Walk Length:<\/strong>\u00a02 \u00bc mls, 4 mls, 6 mls options<\/p>\n Grade:<\/strong>\u00a0Magna Via route is medium, on steep cobbled tracks, paths and roads, caution needed if wet underfoot. Not suitable for the mobility impaired or young children. Shibden Valley route is easy and suitable for children.<\/p>\n Grid Reference:<\/strong>\u00a0SE1065625774\u00a0Postcode:\u00a0HX3 6XG<\/p>\n Public transport:<\/strong>\u00a0Shibden Estate is accessible by bus numbers 681, 682, 548, 549, 509, 534, 227, 508, 226 from the Halifax, Bradford, Brighouse, Huddersfield and Leeds bus stations. Rail station: Halifax.<\/p>\n\n This walk forms a ‘figure of eight’ around Shibden Hall, giving various options for distance and difficulty. From the first Halifax turnpike, climb the old cobbled thoroughfare to enjoy views from Beacon Hill across Halifax and the Shibden Valley, then follow the track back to Shibden Park and a tollhouse on the second turnpike. Take a stroll up the valley through lush fields before returning to the Park. A visit to the atmospheric half-timbered house and its folk museum (with carriages) is essential.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSee the walk in Google Maps\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDownload a PDF of the walk\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t Turn right from the carpark, up the Shibden Hall Road. After 250 yards, look at the wall on the right to find an ancient milestone from the first turnpike (1741).\u00a01<\/strong>\u00a0Although the stone has been moved from its original position, note that the way to Wakefield is shown to the left, “Fifteen miles and a \u00bc ” along the old route over Elland. The distances are measured in long or ‘customary’ miles which existed into the C19th in the Pennines.<\/p>\n\n Until 1741, this was the main approach to Halifax from the east, for both packhorse and foot traffic. Also known as Wakefield Gate (‘gate’ from the old Norse ‘gata’, a way), it linked with the Long Causeway to Burnley.\u00a04<\/strong>\u00a0In the C18th, Daniel Defoe wrote “We quitted Halifax not without some astonishment at its situation. Halifax bank is so steep, so rugged and sometimes to so slippery that to a town of so much business as this is, ’tis exceedingly troublesome and dangerous.” The cobbled highway winds up the side of Beacon Hill.\u00a05<\/strong>\u00a0As it levels out, notice a large fallen stone, possibly one of the guide stoops erected by the Justices in accordance with the Act of 1697.<\/p>\n Either continue straight ahead or, for a pleasant circular diversion around the top of Beacon Hill, take the higher of the two footpaths on your right. There are extensive views over Halifax,\u00a06<\/strong>\u00a0the Piece Hall, Square Chapel, the Parish Church, the old bridge below the flyover, Dean Clough and the Wainhouse Tower, with Studley Pike and the Ogden Water wind farm on the horizon. Pass the Beacon basket\u00a07<\/strong>\u00a0and look for a gap at the end of the wall; turn left along the walled path. Panoramic views to Emley and the Ferrybridge power station open up. Continue through a gate and follow the path across a playing field. Turn left at Long Lane, a gravelly track, and note a white painted stone,\u00a08<\/strong>\u00a0possibly a guide stoop, by a high wall at the corner of the private road to Beacon House. Rejoin the main route by a green gate, at Barrowclough Lane.<\/p>\n Looking back towards Shibden, you can see two small towers (ventilation shafts) in the field; one belongs to mine working and the other to the railway tunnel below. The railway was built in 1851 to link Bradford to the existing Calder Valley line. Continue along Barrowclough Lane, a cinder track; after approximately half a mile, bear left down Dark Lane, a narrow grassy track under a large pylon line, with a builder’s yard on your right.<\/p>\n\n Follow the path across an open field\u00a012<\/strong>\u00a0over a stone step-style and through a birch coppice,\u00a013<\/strong>\u00a0bearing right following the path along a hedge. Climb the short flight of steps to the road and turn left. This is Halifax Old Road, the first turnpike, completed by ‘Blind Jack’ Metcalfe of Knaresborough in 1750. Because road travel was slow and difficult and better trade routes were needed, Turnpike Trusts were set up by Acts of Parliament from 1706 to 1840s, to repair and later to extend the highway network. Users were charged tolls to pay for this work. The name ‘turnpike’ comes from the spiked barrier at the Toll Bar. From 1767, mileposts were compulsory on all turnpikes, not only to inform travellers of direction and distances, but to help coaches keep to schedule and for charging for changes of horses at the coaching inns.<\/p>\n\n If you wish to shorten the walk, you can continue up this long straight road back to the car-park. You will find a LYR stone marker over the park wall by the footpath that drops down into Shibden Park, for the Lancs Yorks Railway, whose tunnel is still operational deep beneath your feet. There is also an old stone in the park wall behind a roadsign, with no visible inscription, possibly a boundary marker.<\/p>\n Otherwise turn right down a partially paved track by the right-hand side of the entrance to Rodridge Farm,\u00a016<\/strong>\u00a0between fields. Through the railway tunnel,\u00a017<\/strong>\u00a0the path opens into Shibden Park. Pass the playground on the left and bear right down to the boating lake.