Bolton Abbey estate walk

Another trip to Bolton Abbey for a walk... This was on the 10th March... we're at that time of year when the lag time between me taking photos and posting them here makes a difference. Spring is springing, but in early March there were only subtle signs. Things seem to be moving slowly this year. The day had promised to be bright and sunny. It was dry but there wasn't much sunshine, disappointingly. 

I parked in the Strid car park for a change, walked down through the woods to the river, upriver from the aqueduct (above) to Barden Bridge (below) and then back along the opposite riverbank. It's a very pleasant walk with more open views than you get further downstream. There were plenty of people about, mostly with dogs, but it rarely feels crowded there.

Everything seemed somehow to be poised, waiting, caught in that liminal space between seasons...

Coppice Pond

The largest area of water on the Bingley St Ives estate is the Coppice Pond, more of a lake than a pond in size. I think it was originally linked to a fulling mill - hence 'mill pond', I suppose. (Fulling is a process in woollen cloth making.) The Pond often has a sizeable population of waterbirds, though there didn't seem to be that many there that day. The lumpy thing on the left of the photo above is a wooden fish, leaping from the water. It's been there for many years and is now beginning to rot away. 

You can walk right round the perimeter of the lake, though there are only a few places where you can really get a good view of the water. There are fences around it and lots of shrubbery, so I never feel it lives up to its potential photographically. 

Baxters Pond

Hidden in the woodland at Bingley St Ives is a small pond known as Baxters Pond, named after the man who restored it - John Baxter - in 2004, in the 40th year of his employment on the estate. 

It's a sweet little spot. I imagine in summer, when there'll be more colour and plant growth, it'll be even more magical. I'll have to go back and see.  

It's not especially deep but the water was crystal clear and I spent some time enjoying the reflections and patterns captured within it. The more I looked the more I could see animal heads too, in the shapes of the rocks round and about.  A ram? ☝ A lamb? 👇

Bingley St Ives

As we edge closer to spring, I'm enjoying the brief sunny interludes between the frequent showers. One day I drove up to the country park at Bingley St Ives and had a walk through the lower woodland. From the entrance drive, there are far reaching views up the valley to Harden and beyond. 

The estate is pleasant, though not my favourite woodland to explore. It's all rather messy, somehow, and a lot of trees have been felled because of disease, so there are areas where it's quite sparse. At this time of year it's muddy too. There are numerous little streams running down the hillside, and a few ponds where the water collects. Some of the original estate cottages survive and are still used. Those in my photo above are, I believe, Cuckoo's Nest Cottages. 

I was surprised to spot a wooden monk lurking in the undergrowth! It seemed rather eerie. Apparently in the Middle Ages the land was owned and farmed by monks from Rievaulx Abbey. Over the years all sorts of ghostly encounters have been reported (see HERE) so that I wouldn't be keen to be up there on my own at dusk. 

St Ives Mansion was originally built in 1616, and became the home of the Ferrand family, whose descendants lived there until 1929, when the estate was sold to Bingley Urban District Council. I think the present building mostly dates to the 19th century. It became a residential care home for young people with disabilities, and was then reputedly sold to become apartments, which seems never to have happened. It's a listed building but sadly in great need of repair, having been subject to vandalism and arson attacks. I just read in the local press that the owners are now intending to convert it back into a care home. They need to get on with it! 

I'm told it still has some Jacobean style features inside. On the outside wall there's a plaque, presumably a coat of arms - perhaps for the Ferrand family. Although the writing seems to be in English not Latin, I can't make out what it says at all. 

 

Bingley artworks

Last summer I showed a few of the artworks that had been placed near Bingley railway station. (See HERE.) I mentioned that I thought there were more paintings by Jane Fielder somewhere... and on my recent walk around the town I found two more near the arts centre. I believe they were originally painted for the swimming pool, but sadly that is currently closed and may not reopen. Jane is a local artist and used to own The Bingley Gallery on Park Road until she retired from that. She still paints, I think, and is active in the Aire Valley Arts Group.  

I like much of her work and these two paintings, showing some of the old mills near the canal locks (left) and the old part of Bingley, with the church and the Old White Horse coaching inn (right), are, I think, very pleasing.   

St Thomas à Becket Church

Heptonstall's original church, dating back to the 13th century, was badly damaged in a storm in 1847. The congregation's answer was to build a new church next to it, which is still used. The old church remains as an atmospheric ruin within its crowded graveyard, reputed to hold 100,000 burials. 

We were amused by the sign glimpsed through one of the old church windows, which says 'Churchyard Bottom'. (A bit too small to read on my photo). 'Bottom' is a common geographical term in the UK and there are apparently at least 356 actual places with Bottom in the name, including Scratchy Bottom and Happy Bottom in Dorset, Flash Bottom in Staffordshire and Slap Bottom in Hampshire. Just along the road from Heptonstall itself is Slack Bottom. 

