(A) LASCELLES HALL (see photo) is now The Flowers Hall Care Home and its outbuildings have been converted into cottages. The mansion dates from the late 18th century replacing an earlier Lascelles Hall built on the same site. The Lascelles family had settled in the area in medieval times, but the question of exactly where is confused by the fact that early in the 17th century another Lascelles Hall was built by John Ramsden and the two known as Old Lascelles Hall and Lascelles Hall existed concurrently, one on the site of the present Hall and one in the Laygarth (see Walk No. 6). There are many references to Lascelles Hall in early documents and both houses are shown on the 1780 map of the area but it is not as yet possible to say with any certainty which was the original medieval settlement. However, Leigh Tolson writing in 1925, favours the site of the present mansion and from the evidence of the old cellars postulates an H shaped timber framed house as the original home of the Lascelles family.
The Lascelles family, who are recorded in Yorkshire in the Domesday book, probably took their name from one of the small places called Lacelle in France. Locally they had connections with Cumberworth and Thornhill in the 12th century and by c. 1200 a Humphrey de Lacelles was living in Kirkheaton. In 1220 comes the first mention of a Hall when William de Lacelles witnesses a quitclaim by Richard de Lacelles, son and heir of Sir Humphrey de Lacelles of Lacelles Hall. As soon as they had settled in the area and built themselves a house near the Church (Kirkheaton was probably established at this time) the Lacelles started granting land to the Knights Hospitallers. In the Poll Tax of 1379 a Richard Lascy (Lascelles) paid 6d., whilst the vast majority of the people paid 4d. This Richard was described as a 'Taylour', a man who may have been concerned with the finishing processes of cloth manufacturing. By 1434 John Lacelles, the last of the name in the area, had died. He left three daughters Cecelia, Joan and Margaret. It is likely that Joan, who married Henry Beaumont, inherited the Hall and part of the lands. The Beaumonts remained at Lascelles Hall until 1713. They were a junior branch of the Beaumonts of Whitley and more than once provided an heir when the main line failed.
N.B. The differences in the spelling of the name 'Lascelles' may be confusing to the reader as, in later pages, might be the various spellings of such names as Mallinson, Thewlis, Heaton, Cowmes and Lydgate. Our practice has been to use modern spellings (for example we have taken place names from current O.S. maps) in the general text but if the spelling of a name has variations because of age we have reproduced the spelling as we have found it in old documents.
(B) LASCELLES HALL CRICKET CLUB (see photo)
In 1825 two boys were caught playing on land tenanted by Mr. Joseph Walker the then occupier of Lascelles Hall. Tradition tells how the two boys went to the Hall to apologise and when Mrs. Walker heard of the circumstances of their trespass she suggested to her husband that the boys should have a 'playground'. Research has revealed that the two boys were Joseph Jessop and John Hudson both of whom were to become respected and prosperous members of the community. (See walk No. 6). As a result of Mrs. Walker's kindness the young men of Lascelles Hall were given the free use of Reservoir Field as a 'playground' and they were allowed to practice in the croft by the quarry. From these beginnings was born one of the finest nurseries of Yorkshire Cricket in the 19th century. Many cricketers from the Hall played for Yorkshire and Ephraim Lockwood, nephew of the great John Thewlis, captained the County in 1876 and 77. Three men, Billy Bates, Andrew Lockwood and Alan Hill played in Test Matches for England, Bates being the first England bowler to achieve a hat trick for his Country. His career came to a sad and premature end in Australia when, whilst practicing at the nets, he was struck in the eye by a ball hit by another batsman.
As the name Thewlis was the most common surname in Lascelles Hall from the early 19th century it is not surprising that the name was well represented in the game, There were in fact some 35 cricketing Thewlis's most of whom were professionals and those who were not were masters of the sport. For most cricket enthusiasts of 19th century John Thewlis (born 1828) was the finest cricketer that the Hall produced. He was the first official century maker for Yorkshire and he it was who introduced his nephew Ephraim Lockwood into the Yorkshire side. Together they made an opening stand of 176 against Surrey at the Oval, a record they were to hold for 38 years. John Thewlis had a shock of white hair and he would not go to school for fear of ridicule from the other children. Instead he taught himself to read and write at home as well as learning the skills of hand loom weaving. He learned to play cricket with a home made bat and ball and for stumps used the bushes edging the roadside.
