Follow the Public Footpath signs guiding you, rising left of the track and between two fences left of farm buildings. Pass through a hand gate, and continue along, going through two more gates, passing left of a footpath marker post. Head through another gate at the end of a stone wall which drops down from the left.
The path bears slightly right to drop down the field. St. Michael and All Angels church soon comes into view
Continue past Brontë cottage to a public footpath on your right opposite the entrance to North Lees Hall and Farm (“Thornfield Hall” in the novel). Turn right on the footpath, down two very steep steps, then bear right again onto a wider track.
Follow the Public Footpath signs guiding you, rising left of the track and between two fences left of farm buildings. Pass through a hand gate, and continue along, going through two more gates, passing left of a footpath marker post, and through another gate at the end of a stone wall which drops down from the left.
The path then bears slightly right to drop down the field with St. Michael and All Angels church coming into view
Through Hathersage to Return to the Start
Leaving the grave site, bear left and walk downhill through the churchyard with a wall to your right. Exit the churchyard by the gate, turn left then immediately right to descend the clear gravel path. Pass through 2 gates and down to the bottom of the path. Pass through the gate and turn left onto the unsurfaced vehicle track.
On reaching Besom Lane, turn right and drop to the main road through Hathersage. Follow the road right, past the petrol station then turn left at the George Hotel to head back to the car park.
If you chose the lay-by parking option outside Hathersage, follow the directions in the first 2 paragraphs to reach the cottage and millstone, then turn left down the footpath to retrace your steps back to your starting point