Deep Arse Delf has been marked on OS maps as Deep House Delf since the nineteenth century, but its real identity may lie in the folds of land along the northern edge of Nab Hill. From the hill opposite, the cloughs of Great Arse and Little Arse cleave the hill into buttocks, from which the quarry took its name. Early map-makers decided to make it less amusing.
Continue along the edge from the Mist Stone and, shortly after rejoining the main path, turn right down the slope. At the bottom, recross the conduit and head straight across the road beyond. Rejoin Thornton Moor Conduit at a waymark post and follow it all the way round the hillside to the A6033. A short diversion right at a stile leads down to the whitewashed Waggon & Horses pub.
The Waggon & Horses was originally on the opposite side of the road, but the licence is thought to have been transferred to new premises around 1850. It remains a traditional moorland pub and serves as the start of the annual Oxenhope Straw Bale Race; every July the locals don fancy dress and run, walk or stumble the three miles into the village and up the opposite hillside while carrying a bale of straw and downing pints in every pub along the way.
Head straight across the main road and continue along Thornton Moor Conduit around Horden Clough. The drain continues across the hillside to the junction with Stairs Lane, the old route between Haworth and Hebden Bridge. Carry straight on through a gate with the conduit until you reach the edge of the moor soon after a very wet section. There are good views throughout over Oxenhope, Haworth and Keighley.
Reaching the edge of Haworth Moor, turn left at a boundary stone marked H and follow a path parallel to the wall up onto Oxenhope Stoop Hill (bypassing as much as possible a wet hollow). Turn right at the top to pass Oxenhope Stoop and continue along the boggy moorland ridge. Fork left soon after to follow the line of a dead-straight dike gently up onto Dick Delf Hill. Some stakes are picked up descending the other side and, just beyond another boundary stone, you should fork right to reach the flagstones of the Pennine Way. Follow this right down to the prominent ruin of Top Withins.
Oxenhope Stoop, one of a series of boundary stones marking the extent of Haworth parish
Top Withins
Turn left just before Top Withins and follow a faint path bearing right up the slope behind. Keep right along the top of the slope to reach the trig point on Withins Height. Turn left here on a good path towards Alcomden Stones; a possible inspiration for Penistone Crag, these impressive rocks look out across the wastes of Stanbury Bog. From the nearest (easternmost) rocks, head roughly down the heather into Middle Moor Clough. There is a very faint path, but you should aim to pick up a line of wooden grouse butts along the right side of the stream. A path follows these all the way, crossing the clough to reach a sign above Raven Rock.
Alcomden Stones (also known as Oakenden Stones) stand on the brink of the wilderness. Despite suggestions of druidical sacrifices and the presence of a dolmen, it is now generally thought that these are entirely natural features.
Alcomden Stones
Stanbury Bog is an evocative place, dark and forbidding. In September 1824, though, the silence of the moors was broken by an unlikely explosion as the bog spewed out rock and earth across the surrounding hillside after a heavy storm. It polluted the River Aire such that its water could not be used for a time and created two large depressions. Patrick Brontë witnessed the event and thought it an earthquake.
Head straight on down the steep slope to reach a dam in Ponden Clough that marks the start of Ponden Aqueduct, an underground conduit. Follow the path around the head of Ponden Clough, joining a vehicle track soon after passing another sluice. Keep straight on at the next junction to stay left of Upper Ponden, then fork right down a grassy path. Turn right at the bottom and rejoin the vehicle track to head down towards Ponden Reservoir. At a T-junction, turn right, passing Ponden Hall (the inspiration for Thrushcross Grange) before joining the reservoir shore.
Ponden Reservoir was built in the 1870s as a compensation reservoir for the mill owners in the valley below, as all the water from Middle Moor Clough and Stanbury Bog is taken via Ponden Aqueduct, an underground conduit, to Watersheddles Reservoir.
