The little details

It's interesting to notice what catches my eye when I'm out walking. Things 'call' to me. It can be a trick of the light or a slight movement, or an artful natural arrangement, like the bleached autumn leaf nestling among the ivy leaves, above. 

Fungi and moss abound in the healthy air in the Dales, far enough away from major towns and cities to be relatively free of air pollution. 

Spring being 'in the air', the birds seem to be pairing off. Mr and Mrs Mallard were hunkered down among the wood anemones. 

The black-headed gulls seemed to like their individual fence-post perches. They are moving into their summer plumage, though the one in the middle looked to be lagging behind, still sporting his white winter cap. 

Oystercatchers usually overwinter at the coast and some move inland to breed. They are distinctive, with their orange-red bills and legs and stark black and white plumage. (Though it took me a good half-hour to remember what they're called. My aging brain!) I gather that curlews are returning to breed too, though I didn't see any. They tend to prefer the higher moorland, away from the river. 

A flash of white and a bobbing movement on the rocks in the river alerted me to this dipper. S/he was almost too far away to get a good shot through my camera lens.  

Then I started to enjoy the water itself: the swirling currents, the bright leaves caught on the rocks, the dreamlike reflections...

 

Barden Tower

At Barden Bridge I took a slight detour up the hill to revisit Barden Tower. It has quite a history. It was once a medieval hunting lodge, rebuilt in the late 15th century by Henry Clifford, 'the Shepherd Lord', who preferred to live here rather than in Skipton Castle. He also built the neighbouring chapel and Priests House (see my 4th photo). 

After his death in 1523, it was neglected and rarely used. In the mid 1600s the buildings were restored by Lady Anne Clifford, then once again became derelict, stripped of its lead and roof timbers by the 1800s. The tower itself is now a ruin, simply maintained for safety reasons. You can't go inside it, though you can see into the interior, where fireplaces hang halfway up the walls, the floors having fallen away. 

The Priests House and chapel are kept in better repair, now used for weddings and functions. (See HERE) 

On the tower, above the main door, is a plaque commemorating its restoration by Lady Anne Clifford, helpfully translated, though not entirely accurately, on another adjacent sign. She appears to have been fond of the place, perhaps because it gave shelter to her mother when she was pregnant with Lady Anne, who was eventually born in Skipton Castle in 1589.

Isaiah 58:12 says: 

'Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.'

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.