Coal Dike, Midgley

Wednesday 10th April

Ian S and Neil D returned to work on the fine path above Midgley that leads from Chapel Row up to the moors.  We planned to complete - for the time being! - some revetment and path widening work along a stretch of the path just above Coal Dike.

                                            Ian at work installing Revetment No.1 above Coal Dike.

Interestingly, a local resident we met out walking her dog told us that Coal Dike itself was once part of the former carriage road between Haworth and the Calder Valley.  Presumably it offered some sort of bypass over Midgley Moor that avoided the 18th & 19th century traffic jams in Hebden Bridge!  It must have been much better surfaced in those horse-drawn days, or it would've been a very bumpy ride...

 

Preparing the ground for the 3rd stob needed to hold the revetment in place

on the steep-sided bank above Coal Dike.

As the rain began to fall more heavily, we finished our task by measuring up for a stretch of boardwalk which will be required over a particularly damp stretch further up the path.  If funds allow, we hope to return to complete the job in a few weeks' time.

                The final length of revetment required some tricky joinery skills to get the angles correct!