Wilton & Oakwell Hall Parks Circuit 06/03/21

13 miles, from Morley Hole, via Bruntcliffe, Schole Croft, Howley Beck, Upper Batley, 

 Wilton Park Greenway, Wilton Park (Carlinghow Shaw & Bagshaw Museum), 

  Birstall Smithies, Birstall, Oakwell Hall Country Park (Well Spring Woods, Oakwell Hall, 

   & Colliery Field), Gomersall (station), Birkenshaw (Swincliffe), Kittle Point Wood, 

    Drighlington, Lumb Bottom, Nethertown, Cockersdale, Gildersome, and Dean Wood.

2021-22 finally gives us the
chance to really fill in the blanks
 in my walking calendar!

It hasn't been extensively trumpeted on my blog, but one quiet fascination that I've developed over the walking seasons has been watching the sequence of available Saturdays shifting around as I've travelled, and as entering the tenth year of my career, we finally land ourselves on the seventh, and final, schedule of dates that have not been traced thanks to the movement of the Leap Years, and from now until the end of February 2022 we are going to have the chance to fill in a lot of the blanks in my calendar, to see if we can walk on all 285 days in what I've deemed to be my walking year before I turn 50 at the end of Season 13! So, with that thought in mind, we open out March, without it's business feeling too serious as we are still compelled to keep things local through the enduring lockdown conditions, heading out with the intent for more local park walking, over the border in Kirklees district, as we start out from Morley Hole at 10.10am, and immediately finding that the amount of local trails blazed is really starting to run me short of original routes to illuminate as we are compelled to set off up the A643 Bruntcliffe Lane, among the estates and industry, cemetery and school, in order to travel to the southwest. Crest to the south side of the Aire-Calder ridge beyond Bruntcliffe Crossroads, and note that over the last nine years we have been witness to the decline, closure and finally demolition of the Shoulder of Mutton inn, which has now been replaced by a vacant lot in the heart of its urban hamlet at the town's fringe, which peters out as we cross over the M62 and aim ourselves down Howden Clough Road between the pair of rural outlying terraces, seeking the one local path that seems to have escaped my feet so far. We may have come up this way in 2012, at the conclusion of my Leeds Country Way circuit, on the trail out of Birkby Brow Wood, and paced across these open fields last year, but the long wandering driveway to Schole Croft farm across this lofty, and still rural, plateau had escaped my passage until now, directing us toward the decline of Scotchman Lane, with the Gawthorpe and Ossett towers directly ahead of us, at the edge of the long Kirklees horizon to the southwest, sadly shrouded by much cloud, though the pervasive gloom of the morning does look like it might break.

Getting every possible perspective on Bruntcliffe Lane.

The Shoulder of Mutton, Bruntcliffe, has left the landscape.

The long driveway to Schole Croft Farm.

Bright sunshine briefly bleeds through as we start the descent down into the obvious valley cleft of Howden Clough as it runs south towards Batley, following the track as it leads us into the yard of Schole Croft farm, which seem to be the sole active farmstead left on this hillside, and there are some serious gates to shift around and dogs to be avoided before we can make our way on the narrow and muddy path that takes us downhill beyond, which was once the main route up to the farm, before that path just travelled was deemed to be more convenient despite its length. Bottom out by the stream flowing down from Morley Springs Wood and find that the path route up to the B6123 does not follow the driveway to the equestrian farm down here, instead maintaining its historical alignment right across the horse paddocks as it rises up towards the Needless Inn, where we joins Scotchman Lane, at the lowest portion of its long descent, following it past the last run of suburban houses in Leeds district as the road identity switches to Timothy Lane, keeping to the west side of the road for the sake of variety. Bottom out again as we make the passage of Howley Beck, one of those points where all the local paths seem to cross and we are again compelled to follow a previously trammeled pavement uphill as we enter Kirklees district and greater Batley by its own outlying block of suburbia, ahead of passing under the embankments of the old GNR line towards Adwalton as rising into the suburban spread of Upper Batley, where the contrasts between the qualities and aspirations of the developments put up in the 19th and 20th centuries could not be more markedly different. It's hardly an original thought for the day, but it's hardly an original route as we are directly retracing a path from last season as we roll up and over the wrinkles of the many streams that flow through Batley, soon meeting the top of Carlinghow Hill as it starts its sharp dive down into the valley that flows to the southeast, again noting the gouged out stone below the tree cover as we drop down past Batley Grammar school, and the former and very derelict District hospital, still found in a sort of leafy isolation away from the town's industrial band below, which probably brought them here in the first place.

Schole Croft farm itself.

The path to the Needless Inn, via the equestrian fields.

Howley Beck forming Howden Clough.

The smart face of Upper Batley.

