Brighouse Trail

The name Brighouse is derived from Bridge House, a self-explanatory reference to a building close to on or a bridge, and what is now a town was originally a hamlet in the ancient parish of Halifax. Surrounded by Huddersfield to the south, Halifax to the west, Bradford to the north, and Dewsbury to the east, it marks the first stopping point on a journey along the Calder Valley Line that will become progressively more scenic as it heads into the Pennines. Not that Brighouse is without its charms: like most of the towns we have visited in what is now West Yorkshire, it grew rapidly and significantly during the Industrial Revolution, when the construction of the Calder and Hebble Navigation boosted the town’s existing flour and textile milling industries. Many of its mills survive, now converted into accommodation or housing modern businesses, and town boasts many other notable, mostly Victorian, buildings.

Brighouse Trail Google Map

Brighouse Railway Station isn’t one of them, since little trace of the original station survives. It first opened as Brighouse for Bradford on the Manchester & Leeds Railway in 1840, closed in 1970 and was reopened in the year 2000 on what is now the Calder Valley line. It is a typical minimalist modern station, with two platforms, steps and ramps, waiting shelters, and automated ticket machines. From the station, we turn left along Huddersfield Road, passing the Commercial Railway Inn on the corner of Gooder Lane on the left. A former coaching in dating from the nineteenth century, this was originally called the Commercial, until in 2012 its new owners hung a couple of signs from another pub called the Railway on the outside, effectively giving it two names depending on the direction one approached it from. The resulting confusion for taxi and delivery drivers alike prompted the owners to merge both names into the pub’s current one. After passing the pub, take the next left turn along Cliffe Road and follow this, looking over the wall on the right for a view of the River Calder, including a large weir that once supplied water to one of the town’s many mills. When Cliffe Road ends at Rastrick Bridge, turn right and cross this, then follow the road as it bends right and becomes Briggate. Stay on this as it bends left and passes between the former Brighouse Assembly Rooms on the left and the Millers Bar on the right. Continue past the Bridge public house (also on the left, next to the Assembly Rooms) and cross Anchor Bridge No. 9 over the Calder and Hebble Navigation, before turning left to gain the towpath.

We have encountered the Calder and Hebble Navigation before (most notably when visiting Mirfield) as it has wended its way from its junction with the Aire and Calder Navigation at Wakefield, and it is now starting to approach its terminus, which we shall visit on our next walk. For now, we follow the towpath alongside the cut, soon reaching Ganny Lock No. 18, where the towpath crosses to the opposite of the canal via Ganny Footbridge No. 7. Note that due to the piecemeal development of the navigation, the bridge numbers don’t always follow the same sequence! Continue to follow the towpath as it runs between the River Calder on the left and the cut on the right, separated only by the canal embankment. The navigation soon bends left with the course of the river and passes beneath Ganny Pipe Bridge, before reaching Camms Mill Bridge No. 17, where the towpath switches back to the opposite bank. Take a detour further along the towpath to see Brookfoot Lock No. 19; adjacent to this, just before Brookfoot Footbridge No. 6 carries the towpath across the canal in front of the bottom lock gates, the disused Tag Cut Flood Lock can be seen on the far bank, where the navigation once returned to the river far sooner than it does today.

Return to Camms Mill Bridge No. 17, where we now part company with the navigation and continue straight ahead along North Cut to reach Elland Road. Turn right and follow this, looking out for the Red Rooster public house as the road bends right. Just past this, a Grade II-listed nineteenth century milepost can be seen – slightly askew – on the right-hand side of the road. Cross here and bear right to follow Brighouse Wood Lane, a steep cobbled lane that eventually turns left to become a modern tarmac road. Continue until this ends at Halifax Road, then turn right, before shortly turning left to enter Rydings Park. Follow paths anti-clockwise around the park, passing Brighouse Library and Brighouse War Memorial, which is topped by a bronze statue of a winged angel. The library includes the Smith Art Gallery and the Grade II-listed building bears a blue plaque noting that was built as a private house built c.1840 and converted to a free library in 1898 for Queen Victoria’s Jubilee. Pass the far side of the library and exit the park, then turn right along a footpath and then right again into the churchyard of the Church of St. Martin.

The Church of St. Martin.

