Bishop's Walk
Orginally there was no footpath alongside New Street between the Church and St Cuthbert’s school. A route that the Bishop might have needed to walk several times a week. The land to the east of New Street is several metres below the road level which necessitated a distinctive footpath behind the wall in the 1911 photo. Not much has been recorded about the building of this footpath or why another path was also built on the roadside. The term Bishop’s Walk later became associated with this parcel of land below the road when it became a nature trail and provided another route between the Church and the School through the woods..
Bishop’s Walk is now a half acre of community woodland in the centre of the village on the eastern side of Halsall Road. It is not obvious but Halsall Road at this point is a bridge with a significant embankment crossing a dip in the landscape caused by the brook.
There are features in the brook which indicates there used to be a dam here, creating a pond on the eastern side to support a long since vanished water mill. It is said that in colder winters there were ice-skating competitions on the pond.
In 1988 the Halsall Wildlife Garden Society ( since defunct) wanted to develop a more diverse range of habitats, including scrub, hedges, grassland and a wet area in order to support more wildlife. It was also intended to be used by children from St Cuthbert’s school as a nature area, funds were raised and paths laid with the help of the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers.
Alfie Bramwell, a Halsall History group member, organised delivery of tree whips and these were planted out.
In 2005 the Halsall Environment Group was formed, also known as Halsall Proud and Tidy group for their work in entering the village in the Lancashire Best Kept Village competition. Maintaining and developing Bishop’s Walk is one of their primary responsibilities.
A special service was held on 23rd September 2012 for the consecration and re-dedication of Bishop’s Walk.
The Parent Teachers Association of the school have raised funds to build some paved areas for tables and benches to create outdoor classroom areas.
More recently funds were raised to replace the wooden steps down into the nature area with paved steps and create a ramp for wheelchair access. After 30+ years some of the trees have been thinned out to allow for planting of woodland flowers.
