Shepley - Shepley Carr

Shepley Carr

Before the Barnsley and Shepley Lane Head Turnpike was built, this small hamlet was situated on the packhorse route from Penistone to Huddersfield. Merchants would travel from Penistone, through Thurlstone, along Broadstones Road and Dearne Dike Lane to Five Lane Ends, down Piper Wells Road, Cross Lane and Carr Lane, before turning down the long drive into Shepley Carr. The route would then follow the fields (before they were enclosed), past the Shepley War Memorial, and into the village. The travellers would then head out towards Stocksmoor and Farnley Tyas through Stones Wood (where Devil worship once took place). Some old locals tell stories of a ghostly coach and fours furiously speeding down the long drive on wintry nights before vanishing at the hamlet. The present house at Shepley Carr is the third building on this site and dates from the 1860s, replacing one that burnt down.

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. Deeds held at the West Yorkshire Archive Centre in Wakefield suggest that the original house at Shepley Carr dates from the 16th century and was owned by the Armytage Family of Kirklees Hall. Locals believe that Oliver Cromwell marched his army through Shepley Carr during the English Civil War 1642-1649. Roundheads, as the soldiers were known, were probably in Kirkburton, and at Catlin or Catling (now Cat Hill) Hall near Penistone, the latter having a holding post in the cellars upon which royalist prisoners were chained (see the ghost story concerning Catling Hall. Inside the parish church at Upper Cumberworth, there is a chair that Oliver Cromwell is reputed to have sat in.