SD9829 : Path alongside a water channel, Wadsworth
taken 8 years ago, near to Pecket Well, Calderdale, England
There is a string of millponds along the eastern hillside of Crimsworth Dean, above the stream where it is called Bridge Clough. These intercept streams coming down through Purprise Wood and Middle Dean Wood. They were built in 1860-1 to increase the supply of water to Midgehole Dyeworks (captioned Crimsworth Dyeworks on the 1:2500 map of c.1893). The works had been converted from Upper Midgehole Mill (cotton) during the 'Cotton Panic', a depression in the textile industry caused by overproduction and by import restrictions due to the American Civil War. (Information from 'From Fulling to Fustionopolis' website) The dyeworks survived until 2009. The uppermost millpond (they are also called water lodges) was on the other side of the stream, with outflow crossing the stream on an aqueduct bridge (not the one thus captioned on the current 'Explorer' map). There are also some weirs on the stream, but I don't know whether they also supplied water to the dyeworks, or perhaps to the Lower Midgehole cotton mill. A voluntary organisation called 'Slow the Flow, Calderdale', who are investigating ways to reduce the risk of flooding in the Calder Valley, considered recommending that the ponds be restored to store rainfall runoff, but I think that they probably found that the work would cost too much.