Macclesfield Forest

The existing woodland is the last substantial remnant of the Royal Forest of Macclesfield, a once-extensive ancient hunting reserve.

Recreational uses of the area include walking, orienteering, horse riding, cycling, mountain biking, fishing and birdwatching.

[3][4] After the Norman Conquest, the modern area known as Macclesfield Forest formed part of the much larger region of the Royal forest of Macclesfield, a hunting reserve owned by the Earls of Chester, which formerly stretched from the foothills of the Pennines east into the High Peak near Whaley Bridge and south to Staffordshire Moorlands.

Tradition holds that poachers in the royal forest were executed at a nearby gallows, which might be the source of the name of the Hanging Gate public house, from the Norse gata, meaning "path".

[1] The forest is managed for timber by United Utilities, using a continuous cover policy (rather than clear felling and restocking).

[1] The woodland supports mosses and thirty species of fungi, including fly agaric, stinkhorns, honey fungus and the sickener.

[3] Other birds observed in the woodland include crossbills, siskins, goldcrests, pied flycatchers, garden warblers, blackcaps and woodcocks, while the reservoirs support abundant waterfowl including cormorants, coots, goldeneyes, pochard, mallards, tufted ducks, teal, great crested grebe, little grebe and common sandpipers.

[13][14] St Stephen's still holds a rush-bearing ceremony every August, in which rushes are cut from nearby fields and marshes and strewn on the church floor and plaited into decorations as a symbol of renewal.

Three circular walks of different lengths (0.5–5.5 miles or 1–9 km) are waymarked for exploration of the forest area; one is suitable for wheelchair access.

[1] There is a ranger station south of the Trentabank Reservoir (SJ961711), with car parking (including disabled spaces), public toilets, picnic area, benches and informative displays.

[1][3] There is limited wheelchair access, including an easy-access, stone-surfaced path to one of the Trentabank Reservoir herony viewing points.