SE0021
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Text © Copyright November 2011, Humphrey Bolton;
licensed for re-use under a Creative Commons Licence.
Great Britain 1:50 000 Scale Colour Raster Mapping Extracts © Crown copyright Ordnance Survey. All Rights Reserved. Educational licence 100045616.
Contents
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The Moorland
This is in the south-east corner of the square.The Starfish decoy site
A small building shown on the OS map is the remains of the Starfish decoy centre, constructed during the Second World War.
This was the operations bunker for a 'Starfish' decoy intended to draw German bombers away from their intended target, in this case the railway station and yard at Greetland. The decoy consisted of a double line of about a dozen flash pans, where oil would be burned to simulate incendiary bombs. There would also have been decoy lights and shadow buildings, possibly constructed using walling stone from alongside some of the enclosure period tracks in the area. The bunker consists of two rooms either side of a central entrance passage, defended by a high blast screen. The room on the right housed the generators. The control room was on the left, with a escape / observation hatch in the roof. The decoy itself was located to the south west in the area leading towards Great Manshead Hill.
by Phil Champion
Looking W from the entrance corridor.
by Mark Anderson
Tracks
At the edge of the moorland there is a junction of five tracks.
This bridleway runs SSE to Coal Gate Road; it is part of the Calderdale Way.
The track to the SW goes over Great Manshead Hill. It is part of the Calderdale Way
The track to the north goes past Slate Delfs down to New Road.
Quarries
There are pits like this one on the moorland, probably old shallow quarries.
Boundary stone
This is one of a series of similar stones on the boundary between Sowerby and Soyland, all inscribed 'S B'. I think 'B' must stand for boundary, as Sowerby Bridge Urban District did not include this territory until 1937 (it was initially confined to a small area by the river). These stones (see also SE0121 : Boundary stone, Flints and SE0121 : Boundary stone) look older than that. The 'S' is probably for Soyland as it is inscribed on the Soyland side.
by Humphrey Bolton
The Farmland
Farms
As a general rule, the farms with small irregular fields were established in the 18C or earlier, whereas those with large fields with parallel boundaries were taken in from the moorland during the farming boom in the mid-19C.
Slate Delfs Farm was built in 1839 (Walsh).
Fields near to Lark Hall, which is in the centre of the image.
There were quarries in the farmed area: the first map shows the position of Warcock Delf and the second of another small quarry. The stone to build the farmhouses and field walls might have been quarried on the land belonging to the farm.
Roads tracks and paths
Blackstone Edge Road, B6138, passes Moorhead Cottages and enters the 40mph limit for the outskirts of the village of Cragg Vale.
Sykes Gate formerly led to a sandstone quarry and (presumably) sheep-washing fold (Washfold on the 1850 six-inch map) next to Turvin Clough. When Blackstone Edge Road was constructed Sykes Gate became a link to it from Sowerby village, and the route beyond the turnpike road was renamed Washold Road. The name 'Sykes Gate' suggests that is was originally a track across moorland like those named on the 1850 six-inch map on Great Manshead Hill (see SE0020). There is a ditch at the side of Sykes Gate that intercepts a stream near Sykes Farm and discharges to one that crosses the road near to the main road junction.
Before New Road was constructed, the continuation of Sykes Gate eastwards towards Sowerby village must surely have been along this green lane.
This footpath leaves New Road opposite the track to Round Hill Farm and leads to DEan Head Farm the Blackstone Edge Road.
Turvin Clough
Turvin Clough is a stream in a typical steep-sided wooded valley. There was a weir upstream, near Washfold Bridge, and a channel took water along the south-eastern edge of the woodland to Turvin Mill.Links to old maps
Link to old OS six-inch maps on the Calderdale Council website
Search for Sykes Gate. You can adjust the zoom level and change instantly between four editions of the OS six-inch map from 1851-5 to 1934-48.
Link to old OS 1:2500 maps
Enter the all-figure grid co-ordinates at the centre of the area you wish to see. The window for 1:2500 maps is approximately 970m wide by 680m high. You cannot pan the maps, but have to re-enter new co-ordinates and wait for the map to reload.
Bibliography
Stephen Walsh, Cragg Vale, a Pennine valley, Mytholmroyd 1993 Images used on this page, © Copyright Humphrey Bolton, Bill Boaden, Phil Champion, Alexander P Kapp, michael ely, David Dixon, Mark Anderson and Nigel Homer;
licensed for re-use under a Creative Commons Licence. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/Great Britain 1:50 000 Scale Colour Raster Mapping Extracts © Crown copyright Ordnance Survey. All Rights Reserved. Educational licence 100045616.
