Lowlands Road On The Mirfield Promenade - Mirfield, UK
Posted by: 
dtrebilc
N 53° 40.350 W 001° 41.316
30U E 586632 N 5947883
This sign on the Mirfield Promenade has pictures and information about the area around Lowlands Road and the Calder and Hebble Navigation.
Waymark Code: WM13K3R
Location: Yorkshire, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 12/29/2020
Views: 0
The Calder and Hebble Navigation
The Calder and Hebble Navigation completed in 1770 consisted of artificial improvements to the River Calder and River Hebble to allow canal boats use what used to be un-navigable rivers.
It ran for 21 miles from the Aire and Calder Navigation at Wakefield to Sowerby Bridge, was one of the first navigable waterways into the Pennines. It was an extension westwards of the Aire and Calder Navigation.
Work began in 1758 to make the River Calder navigable above Wakefield. The navigation to Sowerby Bridge was completed in 1770, including a short branch to Dewsbury.
In 1828 a branch to Halifax was opened, rising 110 feet to a terminus at Bailey Hall, behind Halifax Railway Station. There were 14 locks on the branch which closely followed the route of the River Hebble. Most of the branch was abandoned in 1942 apart from the short section from Salterhebble to Exley.
About half of the navigation is along the course of the River Calder, with short man-made cuts with locks to by-pass weirs. There are two lengthy man-made sections, from Calder Grove to Ravensthorpe and from Brighouse to Sowerby Bridge.
Most commercial traffic on the Calder and Hebble had ceased by 1955, although coal was still carried to Thornhill power station until 1981. However, the whole of the Calder and Hebble remained open for leisure use. The re-opening of the Rochdale Canal between Sowerby Bridge and Littleborough summit in 1996 and Manchester in 2002 has increased the traffic along the Calder and Hebble and it now forms part of the South Pennine Ring.
The Mirfield Promenade
The Mirfield Promenade is a four mile stretch of land from Greenwood Lock to Cooper Bridge in Mirfield, West Yorkshire. It has been developed by local volunteers who have improved the area along the Calder and Hebble Navigation, including the towpath, vegetation and installing information boards.
Mirfield Promenade
Lowlands Road
Diverse industries were situated on Lowlands Road in the nineteenth century.
1. Nelson Mill, 18 Scargill, Washing Machine Manufacturer.
2. Gill Bridge Oil Works founded 1872, creating products from and for the wool industry. Examples are oil, shoddy and fertiliser made from recycled wool fibres. Still trading today at Squire A. Radcliffe and Sons.
3. A malt kiln until the 1960s, later occupied by Squire A. Radcliffe and Sons.
4. W. J. Milner, building contractors and brick and lime merchants, builders of St. Mary's Parish Church.
5. Mirfield Malting Company at Britannia Malthouse occupied by Moffatt Bros. and later by Edward Sutcliffe Ltd.
6. M & E Bickers, Cabinet Makers established 1859, later trading washing machines, then gowns, linen and millinery.
7. Oil Distillers and refiners at Perseverance Works.
8. Britannia Cotton Mill was at the junction of Station Road and Lowlands Road. It was built in 1861 to spin cotton and continued to manufacture until it closed in the early 1960s, its cloth was exported to Australia, South America and Europe.
Mirfield and Maltings - Mirfield was well known for its malting industry, vital for the brewing of beer. The barley was imported by canal and many commercial maltings were built along its banks. In 1819 there were six maltings in the town and by the 1860s there were sixteen. Just two larger companies survived into the 1920s - JF&J Crowther Ltd (later bought by Bass) and Edward Sutcliffe Ltd.
The promenade even has its own
blog.