(A) LEPTON CROSS, GREEN BALK LANE AND LEPTON PARISH CHURCH
LEPTON PARISH CHURCH (see photo)
The Parish Church of St. John the Evangelist was built on land, given by Mr. Henry Frederick Beaumont of Whitley Hall, which had once been part of Lepton's common fields and which was known as the Broomfield. The Church was consecrated on 28th November 1868. Prior to the building of the church, services were held in a cottage at Town Bottom (see walk No. 4) and, after 1860, in the newly built National School. Lepton people had to make the long journey to Kirkheaton Church to be baptised, married and buried. The opening of Lepton Parish Church put an end to this and, in fact, the first baptism in the new church, that of Louisa Rose, took place on 29th November 1868, the day following the consecration. The first person to be buried in the churchyard was Ann Mallinson on 26th December 1868 and the first marriage was that between John Moorhouse and Hannah Newsome on 29th July 1869.
The Church tower was originally capped by a steeple but around 1920 this was removed when necessary repairs proved too expensive. A fund was started at this time to raise the estimated £350 needed to replace the steeple but by 1929 only £100 had been raised and so the scheme was abandoned and a new crenellated top was added to the tower in that year. The clock was placed in the tower in 1920 as a memorial to the men of Lepton who fell in the First World War and their names, together with the names of those who fell in the last war, are recorded on a tablet near the main door. In recent years many of the old gravestones have been removed from their original positions and the graveyard has been levelled and grassed. The stones now stand round the boundary wall. The Vicarage was built in 1880 at a cost of £1,600 and ceased to be used as a Vicarage in 1982.
LEPTON CROSS (see photo)
Where Green Balk Lane joins Rowley Lane once stood the Lepton Cross which, it has been suggested, could have been a preaching cross used by priests on their way from the mother church of Dewsbury to Kirkburton and Almondbury. Another, perhaps more likely, explanation of the cross is that it was simply a guide post set here to mark the parting of two important routes which led across what must have been lonely and difficult terrain. The shaft of the cross has long since disappeared but the base is preserved in the porch to the right of the old entrance door of Lepton Parish Church.
GREEN BALK LANE
This lane is an ancient way, its name reminding us of the time when Lepton's agricultural life was based on the open field system. In medieval times each tenant held, of the Lord of the Manor, a number of strips of land in various parts of the town fields, some of which he cultivated for himself and some for the Lord. The green balk was the strip of land left uncultivated (green) at the head of the field to allow for the turning of the ploughs.
Soon after the church there can be seen, on the left hand side of the lane, the remains of an old causey. These large slabs of stone now much overgrown must have been placed there to allow dry passage when the road was wet and muddy. Behind the causey is an old hedgerow, a rewarding sight in most seasons with oak, ash, hawthorn, elderberry, holly and blackberry being well represented. The number of species in the hedgerow probably indicates that it is of ancient origin. In the past the keeping of hedgerows was an important part of estate business. The Whitley Beaumont records for the eighteenth century include frequent references to the weeding, cleaning and valuing of hedgerows and payments for further planting of trees and quickle wood (Hawthorn).
After following the right hand turn in the lane, have a look at the view across the valley towards Woodsome Hall, the ancient home of the Kayes, surrounded by its beautiful parkland which was planned and laid out by the famous Capability Brown, and which has been altered only slightly by the golf club which now owns it. To the right can be seen on a clear day the imposing building of the Huddersfield Infirmary with Lindley, Outlane and the M62 beyond. From this height the defensive advantages of Castle Hill where you are standing, realised by Bronze Age Settlers and Normans alike, can be appreciated. On the far horizon the immense scarp of West Nab above Meltham can be seen lying almost equidistant between the masts of Pole Moor and Holme Moss.
(B) LEPTON LANE (see photo)
Lepton Lane is the ancient way between Lepton and Highburton and its surface and condition provides a good example of the state of most roads up to the early part of the 20th century. A close look at the surface will show that various methods have been tried to provide a dry route. Large stones and red bricks have been laid and cart loads of smaller aggregate surfacing have been tipped. Here and there you will find a green marble-like stone. This is called dross and it is waste from the smelting forges.
