The Old Roads

Given the present layout of the road system around Elland it can be difficult to envisage the old road structure however if you perceive St. Mary’s/The Cross as the hub of a wheel you can identify the roads as the spokes.

Northwards...Along Northgate, down Briggate and then over Elland Bridge towards Halifax. The route followed Exley Lane past Elland Hall & Exley Hall. This was the main route to Halifax for centuries. Of course you couldn’t be certain of traversing the bridge if the weather was bad & the river levels rose.

Eastwards...Down Church Street, straight ahead to Eastgate, the road then became Dog Lane. This was the main route to Leeds. It would follow Elland Lane nowadays however the bypass has severed the link from Eastgate to Elland Lane.

South-Eastwards...Originally along Southgate to South End then left towards Upper Edge (now Dewsbury Road). The main route for Wakefield. The London road branched off at Rastrick. When the main Halifax-Huddersfield road was constructed this route slightly by-passed the town by travelling along Briggate, then Castlegate (the area of Huddersfield Road by the old Wesleyan Chapel) towards South End where it branched to either Dewsbury Road or up The Ainleys. The original Elland Bypass? The Halifax to London Mail Coach Service started in 1836 and one of the halts was at the Malt Shovel Inn at Elland Bridge. Albert Rinder paints a vivid scene in his book ‘it passed through Elland with horn blowing, whip cracking and driver shouting’. You’d need 14 horses to climb the steep hill up to Upper Edge but you could then send six back and proceed with the other eight. It took 14 days to travel by stage to London! Unfortunately accidents were commonplace and if you ever perchance to read an old Courier you’ll note the grisly roll of fatalities and injuries.

Southwards...Along Southgate to South End, then follow a route until turns up South Lane. The route up The Ainleys was not built until 1776 and this followed the road from Salterhebble, which replaced the old Halifax route via Exley, and became Huddersfield Road; the main arterial road through Elland until the Bypass in 1978. It is difficult to visage that for hundreds of years folk travelled from Huddersfield to Elland then onto Halifax via South Lane. It’s just possible that you may remember the road before the landfill obliterated the tracks. The satellite image marks out the route – just! The road headed towards Haigh House and then branched to Lindley, Milnsbridge or Marsden. There are still guideposts/stones in this vicinity. Can you imagine what this road would be like in winter?

 

South Lane

 

Finally westwards...followed the route up Westgate where Gog Hill joined then on Long Wall towards Rochdale & Chester. Of course there’s the bottom route, Bank Bottom, which follows the route to Saddleworth; and the upper route, Overgate/Hullen Edge Road then onwards to Hammerstones Leach Lane then Broad Carr, Holywell Green & Stainland.

David J. Glanfield
Greater Elland Historical Society