Highroad Well Blog

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Highroad Well, Halifax — Old Packhorse Routes, West View Park and the Golden Lion

Highroad Well lies on the western side of Halifax, towards Warley, where older routes across the Pennine hills met the expanding town. Its history is closely linked to travel. Before modern roads, a packhorse route towards Lancashire passed through the area, carrying goods across the hills. The name was formerly recorded as Harewood Well, also rendered locally as “Harrod Well”. A later road name is thought to have developed from this earlier form, although the precise evolution of the name should be treated cautiously.

One of Highroad Well’s best-known landmarks is West View Park, created from a former quarry on Highroad Well Moor. Local businessmen Henry Charles McCrea and Enoch Robinson supported the scheme in the 1890s, helping turn the disused site into a public park. Historic records date its opening to 1896, although Calderdale Libraries gives 1897. The park’s Boer War memorial was unveiled in 1904 to commemorate 73 soldiers who died in the South African War. A balustrade that once stood at Halifax Town Hall was later installed around the memorial.

The district also developed around roadside inns, local industry and housing. The Golden Lion became a prominent landmark, while foundry and machine-tool works were recorded around Sandhall Lane and Gibbet Street in the early 20th century. These industries reflect the wider pattern of small-scale manufacturing that grew around Halifax as the town expanded beyond its older centre.

Today, Highroad Well combines residential streets with open spaces and views across Calderdale. West View Park remains a tangible link with the area’s late Victorian development, while old maps, photographs and surviving landmarks help trace the changes from a hillside route used by travellers to a settled urban neighbourhood.

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