Despite the rather dull, wet weather (at least it wasn’t too cold), I went for a little local jaunt on the bike this afternoon with a friend, setting off from the very Christmassy Piece Hall in Halifax…

…keeping out of the bottom of Calder Valley by taking a route along the beautiful Luddenden Valley, through Midgely and into Hebden Bridge for lunch before heading back home along the more familiar Rochdale canal. It’s always a treat discovering a new local route and today’s was a cracker, especially the bridleway from the far end of the Luddenden Valley that climbed the hill towards Midgely.

Watch this:

I really wasn’t expecting to find the castle gateway – now two homes – that you saw at the start of the video. Here it is again:

Heads were scratched by both myself and my cycling companion Craig. Was it a gatehouse? Or a toll house? If it was a gatehouse, what happened to the building it was protecting? Well, Craig has done his research and this is what was once hidden behind the fearsome gatehouse:

It was called Castle Carr and was built in the second half of the 19th century by a certain Captain Joseph Priestly Edwards. You can read the full story of the house and its demise (it was demolished in 1962) on Kate Lycett’s website, Lost Houses.

It pays to get off the beaten track…