\u00a018<\/strong>\u00a0The lake was created by Ann Lister and is fed by the Red Beck, so called because it is naturally polluted with iron oxides. Turn left along the lake path to the end, c 150 yds. There are a cafe and toilets to your left.<\/p>\n\n You have now walked a fairly strenuous four miles; to return to the Upper Carpark, retrace your steps down to Old Godley Lane, turn left down Red Beck Road and cross the Lower Carpark, past the caf\u00e9 and toilets, climbing the grassy embankment bearing right past the Hall to the Upper Car-park.<\/p>\n In the care of Calderdale Council, the half-timbered Hall\u00a023<\/strong>\u00a0is well worth a visit; it dates from 1420 and has furniture and interior decoration from C16th onwards, with reminders of Anne Lister’s unconventional life. There is also a homely tea-room; carriages and other vehicles are housed in the folk museum outbuildings and the terrace garden has been delightfully restored in a paisley pattern.<\/p>\n\n To continue the walk with a pleasant stroll in the pretty wooded Shibden Valley, cross the road, walk back past the Stump Cross Inn (rebuilt around 1830) and turn right up Staups Lane. Staups House (No. 36) was built in 1684 for Joshua Crowther and is a fine example of a 17th century local residence.\u00a025<\/strong>\u00a0It was for sale at \u00a3550k or offers in August 2011, having been reduced from \u00a3800k; the owners had recently had 72 new leaded lights fitted to the mullion windows.<\/p>\n Keep to the lane alongside the wall of Staups House; the surface is now setted and steeper.\u00a026<\/strong>\u00a0Stay on the lane, passing Salterlee House on your left. At the end of the setts, the lane adjoins Kell Lane. Take the footpath to your left, following the tarmac drive of No. 85 to a field gate with open views up the Shibden valley.\u00a027<\/strong>\u00a0Go through the side gate and follow a straight double-paved track across fields. The two rows of stones were designed to take heavy carts carrying products of the local mines and quarries from higher up the valley down to Stump Cross – you can see the grooves worn in them.\u00a028<\/strong>\u00a0Stone, fireclay and coal were extracted in this area.<\/p>\n When the paving ends, continue on the track, go through a gate by a gap at the left-hand side and continue straight across open pasture\u00a029<\/strong>, 30<\/strong>\u00a0to reach a road, Blake Hill, originally called Bleak Hill Lane.<\/p>\n Cross the road and walk up a grassy, walled track called The Dicken for 200 yds,\u00a031<\/strong>\u00a0signed to Dam Head. At the end, turn left opposite the gable end of a building and look for Dam Head (after Dam Head Cottage), originally a 1500s timber-framed aisled hall, substantially altered since and under restoration.\u00a032<\/strong>\u00a0Bear left down to the road as the double paved track turns right, and continue along the footway to the Shibden Mill Inn, dating from 1643.\u00a033<\/strong>\u00a0Bear right across the Inn’s carpark, or pause for refreshments and to listen to the sound of the Shibden Beck.<\/p>\n Join the wide, walled dirt track beyond Shibden Beck, Horley Green Lane. Follow this, enjoying views of the quiet green countryside with splashes of vivid purple heather in autumn.<\/p>\n Eventually the lane forks, beside a small domestic mail-box. You have a choice! If you take the right-hand fork, the continuation of Horley Green Lane, you will walk directly towards Beacon Hill. Through the garden of a brick house, the track narrows to a walled path, eventually emerging from the countryside through the houses of Claremont. Bear right and cross the Godley Cutting by the wrought-iron 1900 Lister Bridge with its ornate gas lights.\u00a034<\/strong>\u00a0Follow the Shibden Hall Road back to the Upper Carpark.<\/p>\n If you take the left-hand fork, you will walk in the valley bottom back to Stump Cross. Walk along the slabbed path adjacent to the wall (not the wider dirt track), drop down some stone steps and follow the paved path across two fields.35<\/strong>, 36<\/strong>\u00a0The dry stone wall between the fields is an attractive example of protruding tie-stones. Go through a small gate. The paved path at right angles to the left, along a wall, leads past pretty Field House over the beck back to Staups Lane, opposite Staups House, and you can walk down the lane to Stump Cross.<\/p>\n Otherwise, continue straight ahead through a slab stile, cross the paved yard of a newly restored property and follow the gravel track through a cluster of cottages called Shibden Fold Terrace. A ‘fold’ is a group of farm buildings. Bear left down a grass track along a wall. Now you can hear the roar of traffic on Godley Lane, the A58. Passing stone and cast iron bollards as the path turns left, climb up the cobbles, noting the ridges for grip.\u00a037<\/strong>\u00a0Emerge onto Godley Lane, turn left towards Stump Cross and cross the road with caution. Retrace your way down the old stone steps and along Old Godley Lane, turning left into Red Beck Road to the Lower Car-park. Cross the Lower Car-park, past the caf\u00e9 and toilets, climbing the grassy embankment bearing right past the Hall to the Upper Car-park. Don’t neglect to visit the Hall itself and the Dry Stone Walling Exhibition!<\/p>\nDescription<\/h3>\n
Route Instructions<\/h2>\n