Ponden Hall is an Elizabethan farmhouse that is usually cited as the model for Thrushcross Grange in Wuthering Heights. The lower section is thought to have been built around 1634 with the upper half added in 1801. Until 1898 it belonged to the Heaton Family, who owned Ponden Mill and Crow Hill Quarries and were friends of the Brontë family, who regularly visited its extensive library. The adjacent building called the Bunkhouse served as a stopping point on the Pennine Way for a number of years, but was originally built as a peat store and cow shed in 1680. The precipice of Ponden Kirk has long been associated with Penistone Crag in Wuthering Heights, though it is equally likely Emily was inspired by Alcomden Stones. Beneath it is a small gap in the rock through which it is said a maiden should crawl if she was to be married before the year was out. There were also suggestions of sexual rituals according to Halliwell Sutcliffe: ‘This dark kirk of the wilderness, at which Pagan mothers once worshipped lustily’.
The plaque at Ponden Hall
Just beyond the far end of Ponden Reservoir, turn right at a sign and follow a path around Rush Isles. It leads up to join the lane at Buckley Farm. Follow this left along the top of the hill and, at its end, turn left along Back Lane, which soon joins the road heading into Stanbury village, beautifully perched on a ridge above Lower Laithe Reservoir.
The road can be followed all the way through Stanbury, but a lovely path avoids the narrow road. Turn left at a sign just beyond the school and follow the track round behind the old Sunday school, then fork left along a walled path that runs behind the Wuthering Heights pub (which can be reached via a gate from this side). Rejoin the road, then turn right on Reservoir Road, which drops down dramatically to cross Lower Laithe Reservoir’s dam wall. Turn left at the far end and follow a bridleway up to Cemetery Road.
Stanbury is an ancient settlement on a ridge of land that represented an important route across the Pennines, and is likely to pre-date the Norman Conquest. It developed greatly in the nineteenth century and Patrick Brontë was instrumental in establishing a church and Sunday school here in 1846. The Wuthering Heights inn was built in 1763 and was previously known as the Cross Inn.
A path follows the left edge of Cemetery Road down to its junction with West Lane. Turn right, then almost immediately go right again through a gate and follow a path across the fields to the edge of Haworth. The path continues behind the houses to reach the Brontë Parsonage (in the field behind which the Anne Stone can be seen). Continue past the church and turn right down the cobbled Main Street. At the bottom turn right along Sun Street and follow it all the way out of the village.
At the end of the houses of Haworth, where the road bends right up the hill, turn left along the edge of the fields. The path soon joins an old packhorse route leading down through the trees to Donkey Bridge, reached just beyond a tunnel beneath the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway. Turn right along the river before recrossing it near North Ives Barn. Briefly join a vehicle track, but bear right to stay on the right bank until a footbridge where the route joins the Brontë Way. The path emerges back on Mill Lane near Oxenhope Station.
Oxenhope Church
The ring ouzel is a migratory mountain thrush closely related to the blackbird. The ring refers to the white band around its neck. Not unlike Emily, the ring ouzel prefers its own company and is fond of steep-sided moorland cloughs
The Anne Brontë Walk
This varied route follows the Railway Children Walk along the Worth Valley out of Haworth, before climbing through Oakworth and Holden Park to charming Newsholme Dean. The route returns via Newsholme and Pickles Hill, before following the River Worth back towards Haworth. The walking is on good paths throughout, though some parts may be muddy.
‘He that dares not grasp the thorn should never crave the rose.’
Distance: 7 miles (11.2km)
Ascent
: 350m
Difficulty: Moderate
Public Transport: Haworth is served by various buses from Bradford, Halifax and Hebden Bridge. It is also on the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway.
Parking: Various pay car parks in Haworth, including by Brontë Parsonage. Some free street parking further up West Lane.
Refreshments: The Turkey Inn at Laycock is a natural stopping point 1/3 mile off the route near Holme House. There are plenty of options in Haworth, and Sewing Days Café is on the route in Oakworth, where there are also a couple of pubs.
From the Bronte Parsonage, follow the cobbled path down the hill past St Michael’s Church. Turn right down Main Street until the Fleece Inn, opposite which you bear left down a road. Head straight across the B6142 and bear right into Central Park. Keep left to return to Butt Lane and follow it to the bottom, where a path leads left over the Keighley & Worth Valley railway to Haworth Station.
