Castle Carr

Standing above Luddenden Dean – beyond Booth, above the Calder Valley. It was built for Captain Joseph Priestly Edwards. Construction began on the mock Tudor / Norman castle in 1859, though it took 8 years to compete. The architect was Thomas Risley.

Described as a mock medieval castle located north of Halifax and Hebden Bridge, and was one of many extravagant homes built by wealthy mill owners in the Victorian era.Eventually the estate was sold for the water rights and the castle became derelict, being used for munitions storage during the Second World War. It was demolished in 1962 and the original stonework now litters the ground today.

<img src="Castle Carr ruins.jpeg" alt=" a mock medieval castle located north of Halifax and Hebden Bridge">

<img src="Castle Carr ruins.jpeg" alt= forty foot above the tower">

<img src="Castle Carr ruins.jpeg" alt= part of the wall">

<img src="Castle Carr ruins.jpeg" alt="Castle Carr light begins to fade">

<img src="Castle Carr ruins.jpeg" alt="Side door to 'castle'">

<img src="Castle Carr ruins.jpeg" alt="part of the main entrance">

<img src="Castle Carr ruins.jpeg" alt="side of the main building">

<img src="Castle Carr ruins.jpeg" alt="castle carr, arches to storeroom">

<img src="Castle Carr ruins.jpeg" alt="Light fades nr storeroom, that were used in ww2">

<img src="Castle Carr ruins.jpeg" alt="inside the tower">

<img src="Castle Carr ruins.jpeg" alt="stone emblem for Yorkshire water?">

<img src="Castle Carr ruins.jpeg" alt="castle carr ruins near halifax west yorkshire, stone steps to tower">

<img src="Castle Carr ruins.jpeg" alt="Inside the storeroom">

<img src="Castle Carr ruins.jpeg" alt="castle carr ruins near halifax These were used as storing munitions during ww2">

The water features..

a place of interest in the UK

The principal attraction is the magnificent fountain in the ornamental water gardens, developed in the grounds of Castle Carr during the early 1870s. Funded by Halifax Water Corporation as compensation for building the nearby reservoirs, the water garden was designed by Halifax architect John Hogg, who also contributed to the design of the Castle Carr mansion.

The single jet fountain is in the centre of a circular pool, known as the Compensation Basin, surrounded by rhododendrons and woods. Gravity fed with over 60 metres of fall from a huge tank above Deep Clough Farm, the force of the water is so powerful that the fountain can reach heights of over 100ft, second only to the fountain at Chatsworth in Derbyshire.

Originally there were four other fountains at the corners of the pool, but these no longer function as the cast iron pipes that supplied them with water were damaged by flooding in 1989.

<img src="Castle Carr ruins.jpeg" alt="one image of the waterfall">

<img src="Castle Carr ruins.jpeg" alt="castle carr , water structures">

<img src="Castle Carr ruins.jpeg" alt="Ornate, but functional">

<img src="Castle Carr ruins.jpeg" alt="castle carr waterfall,tunnel to reservoir">

<img src="Castle Carr ruins.jpeg" alt="view point over drain">

<img src="Castle Carr ruins.jpeg" alt="Steps across the waterfall">

<img src="Castle Carr ruins.jpeg" alt="mini lake near structures">

<img src="Castle Carr ruins.jpeg" alt="stone steps, that is part of the waterfall">

Local archaeologist Michael R Haigh documented the possible existence of three Bronze Age barrows located close to Castle Carr, highlighted in an illustration from 1841.The picture shows a number of mounds dispersed over the valley bottom, features that seem to have been all but destroyed when the Upper and Lower Dean Head reservoirs were constructed. Unfortunately, there are no current records of these structures.