Packhorse

Naturalist Michael Clegg retraces the paths of merchants who travelled from Cheshire to Rotherham with their goods.

“Brandy” the packhorse and TV presenter Michael Clegg journey over the Pennines from Cheshire to Rotherham. Along the way, Clegg is joined by local experts who help him identify old milestones and signs that the merchants of old would have followed. Although the merchants of the 17th Century would be hard pressed to recognise the Rotherham of the 1980s, the moor itself has changed little.

Michael Clegg was a well-known Yorkshire-born naturalist. He was a columnist for the Yorkshire Evening Post, a regular guest on BBC Radio 4’s Natural History program, and presented the Yorkshire Television series Clegg’s People throughout the 1980s. Clegg was an avid wildlife campaigner and had a wildflower and hay meadow posthumously named after him in 2004.