The Keighley & Worth Valley Railway is a single track branch line that didn’t reach Haworth until 1867 and was subsequently extended to Oxenhope due to persistence from local mill owners. Thus the Brontës had to walk an eight mile round trip to Keighley over steep hills to pick up and return library books, and to attend lectures and other events, sometimes returning in the dark. They also took these moorland tracks and field paths to catch the regular coach from Keighley to Bradford or Leeds. The line was closed in 1962 after the Beeching Report, but re-opened in 1968 as a volunteer-operated heritage railway specialising in the serving of real ale on-board. Its sale to the local preservation society represents the very first privatisation of British Railways, and it thrives to this day. The famous 1970 film of E. Nesbit’s The Railway Children was extensively filmed on this line, particularly around Oakworth Station, and the route follows part of the Railway Children Walk.
Turn left along the main road and follow it up the hill, before bearing left into Ebor Lane (on the corner of which there is a stone plaque in the wall). Over the stream, turn right on a path alongside the railway and follow Bridgehouse Beck all the way to Vale Farm. Turn right here. then left on the road at the end to pass the vast works of Vale Mill. At the sharp corner (where drivers are exhorted to hoot), head straight on up the steps and under the railway.
The stone plaque at the end of Ebor Lane is a public notice about the private road from here to Mytholmes Lane. It was one of three erected in 1843 by John Craven of Dockroyd in Oakworth. It was only reinstated in 2013 after the wall was damaged. Others were allowed to use the road for certain fees. Ebor Mill was built by the Craven family in 1819 on the site of an earlier mill and used for worsted manufacture. Much of the buildings were destroyed by fire in 2010.
Ebor Lane plaque
At the top, turn right along a narrow walled path, then fork right through a gate to reach a road. Just up the hill, turn right on East Royd and then left at a sign. A path continues across the fields to another road; keep straight on to the main road at the end and follow it left into Oakworth. Turn right before the roundabout, following Clough Lane into the woods of Holden Park. Cut through a gap in the wall to the left to continue up its left side and, at the top of some steps, cut back right through another gap to emerge on Race Moor Lane.
Holden Park was once the grounds of Oakworth House, an Italianate mansion built in the 1860s for Sir Isaac Holden. It lasted only until 1907, when it was demolished following a serious fire. The grounds were given to the people of Oakworth and are worth exploring for the grotto, portico and summerhouse.
The Anne Stone
Turn right around Race Moor Lane and, after the bend, turn right up a narrow path. Carry straight on across the fields to reach Slaymaker Lane, which you follow left to its end at Slack Lane. Turn right on Mackingstone Lane for nearly half a mile until it drops down to the hamlet of Holme House, where the route turns left on a farm track to True Well Hall. If you want to visit the Turkey Inn at Laycock, carry straight on for another third of a mile. You can return to the route by following the Millennium Way footpath just before the pub.
Slack Lane Baptist Chapel dates from 1819. It was originally known as Shaw’s Chapel after Joseph Shaw, the first Baptist preacher in the area. After building of a larger chapel at the crossroads in 1879, the old church was used as a Sunday school. The new chapel is now a private residence (Chapel Fold) while the old church is still used for services.
Follow the track past True Well Hall to Carr Laithe, just before which a narrow, walled path leads right down into the field. After the next gate, bear right across a very soggy patch to a small gate leading down into the trees of Newsholme Dean. Across the bridge, keep left along the wall to emerge on Fellow Lane above the farmhouse. Follow the track left back down into the valley, forking left of Newsholme Dean Cottage. At the end of the track, keep left along the wall to cross the packhorse pridge adjacent to the ancient Dean Bridge.
The delightful wooded glen of Newsholme Dean feels very secluded these days, but was a popular post-war picnic spot, with families paddling in the stream and a cafe at one of the farms. Dean Bridge has been a significant crossing point for centuries, though; its beautifully balanced ancient clapper bridge stands alongside a packhorse bridge made to look ordinary. Though it has been modified at some point, it has been suggested that the clapper bridge was originally Roman and part of the same ancient trans-Pennine route as that over the clapper bridge at Wycoller.
