Woodlesford is located about six miles from Leeds city centre. It has existed since at least the twelfth century, and was originally named Widlesford, from the Old English words for thicket and ford, reflecting its location on a ford on the River Aire. In spite of this, it lacks any really old buildings, probably since it was quite tiny until the nineteenth century, when it expanded due to the mining and stone quarrying industries. It was the home of Bentley's Yorkshire Bitter from the mid-nineteenth century to the latter half of the twentieth, and the Bentley family left a legacy on the village, since they built one of the older buildings we shall pass on the walk and were also major benefactors of the local church. This being the West Riding, coal mining also inevitably came to the area in the nineteenth century, and this too has left its mark on the landscape, as we shall see. Nowadays, Woodlesford’s industrial past is for the most part confined to that past; it has become a commuter village primarily for people working in Leeds and Wakefield. Most recently, it faced the controversial impact of the HS2 railway, destined for a while to carve its way through the village, before the Leeds leg was cancelled due to spiralling costs.
Woodlesford Railway Station opened in 1840, originally part of George Stephenson’s North Midland Railway, and now on the Hallam and Pontefract Lines. None of its original station buildings have survived and so today it is another of the twin platform unstaffed halts we have seen many times before. From the station, we turn left down Station Lane and at the end of this left along Aberford Road, passing under the railway line, and looking out for the entrance block and offices of the former Eshaldwell Brewery on the right. This was established in 1828 by Henry Bentley, and later renamed to become the aforementioned Bentley’s Yorkshire Breweries Ltd; it has now been converted into a handsome dwelling. Just before the road reaches bridge over the Aire and Calder Navigation, we turn left down a track, then right along a footpath to reach the towpath. We have course encountered the Aire and Calder Navigation before (its history and course are discussed under Knottingley) and on this walk we follow one of its canalised sections.
Turn right, passing under the road bridge (Swillington Bridge) and follow the towpath next to the navigation all the way to Fleet Bridge, where it is worth taking a detour further along the towpath to visit Lemonroyd Lock, passing Lemonroyd Marina to reach the lock, where the canalised section rejoins the main course of the River Aire.
Lemonroyd Lock
Afterwards, backtrack to Fleet Bridge and – facing in the direction of the lock – turn right and follow a path to Fleet Lane. Continue along Fleet Lane, and just after passing under a railway bridge turn right to follow a footpath into Water Haigh Woodland Park. This park is a mixture of broadleaved woodland, pasture, hedgerow and wetland and is, like so many similar parks we have encountered in South Yorkshire and the City of Wakefield, a former colliery site, in this case Water Haigh Colliery, which closed in 1970. On reaching a fork in the path, turn left and follow the path through trees, next to playing fields on the right, until it reaches a drive leading to the West Riding County Football Association ground. Cross straight over and continue to follow the path through the park, passing Eshald Wood on the right, to Eshald Lane. Turn left and then immediately right to re-enter the park on other side of the lane, and bear sharp right then left across a meadow, eventually leaving the park via an alleyway leading to Aberford Road.
We now turn left and then right along Midland Street, passing the Midland Hotel on the corner. The official boundary between Woodlesford and the adjacent village of Oulton runs through the centre of the public house; the two villages have long since merged as they have slowly morphed into a detached suburb of Leeds. Continue to follow the road as it bends right and becomes Oulton Lane, eventually ending Holmsley Lane; here, Woodlesford Vicarage can be seen on the right. Turn left and follow the road until the junction with Needless Inn Lane appears on the right, and turn right next to this to follow a footpath (Pickpocket Inn), past the site of the Needless Inn, a former public house so-named when Magistrates decreed that it was no longer necessary and refused to renew its licence.
Follow Pickpocket Lane all the way to a junction of paths, then turn right to enter Rothwell Country Park. This is yet another colliery-turned-country-park, opened in 2000, on the site of the former Fanny Pit of Rothwell Colliery, which operated from 1867 to 1983. These country parks will become much less common now, as we head towards Leeds and Bradford, where different industries predominated. Turn left and then right to follow a path up to the Summit (so called for obvious reasons), from where views of Leeds are visible. Continue across the Summit, bearing left and descending the path to an exit from the park, then turn right just before this and follow Bullough Lane under a railway bridge to another part of the canalised section the Aire and Calder Navigation that we followed earlier. Stay on the lane until Fishpond Lock is reached, then cross the bridge over either set of lock gates to gain the towpath on the opposite bank.
Walk along the towpath all the way to Woodlesford Lock, a delightfully scenic part of the route which allows occasional glimpses of the parallel River Aire on the left. At the lock, cross back to the other side of the waterway via the lock gate bridges and follow a lane called The Locks to Pottery Lane. Turn right and follow this uphill, crossing the bridge over the railway line, and then bearing right along Church Street past the former All Saints Church, which as previously mentioned the Bentley family had a hand in funding.
All Saints Church
The Grade II-listed former church was built in 1870 and has now been converted into a private dwelling, with its original steeple removed. Continue along Church Street, passing the Two Pointers public house on the right followed by Woodlesford Methodist Church on the left, t
hen turn left along Highfield Lane, passing Woodlesford Primary School on the corner, and follow it to All Saint’s Drive, looking out for Highfield House – a Grade II-listed mid-nineteenth century dwelling – on the right.
Turn left along All Saint’s Drive, and when it ends at All Saint’s Road turn right. On reaching Aberford Road, turn left and follow this downhill, passing Eshald Mansions on the right. This is a large, Grade II-listed house built by the Bentley family in the early nineteenth century; it has now been converted into flats, but remains impressive. Finally, we turn left into Station Lane to return to the station. Our tour of Woodlesford completed, it is time to head up the line to the next station, in Leeds city centre.
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