Wainhouse Heritage Archives - Dyers Cottage Yorkshire - Holiday Cottage Halifax

Easter Monday climb up Wainhouse Tower Halifax April 21 2025

The amazing volunteers of Wainhouse Tower are opening the door to enable you to climb the tallest folly in the world. At 84m or 253 feet, this is an octagonal brick chimney surrounded by a local stone case over 60cm thick. The base is square. Inside a series of loopholes allow light into the circular staircase of nearly 400 steps leading to a viewing platform of intricate design.

Ascents are at 10am,11am, 1pm, 2pm and 3pm.

Thanks to Peter Davies allowing us to use the photo he took on a clear April day 2025 which shows Dyer’s Holiday Cottage Halifax centre left on this photo. Find the red cars at the top of Gainest and we are immediately to the left on the other side of the wooded hillside. The Wainhouse Tavern, formerly West Air, the home of JE Wainhouse is just above us and across the road, the former Wesleyan Sunday School, now apartments, is towards the left corner. In the distance are the beautiful hills of the South Pennines.

From the top you will have the chance of experiencing fantastic views in all directions, stretching to Kebroyd in the Ryburn Valley, Langfield Moor near Todmorden, Castle Hill near Huddersfield and even Blackstone Edge in Lancashire. Of course the best view is towards Pye Nest and Sowerby Bridge because we are easily visible diagonally opposite from the old Wesleyan Sunday School building with its high roof.

Tickets are on sale at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/visit-calderdale-29603793049

The volunteers are planning to open the door regularly throughout the spring and summer so if you have a head for heights, good knees and plenty of energy, do take up this opportunity.

For more amazing images taken by drone, do buy Philip Fearnley’s book Calderdale from the Air. Our guests at Dyer’s Holiday Cottage can see it on the coffee table.

Dyer’s Holiday Cottage Halifax and our links to the Wainhouse family

Tags: Wainhouse, Wainhouse Heritage, Washer Lane Dyeworks

The earliest knowledge we have is in our property deeds and these mention that the properties now known as 48, 64, 66, 68 and 70 Upper Washer Lane were owned in the 19th century by a Miss Wainhouse. It is possible that she was a sister of Robert Wainhouse 1773-1856 who built the Washer Lane Dying and Finishing Company, later known as the Washer Lane Dyeworks. He was also a local JP. He married Hannah Emmett on June 2 1795 but they had no children. However, on his mother’s death in 1829, his nephew John Edward Wainhouse 1817-1883 went to live with the couple at their home Sapling Grove on Masters Lane. Probate records show Robert Wainhouse left a valuable estate of £45,000 and John Edward inherited most of this along with the business.

The 1841 census shows that the property, identified as top of Washer Lane, was occupied by several members of the Kenyon family, notably John Kennion 1777-1848 who was a Master Dyer and family lore tells us that the cottages were available to the Master Dyers to rent in recognition of their skill and loyalty to the Wainhouse family. Without doubt, John Edward Wainhouse owned the building in 1878, but probably much earlier, as he created or altered a water source in what is now our garden wall with his initials inscribed above it. The previous year he had moved into his newly built mansion, West Air, to the left of our building, where he lived until his death. The site was chosen as it was next to the land of his rival, Sir Henry Edwards The house was designed by Richard Swarbrick Dugdale, the same architect who designed the upper sections of Wainhouse Tower and the house exhibits the same eccentricities as many of his other building projects locally. All the stone was from a local quarry but the roof is slate. West Air is a very interesting building, now Grade11 listed by English Heritage. All the windows have different styles, none of the bay windows match and there are small windows in the chimney breast. There are also a number of cryptic Latin inscriptions referring to aspects of his life such as ‘Spare the lowly and make war upon the proud’ which probably is a link to his feud with Edwards.

Although John Edward Wainhouse did work in the dyeworks before he inherited it, he subsequently left the day to day management of it to Henry Mossman, who leased the building from Wainhouse in 1870 and then bought it in 1873. Wainhouse was much more involved in his property empire, parts of which remain although many are in ruins. There is a heritage walk called The Wainhouse Trail, which provides a fascinating walk around his legacy and a copy of the booklet is available for our guests to borrow at Dyer’s Holiday Cottage.

Washer Lane Dyeworks was demolished many years ago but West Air can be visited as it has been a local pub for many years. Originally called The Royal when it was owned by Thwaites Brewery, since 2014 it has been a freehouse now known appropriately as The Wainhouse Tavern. It has won many real ale awards and is also known locally for the quality of its good value, home cooked Yorkshire fayre.

John Edward Wainhouse never married and so after his death, his substantial property estate was auctioned. James Kenyon 1843-1915 acquired 13 of the cottages to the right of West Air, including 66, the cottage where he had been born, and his brother in law Richard Dearden Ward acquired the land behind. Richard Dearden Ward was also involved in the dyeworks working with Mossmann and his final home was coincidentally Sapling Grove, the former home of Robert Wainhouse.

The Washer Lane Dying and Finishing Company, later known as Washer Lane Dyeworks Halifax Yorkshire is below and the featured image shows The Wainhouse Tavern formerly West Air to the left, then the old farmhouse of which Dyer’s Holiday Cottage forms a part with Upper Washer Lane and Wainhouse Tower to the right.