We'll split away from November's route here, as the Wilton Park Greenway offers an alternative away from the pavements, at least once we've done a short circuit down below the bridge abutment of this most ill-starred of branches built by the L&NWR, noting that the station house from Carlinghow station is still in place, despite not having seen a regular passenger service comes this way in over a century, before we pass up Transvaal Terrace to get underway up the valley from this tree-lined and elevated perch. Despite it only being a few years old, it's certainly been a hit with the locals, adding a wide path for access away from the main road and behind the mills, and an extra wild space to the park that sits at its heart, probably proving more useful than it did when running trains to Birstall Low station, and creating an additional amenity and interesting feature to Wilton Park, which arrived in the landscape after the railway's construction, to be located not too far long, with access being straightforward via steps or ramps for all levels of mobility. We'll slip down by the most notable underbridge on the line, to enter the formal park to its south side, and it's again cheering to see that even on a glum day, the folks of Batley are out to make best use of the parkland available to them, while lockdown compels them to keep local, and it's a nicely laid out space to be found between here and Bradford Road, with a former millpond having been landscaped to create a boating lake and duckpond, that's mostly the latter these days, around which we can perambulate with many others, past the playground at its toe end. It would surely look a bit more pleasing with some Spring colour arriving to mitigate the brownness of the bare soil and foliage free trees up the bank would be a pleasant development that we're still a few weeks short of, but if there's a need for greenery, that will have to be found among the bowling greens to the west, which have really become exercising fields for dogs and toddlers due to a lack of playing fields, but the pavilion is doing business for snack and brews which keep the punters happy, and we pass back under the line to find the wild half of the park, stretching up through the woodlands of Carlinghow Shaw.

Bridge Abutment and Station House, Carlinghow Hill.

The Wilton Park Greenway (east).

Wilton Park Duckpond.

Wilton Park Bowling Greens.

It's nice to find such a wildly different half to the parkland as the woods stretch up the valley side, not occupying the largest of footprints, but certainly making the most of the space it occupies, with paths reaching in all directions, so it's useful to have map that I snared from the Kirklees council website as we trace a route up towards the northwestern corner of the park, tracing the dirt path on a loop around, close to the perimeter, below a lofty canopy of wild trees and through a lot of evergreen shrubs, seeking the path up through the chine that descends through the woodland. This rises us up to the former Woodlands House complex, with its Victorian Gothic centerpiece, overlooking the valley and its tiered formal garden, with its lodge, greenhouse and outbuildings still in place, now occupied by the Bagshaw Museum, and bringing even more layers of interest to the park, though the way everything is laid out makes it rather complicated to wander around, so maybe it's just best to pause here come brew time, before we move back downhill, wondering just how the astronomical observatory in the neighbouring field fits into this landscape. It's another wander among the trees to get back down to the Greenway path, keeping close to the eastern perimeter as we shed all the height gained earlier, noting that there are a number of post alongside the rising path with information and activity suggestions on them to keep small kids interested on the frustrating long (for little legs) climb up to the museum, as I know that's exactly the sort of thing I'd have needed to keep my toddler self motivated, and it's good to find another park that's so well loved, even if the colour of Spring has yet to descend upon it. So, back to the greenway by the feature underbridge again, to press on northwesterly, along the embankment above the bowling greens and tennis courts, which gradually diminishes down as we emerge from under the trees and we pass behind the Brook Royd Mill site, largely due to the fact the the railway overbridge on Brookroyd Lane has long since vanished, and peering over the mill wall has us making note of a sizable speedboat parked in the yard, which naturally has my mind wondering if its an unwanted prize won by a contestant on Bullseye, back in the day?

Carlinghow Shaw Woods.

The Bagshaw Museum, Wilton Park.

The Activity Trail, Carlinghow Shaw.

The Wilton Park Greenway (west).

