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Oxenhope to Haworth and The Railway Children
Oxenhope to Haworth and The Railway Children
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"Relive the days of steam between Oxenhope and Haworth"
Walk directions
Leave the car park and turn left into Mill Lane. After 150yds (137m) turn left, on a bridleway signed as the Worth and Brontë Ways. The surfaced section ends after just a few paces, as you pass the station’s overflow car park, and a narrower path continues through a gap between a wall and a metal field gate.
The field-edge path follows Bridgehouse Beck downstream for 250yds (229m) before crossing a footbridge to the opposite bank and turning right down a walled path between the railway and the stream. A gate soon leads out on to a lane past Oxenhope water treatment works.
Beyond North Ives Barn, the path goes through a gap in the wall ahead, right of the track, and past a small fenced pond, crosses a second metal footbridge. Turning left, downstream, along the edges of three fields, you pass the stone Donkey Bridge. The path braids in places but the different trails meet again and soon head into trees, emerging for a brief climb, by a bramble-choked fence, to the driveway of Ives Bottom Farm.
Turn left through the farmyard, then left again at a fork in the track beyond. Through a small latched gate, the path leads to a flight of steps through a wall to fork left, past a ruined house. Follow the fence on your left across the next field, ignoring the stream-bound path that crosses your route.
Beyond a kissing gate, the path enters a stand of trees around a former mill pond. Stay on the path following the course of the water channel.
A small footbridge on your right at the far end of the overgrown ponds leads to a kissing gate, beyond which you turn left along the braided field-edge path, past a spring flowing into a stone trough, to another kissing gate beneath a large beech tree.
A wider, grassy lane leads to a kissing gate below a pigeon loft. Through this keep ahead on an enclosed path to a latched metal gate. After a further 80yds (73m) the path descends stone steps next to Bridgehouse Mill, into Brow Road in Haworth.
A few dozen downhill strides bring you to a junction. Turn left, over the railway bridge and up Bridgehouse Lane for Haworth or right along Station Road for the railway station, seen across the road, and a steam train back to Oxenhope.
Terrain
- Well-defined field paths and tracks, muddy after rain; 1 stile
Landscape
- Valley bottom fields overlooked by moorland edges
Dog friendliness
- On lead beyond Ives Bottom Farm
Parking
- Free car park at Oxenhope station
Toilets en route
- Oxenhope and Haworth stations
About the walk
The Keighley and Worth Valley Railway is one of the most scenic preserved steam operations in England. So much so that, in 1970, when Lionel Jeffries was looking for a location for his directorial debut The Railway Children, he chose the Worth Valley. The film, which starred Bernard Cribbins and... gave young actresses Jenny Agutter and Sally Thomsett each their first taste of fame, is regarded as one of the classic family movies of all time. An all-time classic At the time the movie was made, the line had been run by volunteers for a mere two years. It was built in 1867 by Haworth mill owners to transport their goods down the valley to link with the Midland Railway at Keighley, for national distribution. Oxenhope’s own mill owners paid for it to be extended another 1.5 miles (2.4km) to their woollen factories and the successful line was soon sold to the Midland, keen to stave off competition from the Great Northern. Following nationalisation after World War II, the branch line was closed by British Rail in 1962 and sold to the preservation society six years later. Today the line, along which services operate year-round, is the only fully preserved branch line in England. This walk follows the short extension between Oxenhope and Haworth, following Bridgehouse Beck downstream. Along the way you will pass long-overgrown millponds and 19th-century goits – man-made water channels – built to raise the head of water to power waterwheels in the mills of Haworth. Haworth itself is famous not only for the railway but also for the sisters Anne, Emily and Charlotte, the famous Brontë novelists, who resided with their preacher father at Haworth Parsonage in the mid-1800s. The Parsonage is now a museum run by the Brontë Society, full of family memorabilia and original furniture. Novels such as Charlotte’s Jane Eyre, Anne’s The Tenant of Wildfell Hall and Emily’s Wuthering Heights were written here and it’s become a destination for hundreds of thousands of literary pilgrims every year. Less well-known is the fact that the Parsonage also served as the location for Doctor Forrest’s surgery in The Railway Children movie.
