The Real Wuthering Heights: The Story of The Withins Farms by Wood Steven & Brears Peter

Author:Wood, Steven & Brears, Peter [Wood, Steven]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Amberley Publishing
Published: 2016-03-14T16:00:00+00:00

The path up to Top Withins (Anni Vassallo ).

11

A WALK TO THE WITHINS FARMS

There are many different ways to approach Top Withins. The walk described here takes a varied route which starts in Stanbury and finishes in Haworth. This route passes by or near over twenty old farm sites besides the Withins farms themselves. Brief histories of each of these are included.

Stanbury village stands on the crest of the ridge between the River Worth and the Sladen Beck. The outward route to Withins runs along this ridge for a mile and then runs almost level along the valley side for a further half-mile before making the final ascent to Top Withins. The return route to Haworth quickly drops into the valley of the Sladen Beck and follows it for almost its full length.

The walk starts at the Stanbury bus terminus where Back Lane branches off the road to Colne (here known as Hob Lane). Before starting up the track to Withins it is worth walking a few yards along Hob Lane to look at the date stone which is built into the garden wall on the left. This double-arched door-head bears the initials IR (or, just possibly, AR) and the date 1637. It is believed to have come from Forks House which will be passed later in the walk.

Returning to the bus terminus, take the minor road up towards the moors. The fields on the left-hand side of this stretch of the road are long, narrow, slightly curved and south-facing – almost certainly they were arable fields in the Middle Ages. These are not well seen from the road but will be seen clearly from Enfieldside later in the walk. At the junction the route to Withins is straight ahead.

It is possible to take a short diversion at this point to visit Timmy Feather’s cottage at Buckley Green. To do this take the road to the right and walk on past Cold Knoll End to Buckley Green, around a third of a mile. Just before the first cottages at Buckley Green are reached there is a gate on the left. Look up the field from this gate and you will see three trees and an obvious ruin. The ruined building is the Duke Top barn. What little remains of the house lies under the trees to the left of the barn. The Feather family lived there briefly and Timmy’s brother George was born there in 1812. At Buckley Green there are two cottages on the right called Wildfell before the road forks. The left fork reaches Timmy’s cottage after a few yards. It is the one bearing the 1832 date stone. A little beyond the cottage there is a footpath up the moor to the left which rejoins the main Withins walk below Lower Height. Timmy Feather was the last of the handloom weavers in the Haworth area and he is the subject of the next chapter.

The main walk continues up Back Lane from the junction where the Buckley Green road diverges.

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