Orchard

Blackmoorfoot Reservoir

Blackmoorfoot · 1.9 miles

Located on the moorland four miles (6.4 km) south-west of Huddersfield, Blackmoorfoot Reservoir supplies drinking water to the surrounding district. The water body sits at 253 metres above sea level, covers roughly 38 hectares and holds just under three million cubic metres. Catchwaters cut into the neighbouring moor feed the reservoir, which was authorised by the Huddersfield Water Act 1869 and constructed during the 1870s. Ownership and management now rest with Yorkshire Water. The scheme involved two earth embankments – a longer north dam measuring about 780 metres and a shorter south dam of 460 metres – both built around a puddle-clay core sourced from the nearby ground. Initial flooding began in November 1874 and the reservoir first overflowed on 20 December 1876. A water-treatment plant was added in 1989 and the site is designated a drinking-water protected area. Ornithologists have recorded more than 200 bird species since 1956, including occasional visitors such as a pomarine skua and a terek sandpiper. Continuous rainfall monitoring has been in place since 1873, providing the longest record for the Ouse catchment. Yorkshire Water promotes a public footpath that follows the eastern shoreline, giving walkers direct access to the reservoir’s perimeter. No admission fee is mentioned, and the path is the principal facility for visitors.

Butterley Reservoir

Netherley · 2.5 miles

Butterley Reservoir is a reservoir located near Marsden, West Yorkshire, near the Peak District National Park boundary. It was completed in 1906. The reservoir is known for its long stepped spillway, which is grade II listed.

Ryburn Reservoir

Rishworth · 4.3 miles

Ryburn Reservoir is a supply reservoir operated by Yorkshire Water close to Ripponden in the Yorkshire Pennines, England. It lies in the valley of the River Ryburn and is the lower of two reservoirs built in the valley to supply Wakefield with water and was completed in 1933. The upper reservoir is Baitings Reservoir.

Rigodunum Roman Fort

Castleshaw · 5 miles

The remains of a Roman castellum sit on Castle Hill at the eastern edge of the Castleshaw Valley, overlooking the landscape below Standedge in Greater Manchester. The archaeological site, recorded as the Rigodunum Roman Fort on OpenStreetMap, lies on a step of Grindslow shale and commands clear views along the Deva Victrix (Chester) to Eboracum (York) Roman road that once crossed the Pennines at this pass. From the fort the valley can be seen in both directions, although higher ground surrounds the position. Constructed of turf and timber around AD 79, the original fort housed roughly 500 auxiliary soldiers before being slighted in the mid-90s. A smaller fortlet replaced it circa AD 105, later expanded with gates, a granary, an oven, a hypocaust and a courtyard building, supporting a garrison of fewer than 100 men. In the early 2nd century a civilian settlement (vicus) developed around the fortlet, likely serving the logistical needs of the nearby garrison. Both the fort, the later fortlet and the surrounding settlement are protected as a scheduled monument, reflecting their national archaeological importance. The site has been examined since the 18th century, with early plans drawn by antiquarian Thomas Percival and later trenching by local investigators, though the remains have never been fully excavated due to their protected status.

Baitings Reservoir

Rishworth · 5 miles

Baitings Reservoir is a large water supply reservoir operated by Yorkshire Water close to Ripponden in the West Yorkshire Pennines, England. It lies in the valley of the River Ryburn, is the higher of two reservoirs built to supply Wakefield with water and was completed in 1956. The lower reservoir is Ryburn Reservoir.

Tolson Museum

Moldgreen · 6.2 miles

Set within Ravensknowle Park on Wakefield Road, the former Victorian mansion known as Ravensknowle Hall now houses the Tolson Museum. The building, erected in the late 1850s for textile magnate John Beaumont and designed by London architect Richard Tress, stands in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, close to the settlement of Moldgreen. The museum is operated by Kirklees Council, offers free entry and provides limited wheelchair access; opening hours are listed on the museum’s public timetable. The hall was bequeathed to Huddersfield Corporation in 1919 by Legh Tolson as a memorial to his two nephews who fell in the First World War. Formal inauguration took place on 27 May 1922, initially presenting a natural-history collection of rocks, fossils and stuffed birds. A 1980s refurbishment redirected the focus toward the region’s industrial heritage, adding displays of local archaeology, weaving machinery and textiles. Visitors can explore a reconstructed Victorian schoolroom and a transport exhibition occupying a rear extension, which includes road-building techniques and examples of horsedrawn and motor vehicles. Among the cars on view are the three-wheeled LSD, once produced locally between 1919 and 1924, and a Valveless model recovered from South Africa. The museum also incorporates the Grade II-listed remnants of a hypocaust from Slack Roman Fort, reassembled within the park grounds.