Calverley / Horsforth / Rawdon
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Calverley/Horsforth/Rawdon ‘Tithe to 2009’ Boundary Trail Type of Walk: Circular, including river and woodland paths Distance: 3.5 miles Starting Point: Canal Bank, off Horsforth New Road (SE222 367) Suitable for: Walking and horse-riding Trail Summary: The trail begins at the canal side off Horsforth New Road and crosses the 19th-century tithe boundary of Calverley with Farsley, over the river Aire, into Horsforth. To the best of its modern capability, the trail then follows roads and tracks appearing on the tithe maps as it enters Rawdon township, and takes a circular tour of Cragg Wood. Returning close to the Rawdon/Calverley tithe boundary, marked by the river Aire, the trail concludes at the point which it began, by the canal side at Horsforth. Rawdon Carrs Horsforth Trail Water Railway Wooded area Built-up area Roads Calverley © Crown copyright. All rights reserved. Wakefi eld MDC 100019574. 2009 Directions From the parking area at the canal side off Horsforth New Road, turn right and follow the road ahead, ignoring the canal towpath to your 3 left. Pass in front of a row of 19th-century cottages on your right-hand side, and stop here for a moment. The closest of these cottages to the road stands on the site of buildings shown on the Calverley with Farsley tithe map of 1846. This was plot number 1095, owned by Walter Stott Stanhope Esq., and rather unfi ttingly named, Lime Kiln Close. The plot was occupied by William Edmondson, who had a pasture and outbuildings there, though its name may suggest the area had previously had different uses. Walter Stott Stanhope was affi liated with the Spencer Stanhopes, a wealthy landed family who had resided at Horsforth Hall (demolished – site in Hall Park) since the 18th century, and previously at Low Hall. The Stott Stanhope branch of this family had their ancestral seat at Eccleshill Park in the modern district of Bradford. Walk on a little further down the road and on your left-hand side, you will Above: Bond re. lease of the fulling mill at Calverley by notice a new block of fl ats, Thomas Thornhill to William Greenwood, 1792. Inset: named Canal House. On Greenwood’s seal. (DD/T/L/V/58) the site of Canal House, the Calverley tithe map shows a house, homestead, croft and pasture, owned by Clara Thornhill, and occupied by Thomas Greenwood. The Thornhills were a wealthy noble family, who held land in the Calder Valley between Pontefract and Dewsbury, and acquired the manor of Calverley from the Calverley family in 1754. The Thornhill Above: Lease between Thomas Thornhill and William family seat had been at Fixby Dawson, husbandman, with plan of parts of Calverley, Hall in Huddersfi eld since 1790 (DD/T/L/V/54) the 13th century, and was The Stott Stanhope of Eccleshill Park Family and Estate Archive 1473-1929 (STST, MM39, MM40, and MM45-48), is held by West Yorkshire Archive Service. 4 Below and right: Correspondence to Mr Ramsbottom, land agent of Calverley from Honoria Thornhill, concerning a dispute over the guardianship of Clara Thornhill, ‘the young heiress’, 1844 (DD/T/C/280) inherited by Clara at her parents’ death. By this time however, Clara resided at Rushton Hall in Northamptonshire. She was well placed in society and became a personal friend of Charles Dickens, whose visits to Rushton may have inspired Haversham Hall in Great Expectations. To your right, opposite Canal House is The Railway Public House and outbuildings. These are also shown by the Calverley tithe map to have belonged to Clara Thornhill and been occupied by Thomas Greenwood in 1846. Continue ahead now, until just past The Railway Public House, where the road splits before you. Pause here a moment. To your left is a narrow cobbled road rising to several properties on the canal side. This road does not explicitly appear on the tithe map, though there is a suggestion of it as a passageway between buildings, and the structure itself seems to be 19th- century. The road leads up to plot 1108, comprising a house, outbuildings, and a garden. These were owned by Clara Thornhill, and leased to David Yewdall and Company. Yewdall and Company were manufacturers of cloth and, owing to the property’s size and status, likely leased it as accommodation for a managerial employee of the mill that stood nearby. Though heavily modifi ed, the 19th-century house still standing here may be the same property featured on the tithe map. The Clarke-Thornhill Family of Fixby, Family and Estate Records (DD/T) and Clara Thornhill’s Estates Sale Catalogue (87D77) are held by West Yorkshire Archive Service. 