PREHISTORIC man preferred the uplands to the swampy valleys below.

Evidence of this can be seen in the various cairns and tumuli, the burial mounds of ancient man, that litter the higher slopes of the West Pennine Moors.

Many of these features are marked on the OS maps which allow great explorations for walkers.

This walk heads to the boggy plateau of Cheetham Close, upon which are the largely lost and fragmented remains of a Bronze Age stone circle.

This walk also visits the historic Turton Tower and passes by the site of the old Chapeltown station, which closed in the 1960s.

1. Turn right out of the car park entrance and cross over the ornate railway bridge following the access drive uphill.

At the T-junction of routes turn right and continue along the access drive until a wooden kissing gate is reached in a wall on the right at a crossroads of paths.

Turn left here opposite the gate and follow the distinct waymarked path uphill through pastures with a farm and pond on the right.

Enter a woodland at a stile. Go straight ahead through the trees, crossing a stile to continue straight ahead across the moor with a wall on the left.

You reach a wooden kissing gate on the moor at the top left wall corner.

2. Go through the kissing gate and turn sharp right to cross the moor and reach the trig point on Cheetham Close.

As well as a good viewpoint you can explore the remains of the prehistoric stone circle here.

Continue straight ahead from here to the stile in the wall and drop slightly downhill to the flat plateau path, which can be boggy. This leads to another distinct path running left to right along a ruined wall by an old Bolton Waterworks metal post.

3. Turn right here and follow the line of a ruined wall. When the wall changes direction and turns left, turn diagonally left downhill to a stile in the bottom right wall corner.

Cross this and go straight ahead across a boggy area. The distinct path soon swings left to a stile in a fence.

Cross this and continue straight ahead to reach a farm track close to where it meets the B6391 on the left.

4. Turn right along the farm track here and follow it gradually downhill for about one mile, passing Clough House Farm to reach the crossroads of paths and the kissing gate in the wall passed earlier in the walk.

Turn left here through the wooden kissing gate and follow the path downhill with the wall on the right.

Go through the gate at the bottom of the hill and cross the Bolton-Blackburn railway line with care to join the lane passing houses on the right. They have been built on the site of the old Turton Station.

5. As you pass the houses on the right turn right through the gap in the wall behind the houses and the path leads back through gates to Turton Tower.

The tower is passed on the right and the the path leads back to the rear of the car park.

n Nick Burton will be leading a series of Saturday morning history walks in March. Check out the programme at www.allroutesnorth.co.uk