Lascelles Hall village was once described as the 'Happy Village' and being such a small and close knit community the hereditary influence in cricket is easy to trace as many of the cricketing families intermarried, thus producing a second and even a third generation of first class players.
The decline of the great cricketers at Lascelles Hall has been attributed to the introduction of the power looms. Before their coming the majority of the Hall cricketers were fancy hand loom weavers, a craft which required that perfect co-ordination of hands, eyes and feet so necessary in a good cricketer.
(C) GAWTHORPE (see photo)
The first documented reference to Gawthorpe is found in 1306 but the 'thorpe' element tells us that it was originally a Scandinavian settlement. The first part of the name may have been derived from the old Norse word 'gauks' meaning a cuckoo. Unlike the Danes, who sailed across the North Sea and settled on the eastern seaboard, the Norsemen had sailed round the North Cape to settle in Ireland. By the 10th century they had become part of the Christian community there and it was from Ireland that they sailed to the north western coast of England penetrating slowly from there across Cumbria and Lancashire into Yorkshire. The fact that their settlement at Gawthorpe is equidistant between the already established Anglo Saxon 'tuns' of Lepton and Heaton suggests that they came as settlers rather than raiders and that there was a peaceful coexistence between the two cultures.
The houses of Gawthorpe today occupy much the same sites as they have done down the centuries but much of the character of this old settlement has gone. Traces of old Gawthorpe can be seen in the barns and other farm buildings but of the five houses here in 1780 only two remain and their character has largely been disguised by cement rendering. In the middle of the 19th century only three family names appeared in the census of the area - the Lees, the Stringers and the Mallinsons. All were descendants of tenants who held and farmed land in 1780 and all, save one, were farmers and smallholders.
Before leaving Gawthorpe notice the Working Mens Club, to the right, which for many years went by the nickname of the Bluebell Club. When you reach the bend in the road and opposite the allotments, a stretch of drystone wall on the right hides a field which has a rough and uneven surface. This is Gawthorpe Ing Close which two hundred years ago was tenanted by John Mallinson. His descendant, Abraham, became a chemist and started a factory in this field. The business passed to Abraham's son George and then to his sons, George and Jacob, trading as George Mallinson & Sons, Chemical Manufacturers. Over the years it became quite a sizeable concern with buildings fronting on to the road and a series of large circular tanks behind. We have been unable to discover exactly when operations there ceased but the firm was still in existence in the early 1930s. Considering the size of the works it is remarkable that, apart from the massive stone posts, no trace of the factory remains.
Beyond this lower field is one called Annot Royd which was also tenanted by John Mallinson in 1780. Its name suggests that it was a clearing made in the 13th century when Annot was a diminutive of the then popular name Agnes.
At the bottom of Gawthorpe Lane, and to the right, is Gawthorpe Green which was the common land of Gawthorpe. In some of the fields here can be seen spoil heaps from coal pits and their names Low and Middle Pit Royd and Coal Pit Closes appear on the 1780 map providing evidence that digging into the Bed Vein or seam of coal went on at this time and probably earlier. In 1850 Abraham Sheard, the son of Levi Sheard (see below), was a coal merchant at Gawthorpe Green and the size of his operations can be judged from the fact that he employed 50 men - a considerable workforce at the time.
(D) LEVI MILL OR SHEARD'S MILL
To the right of the path here can be seen the site of Levi Dam which was constructed to provide a head of water for a scribbling mill built by Levi Sheard in the 1790s. Levi Sheard was born in 1754, lived in Lepton, and held land there and in Kirkheaton. Many of the fields and closes around Gawthorpe Green on both sides of the stream were in his tenancy and the white house, called Southroyd, which stands in the field above the path seems to have been for a time the home of the Sheard family for there are references in 1797 to Abraham Sheard of Southroyd and in 1798 to Valentine and Jos. Sheard of Southroyd. Levi Sheard was a stone mason and seems to have been something of a speculative builder as well as having interests in coal and textiles. One of his fine buildings which we can identify today is the Star Inn at Fenay Bridge. There were also several rows of cottages built by Sheard in Lepton and let to under-tenants.
