Morley South Circuit 23/05/20

7.6 miles, from Morley Hole, via Bruntcliffe, Howden Clough, Birkby Brow Wood, Cliff Wood, 
 Howley Park, Howley Hall, Soothill Tunnel, Woodkirk, Tingley Common, Capitol Park, 
  Topcliffe, Gillroyd, and Brunswick.

After the hot spike that landed on us from Tuesday through to Friday, conditions have taken something of a turn for the chilly as we look to make the most of the three day weekend at the far end of our 10 day stretch of being NIW, and the promise of early morning sunshine has mostly dissipated even before we've gotten to the day's starting line, and it looks like a stiff breeze is going to keep the day changeable as we look to our third tour around the town, looking to the south to retrace a number of routes from early season career that I haven't seen in a while. So to Morley Hole we head, for a 9.20am start, with the cloud cover already starting to accumulate as we set the day's trajectory southwesterly along the side of the A643 Bruntcliffe Lane, rising past Hillycroft fisheries and on uphill, along a familiar pavement, though the stretch between Corporation Street and the Wynyard Drive estate end, opposite the Highcliffe industrial estate seems to have avoided an officially measured visit until now. Rise up, past the cemetery, Bruntcliffe Academy and the Junction 27 industrial estate to land at the A650 crossroads, by the Travelodge and Toby Carvery, noting that the Morley in Bloom garden has been adorned with decorative archways featuring an aphorism by Dr Seuss, which bears recounting as it well suits my contemporary walking mood;

'You're off to Great Places, Today is Your Day, Your Mountain is Waiting, So Get on Your Way'

and thus we do, over the Bradford road and past the WMC and the Shoulder of Mutton inn, and over the crest of the road at Bruntcliffe, heading downhill along the pavement, over the M62 and snaring the views across to the high and distant southern boundary of Kirklees district before we slip past the last terrace in town. We head on into the greenery and leafiness that surrounds the descent into Howden Clough, where the signage indicates your departure from Morley, and Leeds District, long before the bottom of the valley where greater Batley and Kirklees start, and getting a grand look towards Howden Clough mills, which still remains in industrial employ despite is obvious value as an out-of-town and upscale residential development opportunity, before we take a turn to track southeasterly, entering the forestry of Birkby Brow woods, via the roadside entrance that wasn't used by the Leeds Country Way or the Kirklees Way on either of my prior traversals.

A new stretch of Bruntcliffe Lane joins the walking field.

The Morley In Bloom garden at Bruntcliffe Crossroads.

Howden Clough Mills.

This leafy stretch of woods is definitely one to appreciate, along with the dog walkers and joggers who are out to approve it, and it's pretty delightful too once the sunshine returns to illuminate the canopy of trees that hangs above, though it's not a landscape to take too lightly as we pace on, as there's hidden history in here too, as there was once a colliery up at its northern end, where a few brick remnants endure, as well as a tramway that ran along its length, and through Cliff Wood beyond, and past West End colliery, of which nought remains now except the views across the Howden Clough valley. It's a landscape change that's impossible to acknowledge now, and can only be regarded at all with the use of old OS maps from a century-plus ago, and as we descend among the green fields far below the motorway that Morley notably hasn't suburbanly expanded into, we find that even the equestrian farms on either side of the bottom of Scotchman Lane don't endure in a perpetual rural idyll, as the former was once the site of a dye works, and the latter was on the Howley Park colliery site, right next to the railway, which we pass under via the wonky bridge that allows passage of Howley Beck below it. The Howley Mill Lane is abandoned to follow the LCW route uphill, eschewing the options of visiting the south portal of Morley tunnel or the footbridge that would be ideal for Nova spotting, instead rising steeply up the rough field above the head of the valley to the north of greater Batley, looking over the fields towards Lamplands and Lower Soothill to the distant edge of Emley Moor, feeling about as close as we have gotten to our 2020 walking zone since lockdown started, pressing up to the rough ground below the Howley park golf course and feeling just how unfamiliar these high plots feel since our last visit in 2012. The feature to locate up here is, of course, the remains of Howley Hall, the Elizabethan pile infamously dynamited into oblivion in the early 18th century, and the small corner of ruins can be investigated while I'm up here, with its one remaining corner of the walls of the kitchen block, one nice chunk of dressed stone that has remained in situ for over three centuries, and one cellar void that hasn't been infilled and is used by local kids as a hidey-hole away from prying eyes, a site to enjoy despite the fierce breeze blowing in from the west, and the lack of sunshine to well illuminate it that naturally comes with my presence.

Birkby Brow woods.

No colliery or dye works now visible in the Howley Beck valley.

Looking south to Lamplands and Lower Soothill from Howley Park.

The major surviving remnant of Howley Hall.

