Country Walks in the Calder Valley with Geoff Boswell

Walk No.11
Cragg Vale and Coiners Country
Distance: 12 miles.
Walking time: 5 hours

Lumbutts

Mankinholes Trough

Te Deum Stone

Click on the map to see a larger version

THIS walk explores the valleys, moor and hamlets around Stoodley Pike. The route is via Lumbutts and Withins to the Hinchcliffe Arms at Cragg Vale. Returning via Bell House and Erringden moors to the bridleway from Swillington to Mankinholes. The high moors are often wet and good walking boots are essential. The moorland crossing is very rewarding, but should not be attempted in bad weather.

From Todmorden Town Hall, walk down Halifax Road to the third Street on the right. Go down Union Street to join the canal towpath at Shop Lock, No 18, and walk towards Stoodley Pike. The restored tow path makes a pleasant walk and provides an opportunity to see the diversification of the old mills into modern thriving enterprises.

As you reach the next lock, notice the path up the valley on your right, 'up Folly' as it is known locally. THis is your route ahead from the next bridge. Leave the towpath under the bridge, opposite Woodhouse Mill. At the time of writing this looks dirty, damaged and deserted, but there are plans to turn it into an industrial museum. Let's hope these come to fruition soon.

Cross the bridge and follow Woodhouse Road round the two corners to a point where a link path to the Calderdale Way is signed, up an unmade road on the left. Leave this road at the first corner and, keeping the wall on your left, continue to climb slowly. As you pass the new flat fields on your right, take the higher path up to the left. When you reach the top, cross the next field diagonally downhill to the stone stile opposite. The views of the hills ahead, round Lumbutts, are magnificent. The rectangular tower with a stone 'chimney' used to house three water wheels, one below the other.

The next field is a natural meadow, it looks as if it has never seen any mordern agro-chemicals. There are some weeds, but the profusion of wild flowers, in early summer, is a joy to see. Keep close to the wall to preserve this lovely meadow. Follow the path through the farm yard, where you may notice some horse-drawn machinery, rare these days.

You emerge in front of the Top Brink, an old packhorse inn. This has sometimes been called the Dog and Partridge. Irrespective of what the owners call a pub it is usually known locally be a name denoting its location. Top Brink, Ridge and Kebs are examples. Another local custom is to give Working Men's Clubs amusing names, such as the Blue Pig, the Green Parrot and the Red Elephant! The Top Brins does not usually open on a weekday lunchtime, but is open at weekends. Thwaites bitter is my pint here. The food is very good value for money. This used to be the local of William Holt, one of Todmorden's famous authors - if you have not read any of his books, start with "I haven't Unpacked".

There are so many tales that could be told about Billy Holt, everyone seems to have their own story. A local vet told me that he was called to give Trigger (Bill's horse) a veterinary certificate so that he could travel to the continent for his European tour. An appointment was duly made for the vet to see Trigger, but when he arrived the horse was nowhere to be seen. Bill was in his studio painting one of his masterpieces. "Now, Billy, where's Trigger?" says the busy vet, the hairs on the back of his neck beginning to raise in annoyance. "Oh, he's away up the hill", says Billy. The vet looked frosty, but Bill took a small trumpet from his pocket and blew one note. There was a whinny from the top of the hill and the sound of hooves, as Trigger came crashing through the trees. Such was the friendship between man and horse, that Billy slept rough in the field with Trigger, when they were abroad, except once, in Rome, where Trigger had a papal stable and Billy slept in a bed!

Billy once told me that he had made friends with Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of the antibiotic powers of penicillin, in Cambridge, in the 1920s. The value of the discovery was not fully recognised until the second world war and a rather disillusioned Alexander had given his original laboratory notes to Billy. When penicillin was recognised as the life saving drug it is, Billy was able to return the notebooks to a place of honour in the history of medical science.

Pass in front of the pub and go down the car park to the road. Notice that the 'chimney' has windows in it. It is really a spiral stone staircase. Walk uphill for about 140 yards to the signed path to the Pennine Way. Soon you pick out the stones of another old packhorse route, again called the Long Causeway. Take your time climbing this one. You may find Ralph Kenworthy tending his sheep up here. A pause to admire the view over Cross Stone, to the north, is rewarding.
Below, on this side of the valley, you see Stansfield View Hospital, once Todmorden's workhouse. The people of the town resisted the implementation of the Poor Laws for many years and refused to build a workhouse. They thought the laws inhuman. Eventually, when one was built, it was a very fine building indeed!

As the Long Causeway nears the top, and takes a sharp right turn, look up left for an ideally placed seat. This was placed here in memory of Arthur Archer, one time warden of Mankinholes Youth Hostel. What a view! How's this for being on the tops? To your left you can see the line of Withins New Road climbing slowly from The Shepherd's Rest. Beyond the railway viaduct in Cornholme Valley, you can see the tip of Parlick Pike, behind Chipping, and the long back of Geoffrey Fell. Behind the houses on Harvelin Park you can see Lad Law on the skyline.

Just behind you is Long Stoop, the leaning stone which marks the top of Long Causeway. It now also marks the southern crossing of the Pennine Way and the Calderdale Way, the northern one being at Hebble Hole Bridge. Follow the line of the Long Causeway, past the smaller marker stones to Withins Gate. Just through the gate is the Te Deum stone, inscribed Te Deum Laudamus - We praise Thee, O Lord. It is said that this is the spot, where coffins were placed, for a prayer and a rest, on their last journey from Withins for burial in Mankinholes or Lumbutts Chapels.

