Discovering Old Huddersfield Part Two
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- - ·-·~---· ·-:._· ':J1IB PART TWO Gordon and Enid Minter Front cover:- The Jubilee Fountain, Greenhead Park. Back cover:- The South African War Memorial, Greenhead Park. First published in 1995; republished in digital form by Huddersfield Local History Society in 2010; Digitised by Book Scan Bureau A division of Hollingworth & Moss Ltd. www.bookscanbureau.co.uk 0113 2438642 DISCOVERING OLD HUDDERSFIELD PART TWO By Gordon and Enid Minter Illustrations by J.R. Beswick 1995 This book is for three quarters of the 'How gill Eight': James and Kathleen Broadbent Peter and Vera Greenwood Albert and Ellen Ramsden with whom we have shared many countryside adventures and even more laughs. ISBN O 9524747 I 9 ~~ CONTENTS Page Introduction 1 Tour No.1 - Palaces and pleasure grounds. 1 Tour No.2 - The first turnpike road 1759. 51 Illustrations 1. Sparrow Park 11 2. Lockwood Baths 22 3. Milnsbridge House 36 4. Crosland Lodge 68 5. Turnpike Road at Holt Head 92 6. Marsden Chapel 105 7. Thieves Bridge 118 There are few towns in the manufacturing districts more delightfully situated, with respect to scenery, than our good town of Huddersfield. George Searle Phillips, 1848 INTRODUCTION Part two of 'Discovering Old Huddersfield' follows the same format as part one-two car tours designed to take you, the reader, out to discover how much of the past remains to be seen along our local highways and byways. The tours, both of which explore the area to the west and south west of Huddersfield, pay particular attention to social, industrial and recreational development, to the growth ofcommunications and to the history of the water supply which has been of particular interest during the extraordinary dry summer of 1995. As both tours touch on the Colne Valley the story of the Luddite years is a recurring theme. As in part one, we have given the directions for the whole route before the historical commentary. Each feature discussed, however, has been given a reference number which appears in the appropriate place in the directions to help locate it. We have tried to make our directions clear, concise and easy to follow and we have used miles rather than kilometres because, at present, car mileometers and signposts do the same. However, as we are fast approaching the mandatory use of the metric system, all yardages are also given in metres. In both directions and commentary instead of using compass points we have used the less complicated left and right hand side and these should, of course, be taken to refer to the direction in which you are travelling. In undertaking the tours it is important to be aware of the difficulties of following what might be an unfamiliar route by car as well as the dangers of stopping, suddenly perhaps, to look at various places of interest. With the speed of modern traffic it is inevitable that some sites will be missed altogether and so, with this in mind, we suggest you carefully read through each tour before setting off. This will not only give you some idea of where you are heading but will also allow you to locate anything of particular interest and be ready for it as you come upon it. In certain places it is necessary to stop to take in all there is to see and, where we know that parking is easy, we have suggested this with the symbol (P). Occasionally, we suggest you leave the car and walk a short distance to see sites not visible from the road. Such places we have marked (P. W.) but we leave the decision to you. To help those who might like to find their own parking place and tackle parts of the tours on foot we have divided each route into measured sections of about a mile. Thus an area of particular interest may be thoroughly explored by walking no more than two miles. Of course, anyone familiar with the area may prefer to undertake the journey merely in his or her imagination. As our book is of general recreational interest rather than a scholarly work we have not provided footnotes but we have included a bibliography which we hope will be ofuse to anyone who might wish to pursue a particular interest. In the introduction to part one we commented that some of the information contained in any guide book is likely to be out of date before the book is published. We were soon proved right for neither tour in that book is now exactly as we described it. For example, we mentioned a large gateway in St. Andrew's Road, once the entrance to British Dyes. Now it has gone and the site is unrecognisable. In view of such rapid changes we