History of the Huddersfield Water Supplies
By T. W. Woodhead

CHAPTER I - GEOLOGY, TOPOGRAPHY AND RAINFALL

From early times sites for human settlements have been determined by the presence of a suitable water supply and this in turn is directly related to the geology, topography and climate of the neighbourhood. It is one of the objects of this handbook to show what an important part the water supply has played in the growth and development of Huddersfield.

The district of which Huddersfield is the natural centre lies among the foothills of the Pennines at the junction of the River Colne and its tributaries, the Holme and the Fenay Beck. The geology of the area has been described by many writers, and among the works most useful to consult for fuller details are the Geology of Yorkshire, by Kendall and Wroot; and three memoirs published by the Geological Survey, viz : The Country Around Huddersfield and Halifax, 1930; Holmfirth and Glossop, 1933; and The Pennines and Adjacent Areas, 1936; the latter by Dr. D.A. Wray. In this memoir by Dr. Wray he points out that geologically the Pennine uplands fall readily into three well marked divisions:-

1. Northern Pennines : that part extended from Stainmoor Pass to the Craven district consists in the main of Carboniferous Limestone.
2. Central Pennines : embracing the high moors between Skipton and the Peak, are largely formed of sandstones and shales belonging to the Millstone Grits.
3. Southern Pennines or Derbyshire Hills : consist almost wholly of Carboniferous Limestone.

Figure 1. Millstone Grit Landscape

In each of these three belts or zones are distinctive types of moorland directly dependent on the types of rock of which they are composed.

The Central Pennines, in which our district lies, is formed entirely of sedimentary rocks of Carboniferous Age. The beds of rock of which it is composed were originally in horizontal, superimposed layers, but have since been displaced by an enormous uplift formerly described as an anticline but now shown to be a broad monocline about seventy miles long, which runs west-north-west and south-south-east, the beds having a gradual dip to the east and a steep dip on the west, the western margin being defined by a series of great fractures or faults. Hence the highest part of the uplands is the western scarp overlooking the Lancashire plain. The maximum elevation of the Central Pennines is at the Peak of Derbyshire; from there it sags towards Holmfirth, then rises again towards Skipton.

This uplift was followed by prolonged weathering and denudation resulting in the newer beds being completely removed from the summit plateau, leaving the denuded edges exposed at lower levels and whose individual beds correspond on the east and west of the axis. The effect of the difference of dip in the two sides of the axis is strikingly shown by comparing the relative widths of outcrop of corresponding beds. As Dr. Wray points out, “the base of the Coal Measures is about one mile to the west of Blackstone Edge, while on the eastern side of the axis the total width of outcrop of the corresponding measures up to the base of the Coal Measures is at least eight miles.” The area of special interest to us is confined to that part of the easterly dip slope extending in a semicircle from Buckstones in the north-west to Stanedge, thence to Black Hill, Hepworth, Fulstone, Shelley, Lepton, Whitley and Kirkheaton in the south-east. The streams draining this area from the tributaries of the Colne and this in turn joins the Calder at Cooper Bridge to the north-east of Huddersfield.

All the beds of rock in this area belong to the Upper Carboniferous formations – the Millstone Grits and the Lower Coal Measures. In addition to these solid formations are superficial deposits. Their sequence is shown in the borehole at Bankfield Mills, Moldgreen.

As pointed out by Dr, Wray, nothing whatever is known directly of the nature of any rocks older than the Upper Sabden Shales, and these are recorded at Crimsworth Dean in the north, in Edale in the South, and near Greenfield in the west, all beyond our catchment area. Our deepest borings (Messrs. W.T. Johnson and Sons, of Moldgreen, Messrs. Blamires, Limited, and the Rastrick borehole of the Brighouse Corporation) do not go below the Lower Kinderscout Grits.

The Pennine Plateau in this district, if formed of the Millstone Grits, and several of our moorland streams, feeders of local reservoirs, cut down to the Kinderscout Grits, e.g., those in Wessenden, Ramsden Clough, and Marsden Clough; the latter stream, a feeder of the Bilberry Reservoir, is crossed by a natural bridge of Kinderscout Grit (See Figure 2 right). Good sections are exposed on the sides of the deep cloughs showing alternating beds of sandstone occur fireclay with thin seams of coal. These picturesque cloughs with their rugged, rocky edges and steep slopes are strewn with tumbled blocks of grit.

Owing to the dip of the beds on the eastern slope, the grits tend to creep over the more readily denuded shales beneath and extensive landslips have occurred, as at March Hill (See Figure 3 below), West Nab, Deanhead Valley, near Scammonden, the eastern slope of Wholestone Moor, and in the lower Holme Valley, east of Beaumont Park.

The most conspicuous and uniform of the millstone grits is the Rough Rock, the uppermost of the series. It dominates the landscape to the west and south-west of Huddersfield, forming the sandy plateaux of Crosland Moor, Netherton Moor and Honley Moor (See Figure 1 above). The Rough Rock is extensively quarried at Crosland Moor and provides Huddersfield with much good building stone.

Each bed of sandstone forms a long dip slope falling gently to the east, but westwards forms an abrupt escarpment or "edge," as at Longwood Edge, Crosland Edge, Edge Moor, and Royd Edge. Although the beds have a fairly uniform dip, those from Brow Grains to Honley, a distance of about five miles, show a broad, shallow syncline, the axis of which follows the valley of the Meltham Brook. This flexure is well seen on the sky-line from West Nab to Shooters Nab (See Figure 1 above). The Rough Rock plateau reaches its greatest altitude at West Nab, 1,641 ft. O.D., where huge blocks of grit are spread over the summit, whose curious shapes testify to prolonged weathering.

The grits cross the River Holme then disappear under the Lower Coal Measures, the latter forming the bold escarpment on which Castle Hill with its tower is a prominent land-mark.

Like the Millstone Grits, the Coal Measures, as shown in the boring, page 87, consist of alternating beds of sandstone, shale and mudstone, with beds of fireclay and coal. The coal seams become relatively thicker and more important as we pass from the Lower to the Middle Coal Measures, and to the east of the town the area is studded with colliery villages, e.g., Lepton, Whitely, Hopton, Thornhill, Flockton and Emley. Borings in the Coal Measure area show that the Rough Rock is continuous beneath, and for ten miles or more it has a uniform dip of approximately one in twenty-five or an angle from two-and-a-half to three degrees.

Figure 4. Lower Coal Measure Landscape. Step-Like Terraces On Slope

The Coal Measures, though similar in structure to the Millstone Grits, form scenic features in marked contrast to those of the Rough Rock. The great preponderance of shales over sandstones in the Coal Measure area results in a more even surface of the undulating hills, but where the sandstones crop out they give a step-like character to the hillsides (See Figure 4 above). In the foreground is the Rough Rock, passing beneath the Lower Coal Measure escarpment, with Castle Hill, Almondbury, on the right, with step-like terraces on the slope.

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