After yesterday’s long trek Lynnie has requested a shorter walk today. On a couple of my morning walks from Holly Tree Cottage CL, in Upper Denby, I have walked down Gunthwaite Lane to Gunthwaite Hall Farm and have told Lynnie about the magnificent barn there. So that is the route we take for the start of our walk.
Leaving Holly Tree Cottage CL along the entrance driveway we turn right down Gunthwaite Lane and stay on this tarmac lane to Gunthwaite Hall Farm. Apparently this was built by Godfrey Bosville around 1550 and is 165 feet long, 43 feet wide and 30 feet high. It is a fine barn and is still being used as a milking parlour.
We take the path that continues along a track, this is the route of the Barnsley Boundary Walk and it is stone lined, done to make it easier for the old carts that used this route, known locally as the Causeway.
At the foot of the hill we reach a tarmac lane, Carr Lane, we turn right and walk a couple of hundred yards to reach Gunthwaite Spa. The notice board at the foot of the Causeway explained that the water trickling into the stone enclosure is piped from a spring in the woods. In the past the sulphur rich water was considered to have therapeutic qualities. During the late Middle Ages the Abbot of Pontefract Priory led an annual festival and blessing of the water. A Spa Sunday celebration is still held on the first Sunday in May. The other evening whilst enjoying a pint in The George pub in Upper Denby some locals were telling us about the event held a few weeks ago, when a Silver Band led a procession to the spa. The vicar blessed the water and then everyone returned to the pub for a pie and pint. Sounds like my sort of event!
From here we retrace our steps along Carr Lane and at a fork in the road keep right onto New Road. We keep right at the next fork remaining on New Road and then shortly after take a turning on the right to walk up Cat Hill Lane. The Hawthorn bushes are in full flower making a wonderful sight.
Cat Hill continues into Firs Lane and we follow this until a junction with Renald Lane. We cross the road a take a footpath opposite leading through pasture to Little Royd, after passing a barn conversion and a house we go through another field and then at a crossing of footpaths turn left to go up Hunger Hill. At the top of this hill we reach a trig point, number 54 I have bagged.
From the trig point we continue on the footpath towards the outskirts of Hoylandswaine. Like most walks we have done since arriving here we get a view of the Emley Moor Tower in front of us.
On entering the village we turn left to go down Haigh Lane, soon passing the church of St John the Evangelist.
After passing the Primary School we turn left along Cross Lane passing the back of the school and a new housing development then continue along the lane out of the village. As we approach the junction with Gadding Moor Road a gust of wind blows the feather out of my bonnet. I search the verge in vain but cannot locate it, I have worn that feather for a couple of years and although valueless its departure saddens me. I will have to keep an eye out for a replacement.
We stay on the lane passing a junction with New Road and then take a footpath on the left heading down a track, after a couple of hundred yards the footpath splits, we take the left hand option over arable fields to reach a field of pasture with clear stone way markers. We follow the markers down to Gunthwaite Mill, which has now been converted, to residential accommodation, but the millpond still exists.
We follow the driveway away from the mill and then take a footpath on the right, skirting the edge of a field of pasture to reach Broad Oak Lane. We turn right along the lane and after passing Broad Oak Farm we turn left to join a footpath crossing pasture. On reaching Coach Gate Lane we turn left and follow this lane back to Gunthwaite Hall and from there return to Holly Tree Cottage CL via Gunthwaite Lane.
It has an interesting afternoon of easy walking at a steady pace covering 7 miles. It is time to settle down with a beer and fire up the barbeque, the weather has been so good that it has already been used more times on this trip than it was the whole of last year!
To view the 7.5 mile walk on OS Maps Click Here
To follow our walk you will need Ordnance Survey Explorer Map 288 – Bradford and Huddersfield
19th May 2018
© Two Dogs and an Awning (2018)