Mytholmroyd is a ‘walkers are An easy walk to welcome’ town. This means we try to ensure that footpaths and Three waymarked walks Brearley bridleways are in good condition, and that facilities for both local From Mytholmroyd station, walk people and visitors wanting to eastwards along the cycle-path walk in our beautiful countryside (marked in blue) and past Brearley are welcoming. from Mytholmroyd Chapel. Turn left down Brearley Lane and the canal path takes you right back to Mytholmroyd and the station. Welcome to Mytholmroyd This is a pleasant stroll on level paths, Mytholmroyd, like other small towns of of about 1½ miles (approx 2 kms) the upper Calder Valley, is increasingly in all. Returning by the canal path, attracting walkers. All walks begin (marked in brown) glance up left to and end at the railway station: from Scout Rock – a view which powerfully here the steep hillsides can quickly be shaped Ted Hughes’ childhood. reached. This is a landscape enriched both by its 1. Wood Top dense local history, and by its intimate \ associations with the writings of Ted An easy walk of about 2½ miles Hughes, Yorkshire’s most iconic poet. (approx 4 kms), taking an hour. An ideal short route avoiding steep climbs, with excellent views across to To Hebden Bridge Heptonstall and Old Town. and Manchester Churn Milk Joan across the Calder Valley Photo: Jill Liddington \ To Halifax and Leeds Wood Top was an old upland hand- Bus stop Caldene Ave. P loom weaving hamlet. Among its MidgleyP Road A646 P fascinating mullion-windowed Brearley Rochdale canal houses is one with a 1657 date-stone. Station The one hundred steps, going up to Midgley Road River Calder Photo: Jill Liddington A century ago, Wood Top produced Cycle Path fustian: hard-wearing cotton P Parking P Health Centre parking, weekends only material. Its inhabitants included the Saltonstall family; John was a fustian dyer; and one of his daughters, Lavena, a fustian clothing machinist, Pick up a leaflet later became best known of the local Leaflets are on sale (50p) from local suffragettes. outlets in Mytholmroyd and from the Tourist Information Centre in Hebden View from Churn Milk Joan across to Midgley Chapel Photo: Jill Liddington Bridge. For each waymarked trail there 2. Scout Rock is a map, clearly showing the route. This fully illustrated colour leaflet, with 3 A moderate walk of about 2½ miles easy-to-follow guidance for walkers, (approx 4 kms), taking 1½ hours. complements the waymark signs along Climbing steeply above the each route. Methodist Church, this route then sweeps eastwards above Scout Rock. Ted Hughes It soon gives wonderful views across The late poet laureate was born at 1 the Calder Valley to Heptonstall and Aspinall Street, Mytholmroyd in 1930. Old Town. Although he moved away when he From his childhood home in was about seven, the local landscape Mytholmroyd, Ted Hughes looked inspired many of his later poems - 1 straight across to the grim cliff- with their powerful images of animals face of Scout Rock: it provided and nature. The Elmet Trust, formed ‘both the curtain and back-drop to in 2006, established the Ted Hughes existence’. The return route drops Project to open up his birthplace home down through Brearley, squashed to organise walks plus festivals to between railway and canal, the celebrate the poet’s life and work. remains of whose rural industrial www.theelmettrust.com Station past are still clearly visible.

cycle path 3. Churn Milk Joan A more strenuous walk of about 5 2 miles (approx 8 kms), lasting about 3 hours, and including some steep paths, taking in both moorland and woodland scenery. Take care: the weather on the Wood Top Dye Works, demolished 1963 ‘tops’ can be much colder and wilder than in the valley. Industrial heritage On the moor, the tall lone stone Two of the way-marked walks lead known as Churn Milk Joan is both through old textile hamlets. The a local landmark and the subject Scout Rock route returns through of a Ted Hughes poem. The stone rural Brearley, which once had itself dates from about 1600 and at least three woollen mills. The was probably erected to settle Wood Top walk leads to an upland a boundary dispute. Hughes View from Wood Top, across to Old Town Mill Photo: Jade Smith hamlet, once the site of an old dye- From top of Scout Rock, view across to Calder commemorated this stone in one works for fustian, the hard-wearing High School Photo: Jade Smith of his many poems reflecting on cotton material that was key to local childhood folk tales. prosperity a century ago. Walkers’ Action would like to thank the The waymarked trails have been developed in many local supporters who have helped make partnership by Mytholmroyd Walkers’ Action © Crown copyright. All rights reserved. (Calderdale MBC) (100023069) (2006) Mytholmroyd a ‘walkers are welcome town’. and Calderdale MBC.