Dewsbury Moor, and Northorpe.
Another Saturday disappears beneath sheets of rain, and with it goes my remaining plans of any more trips in excess of 10 miles in 2019, as there's no point at all in contesting the shortening and cooling days of November, and we ought to take things easier, as I've been granted a working break from the long days on my feet at St James's hospital for an altogether more relaxed role back at the LGI, for the time being at least, and thus we look to a Sunday morning stroll and the two remaining targets for my walking in 2019, 600 miles on the year, and a new annual mark, which ought to be achievable in the last pair of excursions. So as Sunday morning sunshine rules the day, we ride out for a relatively local trek, even if the rail replacement and regular service buses take the better part of an hour to get me to Ossett, landing us at the bus station at a whisker ahead of 9.45, just across from Ossett United FC's ground on Prospect Road (the small town being notable for sustaining two minor league teams against good economic sense), and we set off our path by wandering to the small plaza behind the Town Hall, and across the bottom of Dale Street by the complex of Co-op stores, to make our way out to the northwest along the B6128 Kingsway. Only half a mile out and our ticker passes the 600 mile marker for the year, and this suburban lane incidentally gives a fine pun quality to the name of the King's Way church at its bottom end, and once out past Lidl and the Gledhill garage, we are soon deep into ahistorical suburbia, with the vintages running across all the styles of the mid to late 20th century, as our interest wanders to the views to the spire of Holy Trinity church up the side streets and forward to the Gawthorpe water tower as we shadow the route of the early leg of this year's Long Walk. Things get a more vintage as we land on the old Dewsbury to Wakefield Road at the Leeds Road island in Ossett Street Side, and we pass a rake of almshouse cottages before we cross over the A638 Ossett Bypass via the footbridge by Royd's Mill, where the Wakefield Way brought us on our way towards Gawthorpe in 2015, though our path keeps us on the line of the bypassed old road as it leads us past the Salvation Army hall and on to Owl Lane by the industrial park dominated by Newly Wed foods, over which the Gawthorpe water tower looms, illuminated by the low sun.
The way forward leads us out of Wakefield district, past Gawthorpe Hall, the Royal Oak inn, and the new Amberwood Chase housing development, as we land in Kirklees District in the small green space between Ossett and greater Dewsbury, with the atmosphere glumming over somewhat as we switch sides on the B6128 to get a closer look at the Tetley Stadium, the home of Dewsbury Rams RLFC, where the Sunday morning car boot sale is in full swing on the apron around the grounds, a site that once was occupied by Shaw Cross colliery. The GNR line between Ossett and Batley also used to pass this way, across the southern end of the sports field before passing though the neighbouring industrial estate before passing through the hillside via Shaw Cross tunnel, which is now lost below the path of John Ormsby VC Way, which rises us up to the A653 Leeds Road at Shaw Cross itself, where we join High Street by the Shell garage to make a passage around Hanging Heaton, the main western suburb of the town, initially traversing past the Working Men's Club, St Paul's church and the village school. We then meet the body of the old village as it clings to the hillside over the valley in which Batley resides and spreads, visible below from the brow before we pass among the ribbons of the terraces around the Methodist chapel and the knots of houses on the steeply cobbled yards above, passing inside the Kirklees Way route without even noticing as the looming side of Crackenedge rises above, before coming around to the top of Mill Lane, which invites a path down towards Batley, but we remain elevated passing among the high terraces on Commonside as the day thankfully brightens again. This brings us around to the high streets between Batley and Dewsbury, passing the pair of ancient rural cottages that endure here before slipping down Jack Lane, where the former station house of the L&NWR's Staincliffe and Batley Carr station (closed in 1952) is immediately obvious as its the only red brick house in a landscape of stone, and then we pass under the railway via another secretly impressive stone lined passage before emerging beyond by the abutments and retaining walls of the lost GNR Dewsbury Loop Line, and pass over the channel of Batley Carr Beck before we come out to meet Red Brick Mills at the side of the A652 Bradford Road.