Children were intrigued by these attractive small stones and liked to collect them. An old rhyme recited by children, circa 1890, shows that they may have put them to other uses:-
At the cross, at the cross,
Where I picked up a dross
And I threw it at an old woman's door,
She said she'd gie me a wiggin
And she hit me with a piggin,
So I said I wouldn't do it anymore.
FOURLANDS FARM
The name Fourlands Farm probably dates back to the time when the tenant farmed the four 'lands' or fields adjacent to the house. The house was built prior to 1798, probably by David Malison, who, as well as Fourlands field, held the adjacent Little Close (land not very good) and Little West Field (land good). In all he held 14 acres for which he paid an annual rent of 12 guineas.)
Further down the lane on the right there is a small sewage plant which deals with the waste from Little Lepton. The hedgerow here is of interest containing, as it does, mature oak and hawthorn trees, sycamore, holly, hazel, blackthorn, whitebeam, wild rose and blackberry. Such an abundance of species indicates a hedgerow of considerable age. Typical woodland plants in the hedge such as bluebells, ferns, bracken and dog's mercury may indicate that the nearby Lepton Wood once extended to and possibly beyond the lane. There are many gateways into the surrounding fields and it is worth stopping for a few moments at each of these to take in the slightly differing views and perhaps to spot the odd cylindrical gatepost, being the last resting place of old stone rollers which were once agricultural implements.
(C) BELDON BROOK (see photo)
The first documented reference to Beldon Brook comes in a Court Roll of 1578: 'no fotewaye through the closes of Robert Bayldon unto Burton Broke'. Robert Bayldon farmed the land from Little Lepton into the valley and the stream which had been known as Burton Brook took his name. The stream, from its rising on Lepton Common to its confluence with Fenay Beck, has for centuries formed the boundary between Lepton and Kirkburton and on the left hand buttress of the bridge a boundary mark can be seen. A glance over the right hand buttress will show the remains of a long-since worked out coal pit, probably a day hole, the workings of which have resulted in a pretty little meander of the stream.
As the path continues to climb, a glance backwards offers a view of the Great Wood on the hillside rising towards Lepton, with the roof tops of the village and the church tower in the background and it is possible to pick out the route taken so far.
(D) MANOR MILL (see photo)
Immediately after the bridge over Beldon Brook as the path starts to climb towards Highburton look across the fields on the left hand side to Manor Mill. This mill was a corn mill and was worked by a great water wheel of about forty to fifty feet in diameter. Such dimensions were unusually large for a mill wheel and it once had a short lived reputation for being the second largest wheel in Britain after Laxey Isle of Man. To work a mill wheel a channel or goit was dug to take the water from the stream to the wheel. This was called the mill race and often a weir had to be built at the top of the race to provide the head of water necessary for feeding the wheel. Sluice gates controlled the flow of water to the wheel and the spent water was channelled back to the stream at a lower level through a continuation of the goit, called the tail race. It is possible here to pick out the course of such a man-made stream descending over stepped slabs of stone across the fields from the mill. Manor Mill ceased working towards the end of the 19th century but the wheel was not removed until about 1948.
At the bottom of Linfit Lane beyond a row of cottages on the left is the entrance to Manor Mill (D above). It is possible to see the mill pond but not to see the mill at close quarters as the path soon becomes a private road. On the other side of Linfit Lane is Linfit Mill.
(E) LINFIT MILL (see photo)
On the right side of Linfit Lane stands another large industrial building which has now been converted to apartments. This is Linfit Mill. Built in 1815 on a small tributary of Beldon Brook, Linfit Mill depended from the start wholly upon steam power and the site of the mill seems to have been chosen because of the accessibility of coal which was brought down on a tramway from a dayhole driven into the hillside behind the mill. Such a dependence on steam was rather unusual at that time for, although steam power was introduced around the turn of the 19th century into the scribbling mills built along the Fenay Beck and its tributaries, its purpose was to supplement the waterpower to prevent stoppage from lack of water during the dry season. Linfit Mill was equipped in its earliest days with a 21 h.p. engine to drive six scribbling machines, six carders, six slubbing billies, a teazer and five fulling stocks. The first lessees, Smith and Hampshire, came to grief in just two years for by 1817 all their machinery was up for sale. Later, in the hands of George Hey and Co., the mill prospered. To scribbling was added spinning, and a large dyehouse was also built. Up to 1851 all the weaving was done in the nearby cottages but in that year a three storey shed was added to accommodate about 130 power looms for weaving woollen and fancy trouserings and suitings. The census of 1851 shows that George Webster, then the overlooker at the mill, had moved there from Thornhill as had two of the slubbers, Joseph Booth and George Hepworth. Webster's wife, Sarah, was also from Thornhill as was Nelly Scholes, the wife of Joseph Scholes who was for some twenty years the 'Fire Ingion man' at the mill. Jobe Webster at sixteen was the 'Assistant feer man' and Jesse his fourteen year old brother is described as a 'Layer on int' mill'.
