13 members of the rambling group met today at Ormskirk station to follow the route made by the War Horses to Lathom Chapel and then onward following a circular route back to Ormskirk, a distance of just over 8 1/2 miles. Leaving the station via the path alongside the car park, we exited onto Dark Lane and then crossed the busy main road to take the road past Ormskirk Golf club.
Continuing along here we travelled a very potholed road ( hopefully the residents have 4×4 vehicles!) stopping to chat to some very friendly donkeys, before taking the road to Lathom Chapel. Owing to its proximity to the port of Liverpool, Lord Lathom of Latham House ,near Ormskirk, gave over Lathom Park as a remount depot. The early days of the 1st world war showed that as much as it was a conflict involving people, it was a war in which the horse played a major role. While it was quickly realised that cavalry troops were not much use against barbed wire and heavy shelling, horses performed a vital service transporting provisions and material up to the front lines.
Horses and mules arriving from Canada at the start of the war and later from the USA were transported by train to Ormskirk station and from there led the final two-and-a-half miles of their long journey to Lathom Park where their suitability for war service was assessed. Of the 215,000 horses and mules that arrived at Lathom Park, all but 5,000 ended up supporting the military effort, although this number is an estimate the memorial at the entrance to Lathom Park indicates that the number of animals to pass through the remount centre could exceed 300,000.
Sadly the chapel was not open today, but we took the opportunity to have a quick snack break, admire the rows of Alms Houses in grounds of the chapel and then follow the path down to the main road to continue our ramble.
From here we crossed the fields at Watkinsons Farm to follow the paths towards the previous Needless Inn Barn, now a very desirable country house. Reaching Blythe Lane we skirted the woodland then followed the meandering stream through the fields, crossing a coupe of footbridges and stiles to reach Mill Dam Lane and then onward through the only mud we encountered on todays walk. Having peered at the ruins of Burscough Priory we walked through the now redeveloped Abbey Farm caravan park which is now home to a selection of beautiful static holiday homes which are for sale at a snip of a starting price of £45,995. Leaving the park we took a moment to view the site of the Ancient Priory Cross, before continuing our route back to Sandy Lane and onto Lady’s walk. This wide uphill path leads to the old gas pumping station before exiting onto Cross Hall brow. Rather than follow the road back into Ormskirk we chose to continue towards Ruff Wood and exit by Edge Hill University., and onward to the town centre. Here the group split to find their own refreshment stop with the majority going to the refashioned Ormskirk indoor market now rebranded as a food and drink market. Suitably refreshed we continued onto the station for our return to Maghull.
Due to injuries of various walk leaders the planned programme has been amended somewhat, however hopefully from April we can pick up our published programme with more challenging routes.