Sparable Lane

For once, a sunny, crisp Saturday! I decided to celebrate by going for a ramble and headed off along the Upper Coach Road. At the gateway to the Milner Field estate, the path branches and I took the right fork which winds its way up towards the village of Gilstead. It follows the boundary of the grand estate of Milner Field, which I've written about before: the huge mansion built by Titus Salt Junior around 1870 and now ruined and almost forgotten. See HERE.

At the 'birdcage gate' (see HERE) I followed the old pathway up towards Gilstead and then, on a whim, I decided to follow a path branching off to the left, noted as Sparable Lane. I've never tried this one before. 

I'm always fascinated by these ancient thoroughfares, dating back to the time before vehicular traffic led to our network of roads. When people walked or used horses, these paths connected village to village, farm and mill to market. A little research suggests that Sparable Lane existed before Titus Jnr built his grand house: 

"An article in the Leeds Mercury of 2nd November 1869 comments about the picturesque old hedges being removed and these quaint landmarks which rendered the district so rurally interesting being replaced by stone walls which ran through the meadows and up the hillsides. This is a direct reference to the new Milner Field being built by Titus Salt Jr. Also mentioned is a pathway to Gilstead which formerly opened onto the moor (referred to as "an odious snicket") being built between high walls. This is a direct reference to the adaptation of Sparable Lane as one of the natural boundaries to Milner Field Estate. The field walls and boundary walls to the Estate still exist, as do the kitchen garden walls." (From a Bingley Town Council document)

A stream had evidently been diverted into a culvert, maybe to supply the lake in the house's grounds. 

The 'odious snicket' wound its way between its walls along the Milner Field boundary. Parts of the path were quite hard going for me, as it was steep and uneven.  Recent wet weather had led to it being rather more of a stream than a path in parts.

This area, now fields, would have been the edge of the moor, looking towards the trees that line the steep sides of Shipley Glen. 

The route skirted the remains of what was Milner Field's kitchen garden (below), where vegetables for the house would have been grown. The Garden House is still here somewhere, hidden away behind walls but still used as a residence, I think. 

Eventually and rather abruptly I found myself at the end of Sparable Lane, where it joins the top of Primrose Lane. There is no pavement there so a car shot past my nose just as I got to the road. Luckily I'd paused, rather than stepping out into its path!

From there it is only a few hundred yards down the hill to the driveway to the Milner Field estate itself, where the very solid Victorian Gothic gatehouse, one of two remaining lodges, still stands. 

Then a pleasant if muddy saunter downhill brought me back to the Upper Coach Road. Almost 10000 steps and a new walking route discovered.