Greater Dewsbury & Crow's Nest Park Circuit 20/03/21

14.9 miles, from Morley Hole, via Dean Wood, 62 Leeds & Treefield Industrial Estates, 

 Gildersome Street, Birstall Retail Park, Birstall, Birstall Smithies, White Lee, 

  White Lee Common, Bunkers Hill, Staincliffe, Westborough, Boothroyd, Crow's Nest Park,

   Eightlands, Springfield, Batley Carr, Commonside, Batley Junction, Soothill, Croft House,

    Woodkirk, Tingley Common, Birks, and Town End.

As Winter comes to its end and Spring looms, it's probably time to start taking our planning just a bit more seriously, even if we are going to be staying close to home for another few weeks, as focus needs to be gotten on to get me out of bed and out of the house in the mornings and to walk with a bit more impetus as we don't have any fixed deadlines on our walking days, so that we might pass into the next season with a bit more mental order than we managed last week, altogether a good collection of intents as we aim as distant a public park that I can claim as local. So we're almost up with the lark for a 9.20am start, with climatic conditions looking a bit more favourable than were projected through the week, and thus the sun shines through as our next circuit over the top of the local watershed ridge starts, heading off northwesterly, in the wrong direction, up Asquith Avenue again, past the school, the terraces and estates, while generally making short work of this familiar lane, walked on the unfamiliar side as we pass Deanfield Mill, and head out over the M621, snaring to view towards Leeds before we start to move away from the big city. We can't have every excursion tracing the exact same pavements, so once through the spread of Dean Wood, we take a turn with the available walkway to pass through the 62 Leeds industrial estate, only laid out in the landscape very recently and claiming all the fields between the cleft of the woodlands, fenced off below, and the A62 above, with most of it being occupied by an industrially scaled laundry, with more security on site than workers it seems, and the access road to the southern side, on its embankment over Dean Beck can be paced too despite the works here being apparently abandonment. This extensive and barren foundation plinth has been observed before but as a right of way passes around it, it remains publicly accessible, as does the way down to the longitudinal path at the edge of the older commercial facilities, which we'll pass over and through a gap in a theoretical barrier gate to pass on westwards through the Treefield industrial estate, which is dominated by the Leeds TNT depot (for distribution rather than explosives), and only a short traverse before we alight onto Gelderd Road again, between the Street Lane rec and the Overland Park retail stores at Gildersome Street. 

Asquith Avenue, because Eventually every possible
viewof Morley will feature on my walking travels.

62 Leeds industrial estate.

The TNT depot, Treefield Ind Est.

This season's circuits just keep on drawing us onto the traffic island with the A650 at the top of junction 27 getting its third visit this year, with the long passage of the A62 below the combining motorways being our route of choice over the watershed to the southwest once again, as this popular trajectory lacks alternatives thanks to the presence of the M621 and M62, which have also annoyingly isolated the section of the Leeds New Line up to the buried south portal of Gildersome Tunnel, inaccessible on foot beyond the Showcase Cinema complex. Rise with the lane through Birstall Retail Park, where the seems to be a lot more traffic passing through than you might expect, as I wouldn't have thought there's too many essential retailers on that site, especially if IKEA isn't counted among them, while the light industrial band beyond, around the Pheasant inn, doesn't seem as unappealing if we've got some sunshine to bless our morning as Gelderd Road keeps us elevated above the downstream passage of Howley Beck and Howden Clough to the south of us, giving us some easier going as we come around to greater Birstall. I've probably observed before that if Birtstall and Batley, along with the three Spen Valley towns of Cleckmondedge, were combined into a single conurbation with Dewsbury, West Yorkshire would gain itself another city, and thus as we plot a route among these various settlements, we'll barely be seeing any more countryside, as we carry on downhill below the elevated residential district of Birstall Fields, pass under the lost bridge of the Leeds New Lines at Upper Birstall station, while also passing the Britannia Mills complex and tangling with the A643 Leeds Road to the east of Birstall town square. Ahead, we gain a section of the A62 that hasn't been traced before, so unfamiliarity will guide much of the going as we carry on southbound to our target park, with Huddersfield Road guiding us past the prominently located Methodist chapel and the board school, as well as the rather over named Wine & Spirit vaults as we drop down to the east of the town before passing between Luigi's and Crilly's and arriving at the six lanes of the Bradford Road junction at Birstall Smithies, just a step to the west of the former Birstall Low station site.

The A62 diving down to Junction 27.

The Pheasant inn, Birstall.

The Gelderd Road overbridge, Upper Birstall.

Wesley House, Huddersfield Road, Birstall.