Despite this not being a new path, having previously paced it southeasterly in 2014, it's still remarkable to me that the Brookroyd View housing development didn't completely consume the railway alignment, with a fenced in path being fitted in, and the sole remaining bridge has been allowed to remain as an ivy clad garden feature, ahead of the opening out of the green space on the approach to the Birstall Low station and goods yard site, now lost under the suburban close of The Crossings, where the greenway's location seems to have been a bit of a developmental afterthought. We come out to meet the A62 Huddersfield Road via the car park to Luigi's Pizzeria, and start our crossing of the tangle of roads at Birstall Smithies by Crilly's Fireworks store (which always has me thinking of a potential familial relationship with Father Ted of sitcom infamy), before we join the side of the A652 to direct us to our next park target, noting that this valley may only have had the most modest of streams at its base, but it was enough to attract industry to the valley all the way from Batley to Birstall, with some of the mills even forming their own little terraced enclaves. We soon run up to the the A643's corners, incidentally crossing the one stretch of this main road that hadn't been previously passed over, passing the old Birstall Grammar school, with its apparently ancient Tudor stylings on the main building and Arts and Crafts-y vintage house on the Low Lane corner, across from the way down to St Peter's parish church, which really has us passing though the village despite having missed its obvious centre, before we take a turn off between the Industrial Avenue and Trinity Terrace pairing, to make our way towards Oakwell Park. Cambridge Road leads the way, through Birstall's spread of council houses at its western extremity, which at least seems to have been laid out with a bit of mid-20th century aesthetic flair across a number of uneven plots, before we are dropped out onto Nova Lane by St Patrick's RC Primary school, with the park's bridleway circuit to be found on the far bank of Nova Beck, a little way to the west, though accessing it isn't too easy thanks to gas contractors having parked themselves in the entrance before they start digging the road up.

Occupation Bridge, Birstall Low station.

The six lane ends at Birstall Smithies.

Birstall Grammar School, Low Lane.

Cambridge Road, Birstall.

The route for riders of both kinds would be the quickest way around Oakwell Park, but the footpaths will offer more variety, and thus we follow the route up the eastern side of the park, shadowing and crossing Nova Beck as it wanders up and down through Well Springs Wood, passing though a lot of drably coloured earth beneath the shade of the bare birch tree, passing over the many watercourses via a number of duckboards, before rising high enough up to meet the passage of the old railway line, where its embankment terminates the upstream passage. We'll join last year's route here, again not venturing into the deep cutting of the L&NWR's New Leeds Line despite the way appearing much clearer, instead rising above it up to the path-side view point as the day finally brings a breakthrough of sunshine, illuminating the deep cleft to the north side of us, showing up all the colours of the exposed rock and the fallen leaves, passing on by the aqueduct and the way up to Warren Lane bridge, noting that the shallower and more easily accessible portion of the trackbed is still hellaciously damp, thanks the water running into it. Split south here, to make our way around the wildflower gardens, and the walled in formal gardens, in order to pass across the front of Oakwell Hall, probably the best of the late 17th century houses in this quarter of the borough, where every day tripper to the park has to visit as a matter of principle, and the lawn id used for all kinds of exercise for the young-uns, and we'll pause for lunchtime snacking here under the shade of the trees by the stables complex, as its now sufficiently warm to pause before we move on into the open fields to the west. Moving on, we'll find ourselves going against the grain of foot traffic on the long accessible path that rises up from the far car park, taking the optional direct downhill route over the zig-zagging ascent, bottoming out at the passage of Oakwell Beck as it bisects the parkland, before we rise up to the open space of Colliery Field, where a coal mine complex grew from nothing, productively thrived and and diminished to a mere memory within the passage of the 20th century, leaving only a name and the claustrophobia-inducing monument to the miners who'd worked here in its wake.

Nova Beck and Well Spring Woods, Oakwell Hall Park.

The Deep Cutting of the Leeds New Line, Oakwell Hall Park.

Oakwell Hall, the best house in the locality.

Colliery Field, Oakwell Hall Park.

Meet the shaded path by the Nutter Lane car park, and trace it around to the park exit, emerging by the railway embankment again next to where the line leapt over Bradford Road, feeling like I ought to visit the east portal of Gomersal tunnel at the apex of my trip, as it's access point has recently been advertised on the internet but feel that polite discretion should be offered on a Saturday afternoon, and instead start off on the pavements of the A652, travelling away in the wrong direction but tracing another roadside that hasn't fallen under my feet as yet. This leads us along the outer edge of Suburban Gomersal, which is abruptly stopped at the side of the Dewsbury Road, while all the fields to the north, belonging to the Gomersal Park hotel and the Wheatley farm complex remain open while being bounded by the passage of the M62, which we'll approach ourselves after we've come upon the side of the A651, turning the corner by the Clough Mill site, and passing over the motorway as we tangle up with one of last year's non-local lockdown passages, which gives the feeling of having enlarged my Morley-centred bubble considerably. The signage greets our entrance to Birkenshaw, the overly large village at the top end of Kirklees district, pacing up through its suburban spread in the quarter known as Swincliffe, having filled in just about every plot available above the motorway and around the BBG Academy, before we land on the roundabout with the A58, by the Halfway House inn, midway between Halifax and Leeds, and across from the West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service HQ, and the Low Moor disaster monument, where we'll turn homeward bound. Whitehall Road rapidly picks up the suburban face again, stretching out its estates and semis beyond the Golden Fleece inn, displaying the colours of a lot of blooming spring flowers and starting to rise as we pass over Birkenshaw Lane, the local pre-turnpike road I'd assume, while gaining views back across the spread of the Calder catchment as we elevate towards its northern boundary and start to pass back into the countryside beyond the last block of houses around Birk Hill Farm.

