What is this hidden memorial?

[Almondine]

WOW That's fantastic!

 

You really did go to some bother to find all that out!

 

Can't thank you enough. My curiosity is now satisfied.

[purdyamos]

Is that an original Saxon labrador in the photo, or a replica?

[retep]

Three cheers for Gerald Parker, Gone home was brilliant.

[Gedparker]

the land is owned by dunford p c and as said this the maythorn cross

[Plain Talker]

Is that an original Saxon labrador in the photo, or a replica?

 

if it's a labrador, it'll be a genu-wyne norse one, surely, seeing as the Vikings are reputed to have discovered America, landing somewhere near Newfoundland/ Labrador?

:hihi:

[bodger]

Just read about the Cross, from 1937 to 1952, i lived at Victoria and cannot recall the cross from those days, and i roamed the area well, looking at the map and the reference arrow, what i recall from my time was on the Ingbirchworth side of Whitley Rd. across the road from the location was a US army outpost built into a large earth mound, the soldiers were posted there to guard the bombs that were stored along the side of the roads, it was there i tasted my first instant coffee & American candy, courtesy of the soldiers

[squeezy]

Wow, you lot are incredible, this is why i love SF, no arguing, bickering or sarcasm, genuinely interesting people, thanks for a very interesting read. x

[bobl]

Just read about the Cross, from 1937 to 1952, i lived at Victoria .... and i roamed the area well,

 

On the off chance bodger reads this (or anyone with knowledge of the area) ~

Not far from the Maythorne Cross’s resting place, on the hillside that overlooks Jackson Bridge, is an area referred to by locals as "Tinkers Monument" (sometimes referred to as Tinker’s Tower). The area in question lies adjacent to a crossroads that connects Intake Lane, Cheese Gate Nab Side, Windmill Lane and Dick Edge Lane. There are no public rights of way across the area itself.

Whilst there are numerous google references, NOBODY seems to know anything about the monument itself - what it looked like, whether it still exists, and most of all - what it was created to commemorate!

A friend recently showed me a (Bamforths) post card c.1930, entitled "Tinkers Monument", but the picture seems to be of a row of farm cottages, albeit with a turret at one end, but still not one would expect of a "monument"?

I would really like to dig out the full story of Tinker's Monument and would be gratefull for any pieces of the jigsaw anyone can offer.

 

PS Going back to Maythorne - Kirklees' spoils from the deal are now somewhat ignominiously dumped by a footbridge over the river Holme that connects the Co-op car park to Holmfirth centre. It hardly seems it was worth all the effort and ill feeling!

[melthebell]

no arguing, bickering or sarcasm, genuinely interesting people,

 

you obviously aint been in the right threads

[wilde-as]

Re: Tinker's Monument

According to the landowner, who I spoke with recently, "Tinker’s Tower" was blown down by strong wind in around 1949 and only the foundations of the tower remain. The tower was situated near Hill Top at the junction of Cheese Gate Nab Side, Dick Edge Lane and Windmill Lane. It was used as a viewing platform for the fee paying public, which was charged a penny per person. The tower was used as a trig point by Ordnance Survey after the Second World War and was marked on maps of that era.

 

The field where Tinker’s Tower once stood is privately owned with no public right of access and the land is currently used to graze cattle. The tower was originally enclosed within a small strip of land running N to S and surrounded by a high dry stone wall and entrance arch. Part of the dry stone wall remains and is visible from the road junction. The tower was positioned at the highest suitable point on the hill and commanded panoramic views from Holme Moss to Huddersfield to the West and Barnsley to the East.

 

The landowner did not say when the tower was built, who built it, or whether it was built specifically as a viewing platform for fee paying visitors. According to an unsubstantiated claim on Wikipedia, “During the early 19th century, the Tinker family lived at Shepley Carr, and was responsible for building Tinker's Monument near Hill Top above New Mill”. Presumably the labels Monument and Tower have been used refer to the same structure, although Monument may now refer to the high plateau as a whole.

 

According to a local history publication on the Holme area, consulted at Holmfirth library, the nearby Meal Hill House, a ‘pleasant small country house’ was ‘for 200 years or more the seat of Uriah Tinker and his descendants’, a ‘dynasty of small time coal owners who reigned at Meal Hill until the death of Major B. Tinker…’. The Holy Trinity church in Hepworth contains several references to the Tinker family which was a major church benefactor in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

 

There is a Tinker’s Hill not far to the south off the Flight Hill road and next to Harden Edge. It is not clear whether this area is linked to Tinker’s Monument further north in some way, but likely.

 

The landowner has considered rebuilding Tinker’s Tower for visitors “if he wins the lottery” as a project.