It's our third visit here too in the passage of our pandemic-era local bubble walking, chalking off the sixth and final road passage as the A62 starts its next rise, beyond the Greyhound inn and the passage of Smithies Beck, past the Johnstone's paints factory that fills the air with all the sorts of smells you'd anticipate before we meet a rare stretch of greenery as we carry on uphill through the trees of Riding Wood and the fields of Woodside farm before we regain the suburban landscape at the edge of White Lee, where I'm pretty sure the Shama restaurant used to be the halfway house on the road to Huddersfield. We switch onto the B6122, White Lee Road, as it scoots past the Black Horse inn and the Leeds Old Road, familiar paths from late last year, before we'll keep to our southerly route as it skirts around the Fairfield School and its extensive playing fields, heading into a suburban landscape along the elevated ridge of White Lee Common, noting the development that claimed the Ridings Mill site and feeling that the rooftops to the west of us are just barely concealing a sightline or two into the Spen Valley, with Heckmondwike being located somewhere down there. It's another secret West Yorkshire ridge walk that we've found up here, passing below the grassy lump on which the hidden hamlet of Healey lives, where sight can be gotten eastwards over the unclaimed fields in the direction of Batley, which we are surely within the greater reach of up here, where a number of rural outliers can be found, showing just how thoroughly the 20th century development changed this hillside, before the road drops to reveal us to be clearly on the Spen Valley side of the ridge as we meet the terraces on the edge of the B6123 West Park Road, which is directly crossed to meet Common Road. We need to dog-leg the route here, not to avoid the council estate or to see the interesting spread of villas that once had a view on Bunkers Lane, but beaches at the top of the hill, we can find Staincliffe's main points of interest, which are otherwise hard to direct a route past, namely Staincliffe Hall, the ancient manorial farm that hides behind a lot of evergreen hedges, and the prominently located Christ Church, which can be espied from miles around, while further on, beyond Manorfield school, we can locate Batley's main reservoir, in an underground cistern at the hilltop.

The Johnstone's Paint Factory, Huddersfield Road.

Ridings Mill, White Lee Common.

The Common Road terraces, 

Christ Church, Staincliffe.

Roll up on the A638 Halifax Road, just south of its crest on its passage between Heckmondwike and Dewsbury, where it passes between the Crown and Butchers Arms inns, and Dewsbury Gate Road leads us on through the bulk of this once distinct hilltop settlement that has gotten squeezed in between its three neighbours, which has you uncertain which one it's really part of, though there is a park to see at the roadside that's not really large enough to warrant a detour for a short circuit of it, and a little way further along, signage welcomes us to to Dewsbury, which I think formally puts Staincliffe into Batley. It's all Greater Dewsbury in my mind, though, with much of the older uphill settlement along Staincliffe Road, around the Squirrel Hill underground reservoir, looking more rural than urban, with the former workhouse site, beyond the old town now being filled by the Dewsbury & District Hospital, past which Healds Road brought us on our only previous jaunt over this urban hillside, and the minor district of Westborough lies beyond, which had a slightly more industrial feel around the Crown Mill site, which as since been lost as it sits on the edge of the Dewsbury Moor estates that reach up the eastern side of the Spen Valley below. The sunshine looks like its bidding to make its impression on the day as we come up to the point where we split off onto Boothroyd Lane, and into the eponymous district that sits at the western edge of Dewsbury's smarter suburban band, where we rise away from the immediate influence of the Spen Valley, finally properly illuminated behind us as we rise up past the knot of woodland on the corner towards our feature destination for the day, to be found beyond the church school, the parish church of St John on its high bluff and the parade of almshouse cottages beyond. Crow's Nest Park is Dewsbury's premier public green space, created around the parkland of one of the prouder old houses to the west of the main town, and really sits right on the edge of what I could honestly claim as being local to Morley in these days of pandemic restrictions, though it's function to the citizenry of this town is obvious as a space for exercise and sociable interaction while so many of the other alternatives are unavailable, and we'll join it by the borough War Memorial at the top end, where benches are provided for those in need of a brew as the cloud cover arrives to block the sunshine and bring on the chill.

Staincliffe Park is not large enough to warrant a tour.

Crown Mills, Staincliffe Road, Westborough.

St John's church, Boothroyd.

The Dewsbury War Memorial, Crow's Nest Park.

