Castle Hill ~ Hard Walk

Distance Covered: 4 miles Time to Complete Walk 2 hours

Suitable for dog walking: Yes 

West Yorkshire is notorious for its steep roads and on this classic walk you make your way up to Castle Hill with its Victoria Tower built as a tribute for Queen Victoria. The 360 degree views at the top are amazing. This walk starts at the top and makes its way to the little village of Farnley Tyas. Then climb back up to Castle Hill. A great walk with epic views.

General Safety Tips: 

There is a lot of road walking as you make your way to Farnley Tyas. Keep to the pavements and cross the road carefully. The walk is best done after a dry spell. Otherwise wear boots or wellies as it can get muddy. Take care when crossing Lumb Dike - look out for a bridge to cross over to the other side.

The Castle Hill Walk

Getting There

From Middlesbrough, follow the A19 to the A1 southbound. Follow the M1 towards Leeds. At Durkar take the A636 exit. Follow the A636 to a right turn to the A637. Follow this road through Flockton and afterwards take a left turn onto the A642 to Fenay Bridge. Turn left then right onto Station Road. Turn right onto the A629 and the left onto Fenay Lane which then becomes Kaye Lane and then turn left onto Ashes Lane. Look out for the left turn up to Castle Hill which is a steep winding road. Parking is free of charge at Castle Hill.

Maps of the Castle Hill Walk

The Walk

From the car park head towards the Victoria Tower and climb down the steps behind it down to the road.

Turn left and at a fork keep left climbing the road - when you come to some houses turn right onto a path beside them.

Follow the grass track over three stiles towards a farm ahead.

Turn left through a gate and then enter the farmyard and exit it to the right onto a road. 

Turn left and follow the road to Farnley Tyas which winds and climbs to the village. Use both sides of the pavements.

When you enter the village of Farnley Tyas, turn left into the road between the church and the school.

Look for a right turn through a gate into School Wood.

Follow the woodland path as it winds over a small stream until you come to a gap in the hedge onto a road.

Turn left and follow the road to a crossroads.

Cross over the road onto the road ahead and look for a narrow path to your left.

Follow this narrow path until you emerge back into Farnley Tyas.

Turn right and make your way to the village pub- The Golden Cock- walk past it and then turn left into the path beside it.

Look for a path to your left which heads down and then swing to the left. 

Follow the field down to the right to a gate into woods.

Follow the path into the woods until you emerge into a clearing.

Follow the path to the side of a field and then follow the side of the field to a stile into the woods again.

To find your way to the other side of the woods, follow a path to the left and then when you see a path down to the stream, follow this and then to the right until you come to a wooden bridge.

Cross over to the other side and climb up to the top and over a stile into a field.

Climb up the field keeping to the left and emerging onto a road.

Turn left and follow the road back to the steps up to Castle Hill again.

Castle Hill

Castle Hill is a scheduled ancient monument in Almondbury overlooking Huddersfield in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, West Yorkshire, England. The hilltop has been settled for at least 4,000 years. The scheduled monument comprises the remains of a late-Bronze Age or early Iron Age univallate hillfort with a single raised bank, a later Iron Age multivallate hillfort, a 12th-century motte-and-bailey castle, and the site of a deserted medieval village. The grade II listed Victoria Tower on the summit of Castle Hill is by far the most conspicuous landmark in Huddersfield. The hill has been a place of recreation for hundreds of years and the easily discernible remains of past occupation have made it a subject for legend, speculation and scientific study. It is located on UK Maps at grid reference SE152140.

The first people to visit Castle Hill were probably hunters and gatherers of the Mesolithic age, camping amongst the forests which at that time covered the land. In the Neolithic and Bronze Age, there appears to have been widespread travel or trade along the river valleys connecting the Yorkshire Wolds, the Peak District and the Mersey and Ribble estuaries. This is shown by various characteristic types of stone and bronze tools in a place far from their points of origin. The hillfort was constructed in the early Iron Age, around 555 BC taking up the whole hilltop. Modifications were made around 43 AD to improve the defences, probably in response to the threat from the Roman invaders.

Excavations on part of the hillfort in 1970 demonstrated that Castle Hill had at some stage suffered from a severe episode of burning. Vitrified forts such as Castle Hill are rarely found in England, and are more usual in Scotland.

The banks and ditches that remain are more likely to be the result of recutting and other alterations carried out during the Middle Ages, and modified by centuries of erosion. After the Norman Conquest of 1066, Almondbury became part of the Honour of Pontefract, which was held by the de Laci family. They established a small castle on the hill. It is mentioned in a charter of King Stephen to Henry de Laci of about 1142 to 1154. Archaeological excavation has provided a wooden stake, radiocarbon-dated to the late 1140s, and a coin of about 1160. It can be assumed that the castle was complete and occupied by the 1140s.

In the early 14th century there was an attempt to found a settlement in the lower bailey, and possibly elsewhere on the hill. Aerial photography revealed a central roadway flanked by regularly laid-out plots. It was probably abandoned by the 1340s, although memory of it may have lingered, since the map of Almondbury drawn up in 1634 marks the hill as the site of a town. After the end of the Middle Ages, Castle Hill remained uninhabited until the early 19th century. Its prominent position made it an ideal site for a warning beacon, as part of a network of such beacons on other prominent hills all over the country, spreading out in lines from the coast.