"Relive the days of steam between Oxenhope and Haworth"
Walk details
30min
Difficulty:
Easy
Gradient:
Flat
Distance:
1.4 miles (2.3kms)
Ascent:
55ft (17m)
Walk directions
Leave the car park and turn left into Mill Lane. After 150yds (137m) turn left, on a bridleway signed as the Worth and Brontë Ways. The surfaced section ends after just a few paces, as you pass the station’s overflow car park, and a narrower path continues through a gap between a wall and a metal field gate.
1 of 8
The field-edge path follows Bridgehouse Beck downstream for 250yds (229m) before crossing a footbridge to the opposite bank and turning right down a walled path between the railway and the stream. A gate soon leads out on to a lane past Oxenhope water treatment works.
2 of 8
Beyond North Ives Barn, the path goes through a gap in the wall ahead, right of the track, and past a small fenced pond, crosses a second metal footbridge. Turning left, downstream, along the edges of three fields, you pass the stone Donkey Bridge. The path braids in places but the different trails meet again and soon head into trees, emerging for a brief climb, by a bramble-choked fence, to the driveway of Ives Bottom Farm.
3 of 8
Turn left through the farmyard, then left again at a fork in the track beyond. Through a small latched gate, the path leads to a flight of steps through a wall to fork left, past a ruined house. Follow the fence on your left across the next field, ignoring the stream-bound path that crosses your route.
4 of 8
Beyond a kissing gate, the path enters a stand of trees around a former mill pond. Stay on the path following the course of the water channel.
5 of 8
A small footbridge on your right at the far end of the overgrown ponds leads to a kissing gate, beyond which you turn left along the braided field-edge path, past a spring flowing into a stone trough, to another kissing gate beneath a large beech tree.
6 of 8
A wider, grassy lane leads to a kissing gate below a pigeon loft. Through this keep ahead on an enclosed path to a latched metal gate. After a further 80yds (73m) the path descends stone steps next to Bridgehouse Mill, into Brow Road in Haworth.
7 of 8
A few dozen downhill strides bring you to a junction. Turn left, over the railway bridge and up Bridgehouse Lane for Haworth or right along Station Road for the railway station, seen across the road, and a steam train back to Oxenhope.
Terrain
- Well-defined field paths and tracks, muddy after rain; 1 stile
Landscape
- Valley bottom fields overlooked by moorland edges
Dog friendliness
- On lead beyond Ives Bottom Farm
Parking
- Free car park at Oxenhope station
Toilets en route
- Oxenhope and Haworth stations
About the walk
The Keighley and Worth Valley Railway is one of the most scenic preserved steam operations in England. So much so that, in 1970, when Lionel Jeffries was looking for a location for his directorial debut The Railway Children, he chose the Worth Valley. The film, which starred Bernard Cribbins and... gave young actresses Jenny Agutter and Sally Thomsett each their first taste of fame, is regarded as one of the classic family movies of all time. An all-time classic At the time the movie was made, the line had been run by volunteers for a mere two years. It was built in 1867 by Haworth mill owners to transport their goods down the valley to link with the Midland Railway at Keighley, for national distribution. Oxenhope’s own mill owners paid for it to be extended another 1.5 miles (2.4km) to their woollen factories and the successful line was soon sold to the Midland, keen to stave off competition from the Great Northern. Following nationalisation after World War II, the branch line was closed by British Rail in 1962 and sold to the preservation society six years later. Today the line, along which services operate year-round, is the only fully preserved branch line in England. This walk follows the short extension between Oxenhope and Haworth, following Bridgehouse Beck downstream. Along the way you will pass long-overgrown millponds and 19th-century goits – man-made water channels – built to raise the head of water to power waterwheels in the mills of Haworth. Haworth itself is famous not only for the railway but also for the sisters Anne, Emily and Charlotte, the famous Brontë novelists, who resided with their preacher father at Haworth Parsonage in the mid-1800s. The Parsonage is now a museum run by the Brontë Society, full of family memorabilia and original furniture. Novels such as Charlotte’s Jane Eyre, Anne’s The Tenant of Wildfell Hall and Emily’s Wuthering Heights were written here and it’s become a destination for hundreds of thousands of literary pilgrims every year. Less well-known is the fact that the Parsonage also served as the location for Doctor Forrest’s surgery in The Railway Children movie.
