Etherow Country Park is situated at

Compstall Compstall is a village in the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, Greater Manchester, England; it is situated between Marple Bridge and Romiley and is historically part of Cheshire. It was formerly a mill village, built by George Andrew in the 18 ...

, England, between

Marple Bridge Marple Bridge is a district of Marple, Greater Manchester, Marple in the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, Greater Manchester, England; it is sited on the River Goyt, which runs through the centre of the village. Historic counties of England, H ...

and

Romiley Romiley is a village in the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. Historically part of Cheshire, it borders Marple, Bredbury and Woodley. At the 2011 census, the Romiley ward, which includes Compstall, Bredbury Green an ...

, in the

Metropolitan Borough of Stockport The Metropolitan Borough of Stockport is a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester in North West England, south-east of central Manchester. As well as the towns of Stockport, Bredbury and Marple, it includes the outlying areas of Hazel Grov ...

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority, combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: City of Manchester, Manchester, City of Salford, Salford ...

. It is a Local Nature Reserve and the starting point of the

Goyt Way The Goyt Way is a walking route from Etherow Country Park, Greater Manchester, to Whaley Bridge, Derbyshire, following the valley of the River Goyt. It is part of the longer Midshires Way, which in turn is part of the E2 European long-distance p ...

. It was one of England's first

country park A country park is a natural area designated for people to visit and enjoy recreation in a countryside environment. United Kingdom History In the United Kingdom, the term ''country park'' has a special meaning. There are around 250 recognised coun ...

s. Originally it was an industrial area incorporating a mine, a mill and a mill pond. The

River Etherow The River Etherow is a river in northern England, and a tributary of the River Goyt. Although now passing through South Yorkshire, Derbyshire and Greater Manchester, it historically formed the ancient county boundary between Cheshire and Derby ...

flows through the park and is the source for the mill pond. With the decline of industry, the mill pond and park have become a nature reserve and a place for people to spend time walking and taking in the peaceful surroundings.

Reserve

Compstall - Etherow Country Park - Reservoir

Compstall Nature Reserve is a region of the park which is designated a

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of ...

(SSSI). The area was designated an SSSI in 1977 for its biological interest, in particular its wide range of habitats including open water, tall fen, reed swamp, carr and mixed deciduous

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with trees, or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the ''plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade (see ...

. The site is also of considerable

ornithological Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the "methodological study and consequent knowledge of birds with all that relates to them." Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and th ...

interest with

water rail The water rail (''Rallus aquaticus'') is a bird of the rail family which breeds in well-vegetated wetlands across Europe, Asia and North Africa. Northern and eastern populations are migratory, but this species is a permanent resident in the war ...

, an uncommon species, having been recorded. Etherow Country Park has many local groups associated with it. Etherow Country Park Sailing Club is a small sailing club which has good results nationally; in 2014 it finished 17th of 64 entrants in the

Southport 24 Hour Race The West Lancashire Yacht Club 24 Hour Race, has always been more commonly known as the Southport 24 Hour Race. The race is a national endurance race for classic sailing dinghies (Enterprise, GP14, Lark and Firefly) held in Southport, Mersey ...

. The Friends of Etherow are a small local community group; other groups include the anglers and the model boaters.

References

External links

Map of Compstall Nature Reserve SSSIEtherow Country Park website
Tourist attractions in the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport Parks and commons in the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport Country parks in Greater Manchester Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Greater Manchester Local Nature Reserves in Greater Manchester {{GreaterManchester-geo-stub