The Cage at Lyme Park looks every inch a sinister prison. But was it? Built in the 1520s as a watchtower it was restored as a viewing point and banqueting house. Horses could be ridden into the ground floor and from the upper rooms the ladies looked out on the deer hunt. And how did the Cage get its name? Well perhaps the building resembled a birdcage, but if poachers were once locked up here they got off lightly, for in earlier times they would have been shot.
LOCATION: Lyme Park. 6 miles south-east of Stockport
START: Rams Head pay & display car park on A6 Grid ref: SJ973845 Postcode: SK122AE
DISTANCE: 4.5 miles
GRADE: Easy, but with a climb up to the Cage
TIME: 2.5 hours
MAP: Outdoor Leisure - Dark Peak Landranger 109
REFRESHMENTS: Lyme Hall
EN ROUTE: St Mary's Church, Deer
This walk was originally published by
The Manchester Evening News