Greenfield Trail

Historically, Greenfield is a village in the West Riding of Yorkshire, close to the border with the historic county of Lancashire. Despite this, since 1974, boundary changes mean that it is now in the civil parish of Saddleworth in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, in Greater Manchester. Younger locals are probably fairly indifferent to this, but rumour has it that older generations stubbornly fly Yorkshire flags. Regardless, the village is unarguably situated at the end of the Chew Valley, and is also close to the Peak District National Park. The walk takes in the village centre and climbs up onto Alderman’s Hill, from where there are impressive views all the way to Manchester, and also includes one final walk along the towpath of the Huddersfield Narrow Canal.

Greenfield Trail Google Map

Greenfield Railway Station was opened in 1849, on a line constructed by the Huddersfield and Manchester Railway, but absorbed by the London and North Western Railway in 1847 before any of it actually opened. Today of course, it lies on the Huddersfield Line between Manchester and Leeds, and was refurbished in 2008. Leave the station via the main entrance on Shaw Hall Bank and turn right. Stay on the road as it makes a hairpin turn to the left and becomes Chew Valley Road, then follow this downhill to where Frenches Bridge No. 80 carries the road over the Huddersfield Narrow Canal. Turn left and descend steps to gain the towpath, then follow this, shortly passing Frenches Wharf Marina, the entrance to which is a via a towpath lift bridge. Continue to follow the towpath, next passing Halls Footbridge No. 79, immediately above which is Halls Lock No. 20W, then on reaching Upper Mill High Street Bridge No. 78 (a short tunnel which lacks a towpath) follow the path up to reach High Street.

Turn right and follow High Street to the edge of the village of Uppermill, then turn right along Bridge Street, which soon becomes Carr Lane. Turn right along a footpath into Churchill Playing Fields, then turn left and follow a path along the edge of the park. Take the second left turn off the main path, then at a fork bear left and follow the path back to Carr Lane. Cross straight over and continue directly ahead along High Carr Lane, and at the end continue straight ahead along a path between houses to Rush Hill Road. Turn right and follow this uphill to a junction, then bear diagonally right, still on Rush Hill Road. When the road bends right, turn left and follow a public footpath across the drive to a pair of properties, walking straight ahead up stone steps to gain a path that runs uphill along the edge of two fields.

At the top of the second field, climb over a stile to reach a farm drive. Cross this and continue straight ahead over another stile, following a well-marked public footpath along more field edges to a farm. Follow the path between the farm buildings to reach Knowl Top Lane, then cross straight over this and walk uphill along a steep path that gradually climbs up Aldermans Hill to the “Pots and Pans Memorial”.

The "Pots and Pans Memorial".

This is actually Saddleworth War Memorial, which was built in 1923, but gets its nickname from the Pots and Pans stone located close by, which gets its name from a series of basins or large indentations on the top of it caused by weather erosion. To add further confusion, Alderman’s Hill is sometimes referred to as Pots and Pans Hill. On reaching the memorial, turn right and follow a path that curves left and then turns right, before running downhill to the end of another farm drive, White Brook Lane. Continue straight ahead, follow a path between dry stone walls to a track. Cross this and continue in the same direction along the edge of a field, eventually exiting between houses at the end of Hawk Yard Lane.

Turn left and follow Hawk Yard Lane until it ends at Holmfirth Road, where views of Dovestone Reservoir can be seen to the left. Turn right and follow the road back towards Greenfield, eventually passing the Church of St. Mary on the right. The Grade II-listed church was built in 1875 in the Gothic revival style. Continue past this to a small roundabout, where the Clarence public house can be seen on the opposite corner. Turn right along Chew Valley Road and continue along this through the middle of Greenfield, looking out for an old mile post on the left. The road soon reaches the King William IV Hotel on the left, shortly after which Greenfield Methodist Church can be seen on the right. Soon after this, the road crosses the Tame Valley Way, which follows the line of a disused railway, the Micklehurst Line. This ran between Stalybridge in Cheshire and Diggle junction in the West Riding of Yorkshire and was approximately eight miles long. It opened in 1885 with four stations on it, and closed in 1966.

Continue along Chew Valley Road, shortly passing the Wellington – another public house – the right. Soon afterwards, look out for the old Toll House (also on the right), which is marked by a blue plaque. The Toll House dates from c.1827 and is Grade II-listed; it remained in use until 1885 when Chew Valley Road ceased to be a Turnpike Road, and is now a private residence.

The Toll House.

Cross over the road here, and just after the junction with Lower Frenches Drive on the left, turn left and follow a footpath along the bank of the River Tame. Stay on this path as it follows the meander of the river, which eventually flows away to the right. Here the path continues straight ahead along Chew Brook, which enters the Tame at this point. On reaching a bridge over the Chew Brook, turn right to cross this, the on the other side walk to the next junction and bear right.

Follow the path through trees, until it eventually ends at Manchester Road. Turn right and walk to a crossroads, where the Royal George public house can be seen on the opposite corner, then turn right and follow Well-I-Hole Road. Stay on this until it crosses a bridge over the Huddersfield Narrow Canal (Manns Wharf Bridge No. 82), then turn right before the bridge to regain the towpath. Follow this along the canal, passing Shaw Hall Bridge No. 81, to eventually return to Frenches Bridge No. 80. Here, climb stone steps back up to Chew Valley Road, then turn left to retrace the route back to the railway station.

With our walk around Greenfield completed, we now head back to Leeds, before venturing out into the final metropolitan borough that along with Wakefield, Leeds, Bradford and Kirklees makes up modern-day West Yorkshire, which is Calderdale.