Crown Point
Few towns in Lancashire are escaped quicker than Burnley. It hardly matters in which direction you choose for you will soon be in a most appealing countryside. Try south; taking the first turn off Manchester Road on reaching the limits you will quickly arrive at Crown Point – aptly named for the views from here are majestic. Little wonder then that this site was chosen for a most striking piece of public art – “The singing Ringing Tree”.
Start: Picnic area Crown Point, on Crown Point Road. From Junction 9 M65 follow A679 towards Burnley. At first set of traffic lights turn right on A646 Rossendale Road. At the next set of traffic lights turn right onto the A682 Manchester Road. In 300m turn left onto Crown Point Road. The picnic area is on the left a further mile and a half along the road.
Summary: Distance: 10k 6m
Time: 2 ½ - 3 ½ hours
Terrain: For the most part the walk covers moorland following not always clear paths. Expect boggy sections at almost anytime of the year.
Map: OS OL 21 The South Pennines.
Map by kind permission of the Blackpool Gazette
Directions: Crown Point to Dunnockshaw: 4k 2 ½ m You may be drawn to the Singing Ringing Tree straight away but it makes a more fitting end to a walk. From the car park turn left and take a footpath to the right of a cattle grid.
To begin with this keeps roughly parallel to the road. Soon it is passing through a newly planted wood - part of the Forest of Burnley scheme. When the track divides fork right.
In a little over 300m the path reaches a junction. Here turn right. On a more substantial track continue to the next wall.
At this point you will join the Rossendale Way which comes in from your left, close to a much restored stone cross.
Here keep ahead along a broad, peaty track, passing below pylons.
Stay on this track for 900m with a wall on your left. As the way reaches the top of a rise approximately 750m from the pylons take a hardly discernable track on the right leading downhill towards Clowbridge Reservoir.
As you near the reservoir you will intercept a more definite track. Here turn left.
Once on it keep on it until you reach Manchester Road. Turn left and immediately enter the village of Dunnockshaw.
Dunnockshaw to Crown Point. 6k 4m Cross Manchester Road and after 200m take a footpath on the right.
This leads across a field to the edge of a farm complex.
Just before you reach it turn sharply right onto a track following the edge of a plantation. The track leads round to a bridge.
After crossing it head up a lane that has seen better days. On entering pasture keep ahead steadily climbing until you come to a stile giving out onto a service road.
Left leads up to the summit of Hameldon Hill but your way is right. You are now on the Burnley Way and will stay on it almost all the way back to Crown Point. After 700m branch off the service road to take a track leading behind cottages.
The way maintains a parallel course to the busy A682 for over 1000m before crossing it.
After the pastoral interlude to the west of the road, the way soon climbs into rough moorland. Great views open out with Pendle prominent to the north. Keep on the way until you reach Crown Point Road.
Turn right. After 600m take a footpath on the left that keeps close to the road leading you back to the car park. A short extension will bring you to the Singing Ringing Tree.
The Singing Ringing Tree is Burnley's panopticon - one of a number of pieces of public art scattered around Pennine Lancashire. As defined by the dictionary a panopticon "is a structure, space or device providing a comprehensive or panoramic view." This one at Crown Point certainly fits the bill.
Designed by award winning architects Tonkin Lui it is constructed from galvanised steel tubes and shaped to suggest a windblown hawthorn tree. The pipes are tuned to produce a melodic hum when the wind catches them. It is a piece of art that deserves to be recognised in much the same way as Anthony Gormley's "Angel of the North" and well worth visiting in its own right. The Singing Ringing Tree provides a wonderful climax to the walk.