Bear left beyond Dean Bridge to a gate into the woods and follow a muddy route up the side of Cat Clough. At the top, go throuqh a gate to join a walled path into the hamlet of Newsholme. Bear right at the end to join the road and pass the tiny St John’s Church, built into the adjacent house. Follow Gill Lane back across Newsholme Beck and turn right at the top, cutting up to join Green Lane. Beyond a small pumping station, turn left into White Lane.
St John’s Church, Newsholme was part of Church Farm before being designated as a place of worship in 1844 It was originally used as a chapel of ease and sunday school, but could hold up to 200 people
Follow White Lane straight on, passing a turn off for Tewitt Hall Farm and heading straight on across another track (Turnshaw Lane). Turn left soon after and follow Willgutter Lane down to Pickles Hill. Head straight across the road and follow Scholes Lane down to Lower Scholes. Beyond the buildings, follow waymark discs straight on into a grassy track that soon emerges in the fields. Follow the wall until it bends sharply left, then head down to the far corner of the field where a stile leads into the trees. Keep left down the side of Lumb Beck to reach a beautiful packhorse bridge at Lumbfoot
Do not cross the bridge, but turn left on the track just beyond. Almost immediately fork right through a gate and follow a lovely path along the River Worth. At the next gate, follow the left side of a fence to return to the river at Long Bridge, another fine packhorse bridge. Cross the bridge and climb up to a ladder stile at Lower Oldfield via the holloway of Oldfield Gate. Keep left of the farm and join a walled path leading along the top of the fields. After a second stile, keep right up the side of the field to a gate and cut through to West Lane on the edge of Haworth. Turn left, then immediately right after the Sun Inn and follow the estate road to its end where a path leads up to the route heading left back to the Bronte Parsonage. Just before, turn right through a gate into Parson’s Field to end the walk at the Anne Stone, situated at the top right corner with a poem written by Jackie Kay and a fine view over the town
The Long Bridge is a packhorse bridge that stood on Old field, an ancient route between Haworth and Oldfield, which continued up Hey Lane and across the top of the waterfall on Lumb Beck. Though the bridge is of uncertain origin, there were once stepping stones by the ford here known as Scholes Hippins. Both Haworth and Haworth West End Cricket Clubs played in a field by the bridge during their early years; the former was linked to the Methodist Church, the latter to the Baptist Church nextdoor.
The Brontë Parsonage was built in 1778 from local millstone. It is a classic Georgian house that has been maintained
pretty much as it appeared in the time of the Brontës. The family arrived in 1820, but Maria Brontë died in 1821, leaving Patrick a widower with six children. Aunt Branwell stayed on to help, but Patrick only earned £180 a year as curate of Haworth, (probably equivalent to 12-13K salary today) and had to pay for any repairs, or alterations to the house out of his salary. The only significant alterations were made subsequently by Charlotte in 1850 and 1854, and Reverend Wade in 1878. Patrick Brontë lived here for 41 years until his death on 7 June 1861; at age 84, he had outlived all six of his children. When Patrick arrived in 1820, there wasn’t a school in Haworth, and given his passion for education, he campaigned to raise funds to build a Sunday school. The school opened in 1832, and provided a basic education for the local children, many of whom would be working in local mills during the week. Charlotte, Anne and Branwell all taught here.
The Bronté Parsonage
In May 1849, whilst suffering from tuberculosis, Anne Brontë made her final journey to Scarborough, where she had spent time with the Robinsons, for whose children she was governess. Anne said goodbye to her family and her faithful spaniel, Flossy, neither of whom would comprehend the finality of this parting. Accompanied by Charlotte and family friend, Ellen Nussey, one likes to think she would have followed our route out of Haworth towards Keighley. Despite hopes the sea air may help her recover, she died on 28 May 1849 and her last words to Charlotte were ‘take courage’. Anne was buried at St Mary’s Church in Scarborough but this memorial stone, with a poem written by Jackie Kay, acknowledges the return she had hoped for. This stone lies close to where the rest of her siblings are buried
Walking the Invisible Page 21