So we'll not be getting the illumination we need, or the best possible light, as we have our tour around the park, dangling like a pendant at the bottom of today's circuit route, taking the wide promenade path as it descends down the eastern side of the park, and it's good to see how many of the local folks are out to make best use of this space, with our first points of interest being noted as the Boer War Memorial and the duck pond, which has been heavily landscaped into place, with embankmenting below and raised rockeries above, plus shelters for those who'd like to pause and contemplate. One circuit of that and then we'll take the shaded path around the south end of the park, along the Cemetery Road and Heckmondwike Road boundaries, between their pair of access gates before rising up towards the main house, Crow Nest, with its boldly pedimented frontage and 18th century styling, and some less pretty additions for modern accessibility, but it has a period stable block and greenhouse located at it rear, as well as low range and walled garden to its eastern side, which we'll pass among as we rise to meet the perambulation paths above. These many wandering paths are ideal when it comes to strolling idly, or to getting in some proper park running as they rise and fall with the slant of the terrain, taking us back over the eastern promenade and around the bandstand site at the heart of the park, before we descend back to the main buildings complex to put a circuit around the wildflower garden onto the schedule as well, which would all look just grand if we had any lunchtime sunshine coming down, before walking across the front terrace of Crow Nest House. This leads us to the tree lined path up the west side of the park, rising above the rock garden and the bowling greens, shaded by the bank of the trees that descends down to the side of the B6117, before we meet the western path, which rises from the water fountain at its lower reach and up past the playground and the tennis courts, with all the old parkland beyond the western boundary having since been claimed by the Dewsbury Crematorium, and we rise back to the War Memorial at its top end and the exit back onto Brookroyd Lane.

The Duck Pond, Crow's Nest Park.

Crow Nest House.

The Wildflower Garden, Crow's Nest Park.

The Western Promenade path, Crow's Nest Park.

Altogether an excellent place to put down a couple of miles worth of strolling in an hour, around a more formal landscape than those visited over the last couple of weeks, but nonetheless a huge asset to the town in these trying times, which we'll be sitting a path away from as we pass above the playing fields to the east of it, starting the descent down from the hillside among the suburban band to the north of the town, where its still high enough for every south facing house to enjoy a view towards the middle Calder Valley. We come down to Moorlands Road, and past the extensive allotment gardens which don't seem to fit with the villa landscape to their north, but seem more in keeping with the terraces and council redevelopments of the Eightlands district to the south, and the planned way ahead from the Moorlands avenue corner seems to be a private road, with access purposefully gated off, and thus we are sent downhill alongside the terraces of Willan's Road, headed directly for Spinkwell Mills, the Dewsbury viaduct and the local branch of Lidl. Land on the A638 Halifax absurdly close to Dewsbury town centre, but our northbound trek starts here, up by the Kirklees College Springfield campus and down to the valley floor via Commercial Road to try making a bunch of alternating left and right turns through the still industrial landscape that sits around the occasionally visible Dewsbury Beck to arrive by the Batley Mill complex, but don't quite get the count right beyond the fire station and arrive one corner too early and thus have to rise a short way up the A652 Bradford Road by the Poacher inn. We do find the footpath that we do want to trace though, rising up the site of the GNR's Batley Carr station on its former Dewsbury Loop Line and passing over the footbridge over its southern throat, just short of the north portal of the eponymous tunnel, with the entire site and a long stretch of the alignment beyond being filled by a car scrapyard, which can be viewed from the paths substantial retaining walls above and from the side of Crackenedge Lane, which we meet beyond passage over the contemporary, and yet older, railway to the east of it.

The Playing Fields, Crow's Nest Park.

The Moorlands Road Allotments.

The industrial landscape in the valley of Dewsbury Beck.

Batley Carr Tunnel, at the southern end of the GNR station.

Despite maps claiming the parade of loftily placed villas, perched over valley side as part of Crackenedge, that's a name that I'd tag onto the scrubby hillside above us, and it's not a part of the town that I feel like I'm visiting at all as we carry on north along the pair of railway alignments, and the location identity is muddied as we slip down with Peter Hill to see the Staincliffe & Batley Carr station site on the L&NWR metals, admittedly very far from the former but claiming the latter as its home ahead of other options, just like its southern neighbour. We'll be adding to the altitude of the day as we rise and fall with the lanes, deliberately not taking the most straightforward route through this urban perch below Hanging Heaton and below Batley as we pace on along the valley side, noting the 1745 dated farmhouse again before we pass between the terraces of Commonside and then drop downhill with Wood Lane to the Primary school contained tightly at the Mill Lane corner, beyond which we get the views across to Batley station, beyond the viaduct which we'll be heading below in due course despite us starting out well above it. So descending shoes on to arrive below this mighty edifice of the L&NWR, which I still consider as one of the least appreciated of viaducts on the railway network, it's massive stonework and fifteen arches still going unnoticed by all except those who'd pass below it, and even I can pay it scant attention,as the missing GNR viaduct to the east of it fascinates me too much, and as we head up Grange Road we can easily spy the plinth that once held its northern end, thanks to a lack of covering foliage, while we can also be drawn to find the switchback lane up to the GNR goods yard too. An old footpath endures, around the Grange Road works and behind the Dura Bed factory, which shadows the aforementioned access road and the side of the GNR's triangular goods yard which is wholly occupied by the Bedmaster factory and distribution depot, which is an admittedly odd local theme, which has at the end of its eastern throat, a rare remnant of the Wrenthorpe - Adwalton line towards Ossett (the obliteration of which has been noted before), an infilled plate girder overbridge that splits duty as a garden feature for The Gables cattery which sits on the trackbed below, whose driveway leads us up to Oaks Road.

