Huddersfield to Meltham 27/10/19

7.8 miles, via Folly Hall, Lockwood Park, Dungeon Wood, Beaumont Park, Big Valley, 

 Netherton, Crosland Mill, Hall Heys Wood, and the Meltham Greenway.

The end of British Summer Time brings rain, enough to scupper the chances of any walking of any duration on the last Saturday of October, and thus we have to put my planned route from Slaithwaite to Ravensthorpe aside and see what we can do on Sunday instead, and as Leeds Station is undergoing a total shutdown for the entire morning, we have to scale our plans back and pull up the trip that I had planned to have as my 2019 finale, not least because we're promised a decent weather window to walk in, and also because it's only a modest distance to go when work looms the following day. So we ride the rail replacement bus service out to Huddersfield, the type where possession of a ticket doesn't seem to be necessary for travel, landing us outside the George Hotel at a smidgen after 9.30am, and our course to the southwest has us passing among the array of coaches parked outside the station on Railway Street, and then heading off through the town centre, down Market Street as far as The Hart bar, and then turning down Cloth Hall Street to meet New Street, which is already filling with life despite the shops not yet being open, but the way ahead is clear all the way to the ring road, thanks to a lack of Police incidents this time. Across the Castlegate - Queensgate interchange, we seem to be following our route to Penistone, and so we ought to mix things up a bit as we retrace our path down Chapel Hill, by walking down the opposite side of the road by the parade of takeaways and the Rat & Ratchet inn, and then coming down below the looming main campus buildings of Kirklees College before crossing over the Narrow Canal, and the River Colne, which churns noisily after yesterday's downpours, then passing the Folly Hall Mills and splitting off the A616 by the Star inn for a bit of landscape variation. Albert Street presents an almost entirely industrial landscape, still enduring down the northernmost stretch of the River Holme, with Albert and Bath Mills wholly intact among the remnants and replacements of others, definitely a change of scenery from the familiar sights down to Lockwood Bar, which we meet once we land on Bridge Street, crossing by the shopping parade and and carrying on down Brewery Drive, beside the busy River Holme, where the old Lockwood brewery site is now occupied by Huddersfield RUFC'c social club and the Lockwood Park health and fitness club. The reason to come down this not-apparently public lane is to spot the Penistone Line's Lockwood Viaduct though, which is hard to see from any angle except below, and rises gracefully over the Holme Valley on its many arches beyond the Rugby field, and as I've got little company down here, I'll wander abouts both sides of it to take as many pics of it as I wish, admiring the mass of masonry, its 37m height and 435m length, and the craftsmanship of its creation, naturally as the day's only dense raincloud passes over.

The George Hotel, Huddersfield.

Chapel Hill, and Kirklees College.

Albert Mills, Albert Street.

Lockwood Viaduct, and Huddersfield RUFC.

The real purpose of this trip is to seek out the sole railway line of note in West Yorkshire that I haven't visited yet, which is the line from Lockwood to Meltham, which can be located via a rather circuitous route up from the valley floor, ascending to the B6108 Meltham Road past the former Brewery stables, and then up Hanson Lane by the old Sunday School to meet Meltham Junction, as it splits off the extent railway to the south of Lockwood station and just above the viaduct as it passes under the road, but getting down to its level is challenge as we have to rise right to edge of Beaumont Park before we can head down the long flight of steps at its boundary with Dungeon Wood. The line may have only been 3.5 miles long, but its construction by the L&YR was challenging, completed in 1868 after enduring a number of engineering challenges, the first if which can be seen as we press back east, on a terrace cut though the woods above the Meltham Road and heavily reinforced with retaining walls on the bank above, which we'll take in as we walk the muddy track right up to Meltham Junction's site, which is partially obscured thanks to the rebuilding of the Hanson Lane bridge. Thence we press west along the trackbed, back through Dungeon Wood and into Beaumont Park, and soon come up to the castellated park entrance gates and the grotto beyond, with the railway passing over the driveway by a comparably plain bridge, just along from where Woodfield station once stood, of which no trace as it was only open for a short while in 1874 before closure thanks to its inappropriate gradient. A heritage trail of sorts has been established as the line carries on through the park, now officially absorbed into it, meaning we get information boards and a better surface to walk on as we head down into a deep cutting, which was again heavily engineered due to landslips during construction, and the place hangs heavy with atmosphere under the damp canopy of  trees, which might be why there are gnomic statements posted on tablets around the place, and some rather death-obsessed poetry displayed in the proximity of the open space where sight lines emerge through the dense arbor over Lockwood Cemetery to the Castle Hill bank of the Holme Valley.

Meltham Junction, splitting off to the west, from Hanson Lane.

Retaining walls in Dungeon Wood.

The Beaumont Park entrance bridge.

Dungeon Wood footbridge remnant.

Woodfield Cutting, Beaumont Park.