Levi Mill is another example of an industrial site in the area, all traces of which have now completely disappeared. It was built in the mid 1790s, a small scribbling mill worked by a water wheel. For a few years Sheard operated the mill himself for in 1797 there is reference to Levi Sheard, miller. However by 1800 the mill was probably let to tenants for Sheard is then described as a Mason. The mill in 1813 is described as a stone and slate building containing three low rooms and two chambers with a fine engine house and a detached warehouse. It was worked by both a steam engine and a water wheel together until at least 1822. The location of the old mill seems to have been on the roadside a few yards below the weir of the mill race which runs alongside Gawthorpe Green Lane. The spent water was culverted under the road and emerged in the field opposite, the bridge abutment still being identifiable.
The old mill probably became a warehouse after extensive building during the 19th century. The new buildings were built some twenty yards further along Lane Side Lane and were of considerable size and extent, being L shaped, fronting onto the road where the sub-station now stands and extending along the dam side. A photograph of circa 1900 reveals a 4 storey building with a tall chimney on the corner nearest the dam which was then a stretch of open water with two small islands in the middle. In the period between the mill being demolished and today the site has become overgrown with many species of vegetation and indeed some rather mature sycamore trees grow where once the mill stood. The demolition team must have been extremely thorough for it is quite remarkable that an industrial site of the size of Levi Mill has completely disappeared leaving not even an outline of its foundations, let alone remnants of the stones and bricks of which it was constructed.
There is an interesting anecdote connected with Levi Mill which reflects the difficulties experienced by spinners in the 1830s when the spinning mule superseded the spinning Jennies. Joe Newsome, a local Methodist Preacher and spinner, who was born at Kirkheaton in 1783, worked at Levi Mill and he was strong in his condemnation of the masters who he said were, 'taeken t' bread out o' t' childer's mouths and clamming men and women to death'. A master (unfortunately there is no record of his name) asked him one day, "Now Joe, how art tha' getting on?" Joe replied, "Nobbut middling for thee art takkin my meat off my plate by the devilment th’art gotten put up at Levi Mill. But I shall be a better man than thee at th' finish. Thou cannot clam me to death nor nobody else either - and thou'lt come to nowt at last". Tradition has it that his prophecy came true for the master eventually failed in business whilst Joe's reputation as a preacher grew throughout the district.
(E) WHITLEY WILLOWS MILL or THE LITTLE MILL (see photos)
The first reference to the existence of a mill on this site is found on the Lepton enclosure map of 1780 which shows a goit and a dam and a very small building on the Lepton side of the stream. A survey of 1793 calls the mill a 'summing mill' which is the local name for a scribbling mill and this is what it remained for the next twenty years. In 1821 new tenants - the Wilkinsons - took over the mill and during their tenancy carding and slubbing were added and the original simple mill house was extended. Just before reaching the Mill complex you will see on the right of the path the old brick chimney stack and remains of a factory which was the Gawthorpe Green Dyeworks. The architecture which can be described as Victorian Gothic and the fact that red brick rather than the usual stone was preferred as the building material makes this a rather interesting site to anyone interested in industrial archaeology
The tenancy changed again in 1829 when the Tolsons of Dalton took over. They were to hold the mill for almost fifty years and during this period many major developments took place. In 1842 the old mill was pulled down and rebuilt and, in fact, the oldest parts of the present mill date back to this renovation by the Tolsons. It was at this time also that the name Whitley Willows Mill was first used in the estate ledger. By 1847 the firm was being run under the new name of Robert Tolson & Sons, who were principally scribbling millers. Elsewhere, the Tolson family operated much larger mills and they employed as a Designer John Beaumont, a Lepton man, whose skill was to earn the Tolsons a Gold Medal in the Great Exhibition of 1851. In the 1850s when fancy manufacture was developing rapidly in the Lepton area, Beaumont decided to begin manufacturing on his own account with the Tolsons as partners.. As well as Whitley Willows, Tolson & Beaumont operated another larger mill, called Rods Mill (see walk No. 4) about a mile away on the same stream. This may explain how Whitley Willows Mill acquired the nick name locally of 'the Little Mill'. In 1857 a fire at Rods Mill lost the partners, who were uninsured, nearly £1,000 in machinery. As a result John Beaumont returned to his work as a designer and he finally became head of the newly emerging Textile Department of the Yorkshire College (later Leeds University).