The missing bridge on Bradford Road, Gomersal.

Suburban Gomersal's edge on the A652.

The Half Way House, Birkenshaw.

Suburban Brikenshaw on the rising Whitehall Road.

The A58 then elevates itself through Kittle Point Wood, and over its eponymous beck on a considerable embankment above the channel that feeds the uppermost reaches of the streams than run down towards Batley and Dewsbury, while beyond we head up to the road's crest as we rise to meet both the Kirklees Way route and the A650 bypass road as it surges around Adwalton and Drighlington, traversing around the traffic island and noting the enduring presence of parts of the old railway line from Ardsley to Laisterdyke, a remarkable feat of engineering that rode high on the Aire - Calder ridge. We can feel closer to home as we start to descend on the north side, back into Leeds district as we enter Drighlington, along possibly the one axis of the village that isn't gaining a lot of suburban weight, as Whitehall Road drops down past the Malt Shovel inn, the small industrial district at the edge of Adwalton Moor, before landing by the enduring Co-op store and crossing Bradford the old Bradford Road to pass back into our previously established local bubble. Downhill we go, by the board school and St Paul's church before peeling off onto the footpath found beyond the suburban cul-de-sac of Summerbank Close, to trace the path above the local stream flowing towards the Aire, and around the edge of the field that are being aggressively developed to form the residential Kings Park estate, adding a huge extra wad of suburbia to the space between Spring Gardens and Pitty Close farms, while thankfully maintaining the rights of way around-abouts, which lead us down to Lumb Bottom. The one new variable path towards Gildersome can't be accessed, sadly, so we'll have to follow old paths for the remainder of the trip homeward, rising beyond the terrace at the road's head and following Old Lane as it passes through the simultaneously rural, suburban and industrial hamlet of Nethertown, sneaking us some views towards Pudsey and west Leeds before we drop down the unmetalled section down to the mill complex at the bottom of Cockersdale, where the A58 runs by above the high retaining walls.

The old railway embankment by the A650 bypass road, Drighlington.

The vintage face of Drighlington, on Whitehall Road.

The Kings Park development claims the green fields apace.

The farmsteads and terraces of Nethertown, Old Lane.

The obvious short route from New Lane is to strike across the field path to the south east, a track that I had forgotten was both decently surfaced and fenced in on its lowest reaches, before entering the ancient feeling strip fields beyond, which offer little by way of guidance and security across their soft turf on the uphill rise, drawing us up behind the gardens and small holdings that sit on the crest of the Scott Green Road, which we arrive upon by its sharp corner, among the red brick estates that soon end as we approach the transition to stone terraces at the start of Church Street. It's really nice to see Gildersome in the afternoon sun for a change, as so many morning passages have come this way under gloomy skies, and this it's grand to see the Baptist chapel and the 1930's styled New Inn under the brightest of illumination, ahead of us passing the St Peter's church centre and traipsing along the fall and rise of Town Street through the heart of the village, past The Green and the War Memorial and up to the Old Griffin Head inn, in the heart of the local suburban estates on the Branch End corner. Crest the final hill of the day as the B6126 leads us down to the passage over the A62, and thence its downhill past the 62 Leeds industrial estate, to enter the passage across Dean Wood, where the sunshine and lack of foliage offer the best possible conditions for venturing down from Asquith Avenue to seek the capped shaft of Gildersome Tunnel, that's hidden somewhere below the woodland undergrowth, but I'm not feeling bold after 5 hours on the trail, and it also seems that the shaded paths are as busy as any others that I've encountered today, which is definitely surprising. So we head into Morley on the final stretch, up over the M621 motorway, offering it clear sight line to the city of Leeds skyline, before starting the last drop down, past the terraces around the Deanfield Mills complex, and trying to get the view forwards that gets both Morley Town Hall and St Mary's in the Wood on the horizon between blocks of council houses before we arrive down among the terraces by Morley Victoria school once again, to complete our third parkland tour of this lockdown season at Morley Hole at 3.15pm, having swollen my local bubble again by a few more very satisfying degrees.

The field path to Scott Green, Gildersome.

The suburban leafiness of Town Street, Gildersome.

Asquith Avenue bisects Dean Wood.

Spire and Tower apparent of Morley's horizon

5,000 Miles Cumulative Total: 4795.7 miles

2021 Total: 53.6 miles
Up Country Total: 4332.7 miles
Solo Total: 4469.1 miles
5,000 in my 40s Total: 3389.5 miles

Next Up: Local Bubble Walks confirmed for the rest of March.