Pudsey/Tong ‘Tithe to 2009’ Boundary Trail Type of Walk: Circular, on woodland paths Distance: 2 miles Starting Point: Smalewell Road, Pudsey (SE213 327) Suitable for: Walking and horse-riding Trail Summary: This short, circular Pudsey trail follows the course of Tyersal and Pudsey Beck, the 19th-century tithe boundary between the townships of Pudsey and Tong. Beginning in Pudsey at the Fox and Grapes public house on Smalewell Road, the trail descends into Black Carr Woods, joining the beck in the bottom of the valley and meandering along Black Carr its Pudsey bank to a Woods modern footbridge. Crossing the footbridge, the trail returns along the beck’s opposite bank, in the township of Tong, before ascending the valley side and rising back into Pudsey, Trail emerging as it began, Water Wooded area beside the Fox and Built-up area Grapes. Roads © Crown copyright. All rights reserved. Wakefi eld MDC 100019574. 2009 39 Directions: Go around the left-hand side of the Fox and Grapes public house on Smalewell Road. Of the buildings you see here today, none was standing at the time of the Pudsey tithe map’s creation in 1847. On the site of the public house was tithe plot number 196, which was an allotment belonging to John Parker, and leased to John Sugden. Proceeding between the black and white metal gate posts to your left, onto a steeply sloping track, you begin your journey along a route frequented since at least the Victorian era. This track appears on the Pudsey tithe map as a wide vehicular access road leading from plot 197a, at the top of the hill on your left, down into Black Carr Woods. William Driver, the owner of Track leading into Black Carr Woods plot 197a, rented the land there to John Hinchcliffe as pasture. Follow the path ahead into the valley bottom, making your way across lands listed in the Pudsey tithe apportionment as ‘Roundabout’, and belonging to Thomas Roberts who leased them to Joseph Hinchcliffe as pasture. Cross a stone bridge ahead, stretching over a redundant railway cutting. The railway here is not evident on the 1847 Pudsey tithe map. This track was not installed until 1875, after much negotiation with several railway companies. Until this point, the growing population associated with the cloth manufacturing industry Railway Bridge in Pudsey had been dependent upon their nearest station at Stanningley. In 1870, a local committee was formed to petition the London and North-Western Railway Company to continue their line from Wortley to Bradford via Pudsey. The request was, however, declined on account of the diffi culties of crossing the Tong valley and obtaining a site on which to build a station at Bradford. The committee were determined, and took 40 their appeal instead to the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company. The application was favourably received, but during surveying of the land for construction, the Great Northern Railway Company also obtained permission in parliament to branch from their Leeds-Bradford line to Pudsey. Further negotiations ensued, and after consultation with 32 landowners, a route was agreed. The ceremony of the fi rst cutting took place on the 24th March, 1875 and the railway opened for passenger traffi c on the 1st April 1878. Two hundred feet to your left, the track whose bed you see here passed through a tunnel on its way to Greenside Plans, Sections and Books of Station. The track was fi nally dismantled Reference relating to routes planned by in 1964 as part of the Reshaping of British the Great Northern Railway Company Railways, or the ‘Beeching Axe’ as it is in Pudsey, 1871. (RDP68/107/43) sometimes known. In 1847, the Pudsey tithe apportionment shows that land here, later taken to build the branch railway was owned by Mrs Mary Pearson, who leased it to Joseph Wade as an allotment. After the railway bridge continue straight ahead, passing two paths on your right hand side. Go through a set of wooden barriers and walk straight ahead, dropping downhill and ignoring all paths to your right. The route you are now walking crosses plots 189 and 176a on the 19th-century Pudsey tithe map. In 1847, plot 189 belonged to the same Mrs Mary Pearson who owned the land where the railway was later cut. Mrs Pearson also Plan showing how the new railway would affect leased this land to Joseph Wade central Pudsey (RDP68/107/43) as a plantation. Plot 176a was the Plans, sections, and books of reference relating to routes planned and implemented by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company and the Great Northern Railway Company in Pudsey are held at West Yorkshire Archive Service, (QE20/1 and RDP68/107/43). 