Richard Bell's Wild West Yorkshire nature diary

Ginnels and Snickets

snicketFriday, 8th December, 2006
MY WALK THIS MORNING takes me along some of the ginnels or snickets (paths between houses) of Horbury. You could make your way across the town with very little road walking using this alternative network of thoroughfares.

This ginnel (left) from Twitch Hill and New Road goes between the back of the Conservative Club (which still has a crown bowling green) and, behind the sandstone wall on the left, a private garden which was once a tenterfield; an open space where woollen cloth was stretched on frames, held taut on tenterhooks.

Stringer LaneAs in the three previous Walks Around Horbury for the booklet I'm compiling, I'm starting at St Peter's Church in the centre of town. I'm heading for Millfield Lagoons to the south east, so I did consider starting at St Mary's Church, Horbury Junction, but this is an opportunity to include a few hidden corners of the town along the way.

rhubarbRhubarb

I'm soon crossing the by-pass and following the signs to the Calder Valley's cycle routes. This unfurling rhubarb, carved in local unseasoned oak by Handspring Design of Sheffield close to new bench, marks a corner on the route.