With one hillside rise traversed, we immediately have another to do, crossing to meet Town Street as is starts its push up through Batley Carr itself, one of those urban districts that the brain never quite acknowledges as you pass it by, and there's quite a lot of that in this quarter, to be seen as we pass rising up to the Trinity church and community centre midway up the hill, and follow Upper Road on past Carlton School and the secluded RC church among the houses that improve in quality as we elevate up to the A638 Halifax Road. Healds Road offer the route beyond, at the outer edge of the 19th century version of Dewsbury, passing St Joseph's RC school and a nice couple of villas among the terraces before we land on the austere and turreted corner of the former Union Workhouse, which still endures in use as the oldest part of Dewsbury & District hospital, which means I did have good reason for finding the address to be familiar, among the suburban spread of the town that recent local trips seem to be aiming at a circuit of. Meeting Staincliffe Road, we meet a rural enclave of sorts at Knowle Hill, where the old terraced hamlet has been consumed by the urbanisation, with council estates claiming all the hillside edge beyond the crest by the village school, and the spread of the Spen Valley opens up ahead, with Mirfield parish church at it heart, and it's a steep descent to make among the semis and low rise flats to meet the ginnel that drops us onto the B6117 Heckmondwike Road by the equally lost hamlet of Pismire Hill. Carr Lane leads us past the urban fringe of Dewsbury Moor, past the fields of the local amateur rugby league club, one of which appears to have been dug into the landscape so as to be level, and then cross the Spen Valley Greenway on the level, not via the expected bridge over the former L&YR line from Thornhill junction to Heckmondwike, and then carry on into this blob of greenery around Mirfield that has resisted my attention over all the walking seasons since 2012, losing the hard surface on the lane as we meet Spring Cottage and move off down the muddy and shaded track that leads to the side of the River Spen, which looks actually busy after the recent rainfalls, with a better track beyond shadowing the boundary of Dewsbury Country Park, which puts these undevelopable fields to good social use.
Rise significantly along the park boundary, where unmarked paths head off in all directions, and it's not immediately obvious which one carried the route of the lost L&YR line between Mirfield and Heckmondwike, and it transpires that none of them did as it alignment is now under fields by the farmstead at the end of Jill Lane, though railway interest can be found further along the lane, beyond the Cyprus Cresecent house cluster, with the third missing line in this quarter, the L&NWR New Leeds Line, where a substantial bridge abutment stands at the roadside, at the terminating end of the embankment coming up from Northorpe. This village-let can be found beyond the farmsteads of Highfield House and Northorpe Hall, and while it could be taken for a portion of contemporary Mirfield, it once had stations on both of the railways coming up from the southwest, the abutments of the bridge on the L&NWR line over Shillbank Lane still being in place a little way down from The Plough Inn, which we pass before we seek the path towards Mirfield proper down the suburban St Mary's Walk, which turns out to not be accessible at the point anticipated on the map. It does lead us behind the houses and though the railway alignment again before we are dropped out in the rough green space behind the parish church and the ancient motte that hides somewhere below the tree cover, seeking the best path through the muddiness through the graveyard and under the canopy of Beech trees to emerge on Church Lane to get the best view of St Mary's, the second most imposing and distinctive Victorian parish church in the county, as well as the tower and remnants of the Medieval one that it replaced. Set course down Pinfold Lane into the suburban close that surrounds the Old Rectory, on site since the 13th century, where we meet a path that slips up behind the many suburban back gardens between high walls and fences taking us down to Parker Lane, to locate the next path behind the yards and gardens that leads over to the Mirfield Showground, where the remnants of last night's seasonal bonfire are still smouldering and the sounds of a passing steam train are heard, too far away from us to be visible as we come down to Huddersfield Road. Cross the A644 between the fire station and Water Hall, and follow the path that cuts off the corner down to Bull Bridge, where we cross the Calder & Hebble Navigation's Mirfield cut and then follow Station Road past the Lidl store down to meet the railway, where the underpass beneath has been decorated to greet visitors with the sights and history of the town, including its most famous son, Sir Patrick Stewart, naturally, and that's where we'll wrap it, joining the crowd for the London train and done at 12.35pm, as there's not enough heat left in the go any further.
5,000 Miles Cumulative Total: 4257.6 miles
2019 Total: 607.2 miles
Up Country Total: 3794.6 miles
Solo Total: 3943.4 miles
Miles in My 40s: 2851.4 miles
Next Up: 2019's Finale! A short trek to a viewpoint and a new annual mileage record.