The Tolsons, now fully insured, continued to run the Little Mill until 1879 when the tenancy again changed hands, the estate rentals recording the fact that Tolson's executors gave up the cottage and gardens at Whitley Willows Mill to Kilner Bros.
The Kilners were at the mill until 1928 operating for most of that time as Yarn Spinners and at different times they also ran Sheard's Mill at Gawthorpe Green and Fold Head Mills in Mirfield. One of the best known character at Whitley Willows at this time was Harry Bates, the Engineer, who was born at Lascelles Hall and who was the brother of Billy Bates, the Yorkshire and England cricketer. Harry joined the firm as a young man in the 1880s and remained with them all his working life. He was responsible for many innovations at the mill, not the least of which was supplying, by means of a Pelton Wheel, electricity to both the mill and his cottage long before the area generally enjoyed this amenity. The cottage where the Bates' lived can still be seen surrounded and dwarfed by more modern buildings.
After the Kilners closed the mill in the depression of the 1920s it stood empty for many years apart from a time during the second World War when the buildings housed Italian prisoners. Then in the early 1950s Samuel Tweed & Co. installed thirty five looms and began to manufacture blankets, travel rugs and fashion fabrics, thus giving the mill a new lease of life.
(F) HOUSES HILL
The original name of the hamlet was Houses and meant simply the houses built on the fringe of the demesne. It is first mentioned in documents in the late 16th century and had close connections with Whitley Beaumont and, in fact, for several generations just two families both called Beaumont lived there. By the mid-nineteenth century there were thirty families living in the hamlet, mostly engaged in hand loom weaving or coal mining. There was also here, at this time, an unusually large percentage of people receiving Parish Relief.
(G) LONG TONGUE SCROG
A scrog, or more properly a shrogg, is the local dialect name for an area where shrubs, bushes and underwood grow together and the Long Tongue element refers to the field at the end of the lane which is roughly triangular and can be said to have the shape of a beast's tongue. The Scrog joins Lane Side Lane at the tip of the Long Tongue's triangle so giving rise to a name which is much more quaint and attractive than the alternatives: Houses Lane or Upper Lane.
Before proceeding along the Scrog, notice to the right across the field, a derelict group of buildings. This is the Hagg and here in the early years of the 19th century lived Mr. Sike Sykes, one time Constable of Kirkheaton. At that time (1813) the house itself was in bad repair although it had a dyehouse with a weaving chamber above built only four years previously.
The cobbles and causey stones which can be seen in one or two places at the side of the Scrog indicate that this was once a fairly important route. Soon after leaving Houses Hill the lane passes through a small wood called Hobson's Scrog and here it is bordered by woodland plants such as bluebells, bracken and dog's mercury. The hedgerow is well established with hawthorn, holly, wild rose and elder amongst the species represented and there are many mature trees, oak, sycamore, ash and hazel being among the most common. The lane itself can be muddy and sometimes difficult to negotiate but it is a fine example of an ancient path and the walker who attempts it will be well rewarded by its natural beauties.
(H) KIRKHEATON BRICKWORKS
The Kirkheaton brickworks was once an extensive industrial site (later used as a tip until 1983) and provides a good example of the conjunction of brick clays with the coal measures which, as we have seen, were extensively worked in the Gawthorpe area and which run progressively deeper in a north easterly direction towards Wakefield. It is likely that bricks have been made in the area for about two hundred and fifty years. In 1738, for example, William Wood was paid one shilling for the carriage of bricks to Whitley and in 1756 Abraham Sheard (Levi's father) was awarded £1.19s.0d. 'for damages in getting clay and making bricks for building at Hoyle Bottom' (Hole Bottom). The entrance to the brickworks is on Lane Side Lane which is a continuation of Gawthorpe Lane leading to Kirkheaton and takes its name from the farm buildings on the left called Lane Side. The hedgerow contains many different types of bushes and trees including thorn, wild rose, holly, elder and larch.