5 Ignoring the cobbled road to your left, take the rough path straight ahead of you, going around the black gate-posts and into a wooded avenue that slopes down to Calverley Bridge. Stop at the bottom of the hill, keeping the bridge on your right. Ahead of you, in 1846, a mill race would have emerged from under Calverley Bridge, leading to a large mill on the river’s edge. Calverley Mill, as the huge building was known, belonged to the same Clara Thornhill who owned the houses on the ridge to your left. It had originally been a corn mill, but by 1846, it is likely that the business here was fulling. Fulling was the fi nal stage in cloth manufacture and involved pounding the cloth in large pits fi lled with water, urine, and fuller’s earth, to matt the fi bres together. Calverley Mill eventually became a wool mill, and the consequently oil-soaked building burned down, after which its remains were entirely demolished. Turn right and go half way across the bridge to the middle. In the centre of Calverley Bridge, turn to your left and observe the river view. Standing here in 1846, the huge fulling mill would have been clearly visible on the left bank of the river along with Calverley Bridge a weir, shown on the Calverley with Farsley tithe map, stretching across the water from the mill to the opposite bank. This weir was originally built in 1710 by Sir Walter Calverley, at the same time that the current bridge was erected. However, both structures had to be rebuilt in 1775, after the weir was badly damaged in a storm. All that remains of the weir and Calverley Mill today are pieces of dressed stone, littering the bank and river bed. Turn around now, and look over the opposite side of the bridge. To your right, the remains of the left-hand bank of the mill race can still be seen, forming an island in the middle of the river Aire. The river David Yewdall appears in several sale particulars in the Clarke-Thronhill Family and Estate Records (DD/T/DD/V) held at WYAS. A plan of the 1894 Leeds to Shipley Improvement of the Leeds-Liverpool canal from Newlay to Dobson Locks (C229/16/5/1), also held by West Yorkshire Archive Service, shows the later extent of the Calverley Mill complex. 6 Aire and Calverley Bridge mark the 19th-century tithe boundary of Calverley with Farsley, with the township of Horsforth. Walk on ahead now, and as you reach the end of the bridge, crossing into Horsforth township, pass the remains of a cast-iron cow catcher on your left that once formed part of a 19th-century toll gate. A toll gate at Calverley Bridge was certainly in operation from around 1705-1916, but the plot is marked rather imprecisely on the Horsforth tithe map, as being a cottage and garden belonging to J.S. Stanhope Esq., and occupied by George Lawson. It is possible, however, that Lawson was the toll collector for the bridge at this time, as several slightly later photographs of Calverley Toll Bar show a stone Bar Keeper’s cottage with garden a little way ahead on your left. Take the cobbled path straight ahead of you, ignoring others to the left and right, and emerge into Calverley Lane. Turn left and go up the hill over the railway bridge in front of you. The original route of Calverley Lane as illustrated on the Horsforth tithe map of 1838, carried straight on from the bridge and curved around, much later, to meet its current direction, the one in which you are Calverley Station House and engine shed Growing on the bridge over the river Aire is pineapple mayweed, a small yellow- green bobble-like plant that smells of pineapple when crushed. Blue/purple meadow cranesbill also grows at the Calverley Lane end of the bridge. Once its petals have fallen, this plant develops a pod like the bill of a crane that springs open in the sun and throws out seed. Otters and kingfi shers are attracted to the island in the river created by the redundant mill race, which provides a perfect environment for shy creatures to lie up and hide. Look out for dippers, grey wagtails, swallows and house martins too, which are all attracted to the variety of insects that live on the river. Listen and you may hear a chiff chaff, a small warbler that tells you its name, over and over again! Correspondence, bills, and receipts for the Calverley and Horsforth Toll road and bridge are held as part of the Clarke-Thornhill Family and Estate Records (DD/ T/C/264) at West Yorkshire Archive Service. There are also several references to the Calverley toll bridge in correspondence within the Spencer Stanhope of Horsforth Family and Estate Archive (SpSt), also held at WYAS.