kaye lane level crossing

[chris88]

My great great grandfather was crossing keeper at Kaye Lane GNR crossing way back in the 1870s. I am trying to locate and think it will be in the Ossett area. Does anyone know where this location is please. An OS grid reference would be helpful.thsnk you. Chris Robinson

[PinzaC55]

If you put "Kaye Lane" into Google Earth it is slightly north west of a village called Almondbury near Huddersfield. There looks to be a disused railway south of the lane itself.

[Dave S]

The GNR society is actively seeking information on past employees, as such I refered this post to our Chairman and Genealogist who replied.

I'm a bit unsure about it being Great Northern - Kaye Lane at Almondbury is either on the L&Y line from Huddersfield to to Penistone or the LNWR branch from Deighton to Kirkburton. The nearest the GNR for was Dewsbury some way to the east. I stand to be corrected.

Is there any other information about your Great Grandfather such as where he lived at the time that could pin down a location.

[StevieG]

Worth remembering that just occasionally, railway company location names could be at slight variance with local names or official local records.
Such as (in this instance, hypothetically), there might've been something like a Kaye Road or a Kaye Moor Lane that was on the GNR ; or might the railway's Kaye have locally been something like Keaye, Keye or Keiye.

[Hal o' the Wynd]

Hi

I don't think that the GNR reached Huddersfield as it was the LNWR and L&Y companies that provided services here. Almondbury has never had a railway connection as far as I am aware and I don't know of any level crossings in this area apart from possibly the odd farm crossing which wouldn't be manned. Having lived in the Huddersfield area all of my life I'm not aware of any level crossings around here at all. The railways are mostly clinging to the sides of hills, and road and rail crossings are virtually all by over or under bridges.

Regards

Brian

[chris88]

Sorry for delay in coming back here. I had traced Kaye Lane, Almondbury on the street map but thought this unlikely in 1870s for various reasons.

The 1881 census record for Ossett cum Gawthorpe, ecclesiastical district of South Ossett shows George C (Charles) Tyler, head (of household), married, age 26, occupation - Gateman on G N Railway, born Suffolk, Stoke Ash, (infirmity) l arm amputated. His address is given as Gate House, Kaye Lane Level Crossing, GNR. From this I can only assume the location is in Ossett, probably near where Ossett Station was, perhaps under or near where Station Road was later built, or for those that know it, an earlier name for New Street which runs parallel to Station Road. (I was born in Ossett in 1948 and have never heard of a Kaye Lane there. I am old enough to remember the sight and sounds of J50s struggling up the incline from Earlsheaton to Ossett).

The 1871 census shows George as 15, farm labourer, in Stoke Ash, Suffolk
The 1891 census shows his address as The Green, Ossett and employed as a Railway Servant, now calling himself Charles Tyler (but age and place of birth show him to be the same chap)
The 1901 census shows address as Radley Street, The Green, Ossett occupation Railway Waggon(sic) examiner
The 1911 census shows address as 30 Radley Street, Ossett, and employed as a Railway Messenger.

[Dave S]

Many thanks for the reply, I have passed the information on to our Chairman and Genealogist (one of)

[chris88]

I have now established Kaye Lane was a former name of Intake Lane in Ossett which parallels New Street to the East. I am told it was called after the landlord of the Coopers Arms which was at the town end of the Lane. Given Intake Lane usually signifies enclosure in the C18 early C19, and the road is now called Intake Lane I suspect the name change to Kaye Lane was not long lived but happened to be the name when the GN line through Ossett opened.

The GN was the "top line" the bottom line was the L&Y main line from Mirfield to Wakefield Kirkgate past Healey Mills Marshalling Yard and even as late as the early 1960s the locomotive types on each line rarely mixed, ex LMS (plus Aussies) on the bottom line, ex GN and LNER types on the top line.

[Dave S]

Here is a reply from one of our Genealogists.

I must confess this had me puzzled!

I found George Tyler in the 1881 census living in the Kayes Lane gatehouse as the chap on the LNER forum has said. Kaye Lane is there in the 1891 census with someone else in residence as gatekeeper.

Before, in the 1871 census, Kaye Lane is listed with no evident gatekeeper or railway presence so I assume the line arrived between 1871 and 1881 - I stand to be corrected by those more knowledgeable than me.

However, after 1891 Kayes Lane in Ossett disappears!

I then started to look at the 1881 census on either side of George Tyler's page to try and find a more notable address. Close by I came across a pub called the Coopers Arms Hotel on Prospect Road, Ossett.

A Google search gave me a report on a pub enthusiasts' site advising people that the pub had closed. It did, however, give a postcode - WF5 0RG. Googling that I found Prospect Road and the adjacent Intake Lane.

A comparison of some of the names leads me to believe that Kayes Lane changed its name to Intake Lane between 1891 and 1901. In the later censuses there are signalmen and platelayers living there - perhaps the crossing keeper became a signalman!?

Hope that helps!

David

[GNR Genealogist]

There is also a level crossing shown on the OS map shown with the 1939 Register for Intake Lane (formerly Kayes Lane).