The market town of Morley may be located in the City of Leeds metropolitan borough, but it has definitely retained its own identity and character rather than simply becoming another suburb. It is the largest town in the borough after Leeds itself and was mentioned in the Domesday Book as Morelege, Morelei and Moreleia. The name Morley is from Old English words for "open ground by a moor", although there is little trace of a nearby moor today. Like many towns in the area, the Industrial Revolution saw it become famous for its textile industry; it was known for producing shoddy, which was worn by soldiers on both sides in the American Civil War and was considered to be of inferior quality, thus lending itself to the slang term “shoddy” meaning badly made or done.
Morley Railway Station was opened on the Huddersfield Line in 1848. From 1951 it was renamed Morley Low, to distinguish it from the town’s other station, Morley Top, which closed in 1961, after which the station reverted to its original name. It is located at the end of the Morley Tunnel, which runs for 3,369 yards beneath the town centre. Any original station buildings have long since vanished, leaving it as yet another simple two-platform affair, nestled in a cutting at the tunnel mouth. From the station, we follow Station Road to Valley Road, then turn left over the tunnel entrance. We then stay on Valley Road until it ends at an industrial site, then turn right and follow a path round the site to reach a field. Continue straight ahead, then loop right and uphill across two more fields, following a footpath to the end of Rydal Drive. Follow this to Albert Drive, then turn right and immediately left along Newlands Drive. When the drive bends left, continue straight ahead along a path to Wide Lane, where The Gardeners Arms can be seen opposite.
Cross the road and walk to the right of the pub, then follow Bantam Grove Lane. This curves right and becomes Watering Meadow; when this in turn bends right, bear left and follow a footpath across a bridge over Topcliff Beck, staying on the path as it runs alongside the beck to a kissing gate. Pass through the gate then head uphill along a track (Topcliffe Lane), then turn right along a path at the brow of the hill and follow it until it ends at a road (still Topcliffe Lane). Continue straight ahead, then turn right along Glen Road, passing Topcliffe Mill on the left. Continue along Glen Road until it passes a football pitch, then just before reaching Glen Court on the right, turn right and follow a path which turns left and runs to Magpie Lane. Turn right, then bear left and walk across a park to Wide Lane. Take the next left turn along Clough Street, continuing straight ahead at a crossroads, then just before the next crossroads turn left and enter Lewisham Park. Follow paths across the park, bearing left to exit on Middleton Road. Turn right and follow this to a junction, where the Commercial Inn can be seen on the right and the Tipsy Cow on the left.
We have now entered the town centre, which boasts a fine collection of preserved Victorian buildings. Continue straight ahead, then turn left along High Street. Take the next left along St Paul’s Street and follow it to a crossroads, then turn right along South Queen Street, passing the Church of St. Paul on the left. At the bottom of South Queen Street, look right to see the New Pavilion, then turn left and follow Fountain Street, passing the former Morley Temperance Hall on the left (just past which, the Sportsman Inn can be seen to the left along Hunger Hill) and the Fountain Inn, the former Primitive Methodist School and the former Ebenezer Methodist Church on the right. Turn right along Oddfellow Street and follow this to Wesley Street, then turn right, passing Morley Central Methodist Church on the right. On reaching Queen Street (where the Picture House pub can be seen to the right), turn left and walk to The Queen Hotel, then turn right along Hope Street. Turn left along Marshall Street, passing Commercial Street Mill on the corner, then turn left along Albion Street and continue straight ahead at a crossroads past the former Slip Inn (now the Borough Arms) to return to Queen Street. Turn right, passing the imposing Morley Town Hall on the left, which is a Grade I-listed building that dates from 1895.
Morley Town Hall
Turn right along Little Lane and follow it to Commercial Street, passing Morley Library on the right. Opposite this is the church hall of St. Mary in the Woods, next to which Morley Labour Rooms can be seen. Turn left and follow the road, passing the ruined Church of St. Mary in the Woods on the right. The church was a United Reform Church built in 1876-1878 on the site of a medieval church and after a period of dereliction from the end of the twentieth century, it was gutted by fire in 2010. The ruin looms ominously amongst the trees of its churchyard, locked away behind the iron gates.
Church of St. Mary in the Woods
At the end of the street, turn left along Troy Street, then at the end of this turn left along Queensway, before turning right to enter Scatcherd Park, a well-laid out Victorian park in a style familiar from so many towns and cities in England. Walk across this, passing Morley War Memorial (which is topped by a distinctive bronze statue), to reach Queen’s Promenade, then turn right along this past Scarth Gardens on the left to reach Queen’s Street.
Turn left and then immediately left again to follow Dawson Hill as it loops round Morley Hall and past Rehoboth Cemetery to end at Brunswick Street. Turn left then turn right across a grassy open space to reach Victoria Road. Turn right and follow this to a roundabout, where the Church of St. Peter can be seen on the left, close to which is St. Peter’s Sunday School, both Grade II-listed and dating from c.1930. Turn right and cross the road, then right again past the Nelson Arms public house and follow Church Street downhill past Albion Mill. Turn left along New Bank Street and follow this to the junction with Croft House Lane on the left. Here, turn right and follow a path across a grassy area to King George Croft, then turn right and right again, before turning left along a path between houses to reach Station Road. Finally, turn left to return to the station.
From Morley, we return to Leeds; the stations further down the line we shall are in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, which we shall be visiting later. Meanwhile, we head north-west along the Harrogate Line, to visit three stations, the first of which will involve walking another section of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal…
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