284 Saturday 13th September 2025 Wainhouse Tower

October 12, 2025

This one was a genuine hangover from the "Classic" LTS period. I always wanted to go inside Wainhouse Tower or at least do the history trail around it but we never got round to it in the old days, This was brought home by the surprise discovery of our draft trips programme for 1979 within the pages of the history trail booklet when I dug it out ( although ironically Wainhouse Tower was not on that programme).

As the climb up the Tower had to be pre-booked, we left plenty of time to get there . We drove to Halifax and parked up nearby.

We were just over an hour early so after checking the exact route from the car to the Tower, we started doing the history trail. Simon had some misgivings as it was spitting but it stayed fairly dry.

The text in the trail being around 50 years old didn't make it that easy to follow but we were able to find some of the features. This is the view towards Sowerby Bridge from The Balcony.

The Balcony is one of a number of other surviving architectural features bearting the imprint of Joseph Wainhouse though it could be better kept.

Note the stone plaque displaying Wainhouse's initials

We didn't have time to complete the full trail before it was time to head for the Tower. There's a small public park around the base.

It's very impressive looking up from the base.

The Tower is unique in having impressive stonework masking a tall but otherwise run of the mill brick chimney with a spiral stone staircase in between. Despite the obligatory H & S warnings from the tour staff, there are no real hazards; it's much safer than your average castle. The main challenge is the height and consequent number of steps.

Eventually, we reached the viewing balcony ( not quite the top) with relief. It was now raining and windy with it but the higher part of the tower did offer some limited shelter.

The ornamental flourishes are not uniform.

The view is circumscribed by the viewing platform not being as high as the hills that ring Halifax but there are good birds eye views of the surrounding area. Here's the Calder Valley and North Dean Woods.