Would you want to eat that veg?

In fact it was once a stone quarry, hence the road alongside it, Quarryside Road. Some time in the past, maybe 70 years ago, it was filled up with household refuse, collected by Mirfield Urban District Council’s independently run services (and all well run at that). After filling, it was covered with another waste product from Mirvale Chemical Works on Stennard Lane. It was put into mounds, which, as boy cyclists we used to ride over cross country-style, but were always warned off as to the nature of the cream coloured waste. My old chemistry master delighted in saying anyone concocting a use for said calcium waste would be rich.

Eventually it was levelled and grassed over and as a founder member of Airedale Dynamoes FC, we used it as a training pitch. When Battyeford School was built in the early 60s they used it for sports, access from between 17-19 Quarryside Road, still there but impassible for dense growth. Now it’s gone to dogs only. I would query the idea of homegrown fruit and vegetables on the land knowing what is under the topsoil!

John Snowden

Nab Lane

Mirfield