tour de yorkshire 2014: stage two (addingham to holmfirth)

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ON YER BIKE! West Yorkshire Heritage along the Yorkshire Grand Depart 2014 Stage Two: Addingham to Holmfirth As the Tour de France winds its way through Yorkshire’s beauful landscape this summer we thought we would take the opportunity to highlight some of the fascinang, yet somemes hidden, archaeological gems of West Yorkshire. Why not explore our historic landscape whilst cheering on the cyclists? To find out more informaon about West Yorkshire’s heritage please visit www.archaeology.wyjs.org.uk or search www.heritagegateway.org.uk. West Yorkshire Archaeology Advisory Service Registry of Deeds, Newstead Road, Wakefield, WF1 2DE A: ADDINGHAM LOW MOOR PREHISTORIC ENCLOSURES The moorland which stretches down the western side of West Yorkshire is well known for its prehistoric archaeology, and two late prehistoric enclosed selements are known to sll survive on the slopes of Counter Hill, near Addingham. The first is Woofa Bank (top) and consists of an enclosure, measuring over 100m in length, with a surrounding earthwork bank. The smaller, but beer defined, Round Dikes Camp (boom) lies almost half a mile away to the north-east. These earthwork enclosures would have de- fined small selements, and are likely to con- tain archaeological remains of roundhouses, hearths, rubbish pits , and other domesc features. C: NUTCLOUGH MILL, HEBDEN BRIDGE West Yorkshire is known for its texle producon and much of its landscape is sll characterised by former mill buildings, chimneys and workers’ housing. Nutclough Mill (below) dates to the 18th and 19th centuries and originally was a coon spinning mill. By the 1870s it had been purchased by the Hebden Bridge Fusan Manufacturing Society and was producing corduroy and moleskin texles via a co- operave of workers. The mill provided work for many in Hebden Bridge and a number of Victorian millworkers’ houses sll survive, set into the incline behind the mill. B: BRONTE PARSONAGE, HAWORTH The parsonage was built in 1779 and was the Bronte family house from 1820 onwards. It is now a museum, and open to visitors daily. Many of the sisters’ novels were wrien at Haworth, and were inspired by the surrounding West Yorkshire houses, towns and moorland: Thornton, Mirfield, Dewsbury, Stanbury, Gomersal and Halifax are just some of the nearby towns associated with the Brontes’ literary world. D: BLACKSTONE EDGE The Blackstone Edge road is a long gritstone path which cuts across the south Pennine uplands between Greater Manchester and West Yorkshire. Although its origins have been long debated, the most recent archaeological survey of the route concluded that, while the visible paving of Blackstone Edge dates from the 18 th century (when the path was a well documented turnpike road), it is likely that it lies on top of an earlier medieval route way - which in turn follows the course of a Roman road that was originally built to connect the selements of York and Chester. Other stretches of Roman road have been excavated nearby at Bingley, Addingham, Lindley and Slaithwaite, and a Roman fort, and separate Roman poery kiln site have also been extensively excavated near Huddersfield.

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A brief tour of West Yorkshire's archaeological and historic highlights located along the Stage Two route of the Tour de Yorkshire 2014

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ON YER BIKE! West Yorkshire Heritage along the Yorkshire Grand Depart 2014

Stage Two: Addingham to Holmfirth

As the Tour de France winds its way through Yorkshire’s beautiful landscape this summer we thought we

would take the opportunity to highlight some of the fascinating, yet sometimes hidden, archaeological gems

of West Yorkshire. Why not explore our historic landscape whilst cheering on the cyclists?

To find out more information about West Yorkshire’s heritage please visit www.archaeology.wyjs.org.uk or

search www.heritagegateway.org.uk.

West Yorkshire Archaeology Advisory Service

Registry of Deeds, Newstead Road,

Wakefield, WF1 2DE

A: ADDINGHAM LOW MOOR

PREHISTORIC ENCLOSURES

The moorland which stretches down the

western side of West Yorkshire is well known

for its prehistoric archaeology, and two late

prehistoric enclosed settlements are known

to still survive on the slopes of Counter Hill,

near Addingham.