The most interesting feature of the old railway is to be found at the end of the deep and muddy cutting where an accessible path hasn't been laid, and dainty steps have to be taken so as not to sink as we approach the north portal of Butternab Tunnel, 297m long and only a single bore, but with quite the most distinctive stonework at this end as it disappears under the ridge to the south, and notionally accessible despite being bricked up, though presently it is obviously filled with water when observed through the access grate. Steps are retraced out of the cutting to get to the path that will rise us above the tunnel, and up to the natural level of Beaumont Park, which we presently exit onto Butternab Road, right by its apex and namesake farmstead, with the lane taking us downhill and into the vicinity of the southern portal of the tunnel, which isn't publicly accessible as it sits in the garden on a contemporary house, and has also been converted into a residential annex (no, really) and so our compensatory bit of railway architecture has to come from the overbridge giving access to Delves Wood beyond. The way ahead alongside the alignment is apparently barred, with multiple notices informing us that it's a private road with nor public right of way, and I'll follow that direction for now, as I don't have with me the map that confirms that access does exist, and thus we split across the Big Valley, where Dean Clough runs out of its deep and wooded cleft, traversing our way over to the path and steps that lead up to Meltham Road, where we pace up its heavily shaded pavement up to the edge of Netherton, but still drop down Nether Moor Road as we have another railway feature to seek. Meet the alignment again as we pass under the bridge over the lane, and then seek that path that leads off into the woods of Dean Clough, and deliberately splitting off through the undergrowth to get into the cutting that leads to Netherton tunnel, very purposefully trespassing to see the north portal up close and peering around the access door to look through its 197m passage below the village, before we retrace steps back to the main road as if such behaviour is normal and acceptable.

Butternab Tunnel, north portal.

Delves Wood overbridge.

'Big Valley'.

Nether Moor Road overbridge.

Netherton Tunnel, north portal.

Rise through the village centre, last seen a mere month ago, and then head off down Moor Lane and Netherton Fold, among the village's most picturesque corner, in hope of visiting the site of Netherton's station, but get no joy beyond meeting the cobbles at the entry to its yard as it's aggressively fenced off and we have to head up the rough footpath up towards the main road above the emerging tunnel, and we can risk sneaking down into the cutting from here, about half the way down before it gets too slick and overgrown, to spy the south portal of the tunnel, where water is fiercely pouring into the approaches. So there will be no accessing the trackbed into Magdale, which ought to have been a plausible trespass, instead returning to the B6108 to pace out of the village with the Huddersfield Road beyond the toll bar house and on along the northern side of the valley, getting a prime view across this grand and well hidden feature off this branch of the Holme Valley, looking south to Honley Old Wood, and getting some proper autumnal colour across the landscape as we trace the railway below, along its ribbon of accompanying trees. We can't road walk for too long, and thus hit the steep and poorly defined footpath that leads downhill, very awkwardly and damply across the well-carved fields to reacquaint ourselves with the railway's passage, as we head under the occupation bridge on the track that leads to Lower Crosland farm and the still enduring Crosland Mills, and around the Hartley Brook housing development on a another part of the formerly industrial site, before passing though the railway alignment again between the abutments of the missing bridge over the rising Crosland Factory Lane. There's no obvious way to get onto the embankment to visit the site of Healey House station, built to serve the local mills, and thus we shan't be seeing that or its short tunnel as we rise back to the main road, but that's probably for the best as the cutting is usually waterlogged, even at the best of times, and as we pass above it beyond the Healey House lodge, the sound of water running into the railway's passage is loud enough for you to know that trespassing down there would be unwise, and thus we road walk to the southwest, below the high banks of Hall Heys wood.

Netherton Tunnel, south portal.

Magdale.

Occupation Bridge, Crosland Mills.

Bridge abutments, Crosland Factory Road.

The site of the Meltham Road Iron Bridge.

At the site of the Iron Bridge, we get off the B6108 and join the alignment proper again, as the last stretch of the railway has formed the Meltham Greenway since 2008, and it's clearly a popular walk for the locals, as company comes to my path as we ride along the embankment towards our destination, over the clough that has the Folly Dolly falls just that bit to far from the path to visit, but the bridge over Mean Lane needs to be seen up close before we press on, past the Meltham Mills halt site, and on through the heavily shaded rock cutting beyond. Above Station Road, we meet the remains of a what looks like turntable that surely once served the Meltham Mills complex, probably for loading tractors from David Brown's factory, though none of the information boards confirm this, and it was industrial traffic that kept the line in use until 1965 before its demise, with the latter portion of the line heading into Meltham, past a housing development on the site of the town's goods yard, and over Meltham Dike as it emerges from its vintage culvert below. We run into the station yard as we pass behind the Morrisons superstore that has developed at the station throat, noting the remains of the railway age footbridges that once came down from the rocky bank above, and pace along the car park perimeter to the petrol station to the old railway station site, which last saw passengers in 1949, but would have proved a useful social hub if the line had managed to endure into the age of West Yorkshire Metro, a feature that would possibly go completely unacknowledged if it wasn't for the neighbouring presence of Railway House on Station Street. Railway exploration done, it's just a short tour around to get to the finish line, and taking in the sights while the sun shines, wandering around the unseen sides of St Bart's church, passing the Meltham Fisheries which can't serve me a concluding lunch on account of being closed, and finding that my ride homeward won't be leaving from the town's bus stand, so we pass around the back of the local Co-op to emerge between the Carlile Institute and the old Town Hall to wrap the trip on the Huddersfield Road bus stop, finishing at 12.55pm, just(!) short of my 600 miles in 2019 target, but only 10 minutes ahead of the #324 bus.

Mean Lane overbridge.

The Meltham Mill tractor turntable(?).

Footbridge abutments, Meltham Station.

Railway House, Station Street, Meltham.

The Carlile Institute and the Town Hall, Huddersfield Road, Meltham.

5,000 Miles Cumulative Total: 4249.9 miles
2019 Total: 599.5 miles
Up Country Total: 3786.9 miles
Solo Total: 3935.7 miles
Miles in My 40s: 2843.7 miles

Next Up: Now, we are Tilting at 600 miles in 2019, weather permitting.