Crossley
extends from Sunny Bank Road through
to Northorpe (see Mirfield Maps page). This
is a very pleasant walk as it skirts
around one edge of Mirfield with extensive
views towards Heckmondwike and Dewsbury.
Probably the most significant
places of interest along this stretch are
the Maternity/Fever Hospital (now demolished)
and
Crossley Botts.
Taking each of these,
in turn, we come to what used to be
the Maternity/Fever Hospital. A good
many Mirfield residents, including myself,
were born here.
This
is an old photograph of Crossley Hospital,
as it was then called. Needless to say,
I cannot take credit for this picture!
Although
there is a public footpath leading to Crossley
'Botts', it's quite an obstacle course as
it's blocked by farm machinery. It was
easier to walk across the field when this
photograph was taken (September 2002) and, fortunately,
it was a very warm day, so the ground was dry.
This
view is looking towards Heckmondwike.
This
is the stile over which you have to climb
to enter the world of Crossley 'Botts'.
OK, it's a pretty unassuming affair but
the number of times I ventured over here
as a kid makes it such a notable feature
of Crossley.
Once you're
over
the stile, it's a very steep slope down
to the stream itself, which is
what Crossley 'Botts' is all about.
And this
is the stream. As kids, we used to
drink from this stream but I would not want
to do that now as it is looking a bit polluted.
One Christmas,
I walked along the length of this stream
into Heckmondwike with a group of friends
and it was fascinating. It's only a couple
of miles but most enjoyable.