The first is Woofa Bank (top) and consists of

an enclosure, measuring over 100m in length,

with a surrounding earthwork bank. The

smaller, but better defined, Round Dikes

Camp (bottom) lies almost half a mile away to

the north-east.

These earthwork enclosures would have de-

fined small settlements, and are likely to con-

tain archaeological remains of roundhouses,

hearths, rubbish pits , and other domestic

features.

C: NUTCLOUGH MILL, HEBDEN BRIDGE

West Yorkshire is known for its textile production and much of its

landscape is still characterised by former mill buildings, chimneys

and workers’ housing.

Nutclough Mill (below) dates to the 18th and 19th centuries and

originally was a cotton spinning mill. By the 1870s it had been

purchased by the Hebden Bridge Fustian Manufacturing Society

and was producing corduroy and moleskin textiles via a co-

operative of workers.

The mill provided work for many in Hebden Bridge and a number

of Victorian millworkers’ houses still survive, set into the incline

behind the mill.

B: BRONTE PARSONAGE, HAWORTH

The parsonage was built in 1779 and was the Bronte

family house from 1820 onwards. It is now a museum,

and open to visitors daily.

Many of the sisters’ novels were written at Haworth,

and were inspired by the surrounding West Yorkshire

houses, towns and moorland: Thornton, Mirfield,

Dewsbury, Stanbury, Gomersal and Halifax are just

some of the nearby towns associated with the Brontes’

literary world.

D: BLACKSTONE EDGE

The Blackstone Edge road is a long gritstone path

which cuts across the south Pennine uplands

between Greater Manchester and West Yorkshire.

Although its origins have been long debated, the

most recent archaeological survey of the route

concluded that, while the visible paving of

Blackstone Edge dates from the 18th century

(when the path was a well documented turnpike

road), it is likely that it lies on top of an earlier

medieval route way - which in turn follows the

course of a Roman road that was originally built

to connect the settlements of York and Chester.

Other stretches of Roman road have been

excavated nearby at Bingley, Addingham, Lindley

and Slaithwaite, and a Roman fort, and separate

Roman pottery kiln site have also been

extensively excavated near Huddersfield.

The West Yorkshire Archaeology Advisory Service holds and curates the West Yorkshire Historic Environment Record

(HER), which is a publicly accessible record of the region’s archaeology and built heritage. It holds records on a range of

archaeological sites, historic buildings, artefacts, and historic landscapes ranging from the Prehistoric period right through

to the 20th century.

This leaflet only highlights a select few of the historic buildings/archaeological sites that we have recorded in the HER. To

find out more about any of the sites shown, or to do any further research into the archaeology of the area, please contact

West Yorkshire HER via 01924 306797 or [email protected]. Alternatively, you can also search our records online via

Heritage Gateway (www.heritagegateway.org.uk/gateway), or follow what we are up to on Facebook

(www.facebook.com/WestYorkshireHER).

Please note: some of the sites featured on this leaflet may be located within private property and so may not be fully

accessible to the public. Please adhere to public rights of way and access at all times when visiting any archaeological site.

E: CASTLE HILL, ALMONDBURY

Castle Hill, dominates the landscape to the south of Huddersfield

and consists of the remains of an Iron Age hillfort and a later

12th-century motte and bailey castle. The site is protected as a

scheduled ancient monument and has been partially excavated

several times during the 20th century.

The fortifications of the hillfort were modified in a number of

stages throughout its history and consisted of a mixture of earth-

built banks and ditches, with drystone revetments and timber

palisades. Archaeological excavations within the fortifications

have revealed the remains of timber buildings, along with a well

which preserved a fantastic range of organic material dating

from the medieval period, as well as pottery and metalwork.

Finds from the excavations are on display at the Tolson Museum,

Huddersfield.

After the medieval period, Castle Hill remained unoccupied until

the 19th century when a public house was built on the top (now

demolished). In the interim it was used as a beacon hill, with a

fire being lit at the time of the Spanish Armada (1588 AD). The

stone tower at its summit was built in 1897 to celebrate Queen

Victoria’s 60 year reign of England.