Three Monuments Circular Walk From Chatsworth | 7.5 Miles

March 7, 2025 CIRCULAR WALKS, MEDIUM WALKS 4-9 MILES, PEAK DISTRICT WALKS, PEAK DISTRICT WALKS WITH PUBS

If you’re looking for a walk from Chatsworth that is packed with history, this Three Monuments circular walk is just the thing. The walk visits a number of interesting places including Nelson’s Monument (to commemorate the victory at Trafalgar) and Wellington’s Monument to the victory at Waterloo. There’s a trig point as well!

This walk visits Baslow Edge, where the Baslow highland cows can be found. If you see these cows, please don’t feed them or pester them.

Chatsworth House is one of the wonders of the Peak District. The current house was built in 1687 on the site of a former Elizabethan mansion built by William Cavendish and his wife Bess of Hardwick, built in 1552.

The walk starts from the Chatsworth car park and heads up through Stand Wood and up the steps to the Hunting Tower, which was constructed in the 1580s. Passing the tower the path heads north and picks up a track heading north through the woods. This track eventually leads to a gate, but just to the left of the gate is a really high stile leading into Dobb Edge.

The path is easy to follow over the fields and through the groups of trees, but is quite uneven in places. It leads down, over a bridge over Heathy Lee Brook, and emerges on the main B6050 road near the Robin Hood Inn. We passed the pub and the car park and picked up a footpath just after Robin Hood Farm. This footpath leads behind the buildings a short distance and then heads steeply up the hillside onto Birchen Edge.

Following the path along Birchen Edge, we reached the site of Nelson’s Monument. This was built to commemorate his battle at Trafalgar in 1810 and restored in 1992. Located nearby are the Three Ships, large rocks said to resemble the prows of ships, each carved with the name of one of Nelson’s ships.

The path carries on, passing the Birchen Edge trig point, and then heads over the moorland and through a very boggy field to reach the road. Once on the road, we turned left and crossed the crossroads, heading up the road over the bridge. There is a footpath on the left which leads onto Blackstone Edge – this is where we saw the famous Highland Cows as well as one of the Companion Stones.

One of the Companion Stones, this one shaped like a shark fin

We carried along Blackstone Edge to Wellington’s Monument, a stone cross on a rocky outcrop. This was erected in 1866 to commemorate the victory at Waterloo in 1815 by a local man, Dr Wrench.

From here you can take a detour to the Eagle Stone a short distance away (we didn’t on this walk).

The route then heads down the rough gravel track and onto Bar Road before heading downhill to the village of Baslow. We crossed the road, had a quick stop off for an ice cream (there are public loos here too next to the car park).

We continued towards the Cafe on the Green and over the bridge before turning right, passing a cluster of cottages and then Plantation Cottage. The path heads through the unusual Cannon Kissing Gate into the Chatsworth Park itself, where we saw one of the deer herds.

Queen Mary’s Bower was constructed in the 1570s and named after the captive Mary Queen of Scots who spent 15 years under the watch of Bess of Hardwick’s fourth husband, the Earl of Shrewsbury. She spent time at Chatsworth and may have used this as a raised exercise structure, although there is no firm evidence. The remains of a moat are visible from the days when this was a water garden.