Another Saturday disappears beneath sheets of rain, and with it goes my remaining plans of any more trips in excess of 10 miles in 2019, as there's no point at all in contesting the shortening and cooling days of November, and we ought to take things easier, as I've been granted a working break from the long days on my feet at St James's hospital for an altogether more relaxed role back at the LGI, for the time being at least, and thus we look to a Sunday morning stroll and the two remaining targets for my walking in 2019, 600 miles on the year, and a new annual mark, which ought to be achievable in the last pair of excursions. So as Sunday morning sunshine rules the day, we ride out for a relatively local trek, even if the rail replacement and regular service buses take the better part of an hour to get me to Ossett, landing us at the bus station at a whisker ahead of 9.45, just across from Ossett United FC's ground on Prospect Road (the small town being notable for sustaining two minor league teams against good economic sense), and we set off our path by wandering to the small plaza behind the Town Hall, and across the bottom of Dale Street by the complex of Co-op stores, to make our way out to the northwest along the B6128 Kingsway. Only half a mile out and our ticker passes the 600 mile marker for the year, and this suburban lane incidentally gives a fine pun quality to the name of the King's Way church at its bottom end, and once out past Lidl and the Gledhill garage, we are soon deep into ahistorical suburbia, with the vintages running across all the styles of the mid to late 20th century, as our interest wanders to the views to the spire of Holy Trinity church up the side streets and forward to the Gawthorpe water tower as we shadow the route of the early leg of this year's Long Walk. Things get a more vintage as we land on the old Dewsbury to Wakefield Road at the Leeds Road island in Ossett Street Side, and we pass a rake of almshouse cottages before we cross over the A638 Ossett Bypass via the footbridge by Royd's Mill, where the Wakefield Way brought us on our way towards Gawthorpe in 2015, though our path keeps us on the line of the bypassed old road as it leads us past the Salvation Army hall and on to Owl Lane by the industrial park dominated by Newly Wed foods, over which the Gawthorpe water tower looms, illuminated by the low sun.
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| The Ossett Co-op, Dale Street. |
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| Suburban Ossett, Kingsway. |
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| Newly Wed foods, and the Gawthorpe Water Tower. |
The way forward leads us out of Wakefield district, past Gawthorpe Hall, the Royal Oak inn, and the new Amberwood Chase housing development, as we land in Kirklees District in the small green space between Ossett and greater Dewsbury, with the atmosphere glumming over somewhat as we switch sides on the B6128 to get a closer look at the Tetley Stadium, the home of Dewsbury Rams RLFC, where the Sunday morning car boot sale is in full swing on the apron around the grounds, a site that once was occupied by Shaw Cross colliery. The GNR line between Ossett and Batley also used to pass this way, across the southern end of the sports field before passing though the neighbouring industrial estate before passing through the hillside via Shaw Cross tunnel, which is now lost below the path of John Ormsby VC Way, which rises us up to the A653 Leeds Road at Shaw Cross itself, where we join High Street by the Shell garage to make a passage around Hanging Heaton, the main western suburb of the town, initially traversing past the Working Men's Club, St Paul's church and the village school. We then meet the body of the old village as it clings to the hillside over the valley in which Batley resides and spreads, visible below from the brow before we pass among the ribbons of the terraces around the Methodist chapel and the knots of houses on the steeply cobbled yards above, passing inside the Kirklees Way route without even noticing as the looming side of Crackenedge rises above, before coming around to the top of Mill Lane, which invites a path down towards Batley, but we remain elevated passing among the high terraces on Commonside as the day thankfully brightens again. This brings us around to the high streets between Batley and Dewsbury, passing the pair of ancient rural cottages that endure here before slipping down Jack Lane, where the former station house of the L&NWR's Staincliffe and Batley Carr station (closed in 1952) is immediately obvious as its the only red brick house in a landscape of stone, and then we pass under the railway via another secretly impressive stone lined passage before emerging beyond by the abutments and retaining walls of the lost GNR Dewsbury Loop Line, and pass over the channel of Batley Carr Beck before we come out to meet Red Brick Mills at the side of the A652 Bradford Road.