(I) THE BEAUMONT ARMS (see photo), standing hard by the church in Kirkheaton, is, because of its long and ancient association with the church, probably one of the most interesting buildings in the area. Still known familiarly to local people by its old name, the Kirk Steele or Stile, the building played an important part in the affairs of the Parish, as did many Church Houses in many other Parishes all over the country. When Samuel Pepys visited Walthamstow in 1661 he records that 'we all went to the church stile and there did eat and drink'. The old custom of drinking ale at the expense of the parish had its origin in the days when the church authorities provided hospitality for parishioners who lived at a distance from the church and who were thus unable to make the long journey home between services. The place would be in the charge of a minor church official who probably found in time that it was more profitable to cater for the potential thirst of the worshippers rather than their spiritual needs. When, early in the 19th century, the Church House became licensed premises, the attitude of the Church to a practice which it had hitherto encouraged, admittedly with attendance at divine service as the prime motive, changed to one of hostility. In Kirkheaton the practice of the churchwardens meeting at the Kirk Stile Inn on the pretext of discussing church business, but in actual fact consuming liquor at the parish expense, was the subject of numerous resolutions passed at vestry meetings. All of these declared that the actions of the churchwardens 'tended to promote extravagance, injustice and disorder' and furthermore that their conduct also served to 'prevent persons of sobriety and respectability from wishing to act in the office'. These resolutions were followed by a decision that no allowance should be made to the churchwardens in money or liquor for attending to the ordinary business of the church. Furthermore in 1828 the practice was discontinued of giving ale annually to the Sunday School scholars 'and singers attending the church’. Although the churchwardens were repeatedly to censure drinking at the Kirk Stile after the hours of worship, no objection was raised, apparently, to their leaving the church during the service for 'a gill and a sop' as long as they returned in time to take the collection.
The final break between the Church and Church House seems to have come in 1846 when the Vestry Meeting authorised the sale of a building known as the Common Stable situated at the Kirk Stile, which had become ‘utterly useless for the purpose for which it was originally intended'; that being as it is a harbour for the idle, the mischievous and the dissolute, is a public nuisance and a disgrace to the neighbourhood'.
But although old inns were often the scene of riotous assemblies they had a more sober part to play in the days before proper police courts and prisons were established and the Kirk Stile was for many years the seat of law and order for Kirkheaton and the surrounding district. The Squire's Room besides serving as a retiring room for the Lord of the Manor when he came to church, was used as a Court House by the Local Magistrates hearing cases against local offenders. The cellars of the Kirk Stile which extend under the road between the inn and the church were on many occasions used to confine prisoners and certainly as late as the 1930s staples in the cellar walls to which prisoners had been chained could still be seen. Escape from these 'bowels of the earth' was said to be impossible. Less serious offenders, usually persons convicted of drunkeness, were sent to the Parish Stocks which were erected at the Deadman's Gate entrance to the churchyard. The Kirkheaton stocks were made to accommodate two offenders, the detention lasting usually six hours.
A description of the Kirk Stile written in 1813 tells us that it was then a stone and slate building with four rooms on the front and two on the back with four good cellars. A Brew house and Wash house adjoined with a chamber storey consisting of one large room 33 feet long and 18 feet wide. Another adjoining cottage had one low room and two chambers which were, in that year, occupied by soldiers. This is a reminder of the turbulent Luddite years when there were no fewer than a thousand troops in Huddersfield, about thirty being billeted at almost every inn and public house.
Doubtless many organisations and societies have used the inn as a meeting place over the years and two at least are worthy of mention.
The Kirkheaton Prosecution Society was formed in the year 1797 when some inhabitants of Kirkheaton became alarmed at the increase of crime in the village and decided to seek more adequate protection than that which was afforded them by the magistrates and constable. The meetings of the Society took place at the Kirk Stile, the business being conducted by a committee of four members with the secretary and treasurer. The subscriptions of the members were fixed in proportion to the value of their respective properties and varied from two shillings and sixpence to thirty two shillings. The Society worked to a strict set of rules the chief of which was that each member should be responsible for 'the apprehending and prosecuting of persons guilty of felony, trespass or misdemeanour upon or against the persons or property of any member of the Society'. Another rule stated each member was under an obligation 'to find out the names and residences of suspicious characters, their associates, connections and other circumstances likely to be useful to the Society'. Included in the rules was a list of fines which ensured a high standard of behaviour among the members. Amongst these were:
-
Members coming intoxicated into the meeting room or getting intoxicated there - 2s. 6d.