The Church of St. Martin is one of a few Grade II-listed current or former churches and chapels on the walk, this one built in 1831 and notable for its tower. Walk to the right of the church, then turn left past the entrance and exit the churchyard on Church Lane (on the wall of the church to the left, a blue plaque describes the church’s history). Turn right and follow Church Lane past the former Parish Hall to reach Lüdenscheid Link. This road is so-named because Brighouse has been twinned with the German city of Lüdenscheid since an exchange by Brighouse Children's Theatre in 1950 was followed by a civic twinning charter in 1960. Turn right and then descend a ramp before turning left through a subway under the road. Walk straight ahead down parsonage Lane, passing the Central Methodist Church on the right, a large and impressive Grade II-listed building that includes a Sunday School and was built in 1905.

Cross Gooder Street, then turn right and immediately left to follow Commercial Street, which soon becomes Briggate. Follow this to the Black Bull Hotel, then bear left past the Grade II-listed former Barclay’s Bank building erected in 1875 on the side of the Old Mansion House (as a blue plaque on its wall reveals). Next to this is Brighouse Town Hall, built in 1887, also Grade II-listed, and also bearing a blue plaque describing something of its history. Follow Bethel Street, passing first the Old Ship Inn on the left, soon followed by the former Old Bethel Chapel (again marked by a blue plaque, Grade II-listed and dating from c.1811). The Old Ship Inn was originally called The Prince of Wales, and is now named for the fact that it was rebuilt from timbers reclaimed from HMS Donegal in 1926, as a sign on the front proclaims. Continue past the Richard Oastler public house, which was formerly another Methodist Church and Sunday School bult in 1876, as yet another blue plaque reveals.

At the end of Bethel Street, turn left along Bradford Road, passing the Brighouse Civic Hall on the left and a former National Westminster Bank on the right, which between them bear the last two blue plaques on the walk. Both Grade II-listed, the Civic Hall was originally the town hall and was built in 1868, whilst the bank dates from 1895. Continue along Bradford Road, then just after passing the George Hotel on the left, continue straight ahead under another subway beneath Lüdenscheid Link. After leaving the subway, turn left and follow the road for a short distance, before turning right to climb a path leading to the grounds of St. Joseph’s Catholic Church. Walk past this and follow Martin Street, immediately passing a second church – the Brighouse Spiritualist Church – on the left. Turn left past this along Eastwood Street and when this ends at High Street turn right until it ends at Bradford Road.

We now turn left and follow Bradford Road, soon passing the entrance to Wellholme park on the right. At the time of writing (May 2026), parts of this are temporarily inaccessible due to a flood prevention scheme being undertaken in the park, although it is still worth taking an optional detour to explore the rest of the park. Afterwards, proceed along Bradford Road and take the fourth right turn after the park entrance along Thornhills Beck Lane. This soon runs between the former Thornhill Brigg Mill buildings (now repurposed) and then reaches a ford, where Thornhills Beck cross the lane. Cross this via the footbridge on the left, then continue up the lane for a short distance before turning right to follow a permissive path leading into Wellholme Park Woods. Just before turning off, look ahead along Thornhills Beck Lane to where it passes through the archways of a viaduct; this was built to carry the former Pickle Bridge Line, a disused railway route that once ran for three and three-quarter miles from Bradford to Huddersfield. It closed in 1952 and the track has since been lifted. Bear left uphill through Wellholme Park Woods, and when the path reaches the top of the hill, turn right and follow this through the top of the woods (the Pickle Bridge Line ran parallel with the footpath, a short distance on the left. Eventually, the path bends round on itself before descending to Clifton Common.

Turn right and follow Clifton Common as it becomes Clifton Road. When this ends at Huddersfield Road, turn left and then immediately left again, passing the former Stotts Arms public house on the left, which dates from the first half of the nineteenth century. Just past this, turn right and follow Wood Street to Mill Lane, then turn left. Take the next right along Karens Way and follow this to Brighouse Basin.

Brighouse Basin.

Bear left to reach Brighouse Bottom Lock No. 16, which connects this cut on the Hebble and Calder Navigation to the River Calder. Cross the bridge over the top lock gates, then turn right and follow the towpath to Brighouse Top Lock No. 17, before crossing Brighouse Basin Bridge No. 8 over the canal. Then turn left and follow it to Huddersfield Road Bridge No. 18, passing Mill Royd Mill on the opposite bank, and on reaching the bridge, leave the towpath. Look right across the road at this point to see the former Perseverance Mill, which dates from 1831 and is the last Grade II-listed building on the walk. Finally, turn left over the bridge, and finally follow Huddersfield Road first over the canal and then over the River Calder to return to the railway station.

From Brighouse, we now travel a short distance further along the Calder Valley Line to the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Calderdale, as we visit the town of Halifax.