Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The distinctive Locomotive Bridge in Turnbridge
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The Huddersfield Broad Canal, also known as Cooper Canal or Sir John Ramsden's Canal,
after its promoter, continues northwards. It was completed in 1776 in order to bring boats off
the River Calder with coal for the mills, carrying commercial traffic until 1953.
Huddersfield is an industrial town developed around its woollen mills and is unashamedly
Victorian. St Peter's church of 1838 and the 1902 clock tower are both Victorian Gothic while
the station of 1847 by JP Pritchett is Corinthian, one of Britain's finest railway buildings.
The Lawrence Batley Theatre is in a former Wesleyan chapel and the Huddersfield Choral
Society are based in the 19th century town hall. Huddersfield Art Gallery offers Gainsbor-
ough, Lowry, Turner and Constable with 20th century British art and there is a Huddersfield
Contemporary Music Festival. The town was one of the first places to have a council housing
scheme and produced Harold Wilson. There is even a town crier.
At the foot of a stone mill chimney in Turnbridge, the Locomotive Bridge of 1865 is an
unusual survivor; it is a bridge with a deck that is lifted vertically by windlass. It leads down
towards the Galpharm Stadium, occupied by Huddersfield Town Football Club and Hudder-
sfield Giants Rugby League Club, a golf driving range and a multiplex cinema. The A62
crosses by a canal mural, the former tram depot and the Automobilia Transport Museum.
The locks begin with Fartown Green Lock at Red Doles and playing fields begin on the
east side of the canal. Falls Lock is by Trafalgar Mills, a former worsted mill, and the remains
of Fieldhouse clay works accompany Fieldhouse Green Lock. Riddings Lock, near Kirklees
dog pound, has cranked balance beams as the adjacent bridge has been built very close and it
has guide pins for ropes, as have some other locks in this flight. Turnpike Road or Halewood