-
Swearing, each offence -1s. 0d.
-
Secretary being half an hour late - 1s. 6d.
This early example of a vigilante society ceased to exist only when the protection of life and property passed into the hands of the paid police force.
Another society closely connected with the Kirk Stile was perhaps more philanthropic in its outlook. Around 1883 a number of the young men in the village formed the habit of regularly meeting in the Long Chamber to enjoy a song or some other musical entertainment. The party regularly went out carolling at Christmas and each member wore an evergreen leaf in his button hole. Because of this they became known as 'The Green Leaf Party'. One Christmas when the lads returned to the Kirk Stile with the proceeds of their caroling, the then Landlord, Richard Thornton, offered to add a sovereign to amount collected if the members would agree to use it for an old folks treat. This offer was readily accepted and for number of years the treat, eligible to all person of seventy or over and resident within one mile of the church was held at the inn. The conveyance of the old people to the treat was in those days a formidable task and a small wagonette bearing the proud name 'Gloriation' was requisitioned for the transportation of the very aged and infirm. The Green Leaf Party was also responsible for arranging the first Kirkheaton 'Sing' in 1905 which was held in the field in front of the church.
This important house was for many years the centre of the social life of the village. The Whitley Beaumont Estate Dinners were held annually at the Kirk Stile, and the landlords, twice a year, for many years, were paid by the Beaumonts to provide tenant ale for their tenants in Kirkheaton. Election meetings were conducted there and in the days when the villagers beat the parish bounds, on or near Rogation Sunday, the Inn would naturally be their final place of call. One ancient custom that still continues is the 'Yetton Rant' - the annual fair held at Whitsuntide (now Spring Bank Holiday) in the field behind the Inn.
The question of when the name Kirk Stile was changed to the Beaumont Arms has not been satisfactorily answered, but it is assumed that at some time one of the Landlords made the change as a compliment to the Beaumonts of Whitley Beaumont Hall who were Lords of the Manor. The Beaumont Coat of Arms was painted on the outer wall of the inn in the early years of the 19th century by a local artist named Paul Holliday Stancliffe. The painting faded over the years but could still be made out in outline until it was painted out and replaced in 1983 with a smaller three dimensional representation. For those readers interested in heraldry the blazoning of the Beaumont Coat of Arms is: Gules a lion rampant argent langued and armed with an orle of crescents argent.
We have perhaps given a disproportionate amount of space to the old Kirk Stile but for this we make no apology as no other inn in our area has such a close association with the church and its parish nor has any other building such a fund of interesting stories to be told.
(J) KIRKHEATON CHURCH YARD
To anyone interested in local history a walk round a grave yard can be a fascinating experience and if time permits we suggest that the reader extends the walk a little to take in all that this graveyard has to offer. Many of the stones are leaning or fallen and some are broken but thanks to the hardness of the local stone the inscriptions on most of them remain readable, and tell much of the people of Kirkheaton, Dalton, Lepton and Whitley, who found their last resting place here. There are family stones which list with sad regularity the names of six or seven children who all died in infancy. There are stones which praise a man or woman who lived to a good old age. But what comes through most of all is the Victorian acceptance of death almost as part of life: 'As you are now so once was I, reader therefore prepare to die'.
Entering the churchyard through the East Gate which was traditionally the way brides entered the church - the first and most obvious feature is the monument to the seventeen girls who died in a fire at Atkinsons cotton mill at Colne Bridge in 1818. The monument which was restored to mark the Centenary of the Trades Union Congress in 1968 (see photo), tells the full story but don't forget to look for the gravestone itself at the foot of the monument with its sad inscription:
'... Stay passenger! here fix thine eye
And heave at least one transient sigh
And say may there in life's fair morn
From friend from earth untimely torn
Who this sad path of horror trod,
Sleep in the bosom of their God.'
