SE0023
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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.
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To the west of the B 6138
Marshaw Bridge and the church
The settlement now known as Cragg Vale was originally called Marshaw Bridge (1850 six-inch map). The bridge is on an ancient route from Sowerby village to Lancashire via Mankinholes and Walsden or Todmorden.
The name perhaps arose because this was quite a remote area when the only access was by packhorse track. It was in Halifax parish until becoming independent in 1844 as 'Halifax St John in the Wilderness'. The church was a 'Commissioner's Church', ie funded by the Government, built in 1815 according to 'Pennine Valley, ed. Jennings, or 1839 according to 'The History of Hebden Bridge' by Colin Spencer.
by Humphrey Bolton
This is the church as seen from the main road
The churchyard is full of closely-spaced grave stones
The large area in front of the memorial on the left is over the Hinchliffe family vault, but the other two memorials in the foreground are also for members of that family, whereas the obelisk in the background is for members of the other mill-owning family in the hamlet, the Greenwoods.
by Humphrey Bolton
This attractive wheel-head cross with strapwork decoration is a memorial to members of the Greenwood family, mill owners, of Castle Hall. It is on the east side of the church.
by Humphrey Bolton
The house on the right was built as the vicarage, and the former school on the left was converted from the drying kiln of the corn mill.
by Humphrey Bolton
The western hillside
From Marshaw Bridge a footpath goes past the old vicarage and along the eastern bank of Cragg Brook.
Judging by the stone paving, this is probably the old route from Marshaw Bridge down the valley to Mytholmroyd. It would cross New Bridge and go along Castle Gate. From there it might have followed a route similar to the present main road.
The brook in Cragg Vale near the northern end of Cragg Hall Wood, a little way upstream from New Bridge at the junction of Sunny Bank Lane and Castle Gate.
by Paul Glazzard
Lane from Cragg Road to Upper Lumb
There is a strikingly zig-zag lane that leaves Cragg Road (B6138) as Castle Gate, crosses Cragg Brook over New Bridge, then continues as Sunny Bank Lane past Sunny Bank (farm or house on the 1850 map, at SE002236) to become Upper Lumb Lane. This goes past Upper Lumb Farm (SE001237) and out of the square to Heseltine Lane. This is all an unadopted street, and yet is only shown on maps as a public footpath.
This is the start of the lane, off Cragg Road. Later (2-Feb-2012, the sign was lying at the foot of the steep slope on the right.
This is New Bridge, which gives access from Cragg Road via Castle Gate to Sunny Bank Lane.
Lower Lumb Lane
This is Paper Mill Bridge, giving access to Paper Mill Cottage, seen here on the right. The bridge also carries a public footpath, which begins on Castle Gate and slants down to meet the driveway to the house. Over the bridge the footpath divides; a track to the right goes to Paper Mill Wood and the one to the left (behind the white vehicle) is Lower Lumb Lane, which is also an unadopted street that starts at Paper Mill Cottage, and is not connected to a public road.
This is shown on the 1850 map as being walled all the way up to Lower Lumb. Now the wall on one side ends at the tree, and just a few stones from it remain in the foreground. It was too narrow for carts, and was superseded, except as a footpath, by the Castle Gate, New Bridge and Sunnybank Lane route.
by Humphrey Bolton
The route of Lower Lumb Lane comes through the modern metal gate on the right and turns left towards the camera. It no longer has the character of a lane, but is still a public footpath, which here meets two paths from Paper Mill Wood.
Here at Lower Lumb, Lower Lumb Lane has become the driveway for a holiday bungalow.
Public footpaths on the hillside
This is the path from Paper Mill to Paper Mill Wood.
This path goes from Lower Lumb to the top of Paper Mill Wood.
This path goes from Lower Lumb to the bottom of Paper Mill Wood.
Taken from the public footpath along the edge of the field, which has grass with brown dead leaves in contrast to the green grass in other fields.
by Humphrey Bolton
Here the footpath goes along the bottom of a young plantation.
by Humphrey Bolton
Industrial relics in the valley bottom
Downstream of New Bridge there is a weir feeding Castle Mill (Cotton) via this channel.
As can be seen on the 1893 1:2500 map, Castle Mill spanned the valley. It was apparently supported over Cragg Brook by stone arches.
Castle Mill was shown on the 1850 six-inch map as a cotton mill; it was still there c.1910 but gone by the edition of c.1935. This is part of the ruins.
Part of the site of Castle Mill is now a scrapyard, hidden by trees.
The next mill also spanned the brook. It was known as the Paper Mill, but was shown as a cotton mill on the 1850 map, and as Cragg Mill on later maps. It was still there on the map of c.1935 but had gone by the 1964 edition.
In 1852 Cragg Mill and Paper Mill were owned by William Greenwood. Cragg Mill was 110ft by 38ft with water and steam power. Next to it were 20 cottages and a gasometer retort house. The wheel was 23'6" by 10'6" wide. The water channels and wheel pits of paper Mill are still visible. (Walsh)
There is still a water wheel at the Paper Mill, belonging to Paper Mill Cottage.
The lowest of this group of mills was originally called Cragg Mill (Cotton) but was renamed as Lower Mill by c.1895 and was shown as disused on the edition of c.1910.
Below these mill sites, Cragg Brook flows through woodland.
Images used on this page, © Copyright Humphrey Bolton, Paul Glazzard, Michael Steele, John Illingworth and Mark Anderson;
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.
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