My daughter and I spent quite a while enjoying the carved lettering on the gravestones. Part of her job is designing websites so she has a 'professional interest' in fonts. I love the hand carved shapes and the huge variation you find. 

Meanwhile, my younger granddaughter disappeared, only to be spotted halfway up a tree. 🙈 Little monkey! She's always been an adventurer. That and the fact that she's good at maths makes me doubt sometimes that she can actually be a descendent of mine! There's no way you'd ever have got me up there.

Heptonstall revisited

My family live just down the hill from Heptonstall village, so when I went over to see them we had a mooch around there. There's a very nice café, which supplied copious amounts of tea and cake before we ventured out for a wander. It was really rather cold so we didn't linger long and, compared to my last visit with camera club companions, I was only taking quick snaps rather than considered shots. 

It's a moody and photogenic village, with its narrow streets and cobblestones. It was, historically, a centre for handloom weaving, safely perched on the high plateau above the flood-prone river valley. Hebden Bridge and the other towns and villages down in the valley only really grew when, in the late 18th century, industrialised textile processes in the water-powered mills began to take over from the home-based cottage industry. 

In the photo below, up the street on the right, you can see on the upper floors the serried windows typical of the weavers' cottages. The handlooms would have been up there and needed as much light as they could manage. 

It's an amazing place to wander through, with unexpected sights at every turn.

Harrogate spring

I met a friend in Harrogate recently for coffee and cake. It was lovely to catch up and inevitably we spent a long time chatting, leaving us little time to explore the town. Anyway, the weather was disappointing. The forecast had been for warm sunshine but in the morning and early afternoon it was misty, overcast and decidedly chilly. When we had finished in the coffee shop it was brightening up so we decided on a quick walk into the Valley Gardens. Harrogate has long been famed for its display of spring bulbs, and we enjoyed the colour and variety of blooms around the gardens. 

Night blossom

 There was something very attractive about the blossom, illuminated by street lights as the night drew in. 

Bingley's Myrtle Park

Between Bingley's main street and the river is a pleasant green space known as Myrtle Park, which has lots of amenities including a bandstand, café, children's play area, skateboard park and a large bottom meadow used for picnics, dog walking and various local events. For a long time Bingley Agricultural Show was held there but, since Covid, that has not taken place. They did, however, use the park for the finale of the Bradford City of Culture 2025 celebrations. 

The crocuses were blooming (this was a week or so ago) and there was a bank of daffodils in bud, which are probably flowering by now. It's cared for by the local Council and 'Friends of Myrtle Park' put in many volunteer hours in the gardens and staffing the visitor hub, which provides activities for children and an information point. I've several friends who are heavily involved and I think they should all be very proud of their efforts, as the park looks lovely. 

They've added more 'focal points' in recent years, including a couple of rather lovely, whimsical, carved tree stumps that seem to entrance children. 

And so, back to the River Aire. There's a footbridge across and then it was a pleasant walk in the sunshine, past the allotments, past the cricket field, tennis courts and the golf course, up Beckfoot Lane to where I'd parked my car. It was a delightful walk.

Throstle's nest

I walked back a little way along the other side of the river from Ireland Bridge and then climbed up steep stone steps from the river bank into Bingley's town square, where there was a lovely display of crocuses. 

Bingley was granted a market charter by King John in 1212. By the 1300s it was probably the largest town in the Aire valley (more important in those days than what are now the cities of Bradford and Leeds). The old town was sited around the church and the Old White Horse coaching inn, by the Ireland Bridge river crossing, and the market would have been set up along what was then the main street. 

The market hall, dating to the late 1600s (when a second market charter was granted), is a long, low, open-sided building with stone columns and an oak roof covered with stone slates. When the main street was widened in the 1800s, it became redundant and was moved to a Bingley park and in the 1980s it was relocated again to what is now the town square.    

Behind it is the buttercross, thought to date from the 13th century (the original market charter) and later given a canopy. Vendors would have laid out their butter and dairy produce on its steps. There is also a set of stocks preserved beside it. 

An early historian noted: 'Ancient houses round its venerable parish church, the little place lays deeply embossed amidst high craggy hills and embowering woodlands and well does it deserve its title of: The Throstle’s Nest of England.'  On the riverside there is a stone plaque illustrating this old title, showing a thrush (throstle) feeding its young in the nest. 

River path

From Beckfoot Bridge I took the footpath along the river that leads round towards Myrtle Park. There are lovely views across the park and up into the woodland around Bingley St Ives. You wouldn't know you were only half a mile away from Bingley town centre.

There's a point where you look down and glimpse water between the trees. This isn't the river (which lies beyond). There are a couple of small lakes that at one time I think were fishing lakes, though I'm not sure they are used now. It's all quite attractive, though there are few clear views through fences and trees. 

Eventually I arrived at Ireland Bridge, which leads across the river to the oldest part of Bingley around the church.