Hundreds of years ago, they carried out repairs the hard way.

Horses and carts were used to ferry equipment to the top of the Pennine moors to repair the busy Packhorse Trail, used by farmers taking their stock to market and textile workers ferrying wool over the bleak landscape.

Now they have turned to high-tech methods to carry out vital repairs to the historic route.

A helicopter has been used to fly in tons of stone to repair boggy stretches of the trail.

And a host of volunteers wil start work in the coming weeks to lay the stones as a permanent repair.

Staff at the National Trust’s Marsden Moor office have been supervising the huge operation, which saw the aircraft make several flights into the heart of the Pennine moorlands.

Trust spokesman Alyssa Young said: “There are some stretches of the trail that are in a very poor state, all boggy and muddy, and they need repairs. It is also vital that it is repaired to protect the adjoining natural habitat.

“The stones we are planning to use are mainly salvaged from the old textile mills, and are made of the typical gritstone that we find on the moors.

“On some of the slabs, you can even see bits of iron and timber embedded in them from where the old mill machines stood.

“Some are very heavy, perhaps up to half a ton, and flying was the most sensible way of getting them up to the moor. The helicopter flew in several times and has dropped the stones close to where the path is at its worst.

“We have regular volunteer days each week and a good number of people come to help the Trust. They are busy with other tasks at the moment but in a week or two, we will get them on the trail and they will be able to hoist the stone into position, using metal rollers and bars. It should then last for a long, long time”.

The old packhorse road, climbs steeply uphill from Eastergate in Marsden towards Buckstones on the present A640, and continued to Rochdale. Historical documents show that the long, straggling path was much used by local carriers in the 18th century,.

By the late 19th century, however, with the decline of the trade to Rochdale and the development of other forms of transport, the old packhorse route had become little used and had fallen into neglect.