From the virtual apex of the day, we start our return leg by heading on eastwards, below the perimeter of the golf course and keeping with the LCW route as we press past the fragments of larger walls hidden in the undergrowth, pressing away from environs of greater Batley and into the landscape below the Howley Park quarries, passing over my passage route from last year and choosing to not revisit the west portal of Soothill tunnel, and instead pass over the reclaimed fields of the Cardigan and Woodkirk quarries above it, where a stench of methane drifts out of the woodlands to the south, illustrating well the presence of landfill in the locality. Land on Quarry Lane and seek the path and steps that lead down into the cutting that approaches Soothill tunnel from the east, as this portal needs a holiday visit too, it's GNR styled stonework looking in good nick, and the conditions underfoot making it much more approachable than it was in February 2013, though it's not possible to see inside beyond its well-sealed access doors but at least there's none of the foul gas smell that lingered at its other end, another local treat for the appropriately knowledgeable to admire before the cutting is traced off to the east, with the approach feeling suspiciously well metaled. This leads us to Woodkirk station, where donkeys graze at the station throat and the platforms and parts of the goods yard remain despite its 1939 closure date, but hopes from some better photography of its site are somewhat scuppered by the fact that it has been massively overgrown with bramble over the last seven years, and it's remnants are only really visible if you know they are there, and the one souvenir that I do find, an enameled brick, is too heavy to carry away, and thus we leave by the old access drive to drop out on Dewsbury Road, across from St Mary's, the parish church of this very tiny village by the A653. Past the Woodkirk mosaics and up the main road's path we head as we set off on the northeasterly stretch of what's turning into the most actually circular of all my circular paths to date, tracing the roadside past the Woodkirk valley country club and below the old embankment of the railway, which demands just one closer look before we head up to the Bulls Head inn and the runs of redbrick council houses that spread from the bottom edge of Tingley, rising up to the severed stub at the top of Dewsbury Road before pressing on the active alignment that leads to the Tingley Common traffic island, a route paced solely because I haven't done it before.

Among quarries former and contemporary, Howley Park.

Soothill Tunnel, east portal, again.

Woodkirk station almost completely reclaimed by nature.

The edge of Tingley, along Dewbury Road.

Keep to the side of the A653 as it tangles up with the A650 and the M62, and then depart the roadside as we set course for home to the north west, rising into the business park and industrial estate that calls itself Capitol Park, mostly occupying the former Tingley railway Junction and West Ardsley colliery sites, which we'll pass among and cross via Topcliffe Lane, to soon enough enter that apron of high fields above Morley that have so far resisted development, among which Topcliffe farm stands in still splendid isolation, beyond its range of chicken sheds. I was hopeful that we might get an illuminated view over the nearby town and distant city whilst up here, but no such luck as the cloud hangs over heavily and the wind blows in every bit as forcefully as it did on our previous climb up here in February 2015, so we'll move on past the farm and back towards the suburban spread of Morley, descending the path down the bank that has kept the town from reaching further south to trace the stepped path that leads into the estates to the south of Magpie Lane, bounded by the barely visible Topcliffe Beck, and praise is again due to the developers that allowed grassy spaces to endure around the urban closes to lift the nightmare oppressiveness of suburbia just that one bit. Beyond the main access link road, we follow the path beyond that leads uphill, along the perimeter of the former Gillroyd Mill site, before landing on the old meandering course of Wide Lane, which via Middleton Terrace leads us through one of the older suburban corners of the town that hasn't been seen before, where mansard roofs were the 30s design statement of choice, ahead of Clough Street leading us into the council estate growths around Middleton Road before landing among the stone terraces across Peel Street and up to the Miners Arms and Fisheries on Albert Road. It's downhill from here, beyond the Brunswick and Low Moor mills sites that have been largely claimed by suburban living that clings to this hillside, following the descending lane to The Rock terrace at the corner with Station Road, which is not to be confused with Rock Terrace which partially endures further back up the hill, and from here another loop heads to it sealing point as we pass through Morley Bottoms once more, beyond the Cheapside Parade and the Victoria Mills redevelopment to close out at Morley Hole at 12.05pm, not having enjoyed the warmth of the days that preceded this one, but feeling relatively satisfied to have gotten a bunch more miles down during this week than had previously been enjoyed during lockdown.

Topcliffe Farm, atop its cliff.

Topcliffe Beck and the suburban path network.

Clough Street on the council house / stone terrace transition.

'The Rock' terrace, Albert Road.

5,000 Miles Cumulative Total: 4415.5 miles
2020 Total: 149 miles
Up Country Total: 3952.5 miles
Solo Total: 4101.8 miles
5,000 in my 40s Total: 3019.3 miles

Next Up: The last turn on the Social Distancing Circuit, for now...