The oldest graves in the churchyard lie on the left hand side of the path in front of the church. Many of the graves here date from the 17th century, the oldest being that of John Horsfall who died in January 1624. The inscription reads:-
The flesh and bones: John Horsfall
Here do lie
Thy soul doth rest.within
Gods Heavenly Bower
To no good wourk was thou
An enemie
Thou fearest God and thou didst love the poor.'
On the path can be seen the stone commemorating three of the children of Abraham Sheard (Levi's son), including Levi's namesake, who all died in infancy or childhood. In many areas of the graveyard family stones lie side by side recording the deaths of several generations of the same family. Two former landlords of the Kirk Stile lie in the shadow of the place where they lived and worked.
In the grassed area in front of the church can be seen the massive stump and extensive roots of a yew tree which in the early 1900s, when it was still growing, was said to be a thousand years old. In this area can be seen a stone commemorating Sike Sykes of the Hagg, sometime constable of Kirkheaton, and five of his children.
In 1859 the graveyard as it existed then was deemed to be full and a piece of land, measuring one acre three roods and thirty-four perches, which was a field called Church Close and was part of the Glebe lands belonging to the Rectory, was brought into use to extend the burial ground. The new graveyard was consecrated in 1859 and here too the stones are of interest from the tall and pretentious columns of the well to do to the small plain tablets of the poorer folk. Here lie side by side, Copleys, Kilners, Elys, Hirsts, Mallinsons, Woods and Seniors, neighbours in death as they were in life.
The gate on the south side of the Church by which the route leaves the churchyard is called the Deadman's Gate for it is the gate through which have passed so many coffins and so many mourners over the centuries.
(K) ALBANY HOUSE (Lepton Corn Mill)
Albany House is an interesting Victorian building standing close to the junction of Albany Road and Waterloo Road within the Township of Lepton.The house was until 1991 part of an interesting and historical piece of industrial landscape. About a quarter of a mile upstream a large weir was built to provide a head of water to power the old water corn mill, known as either Lepton or Heaton Mill. Albany House was part of this mill. A goit ran from the weir at a higher level than today's watercourse and this was then opened out to form a long narrow mill dam. The long length of the goit was not unusual for this area. Several mills on the Fenay Beck had goits of similar length as the fall of the stream is slight. Today weir, sluices, banking, goit and dam have disappeared, obliterated by the flood alleviation scheme of the early 1990s.
The early history of Lepton Corn Mill is not known but it is frequently mentioned in 16th century documents when it formed part of the Estate of the Beaumonts of Lascelles Hall. During this period it was often called Lacel Hall Milne. The first description we have of the buildings at Lepton Corn Mill occur in the early 19th century. In 1813 for example the miller's house was described as an old building whilst the mill itself was a good stone and slate building of two stories. It contained three pairs of stones called blue, grey and shilling stones. The fall of water was described as being from 16 to 18 feet and this suggests that the mill wheel was probably an over-shot wheel, that is one which received the water at the top at a velocity about one and a half times as great as that of the wheel which was turned by the weight of water falling on to it.
In 1850-52 the miller's house, after unsuccessful attempts had been made to renovate the old one, was replaced by a fine new building at a cost of about £345. This is probably the building which stands today. Throughout its life Lepton Mill seems to have been mainly a corn mill although the presence of a dressing machine in the mill in 1822 may imply that cloth was being processed there on a small scale. Certainly there is nothing to suggest that fulling stocks were ever installed there in earlier centuries. Furthermore, between 1840 and 1880, various tenants of the mill are described as farmers and corn millers, suggesting that even in the 19th century when so many corn mills had textile machinery installed, this mill remained primarily a corn mill.
(L) ROUND WOOD
The steeply rising land facing you as you enter Waterloo Road is aptly named for it is indeed a round wooded hill. One or two local historians have, in the past, suggested more with hope than with reason that such a land formation must be man made and have compared it to Silbury Hill in Wiltshire. However, whilst the latter has been proved to be the work of man, there is no such evidence for Round Wood and it is now generally agreed that it is a natural formation. Round Wood was part of the Beaumont land holdings in Dalton and was known then as Batley Heights. There is reference in the Beaumont documents to a Batley Bridge and it seems likely that this was the bridge built over the nearby beck.
