Map of Dungeon Wood (1879)
1879 map showing the extent of Dungeon Wood and the proposed section to be included in Beaumont Park (shaded in a darker grey). The map has been kindly provided by the Friends of Beaumont Park.
The map was prepared by the Borough Surveyor, John Henry Abbey (1831-1880). In fact, it may have been one of the last pieces of work he carried out for Huddersfield Corporation, as he resigned due to illness on 20 August 1879. He eventually died of stomach cancer just over a year later. The next Borough Surveyor, Richard Swarbrick Dugdale (1849-1903), took over the laying out of the park.
The location of the former Woodfield Station is shown on the map. The station is noteworthy for the fact it was open for only one month.
The map appears to have been based on an ealier map of the wood, which had been accurately surveyed. A few of the other features shown on the map appear to have been approximated by the Borough Surveyor, including the location of the path running up to Woodfield Station and the positioning of the railway bridge over the footpath (neither of these exactly match the 1892 Ordnance Survey map). However, as John Henry Abbey had lived locally all his life, and had also assisted the Lockwood Local Board during their confrontations with the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway Company over the blocking up of rights of way through the wood, we can assume that his locating of the station is valid.
Due to the construction of a new road along the top of the park (now Beaumont Park Road), considerable alteration of the existing road layout at Starling End was required. This resulted in the loss of the top section of the public footpath from Starling End to Meltham Road, which ran under the railway line. As part of the Huddersfield Improvement Act of 1880, Huddersfield Corporation was granted permission to close all of the traditional rights of way through the wood on the proviso that they provided new routes outside the boundary of the park. This was achieved by:
- At the northend end of the park, building a flight of nearly 200 stone steps down from Beaumont Park Road to the existing footpath which ran next to the railway line. It is sometimes incorrectly assumed that these steps had previously been built to serve Woodfield Station.
- Making improvements to the roads at Butternab to provide a route around the southern end of the park.
Image
Further Reading
- Beaumont Park
- Dungeon Wood
- John Henry Abbey (1831-1880)
- Lockwood
- Meltham Branch Line
- South Crosland
- Woodfield House, Lockwood
- Woodfield Station, Dungeon Wood, Lockwood
Details
| collection: | Maps |
| tags: | 1870-79, 1879, Beaumont Park, Butternab (South Crosland), Dungeon Wood, Henry Frederick Beaumont (1833-1913), John Henry Abbey (1831-1880), Lockwood, Maps, Meltham Branch Line, South Crosland, Starling End (Lockwood), Woodfield House (Lockwood), Woodfield Station (Meltham Branch Line) |
| creator: | John Henry Abbey (1831-1880) |
| date: | 6 August 1879. |
| date added: | 28 December 2016 |