Brook, stone and open country
Butterton
A small Staffordshire Moorlands village where the Hoo Brook runs along the cobbled street and walks reach into the Manifold Valley.
- Best for
- Walking, cycling and quiet village character
- Give it
- A village-and-valley day
- Don't miss
- The Hoo Brook ford along the cobbled street
The Fox verdict
A village shaped by water and walking
Butterton pairs an unusual brook-filled street with a church, a characterful pub and direct links to the Manifold landscape.
Come for the ford running through the village, then stay for the contrast between sandstone cottages, St Bartholomew's spire and the former railway line of the Manifold Way. Longer outings reach Thor's Cave and the copper-mining landscape of Ecton Hill, while the Black Lion gives the village a natural post-walk stop.
Where to go
Places in Butterton
Every place below is checked against a published source, listed with what it is and how long to give it.
Local signatures
3 placesManifold Way
An approximately eight-mile, mainly traffic-free trail on the former Leek and Manifold Valley Light Railway, used by walkers, cyclists and riders and described as level and family-friendly.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: allow around 120 minutes for a chosen section
- Locality
- Manifold Valley near Butterton
Ecton Hill Mining Landscape
A 1,212-foot hill whose walking landscape reflects centuries of copper and lead mining and the packhorse routes that carried ore from the valley.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: allow around 120 minutes
- Locality
- Ecton Hill and the Manifold Valley
Wetton Mill Cafe
A riverside café at Wetton Mill in the Manifold Valley.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: allow around 45 minutes
- Locality
- Wetton Mill, near Wetton
Food & drink
1 placeThe Black Lion Inn
A traditional village country pub with rooms, low beams, open fires, candlelight, hearty handmade food and a spacious beer garden.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: allow around 90 minutes
- Locality
- next to St Bartholomew's Church
- Access
- Dogs are welcome in the bar and beer garden.
Walks & outdoors
1 placeThor's Cave & Wetton Valley Walk
Paths from Butterton lead toward Thor's Cave, a limestone cavern above the Manifold Valley. Check the chosen route before setting out.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: allow at least half a day for a chosen route
- Locality
- Thor's Cave and the Wetton Valley
History & heritage
1 placeSt Bartholomew's Church
A Grade II listed church rebuilt in 1871–73, with an 1879 spire, an 1846 William Hill organ and a memorial to three men who died in an 1842 mineshaft rescue attempt.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: allow around 30 minutes
- Locality
- Butterton
No places match this filter. Choose All places to reset the list.
Three ways to explore Butterton
Signature outings
Eat at the Black Lion
Choose hearty handmade food, cask ale and the spacious beer garden at Butterton's traditional country pub.
Make for Thor's Cave
Plan a route from Butterton toward the limestone cavern and its Manifold Valley views; check the chosen path before setting out.
Find the rescue memorial
Inside St Bartholomew's, find the plaque to the three men who died during an 1842 mineshaft rescue attempt.
The village story
Butterton Village Guide
A brook-filled street, sandstone lanes and old routes into the Manifold landscape.
Brook, Stone and Valley
A ford runs the length of the cobbled street through the centre of Butterton. Not a picturesque trickle at the edge of things — the Hoo Brook comes down the middle, and cars have to turn and drive along the bed of it before turning out again at the other end. Children paddle where the traffic goes. It is the sort of arrangement most villages tidied away a century ago and Butterton simply kept.
The lanes climbing away from the brook are lined with sandstone cottages, and at the top sits St Bartholomew's Church with the pub next door. This is a small sandstone village in the Staffordshire Moorlands, inside the Peak District, about 5.6 miles east of Leek in a straight line, and it looks out over the Manifold Valley and the bulk of Ecton Hill.
The Black Lion and What Remains
The Black Lion Inn is the one place to eat and drink, and it earns the position. Matt and Hannah Grimsey took it over in June 2019 — Matt cooks, Hannah runs the front — and the food is, in their words, hearty and hand made. The fish and chips comes in a real-ale batter; the pork and feta burger is £12.50, the treacle tart £5.50. Moorlands Eater said "the real ale batter was so light and crispy that ID actually ate all of it which he almost never does." Low beams, open fires, candlelight, and a spacious beer garden that makes sense after a walk. Dogs are welcome in the bar and the garden. There are three en-suite rooms upstairs if you want to stay put.
Almost everything else the village once had is gone. There was a butcher, a general store, a tea room and a post office within living memory; the school closed in 1979 and became the village hall. The loss is part of the character now rather than a wound.
Tracks, Hills and Vanished Industry
The walking is why most people come. The Manifold Way — a level, traffic-free trail laid along a railway line that closed in 1934 — runs through the nearby Manifold Valley, good for bikes and children. From the village, paths lead toward Thor's Cave, a vast free-to-enter limestone cavern above the valley; check the chosen route before setting out. Ecton Hill, all 1,212 feet of it, was copper and lead country from the seventeenth century, worked under the Duke of Devonshire and drained of ore along packhorse routes.
The name means butter hill, from the Old English for the good dairy pasture up here. There was briefly a sulphurous spring at the foot of the village in the 1850s, thought to help with scurvy; it has since vanished, along with the mines and the railway.
Spire, Memory and Wakes
The spire on St Bartholomew's went up in 1879 and is, by Wikipedia's account, "one of the newest spires in the Peak District." Inside is a plaque to three men — Joseph Wood, Rowland Cantrill and William Hambleton — who died in 1842 trying to pull Joseph Shenton out of a disused mineshaft.
Every August bank holiday the village holds Butterton Wakes, and has done for over a hundred years, the takings going to the hall and the church.
Stay around Peak District
Make a longer stay of it
Travel Fox holiday homes around Peak District, linked directly to their property pages.
Leek
Lisa's House Leek: 20mins Alton Towers
- Sleeps 6
- 2 bedrooms
Leek
The Rudyard Suite - Large 1 Bed Apartment
- Sleeps 5
- 1 bedroom
Leek
The Roaches Suite - Large 2 Bedroom Apartment
- Sleeps 7
- 2 bedrooms
Leek
The Moorlands Suite - 1 Bed Apartment
- Sleeps 4
- 1 bedroom
Leek
Amy's House: 20mins Alton Towers
- Sleeps 6
- 2 bedrooms
For homeowners
Own a holiday home near Butterton?
We manage holiday lets across the Peak District from 12% commission, charged after cleaning costs, with no lock-in. A co-founder visits before you decide.
Holiday let management in the Peak District →
A guide with a point of view
Written from research. Edited for real journeys.
Use the Official site links for live practical details, then use this guide for context, ideas and room to explore.
Sources
Every place on this page is checked against a published source. Each entry links the record we used and names who publishes it.
- The Black Lion Inn — blacklioninn.co.uk operator, sector body or destination organisation
- St Bartholomew's Church — achurchnearyou.com national body or asset manager
- Manifold Way — peakdistrict.gov.uk statutory register or public authority record not machine-readable; publisher restricts automated access
- Thor's Cave & Wetton Valley Walk — peakdistrict.gov.uk statutory register or public authority record not machine-readable; publisher restricts automated access
- Ecton Hill Mining Landscape — historicengland.org.uk statutory register or public authority record not machine-readable; publisher restricts automated access
- Wetton Mill Cafe — peakdistrict.gov.uk statutory register or public authority record not machine-readable; publisher restricts automated access