The many rows of cottages on the left housed mainly families of hand loom weavers and coal miners, many of whom were called Lockwood. There were also two cordwainers, one shopkeeper and, interestingly enough, a Chelsea Pensioner. Halfway up the hill on the right you will notice a flat area has been formed by levelling coal spoil heaps. This place was once the terminus of a pit tramway which ran across the fields from here in a south easterly direction to a small day hole.
LINFIT FOLD
Most houses in the Fold are typical of the 18th and 19th centuries but evidence that the settlement is older than this is provided by the large house on the left which has some characteristically 17th century features. Lintels dating back to the same period can be seen built in to one or two of the other houses.
From here there is a magnificent view over the fields to Little Lepton and a single house, newly renovated, in a beautiful if lonely setting can be seen. This is Lower House once the home, in the 1860's, of Joseph Tatterson, Surgeon, and one of the first managers of Lepton National School. After his death the house was occupied by Dr. William Owen, a medical practitioner who had married Mr. Tatterson's niece. The house was called 'th' old doctors house by local people. The Tattersons’ connection with this part of Lepton goes back to at least 1798 when, according to the Field Book, Richard Tatterson had an 'Intake within Southfield' where his homestead was built. The homestead itself must have been older than this for it is described in the Field Book as bad and for a house to decay takes time.
(F) LEPTON COMMON
Lepton Common, once, as the name suggests, was part of Lepton's common land. Centuries of digging here for such minerals as coal and ironstone have resulted in a ground surface that is unusually rough and uneven and quite unlike any other area in the locality. It is here among the abundant gorse that Beldon Brook rises. It is interesting to know that this area is known locally as Clayton Waste, presumably from some association with the Claytons who built the nearby Lepton Square (see walk No. 4).
(G) LYDGATE (see photo) AND THE RED LION
Wakefield Road follows the route of the old Wakefield - Austerlands Turnpike, built in 1759. The 'new' Turnpike built from Huddersfield through Waterloo to Lepton in 1820 joined the old route near here (see walk No. 6).
Shown as a fairly sizeable settlement on the 1780 map Lydgate is today a pleasant mixture of eighteenth and nineteenth century houses and cottages although these are now overshadowed by a modern housing development. A hundred years ago the inhabitants were mainly employed in the woollen and mining industries. Nearby was the bar house where lived the toll collector for the 'new' turnpike. The first known reference to Lydgate is found in 1481 and the name is derived from an old English word meaning a swing gate. Such a gate would be placed here to give access from the settled area to the moorland grazing on Lepton Edge.
Beyond Lydgate on the left, set back from the road, the old Lepton Post Office stood. It has now been replaced by housing, but its site was that of an old coaching inn, the Red Lion. A reporter writing in the Huddersfield Examiner in 1930 describes the Red Lion as being 'about five hundred years old'. In one of the rooms he goes on 'is an interesting old settle on which are engraved the names William and Alice Kaye who were either the builders or the original tenants°. We have been unable to confirm such antiquity for the inn and feel perhaps there was some slight exaggeration for in 1813 the buildings are variously described in the Lepton Rental as very good and excellent.
Interestingly enough the tenant's name in that year was Thomas Kaye and the Kaye connection with the area goes back at least 300 years for there is mention of the Kayes of Ligitt (Lydgate) in 1690 in the Kirkheaton Parish Records. When the premises were sold in 1928 by Mr. R.H. Beaumont they had changed little. Their description in the sales catalogue was similar to that in the Rental of 1813. There were in both cases cellars, five ground floor and four first floor rooms, stables, a barn and a cart shed. The Kaye family continued its connection with the Red Lion for at least another 70 years for in 1881 Charles Kaye is described as Innkeeper and Farmer of thirty six acres. The Red Lion was the scene of the Harvest Dinners given by the Beaumonts for their Lepton tenants and the publican was also paid to provide ale for the tenantry on certain festival days. The buildings were demolished in the 1950's.