Staincliffe & Batley Carr L&NWR station (former).

The terraces of Commonside.

Batley Viaduct (L&NWR) and the plinth of the GNR Bridge.

Batley GNR Goods Yard (former).

Having done our best to do a circuit around the middle of Batley, as well as most of Greater Dewsbury, along the bulk of today's passage, it's now time to move away from it altogether and as we've landed in Soothill and still got the legs going, it's time to push the route uphill on Soothill Lane itself, an ascent that needs to be tested out, through the terraces of Lower Soothill and up beyond the WMC and the evangelical church at the crest, and on through the suburban band above, towards the Lydgate School, and the care home that shares its name. We're on a bunch of roads that we've travelled before, but that seems to be the nature of Lockdown walking away from the targeted parks, pacing the B6124's pavement as we pass back into the the countryside, past Croft House, and its neighbour farm along the lane, getting the southerly view towards Gawthorpe and Ossett again, while feeling the draw of the lane on its path towards Wakefield, via Kirkhamgate and Alverthorpe, an easterly trajectory that 2021 is unlikely to continue as my mind is feeling the draw of the Pennines and its moors once again. Arrive in the suburban ribbon that accompanies the Leeds Road, joining the A653 and noting that the Babes in the Wood inn looks that bit sadder with every passing, and carry on along the outermost outpost of suburban Greater Dewsbury before we reenter Leeds district and the stray terraces of Woodkirk along the Dewsbury Road, in stone and redbrick and still the only notable features of the area except the Millennium mosaic and St Mary's church, which are admittedly both much more interesting. So onward with the main road, past the parish centre and the sports club, as it dips and rises below the embankment of the Batley - Beeston line, the third alignment of the lost GNR lines that we've tangled with while inbound, before we rise to that other extensive block of redbrick council houses at the fringe of both Tingley and West Ardsley, across from the Bulls Head inn and our turn onto the A6029 Rein Road, where the railway passage is still marked by that house that looks like it construction might never get finished, and the final trajectory of the day starts in earnest.

Ascending Soothill Lane, Lower Soothill.

Croft House farm, at the limit of greater Dewsbury.

St Mary's Woodkirk, and the Dewsbury Road.

The Woodkirk - Tingley - West Ardsley estate.

The long inbound leg feels longer than it probably is with the suburban ribbon on Rein Road offering little visual respite along its route, broken only by the Woodkirk Academy and the interruption of the M62, from which we can't really get a sense of where we've traveled from beyond the Marshalls aggregate quarries, and thus attention rolls forwards once more, meeting the more interesting dwelling of Tingley Common between the merging angles of the roads on the run in towards Tingley Bar and our crossing of the A650 across from Tingley Mills, and too far from home to snare a serving of F'n'C from the fisheries. Then on into Morley proper via Birks, along Bridge Street as another road paced far too offer, past the old chapel and the LDS church, and inside this year's parks circuit on the way down to the High Street island, chalking off passage through GNR line #4, the Ardsley - Lasiterdyke, and note that the boiler factory on the Morley Top station site has been demolished and is being replaced with our own branch of Aldi, as time marches on, as do we, onto South Queen Street, past its Mill conversion, St Paul's church and the New Pavilion theatre. Arrive at Town End by the Fountain inn and then it's up and over the crest of Queen Street, which I visit so rarely on a Saturday afternoon, and still seems to be doing a lot of trades with its essential businesses in this exceptionally glum weather, especially on the stretch down from the Queen Hotel, past the indoor Market to the Town Hall, where the locals are still keeping their independent grocers in the black after this long pandemic year, and our last descent of the day continues beyond to Scatcherd Park. Beyond Coffin Corner, the uppermost reach of Queen Street is up for roadworks, for what I'm not entirely sure, but entirely in keeping with the trend of 2020-1, and guaranteeing that these 'improvement's are going to cause shenanigans for a while as all traffic has to find a new way around Morley Bottoms, even those on foot, as we have to take a few extra corners to get to Brunswick Street and the final run back to Morley Hole, where our circuit wraps mere minutes after hearing the bells chiming thrice, all done at 3.05pm, exactly matching the walking of rate my previous pair of successful park walks.

The oldest suburbia on Rein Road, Tingley Common.

Morley Top, home to the new Aldi store.

Saturday Afternoon Queen Street.

Roadworks Fun and Games at Morley Bottoms.

5,000 Miles Cumulative Total: 4825.9 miles

2021 Total: 83.8 miles
Up Country Total: 4362.9 miles
Solo Total: 4499.3 miles
5,000 in my 40s Total: 3423.7 miles

Next Up: Hopefully, the final Local Bubble Circuit of 2021's Lockdown season.