Best walks from Denby Dale

Penistone Station to Denby Dale Station

The longest section of the trail goes through the hidden and beautiful Gunthwaite valley to the village of Denby Dale. Leaving Penistone station, where the first 1850 train famously stalled in Thurstonland Tunnel, the route follows Wentworth Crescent and Water Hall Lane, with a possible short diversion over a packhorse bridge to Watermeadows Park for a view of the impressive 29-arch Penistone Viaduct. It crosses the railway and the busy Halifax Road, then takes Acre Lane and bridleways down to Gunthwaite Bridge and along Carr Lane beside Gunthwaite dam. The settlement of Gunthwaite can be traced back over 1,000 years and is home to Gunthwaite Hall's 16th-century Grade I listed close-studded cruck barn, still in agricultural use. The walk climbs towards Upper Denby with the Emley Moor mast, the tallest freestanding structure in the UK, on the skyline, then descends into Denby Dale, the 'Pie Village' famous for baking giant pies since 1788, with its mills, chimneys and viaducts. The route passes beneath the Denby Dale Viaduct before climbing to the station platform.

10km.

Steps onto Acre Lane can be overgrown.

Highlights: Gunthwaite Hall barn (A 16th-century Grade I listed close-studded cruck tithe barn still in agricultural use today) and Denby Dale Viaduct (A 21-arch stone railway viaduct opened in 1880, built alongside an earlier timber viaduct of cobweb appearance).

Documented by Penistone Line Trail / Penistone Line Partnership.

Denby Dale Station to Shepley Station

Because the railway crosses the ridge ahead through Cumberworth Tunnel, this section goes over the top via Upper Cumberworth, rewarding the walker with fine views. Leaving Denby Dale station, where mosaics by local schoolchildren and artist Zoe Stainton decorate the former goods warehouse, the route crosses the railway and follows field paths, looking back to the 21-arch Denby Dale Viaduct of 1880 and ahead to Upper Cumberworth Church. It climbs to St Nicholas' Church, Upper Cumberworth, which dates back to 1299 and contains stained glass by William Morris and Co, with the Star Inn and village store nearby. The walk then descends through Balk Lane and several fields into a wood, where the extensive view takes in, from left to right, Thurstonland Church, Castle Hill, the Shelley Park housing estate and the Emley Moor mast. A walled bridle path forming part of the Kirklees Way leads to The Knowle on the outskirts of Shepley, before the route drops under the railway and follows Station Lane to Shepley station.

4km.

Highlights: Denby Dale Viaduct (A 21-arch stone railway viaduct opened in 1880, built alongside an earlier timber viaduct of cobweb appearance).

Documented by Penistone Line Trail / Penistone Line Partnership.