TRACES of the Industrial Revolution can still be clearly seen among the tranquil green pastures of Clifton as the Kirklees Way meanders through historic Scholes and Oakenshaw on its way to the busy centre of Birkenshaw.
To begin this stretch of the walk start at the Armytage Arms in Clifton and turn right on to the A643 Walton Lane for about a third of a mile before taking a field-edge path on the left (also part of the Bronte Way) to a stile before bearing right across the field towards a spoil heap.
Climb over the old spoil heap and cross a field to a dismantled mineral railway line.
Cross the line and walk over a field to a stile just to the right of a pylon. Turn right on the road and then left along a track. Before the smallholding turn right and follow the wall side up the hill. Climb a stile and bear right to the corner of Whitaker Pits Wood.
The redbrick exterior of Whitaker Pits Farm stands out starkly from the older, more traditional stone-built farms in the area, having been built by the mining company.
Follow the boundary wall of the wood, turning right on to an earth track. Keeping to the boundary wall of the wood, follow this old track to Whitaker Pits Farm. Turn left at the gate, passing the brick-built farmhouse and turn right along a track towards a bungalow.
Turn left on Pits Lane to join the A649 Halifax Road at Hartshead Moor Top.
Turn right and cross the road. Turn left down a ginnel before the Working Men’s Club. Cross Scholes Lane taking the track past the chapel and a fine old house called Oldfieldnook.
This path finds the M62. Our route runs parallel to the motorway for a short distance to an underpass. Turn left and then right where the track forks. This is Wellands Lane. Keep to this hawthorn-lined lane, which becomes Towngate leading to New Road in the heart of the village of Scholes.
Exit Towngate Square in Scholes next to the Baden Powell Hall and turn right along the road. Turn left into Branch Road. Cross the A58, Whitehall Road, and follow the earth lane to Oakenshaw, with Cleckheaton golf course on the right.
Turn right at Wyke Lane into the village, passing the 15th century cross, and then go left into Richardson Street. At the bottom of the street turn right towards the pub. Cross the A638 and turn left into Mill Carr Hill Road.
Once under the M606 motorway bridge, turn right into Cliff Hollins Lane and follow the road uphill, turning right next to Chatts Cottage. Bear left across the field, following the public footpath along the toe of a slope. Cross a track, climb a stile into Chatts Wood and bear left towards the stone wall. Climb a stile in the wall and turn right along the side of the field. Climb a stile and take a path downhill to Cockleshaw Beck.
Cross the beck and follow the path uphill into a field. Bear left crossing the field to the brow of the hill. Climb a stile and keep to the side of the hedgerow, pass through a field gate and bear left to Copley House Farm. Climb a stile next to a field gate and follow the sunken lane to the farmhouse.
Continue along the driveway past the farm buildings to Hunsworth Lane. Turn left along the road, and then turn right over a stile down a public footpath. Climb a stile and cross Hunsworth Beck.
Follow the path across the middle of two fields to a footbridge over Lodge Beck. Continue uphill crossing Navigation Bank to Bradford Road in Birkenshaw.
