Torrs Millennium Walkway
New Mills is a small town 15 miles east of Manchester and situated on the north-western edge of the Derbyshire Peak District. With a population now of 10,000, New Mills was first an area for coal mining, then for cotton spinning and then bleaching and calico printing. The town was served by the nearby Peak Forest Canal, three railway lines and the A6 trunk road. New Mills sits on top of The Torrs, a dramatic 70 foot deep gorge cut through sandstone at the confluence of the River Goyt and River Sett. Nestled in a bend of the River Goyt is Torr Vale Mill, a Grade II listed building. The Torrs Millennium Walkway, overlooking the mill, was built at a cost of £525,000 by Derbyshire County Council and opened in April 2000. The walkway spans the cliff wall above the River Goyt which was previously inaccessible. Part rises from the riverbed on stilts and part is cantilevered off the railway retaining wall. It provides the final link in the 225-mile Midshires Way long distance footpath which extends all the way from Buckinghamshire in the south to Stockport near Manchester.