(M) WATERLOO BRIDGE
An inscribed stone tablet in the right hand bridge abutment tells us that the bridge was erected in 1819. It was built to carry the new turnpike over the Fenay Beck and was named Waterloo Bridge to commemorate the battle of 1815. An inn built at a later date was also called Waterloo. However the name Waterloo does not appear on any O.S. map and it probably came into common usage with the coming of the trams a hundred years ago when after much discussion, the transport authorities decided that the terminus board for their Wakefield Road trams should read 'Waterloo'. The bridge was completely rebuilt in 1991.
(N) THE TANDEM INN
On your left just past the retail park you will see a building which is now a hairdressing salon. This used to be The Tandem Inn. It seems likely that this was a coaching inn contemporary with the nearby turnpike. The Tandem was the favourite meeting place of the Lascelles Hall cricketers and it was here in December 1899 that the great John Thewlis, who had come from his home in Failsworth, near Manchester, to visit his Lascelles Hall relatives, went to meet his old cricketing colIeagues. After his playing career was over old John had been living in very straitened circumstances and had, in fact, been reduced at 70 years old to carrying laundry and shovelling coals to make ends meet. An article by a sympathetic journalist had, early in 1899, revealed John's plight and the publicity had persuaded the Yorkshire Cricket Club to grant him a small allowance. Sadly, he did not live long to enjoy it, for on that December night he was taken ill in the Inn and died a few days later. When he was buried in Kirkheaton Churchyard the small group of mourners included his family and friends but there was no official representation from the County Club. A sad rider to this episode is that John's much younger cricketing colleague Billy Bates caught a chill whilst attending the funeral and died himself in January 1900.
(O) QUARRY LANE
You may want to know about the origin of the name Quarry Lane. There were several quarries in the area and, in fact, stone has been quarried or delved in the Lepton Township for hundreds of years. In an area so rich in stone it was perhaps inevitable that it would early replace timber as the primary building material and by the 16th century already existing timber houses were being clad in stone and new houses were built entirely from it. By the 1590's several local men were established as slaters and wallers, and in the early 17th century the Lords of the Manors of Whitley and Farnley both had their own freestone quarries whilst their tenants were being fined for taking stones out of the common land. One has only to look at the miles of dry-stone walls in our area to realise how much stone the earth has yielded. With the coming of the turnpikes many small fields were quarried by the Commissioners of the Roads to provide a local and convenient source of stone for surfacing. In the 19th century about 7% of the male population in Lepton was occupied in quarrying, such men describing themselves as either delvers, stonegetters or quarrymen. And yet, although there were some sizeable quarries in the Lascelles Hall area no man here so described himself in any census return, and in fact, between 1841 and 1881 only five men made a living from stone and they were stonemasons.
(P) YEW COTTAGE and Sir Charles Sikes
In the house on the right there lived in 1841 a gentleman who at his baptism some 60 years earlier had been given the rather unusual Christian names Shakespeare Garrick. Perhaps his parents had been devotees of the arts and hoped that their son would tread the boards. If so they must have been disappointed because Shakespeare Garrick Sikes became an accountant. In 1806 he married Hannah Hirst, a Kirkheaton girl, and together they raised five children all of whom were well educated. By 1841 each one was established in a professional career. The third child, Charles, started working for the Huddersfield Banking Company in 1833 as a Clerk and was promoted to Cashier in 1837. By 1851, after the death of their father, Charles Sikes and his brothers and sisters had left Yew Cottage and were living at Cowms Villa. About this time, Charles published a pamphlet entitled 'Good Times or the Savings Bank and the Fireside'. This led to a series of letters being sent to Sir George Cornewall Lewis, the then Chancellor of the Exchequer in Mr. Gladstone's Government, urging the securing of savings from the working classes. From these beginnings the Post Office Savings Bank was started in 1860. Charles Sikes became the holder of the first Post Office Savings Bank Book, Huddersfield Number One, which is now preserved in the Tolson Museum at Ravensknowle. In recognition of his efforts in introducing the scheme he was knighted in 1881 and in the same year he became Managing Director of the Huddersfield Banking Company. Sometime after 1851 he took up residence in a house in Spring Street, Huddersfield, which for many years bore a commemorative plaque. The house still stands but the plaque has disappeared. Sir Charles Sikes died, unmarried, in 1889.