Soon you see Withins Reservoir, built in 1891 to supply water to the town of Morley. Now the valley is deserted. Once there were 17 farm steads in this area, but drinking water must not be polluted, so now noone lives above the water. Only gate posts mark the spots where the farms were. This valley has the dubious honour of being the last place in England that had cattle plague! It is a wild and beautiful valley, the Brontes would have liked it. How about meeting Heathcliffe at Holder Stones, away on the skyline to the right? We will follow the old path to the reservoir and then along its north bank.

As you walk along the reservoir it does seem to be another one that could be developed for leisure use. It is not far from Mytholmroyd Community Centre. It has good access roads and a ready-made car park. The Yorkshire Water Authority is on hand for supervision. The 1973 Water Resources Act did charge West Authorities with the management of water for all uses, including leisure uses. Perhaps there is a good reason why a sailing club should not use it, but I can't see it.

As you follow the road down to Cragg Vale it may seem a long way, but there is the Hinchliffe Arms at the bottom! Here food is served every lunchtime. A pint of Webster's Best is the best you can do here. You might the landlord's collection of over 70 malt whiskies, but none are for sale.

This is coiners' country. In the Hinchliffe Arms there is a display of coiners' equipment found hidden in the wall of a local cottage. Coining involved clipping or filing gold from the edge of English guineas and then using the gold to make light-weight, counterfeit coins. This was not easily detected by people unused to handling money in quantity, and that was most people in those days. The practice was widespread in this part of the world from about 1500 to 1780. It was hard to catch the coiners in the act, in such a remote part of the country. Eventually, David Hartley, of Bell House, "King David", as he was called, was arrested, convicted and hanged for coining. He was hanged at Tyburn, near York, but his body was brought back to Heptonstall and buried in the church yard near the porch of the old church. You can still find his gravestone there. Early coins were hand-made and easy to clip and forge. Eventually the process was automated using a horse-powered stamping mill. THe coind had a raised edge to protect the face and the rim was marked "decus et tutamen", decoration and protection. Have a look at the edge of English pound coins.

Leave the Hinchliffe Arms by the footpath along its side, between the pub and the river. Turn right at the first fork and pass below the Cragg Vale tennis club. This is a pleasant walk through an old beech wood, but the river is more polluted than it should be. Continue until you meet Sunny Bank Lane. Now you have a zig zag climb. When you reach the farm gate, go through it and continue to zig zag uphill. Go through the farm yard and walk up the grassed Upper Lumb Lane. Follow the wall on the right, up to the power lines, where you turn left and come out on Heseltine Lane near High Green.

At last you are on the level! Turn right and follow the lane to Crumber Hill, where it turns left, along Bell House Moor, to Keelham. When you have passed Keelham on your right, the house ahead is Bell House, home of David Hartley. You can see now why it was hard to find the coiners! Today, Bell House is occupied by the poet Gordon Hoyles and Blossom. Blossom makes teas and homemade cakes, which are very welcome in such a remote spot. The name Bell House probably derives from the fact that there used to be a bell hung here to call the deer for feeding, in the days, when this was part of the deer park.

From Bell House, return to the packhorse track, but don't follow it, to the escarpment above Bell Hole, because the path is completely water-logged and you might tread on the wild orchids. Instead, follow another path straight up the moor. As soon as you can see a line of electricity poles on the southern skyline, use these as a guide. The path goes diagonally to the right, across the moor. The exit gate you want is about 400 yards to the right of the point, where the power lines leaves the moor. It should take about 15 minutes to cross the moor at this point.

The path climbs slowly round the contour of the moor. As a guide, Heptonstall Church tower should be to your right, and Stoodley Pike to your left. You may not be able to see them both for part of the way across due to high ground in between. We are privileged to have access to such wild and wonderful moorland on the tops. Behind you, the moorland curlews will be into their alarm calls. As you approach the far side of Erringden Moor make for the wall and look for the gate which goes down Whittaker Lane towards Kershaw Farm. Just before you reach the farm, turn left on to the bridleway to Swillington, the next house. Once through the gate at Swillington, you cross the Pennine Way, as it descends from Stoodley Pike and continue on towards Todmorden.

I always feel amused at the wag, who named this part of the bridleway as London Road! Soon you pass under the peace monument of Stoodley Pike, at present painted with the insignia of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. The boulder strewn slopes of the Pike provide reflections of sunlight that continually change throughout the day, tempting photographers of Cross Stone to have yet another picture of Stoodley Pike in the album.

As you reach the houses at Harvelin Park, don't be tempted to leave the bridleway, unless, of course, you live there! Continue along it, keeping the headland wall on your right. Eventually you pass behind Stansfield View Hospital to a junction of three gates. Continue in the same line ahead to emerge in Mankinholes village. Turn right, noticing the old water troughs and walk past Pike Plants to the Youth Hostel. Directly opposite the gates of the hostel turn left, down by the side of the barn, to join the path which follows the wall to the Top Brink. The pub opens at 7 pm and good food is quickly served.

The walk continues, passing in front of the pub and to the left of the cottages. Go down a walled path to a little gate into the field. The line of the path is clear across the next two fields. At the third field, go diagonally uphill until the path begins to descend to Woodhouse Road. Go down the path and the road to the canal bridge and take the towpath to the left back to Todmorden.

If you are staying at the hostel, you will find that both the Calderdale Way and the Pennine Way provide useful connections to many of these walks, without having to go down to the town.