can only reiterate that our routes are described as we found them the last time we checked them. Few books can be produced without help from others and we are grateful to Mike and Cynthia Beaumont, Sue Cottril and Alison Hughes for their practical advice and encouragement. Special thanks are due to our brother/in law, Richard Beswick, for his admirable illustrations in both books and perhaps we should thank our family for putting up with what has been our eight months long preoccupation. Finally, we should say that if we live long enough we hope to produce part three which will be of a slightly different format. ii TourNo.1 PALACES AND PLEASURE GROUNDS The first tour starts in St. George's Square, travels through an industrialised area to the south and west of the town, and ends at Greenhead Park - one of the pleasure grounds of the title. The provision of public parks in the late nineteenth century stemmed from a growing conviction that an urban population could and should benefit from open spaces and an acquaintance with nature. In addition to large landscaped areas like Greenhead, Huddersfield had a number of smaller parks and public gardens and the tour passes the sites of three of these. At the opening of Greenhead Park in 1884, the Mayor commented that such a place would have had little value, sixty years previously, when people had no spare time to avail themselves of recreation. The mills and factories where those people worked were described by G.S. Phillips, in 1848, as · enchanted palaces' and, as the tour crosses the Colne Valley, these improbably named buildings are much in evidence. Of course, we do not concentrate exclusively on parks and mills as the tour passes many other interesting features such as canals, turnpike roads, railways, public baths, schools, co-operative stores, hotels and cinemas all of which played an important part in the development of the area or in the daily life of its people. DIRECTIONS Section 1. The tour starts in St. George's Square ( 1 ). Leave the Square, passing the George Hotel (2) on the left and tum right at the lights into John William Street (3 ). At the traffic lights at the Market Place ( 4) tum right into Westgate ( 5,6) and continue straight ahead (7) through the next set of lights ( 8 ). About 60 yards (54m) after the ring road lights fork left into Greenhead Road (9,10,11 )and then take first left into Park Avenue (12). At the Tjunction tum left into Springwood Avenue and in about 125 yards ( 114m) left again into Water Street ( 13 ). At the end ofWater Street tum right into Spring Street ( 14) and right again into Old South Street (15,16). Tum left into Merton Street. This is 1.1 miles from the starting point. Section 2. After turning left into Merton Street take the right hand lane to the traffic lights at the ring road. Tum right ( s.p. Oldham A62, Holmfirth A616, Wakefield and SheffieldA629) taking the middle lane (HolmfirthA616) ( 17) to the second set of lights at Chapel Hill Continue straight on down the hill ( 18) and keep straight on through the lights at Colne Road ( 19, 20,21, 22) and St. Thomas' Road and 125 yards ( 114m) after the latter fork left into Albert Street (23 ). After a third ofa mile (24) tum right into Bath Street (25) and then left at its junction with Lockwood Road (26 ). Having joined Lockwood Road continue to the next set oflights atthe Red Lion (27, 28). This is 1.1 milesfrom Merton Street. Section 3. At the Red Lion lights tum right into Swan Lane (29,30) andfollow this under the railway bridge (31,32,33 ), soon after which it becomes Park Road (34). Follow Park Road (passing St. Barnabas Church on the right) to the traffic lights at Blackmoorfoot Road (3 5 ). This is 0. 7 miles from the Red Lion. Section 4. Cross Blackmoorfoot Road into Park Road West (36) and continue down the hill to tum left into Manchester Road (37,38 ). Jn a quarter ofa mile fork right ( s.p. Milnsbridge) into Whiteley Street ( 39) and, after crossing the canal (40)/ollow the one-way system byforking left into Yates Lane and then turning right into Morley Lane (41) and left into Market Street (42). At the lights tum right into George Street (43) andfollow this for about a third ofa mile before turning left into Bankhouse Lane. Follow this up the hill and take first left into Armitage Road and continue to its junction with Market Street. This is 1.6 miles from Blackmoorfoot Road. Section 5. At the end ofAnnitage Road tum right into Markel Street andfollow this under the railway viaduct ( 44 ). Immediately after the viaduct tum right into Lowergate ( s.p. Paddock) ( 45 ).