Standedge from Marsden

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Walk directions

From the car park, turn right and then bear right, following the Huddersfield Narrow Canal towpath away from a lock. Approaching Tunnel End, where both canal and railway disappear into tunnels, leave the towpath to cross a footbridge. Bear right uphill past the visitor centre to a T-junction with a house (the old Tunnel End Inn) directly in front.

Turn left on to Waters Road. Almost immediately, leave through a gate on the left for a path parallel to the road. After rejoining, keep straight ahead past the entrance to Hey Green House. About 100yds (91m) further on, bear left, just before a cottage, on to a bridleway. The path takes you across Closegate Bridge, known locally as Eastergate Bridge, where two becks meet.

Swing right, following the beck for about 100yds (91m), before forking left at a waymarker into a narrow side valley. The path levels higher up, curving towards the rounded prominence of March Hill, now intermittently marked by stone wayposts. After a final push, the path descends towards the A640.

Immediately before reaching the road, turn sharp left at a Pennine Way sign over a wooden bridge spanning a little beck. The onward path rises and falls over the moss for just over 0.75 miles (1.2km) to a junction at the abrupt lip of Standedge. Go left along the top of the scarp, enjoying the panoramic view across East Lancashire.

Beyond the trig point, the path gently loses height, passing through successive gates and across broken walls to emerge on to a track. Follow it left out to the A62, where a car park overlooks Brun Clough Reservoir.

Cross the road and take steps up to the left from the car park. Signed ‘Pennine Way’, the path is parallel to the deep road cutting before turning away across Marsden Moor. To the left is Redbrook Reservoir, with Pule Hill beyond. Approaching a marker stone, bear left at a footpath sign, dipping across a stream to continue over the moss. Eventually, after 0.75 miles (1.2km), the way narrows and drops steeply to a stream in a gully. Climb beyond to a road.

Turn right and then immediately left on to Old Mount Road. After 50yds (46m), bear left again, along a stony track signed to Hades Farm. After 0.5 miles (800m), watch for a discreet sign just off the track for a path that leads to a small gate and descends beside a wall to rejoin Old Mount Road. Continue downhill, crossing the main road into Towngate. Bear left past the church and at the end go left again up Station Road back to the car park.

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Location

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Additional information

Terrain - Old tracks and byways, canal towpath, several stiles

Landscape - Heather moorland

Dog friendliness - On leads where sheep graze on open moorland

Parking - Standedge Tunnel car park by Marsden Station

Toilets en route - Peel Street in Marsden town centre

Walks in West Yorkshire Dog-friendly walks in West Yorkshire

About the walk

Trans-Pennine travel has, until quite recently, been a hazardous business. Over the centuries, many routes have been driven across the hills to link the industrial centres of West Yorkshire and Lancashire. Some paths were consolidated into paved causeways for packhorse traffic, before being...

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Been on this walk?

Send us photos or a comment about this route. Or recommend a route of your own.

Find out more

Walking in Safety

Read our tips to look after yourself and the environment when following this walk.

Learn more

Get an AA guide

Explore our range of ‘50 Walks in’ guides - they’re the ideal companion for a ramble.

Learn more

About the area

Everybody knows that Yorkshire has some special landscapes. The Dales and the Moors first spring to mind, but what about West Yorkshire? That’s Leeds and Bradford isn’t it? Back-to-back houses and blackened mills… Certainly if you had stood on any of the hills surrounding Hebden Bridge a hundred years ago, and gazed down into the valley, all you would have seen was the pall of smoke issuing from the chimneys of 33 textile mills.