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| Tetley Stadium, home of the Dewsbury Rams. |
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| St Paul's church, Hanging Heaton. |
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| High Street, Hanging Heaton. |
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| Jack Lane Railway Bridge. |
With one hillside rise traversed, we immediately have another to do, crossing to meet Town Street as is starts its push up through Batley Carr itself, one of those urban districts that the brain never quite acknowledges as you pass it by, and there's quite a lot of that in this quarter, to be seen as we pass rising up to the Trinity church and community centre midway up the hill, and follow Upper Road on past Carlton School and the secluded RC church among the houses that improve in quality as we elevate up to the A638 Halifax Road. Healds Road offer the route beyond, at the outer edge of the 19th century version of Dewsbury, passing St Joseph's RC school and a nice couple of villas among the terraces before we land on the austere and turreted corner of the former Union Workhouse, which still endures in use as the oldest part of Dewsbury & District hospital, which means I did have good reason for finding the address to be familiar, among the suburban spread of the town that recent local trips seem to be aiming at a circuit of. Meeting Staincliffe Road, we meet a rural enclave of sorts at Knowle Hill, where the old terraced hamlet has been consumed by the urbanisation, with council estates claiming all the hillside edge beyond the crest by the village school, and the spread of the Spen Valley opens up ahead, with Mirfield parish church at it heart, and it's a steep descent to make among the semis and low rise flats to meet the ginnel that drops us onto the B6117 Heckmondwike Road by the equally lost hamlet of Pismire Hill. Carr Lane leads us past the urban fringe of Dewsbury Moor, past the fields of the local amateur rugby league club, one of which appears to have been dug into the landscape so as to be level, and then cross the Spen Valley Greenway on the level, not via the expected bridge over the former L&YR line from Thornhill junction to Heckmondwike, and then carry on into this blob of greenery around Mirfield that has resisted my attention over all the walking seasons since 2012, losing the hard surface on the lane as we meet Spring Cottage and move off down the muddy and shaded track that leads to the side of the River Spen, which looks actually busy after the recent rainfalls, with a better track beyond shadowing the boundary of Dewsbury Country Park, which puts these undevelopable fields to good social use.
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| Trinity Church and Community Centre, Batley Carr. |
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| The former workhouse, Dewsbury & District Hospital. |
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| Knowles Hill Road, and the Spen Valley. |
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| The River Spen. |
Rise significantly along the park boundary, where unmarked paths head off in all directions, and it's not immediately obvious which one carried the route of the lost L&YR line between Mirfield and Heckmondwike, and it transpires that none of them did as it alignment is now under fields by the farmstead at the end of Jill Lane, though railway interest can be found further along the lane, beyond the Cyprus Cresecent house cluster, with the third missing line in this quarter, the L&NWR New Leeds Line, where a substantial bridge abutment stands at the roadside, at the terminating end of the embankment coming up from Northorpe. This village-let can be found beyond the farmsteads of Highfield House and Northorpe Hall, and while it could be taken for a portion of contemporary Mirfield, it once had stations on both of the railways coming up from the southwest, the abutments of the bridge on the L&NWR line over Shillbank Lane still being in place a little way down from The Plough Inn, which we pass before we seek the path towards Mirfield proper down the suburban St Mary's Walk, which turns out to not be accessible at the point anticipated on the map. It does lead us behind the houses and though the railway alignment again before we are dropped out in the rough green space behind the parish church and the ancient motte that hides somewhere below the tree cover, seeking the best path through the muddiness through the graveyard and under the canopy of Beech trees to emerge on Church Lane to get the best view of St Mary's, the second most imposing and distinctive Victorian parish church in the county, as well as the tower and remnants of the Medieval one that it replaced. Set course down Pinfold Lane into the suburban close that surrounds the Old Rectory, on site since the 13th century, where we meet a path that slips up behind the many suburban back gardens between high walls and fences taking us down to Parker Lane, to locate the next path behind the yards and gardens that leads over to the Mirfield Showground, where the remnants of last night's seasonal bonfire are still smouldering and the sounds of a passing steam train are heard, too far away from us to be visible as we come down to Huddersfield Road. Cross the A644 between the fire station and Water Hall, and follow the path that cuts off the corner down to Bull Bridge, where we cross the Calder & Hebble Navigation's Mirfield cut and then follow Station Road past the Lidl store down to meet the railway, where the underpass beneath has been decorated to greet visitors with the sights and history of the town, including its most famous son, Sir Patrick Stewart, naturally, and that's where we'll wrap it, joining the crowd for the London train and done at 12.35pm, as there's not enough heat left in the go any further.
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| The Leeds New Line bridge, Jill Lane. |
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| Shill Bank Lane bridge, and the Plough, Northorpe. |
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| St Mary's church, Mirfield. |
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| Hudderfield Road, Mirfield. |
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| Sir Patrick Stewart on the Mirfield station mural. |
5,000 Miles Cumulative Total: 4257.6 miles
2019 Total: 607.2 miles
Up Country Total: 3794.6 miles
Solo Total: 3943.4 miles
Miles in My 40s: 2851.4 miles
Next Up: 2019's Finale! A short trek to a viewpoint and a new annual mileage record.
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