The Four Inns Walk Tragedy of 1964
Four kilometres down Hern Clough the River Alport runs through a steep valley where there are two memorials to three Rover Scouts who died while taking part in the Four Inns Walk in March 1964.
There are two Memorials:
– Scout Memorial below Grindlesgrain Tor (Upper)
– Scout Memorial by River Alport (Lower)
The Four Inns Walk is a 40 mile hike/run organised by the Scout Association. The inns are the Isle of Skye Inn (site) in Holmbridge, the Snake Pass Inn, Nags Head Inn Edale and the Cat and Fiddle Inn near Buxton.
In March 1964 three Rover Scouts aged 19 to 21 were one team amongst 80 teams of participants in the Four Inns Walk. They became lost in a snowstorm and missed an important turning in Hern Clough on the Pennine Way which would have taken them to a checkpoint and safety at the summit of the Snake Pass.
They failed to check in.at Snake Pass, the second of four checkpoints.
Wintry weather conditions in March 1964 were extreme and the equipment carried by the Scouts would have been inadequate for deep snow and the swollen River Alport which they had to cross repeatedly. They were finally too exhausted to continue, probably with no idea of where they were. Ironically they had almost reached Alport Farm where they would have found safety.
The newly formed voluntary Buxton Mountain Rescue Service was called out and they found one of the three young men, but he was already close to death. The other two bodies were found two days later in the bottom of Alport Dale, just 2.5 kilometres from safety at Alport Farm.
A hand built memorial stands by the River Alport, and a second memorial is on a brass plaque below the small crag of Grindlesgrain Tor. The brass plaque has the Four Inns logo and reads:
RIP IN MEMORY OF THOSE WHO DIED FOUR INNS WALK 1964
Writings and photographs courtesy of Mike Browell.