(H) LEPTON CHURCH OF ENGLAND SCHOOL (see photo)
Before the opening of the school what little education, there was in the village was in the hands of a few people operating very small schools of between ten and thirty pupils where the alphabet, numbering and the catechism were taught. In 1859, inspired no doubt by the activities of the National Society in providing schools in neighbouring parishes, Mr. Henry Beaumont, of Whitley Hall, gave to the Rector of Kirkheaton and his successors '.... a piece of land forming the part of two closes called Simon Croft and Far Simons Croft for the education of the poorer and manufacturing classes'. The school was to be conducted according to the principles of the National Society and be open at any time to inspection by the Officers of the Society. Built for a cost of £1,200 the school was opened in 1860 and had managing body of eight of the local gentry each of whom had to contribute at least twenty shillings a year to the school funds. The school was enlarged in 1873 and 1876 and again in 1963 and 1967 when the hall and new set of classrooms were built. The first Master was Mr. G.H. Milnes who served until 1872. He was succeeded by Mr R. Mitchell who had his sister, Hannah, as assistant teacher, and who stayed at the school for some forty years. In the 1890's the then Boardman (later Attendance Officer) and Mr. Mitchell did not get on and there are several acrimonious accounts in the Boardman's Book of their exchanges, one of which resulted in the Boardman being 'shown the door' much to that gentleman's disgust. There are several mentions during this period of 'all being in disorder' at the school.
Another disagreement in the managing of the school occurred during the years 1884 to 1888 when differences arose between the Rev. John White, Vicar of Lepton, and Mr. Beaumont about qualifications necessary to serve on the Managing Body. As a result the Charity Commissioners directed that a local inquiry be held. The result seems to have been a victory for the Vicar, Mr. White, for the provisions of the Trust Deed were amended so as to include among the reasons for disqualification of a member of the committee, absence from all meetings for two consecutive years and, to reduce the amount of qualifying subscriptions from twenty shillings to ten shillings a year.
Later headmasters include Mr. Edwards who served the school from 1942 to 1951 and Mr. R. Snell who retired in 1968. The school received perhaps its greatest boost with the appointment of Mr.Jack Garfitt as headmaster in 1968, although his stay was comparatively short. Mr. Garfitt was a kind and considerate man who, like many heads in those days, commanded respect from his pupils and their parents alike. Mr. Garfitt was succeeded by Mr. R. Leeming whose sense of humour is legendary and who always showed a lively interest in the children in his care. The school closed in 1991 and the children moved to a new school on Station Road.
The large building at the other side of Knotty Lane (see photo) which is now (2013) a garden and coffee shop, was once one of Lepton's two Co-operative stores, the other (now a private house) being in Town Bottom. The siting of these two stores clearly demonstrates that at the time of their building in the 19th century the bulk of the population of Lepton was on the north side of Wakefield Road which is where it had been since the earliest settlement.
(I)THE PARISH HALL
The Parish Hall used to stand where you will now see St John’s court on the right side of Rowley Lane, which was the site of a very old settlement called Cross or Lepton Cross. The latter may have taken its name from the old Cross which stood on the opposite side of the road, or it could have been built on Templar's or Hospitaller's land and therefore have been 'under the cross' (see walk No. 4). One of the persons listed in the Poll Tax of 1379 was John del Crosse which gives some indication of the age of the settlement. In 1813 the premises were two stone and slate buildings of two low rooms, one with a chamber over, which were occupied by a Hannah Senior and her son. The farm had a barn, a mistal and a Jinny Shop adjoining.
The Parish Hall incorporated the old Lepton Church Institute with the new hall which was opened in September 1962. The old Institute built of red brick and blue slates was opened in 1913 at a cost of about £300. It had a fireplace at both ends and a bathroom for the use of miners whose cottages had no such facility. It was used as a convalescent hospital during the First World War. The new Parish Hall which was built whilst the Rev. J.R. Pritchard was the incumbent cost £10,000, most of which was collected at the rate of one shilling per week from hundreds parishioners.