An Exploration of Heath - Part 1

 

A view of Heath Common

After a very full day out to Whitwell and Steetley, where I had encountered some interesting Permian and Quaternary geology and historic architecture and fine examples of Norman architectural detailing at St. Lawrence’s church and All Saints chapel, my next adventure coincided with the first day of the 2023 Heritage Open Days festival. 

 

Heritage Open Days

Since first attending this event in 2016, when I visited the nearby mediaeval churches in Aston and Handsworth, I have made the effort visit at least one church every year by public transport - with Barwick-in-Elmet, Scarcliffe, Methley and Ault Hucknall included in these – and I have also organised an event for St. Helen’s church in Treeton. 

 

Heath as seen on the 1:25,000 scale Ordnance Survey map

The Grade II* Listed Church of St. Peter the Apostle, in Kirkthorpe near Wakefield, announced that it would be open for several days during the festival, so I made plans to visit this together with Heath – an extraordinary village set in the registered Heath Common that was described by Pevsner as a surprise, but surprisingly little seems to have been written about it. 

 

Listed buildings in Warmfield-cum-Heath

During my preparatory research, I was very interested to see that the majority of the 57 listed buildings located in the parish of Warmfield-cum-Heath are located here and, although my British Listed Buildings Photo Challenge showed that most of these had already been photographed, a search for those that were outstanding provided a good reason to explore Heath. 

 

 A British Listed Buildings Photo Challenge for Heath

 

Alighting from one of the buses that stop at Heath Farm on Black Road, the first building on my list was the Grade II Listed pair of early C18 cottages that comprise Nos. 1 and 2 Horse Race End, which are built with sandstone and with No. 2 having had its original stone slate roof replaced with red pantiles - a roofing material that is usually associated with the Magnesian Limestone.

 

Nos. 1 and 2 Horse Race End

The 1854 edition of the Ordnance Survey (OS) map shows quite a substantial quarry on the common, which is marked on the Building Stones Database for England Map Explorer as 

being located on the Oaks Rock from the Pennine Middle Coal Measures Formation. 

 

A geological map of Heath showing quarries

 

I just took a few quick snaps without crossing over the road and then headed off towards Heath along one of the paths that cross Heath Common, which has never been enclosed and still has many horses freely grazing on it, albeit restrained by long tethers. 

 

A panoramic view of Heath Common

 

When quickly walking across the common, I didn’t notice anything that made me think that it was anything other than heath land, but it was apparently once used as a golf course and the parish council website mentions that it was used as a landfill site. 

 

A map of the Heath Conservation Area

 

Continuing along the track towards the centre of the village, I entered Heath Conservation Area where several buildings, which are not listed, were all built along the edge of the common before the 1854 OS map was published. 

 

Views of a few buildings in Heath that are not listed

The original use of Heath Common for grazing animals becomes apparent in the form of the mid to late C18 Grade II Listed ha-ha, a ditch and retaining wall that is designed to keep straying animals out of the garden of a house without restricting views of the landscape beyond. 

 

The ha-ha at Beech Lawn

In this instance, the ha-ha prevented livestock from entering the garden of  the Grade II Listed Beech Lawn, a large early-mid C18 house, with additions and alterations dating to c.1770, the early C19 and the early 20, which is built in hammer dressed sandstone. 

 

Beech Lawn