Distance: 3.5 miles
Ascent: 329 ft
Walking: Andrew
Weather: Cloudy, cool
OS Map: OL21 - South Pennines
Starting point: The entrance to Holden Park
Photography: Andrew using Nikon D610 / Nikon 24-70 mm f2.8
This is the first walk in an ongoing series I'm aiming to do, exploring my adopted home village of Oakworth in West Yorkshire (yes, the one in The Railway Children).
Holden Park, now owned by Bradford Council, was the site of Victorian mansion, Oakworth House, which was built by local businessman, inventor and politician, Sir Isaac Holden. Many of the original garden features, such as man-made grottoes and caves with mosaic floors, still remain but sadly the house itself burnt down in 1910 and the impressive portico is all that is left of it with a bowling green marking the place where the house stood.
The two figures which flank the entrance gate originally held large globe lanterns. The commemorative drinking fountain next to the bowling green originally stood in the middle of the road at the junction of Station Road and Victoria Road, outside what is now the Co-Op but at the time was the stable block for Oakworth House. The advent of the motor car made it a bit of a hazard so it was moved into the park.
The area over Chapel Lane, now occupied by the junior school, was also part of the gardens and contained a large ornamental lake. Only parts of the boundary wall and the huge iron gates remain today.
The story of the house is fascinating and you can find out more HERE
Passing beyond the elaborately constructed grottoes, I entered woodland, where the trees were just beginning to show their autumn colours. Maybe another week or two and they will hopefully be more colourful. At the top of the park, I passed through a wide gateway onto Highfield Lane, crossed Moor Lane, then walked across a grassed area and up a short lane onto Race Moor Lane, where I found a beautiful old wrought iron field gate. It's not in the traditional local Oxenhope style but clearly uses many of the same components.
I slithered and sloshed my way down Race Moor Lane to Cure Hill, then along the back of the cricket field to emerge opposite Oakworth Crematorium on Wide Lane, where I noticed a beautiful old cast iron bollard, complete with acorn top, presumably symbolising Oakworth. There are loads of pieces of decorative cast & wrought iron round here so I'll try and document as many of them as I can as I wander about.
Walking up Slack Lane, at the bottom end of the cemetery, there was an abundance of fallen leaves and it finally started to feel a bit more like autumn. The views over Newsholme and across to Keighley in the distance were good, although the light was pretty flat.
At the far end of the cemetery, I turned off the road and headed into Griff Wood, hoping for a brilliant display of autumnal tones. Sadly, I was probably a week too early and the main feature was the mud, which didn't seem to deter the hardened local dog-walkers.
Emerging from the wood, I turned up Grey Scar Road / Turnshaw Road, which is actually a very rough track or, more accurately, a stream. Turning onto Irish Lane to head back towards Oakworth, it became even wetter underfoot. There is usually some running water along here but I'd not seen it like this before. It took a while to slide and dodge my way to the far end and out onto Denby Hill, although I did stop for a while to enjoy the view of the village.
On the home stretch now, a short distance down Tim Lane then down the narrow footpath that runs more or less parallel to Bridge Street and emerges at the site of the former Oakworth Mill on Mill Lane, where the 19th century mill buildings have been converted into some very attractive homes.
At the end of Mill Lane, over Providence Lane, is the oldest building in the village, Oakworth Hall, which dates back to back to 1066, although the current house was rebuilt in the 1600s. A stone plaque, on what was originally the back of the building, marks the start of an old toll road (Providence Lane & Ebor Lane) and, above a door, there is a collection of two carved heads and a plaque depicting a huntsman which are believed to date back over 2000 years.
The final leg of the walk took me down Colne Road, onto Dockroyd Lane and into Dockroyd Graveyard, where there are quite a number of impressive Victorian and later gravestones and monuments. Until recently, the graveyard hd been left untended for many years and had become overgrown, with many of the gravestones being damaged. A charitable trust was set up and an army of volunteers cleared away the mass of tangled undergrowth and invasive tree roots to reveal this historically important site. I need to go back and have a closer look when I have more time and there is a wealth of information about the site available online. I also need to go back to Holden Park with my 10-20 mm lens and tripod to get some proper photos of the grottoes.
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