41 property of Miss Walker and is listed in the tithe apportionment simply as ‘wood’, showing little has changed here. Still descending the valley side, pass a clearing on the right, ignoring a path leading through its centre. Immediately after this, is a second clearing. This is the site of the Pudsey ‘Tithe to 2009’ Tree Planting initiative. In early October 2009, West Yorkshire Archive Service, in conjunction with local environmental youth group, Herbs and Dragonfl ies, and the Pudsey Civic Society, ran a guided version Volunteers clearing weeds for tree of the trail you are currently walking. ‘Tithe planting to 2009’ Trails were developed as part of West Yorkshire Archive Service’s summer/autumn outreach programme for their Tracks in Time project, a Heritage Lottery Funded initiative providing online access to Leeds’ 58 Victorian tithe maps. As part of the guided trail in Black Carr Woods, local people were encouraged to help plant several varieties of much needed woodland under-storey on this spot. Several generations of the Pudsey and Tong communities came together to plant holly, hawthorn, blackthorn, rowan, and guelder rose. By doing so, they not only improved their area’s ecological future, but also provided a lasting legacy for Tracks in Time and the online tithe map resource the project created. Continue ahead now, ignoring a path to your right, and go around a slight bend to the right. At this bend in the track is a stone stile. Proceed over this stile (horses use the track to the right) and continue ahead, keeping Pudsey Beck on The stile in Black Carr Woods Just after the railway bridge, Black Carr Wood is dominated by sessile oak trees, silver birch, hawthorn, rowan and goat willow. To your left here grow interesting ‘puffball’ fungi, which blow spores out of holes in their tops if prodded when they are ripe in August. You may also spot a pretty yellow fl ower with very textured leaves, as you walk. This is known as wood sage. Ringlet, speckled wood peacock, and small tortoiseshell butterfl ies frequent the area. 42 your right-hand side. In crossing this stile, you are walking through lands listed in the Pudsey tithe apportionment of 1847 as belonging to the Rev. Nathaniel Rea. According to the apportionment, the reverend leased his lands here to George Stott as an allotment. Follow the track ahead along the beck side, keeping the water on your right and ignoring other paths and a footbridge, also to your right. Continue along a wide dirt track until the path turns sharp left and ascends to a slightly higher level. Here, turn onto this higher path, and go immediately right. Walk straight ahead now, careful of conditions underfoot, as the path runs very close to Pudsey Beck in places. Climb three, long, terraced steps ahead of you and continue on stone paving for a short distance, passing through a wooden stile. (Riders use diverted horse track). After the stile, go straight ahead, ignoring a path that joins from the left, and emerge from Black Carr woods into a grassy clearing. (If you have brought lunch, this is a good place to spread out a picnic blanket and stop for refreshment.) Footpath passing through the stile Note the change in the woodland close to the beck. Common alder trees, easily identifi ed by their small, cone-like fruiting bodies are dominant here. The hazel has also been coppiced, giving it a multi-stemmed appearance. Hazel rods are very fl exible and were a valuable product of woodlands in the days before steel and plastic, often being used to make hurdles for fencing in farm animals. As you walk beside the beck you will come across a small wetland on the left where water seeps from the hillside. This has a range of attractive fl owers including meadowsweet, greater bird’s foot trefoil, yellow iris, wild angelica, marsh ragwort, buttercups, greater willow herb, marsh horsetail, brooklime, oval sedge and rushes. As the path ascends, note the colour of the bramble fl owers in the woodland; they are pink. Further down the path in the open meadow areas, the bramble fl owers change to white, demonstrating that colour is not always a reliable identifi er in nature! The clearing is full of black knapweed, common mouse-ear, common sorrel, heath bedstraw, marsh woundwort, sheep’s sorrel and gorse. Gorse fl owers for about eleven months of the year and smells like coconuts. If you smell the fl owers though, watch out for sharp spines! 43 Passing through the clearing, and keeping the watercourse on your right hand side, you leave the lands of the Rev. Nathaniel Rea, crossing into tithe plot 185. According to the Pudsey tithe map, in 1847, this land belonged to Abraham Hutchinson. The plot was used by Abraham himself as a pasture. When the path splits ahead of you, take the left fork and pass through a stone gateway onto a Clearing in Black Carr Woods rough track, Scholebrook Lane.