'Hibiscus Rising'

Sculptures in Leeds #5

Our final stop on our tour of Leeds sculptures was 'Hibiscus Rising' by Yinka Shonibare. Unveiled in 2023, it is a memorial to David Oluwale, a British-Nigerian man who at the time of his death was homeless and had mental health problems. He drowned in the River Aire in Leeds in 1969, after being chased and beaten by police, two of whom were subsequently convicted for their involvement in a sustained campaign of racial harassment and brutality. 

The brightly coloured sculpture of an hibiscus flower is decorated with batik patterns symbolising joy, healing and beauty. 

It's placed in a memorial garden in an area south of the river that is gradually being transformed into Aire Park. Old buildings are being demolished or repurposed and new office blocks are springing up. Our cities are constantly on the move! 

Andy Scott sculptures

Sculptures in Leeds #3 & #4

Our Leeds camera club outing then took us over to the Trinity Leeds shopping centre, which was opened in 2013 and holds some of the big name retail brands like M&S, Primark, Next and Boots. 

The centre has a large steel sculpture of a packhorse carrying a roll of cloth, 'Equus Altus' by Andy Scott (who also created Scotland's famous Kelpie horses' heads). I'm rather fond of this one. 

Outside the centre is 'The Briggate Minerva', also by Andy Scott. Minerva was the Roman goddess of commerce and weaving, making her a good choice for this city with its strong history of textile manufacture. She holds a length of cloth and some stars, and wears an owl mask. Owls are a Leeds city emblem. 

As it was a camera club outing, we were encouraged to try for a range of shots, both descriptive/record and more creative. 

 

Crag House Farm

After my walk round Yeadon Tarn, I decided I'd drive a little further to Crag House Farm. It's run by a Christian charity, 'Caring for Life', which supports vulnerable and disadvantaged people in Leeds, through residential homes, care in the community and therapeutic projects at the farm. The farm site has lovely grounds, a plant nursery and a rather good restaurant and shop, selling local produce including beef, lamb and eggs reared on the farm. 

It's a while since I last visited and the grounds have been extended beyond the original woodland garden and down into the fields beyond. 

The bog and pond areas were low in water, though the bullrushes were abundant, as was the fruit on the trees and hedgerows. This was the last week in August and I'm not sure apples are usually ripe by now. Autumn seems to be early, I suppose sparked by the dry summer. The trees are stressed and prompted to produce fruit to survive, perhaps? 

Just alongside the farm buildings, some of the workers were checking (counting?) sheep. I hope they slept well that night! 

 

Yeadon Tarn

Yeadon Tarn is a man-made lake, sited between Bradford and Leeds, next door to Leeds-Bradford Airport. (You can perhaps spot an aeroplane on the runway in the distance in the photo above.) It's not a very exciting lake, really, but it makes a change for me to go up there and have a walk round the perimeter. It's sometimes used for sailing. There's a small yacht club there but I don't think I've ever seen a boat out on the water. 

There was a sharp shower just as I arrived but it was over in minutes. The rain we're now getting isn't doing much to reverse the summer's drought. I'm presuming it's the drought that has led to the bright turquoise hue of the water, as I don't think it usually looks like that. Maybe there's an algal bloom in it, though it didn't seem to be deterring the birdlife or the fishermen. 

Someone had scattered seed for the ducks, though the little white one was very tentative and kept getting pushed out by the others. I felt rather sorry for it! 

 

Around Bolton Abbey

Here are a few more (marginally less touristy) shots that I took on my recent walk at Bolton Abbey. This is the first view you get of the Abbey when approaching on the east riverbank. The posts you can see in the middle distance are for children to weave in and out of. This path is a 'Welly Walk' with all sorts of slides and climbs and hops for little ones to enjoy. I have to admit to testing out my balance on a serpentine length of tree stump 'stepping stones'. I didn't fall off! 

Despite that, I decided to give the actual stepping stones across the river a miss! The bridge is safer. 

The Hall at Bolton Abbey (below) is the private residence of the Devonshire family when/if they venture up here from their primary homes at Chatsworth and in London. When they're not here, it can be rented in its entirety (see HERE).  Built as a gatehouse to the Priory c1325, it was converted to a shooting lodge after the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1536 and has subsequently been altered and enlarged. Many famous guests have stayed here, including our late Queen Elizabeth II in 2005. 

The Old Rectory (above), which stands in front of the ruined priory and St Mary's church, was originally the abbey's infirmary, later a school, then a rectory (presumably for the vicar of St Mary's) and now, I believe, a private house. The chimney (below) is what remains of the abbey's original guest house, and dates to the 15th century. 

The Cavendish Memorial Fountain was erected in 1886 in memory of Lord Frederick Cavendish, second son of the 7th Duke of Devonshire, who was murdered in Phoenix Park, Dublin by Irish National Invincibles in 1882, shortly after his appointment as Chief Secretary for Ireland. 

Tourist shots!

Just lately we've had beautiful, sunny mornings and cloudy afternoons with occasional light showers. I decided I must get up and 'get going' a little more quickly than I often do, to make the most of the days. I took myself off to Bolton Abbey and walked from the riverside car park along the far (east) side of the river to the abbey and then back along the west bank. 

I stopped at The Tea Cottage, which has a terrace with the most magnificent view over the abbey. It was glorious, with house martins scooting about overhead and the clouds making shadow patterns on the landscape; just the spot for a leisurely and contemplative coffee break. I was thinking about my first ever trip here, in autumn 1970 when I was newly arrived at university. As part of 'Freshers' Week', they offered a coach trip around the Dales and Bolton Abbey was one of the stops. I will always remember the coach squeezing its way improbably through the stone arch that spans the narrow road. (I can never take a pic of it as it's too dangerous to walk that way. But see HERE!) So that's 55 years ago. Yikes! I am thankful, however, to have had this and other similarly lovely beauty spots within easy travelling distance for all that time. 

It was such a lovely day that I decided it was acceptable, if not imperative, to take some proper 'tourist shots' of the abbey.

 

Arthur Aaron

Sculptures in Leeds #2

Another Leeds sculpture we visited was the memorial to Arthur Aaron VC, by Graham Ibbeson. Aaron was an RAF fighter pilot in WWII, who successfully enabled his damaged plane to land and saved his crew, despite his own significant and ultimately fatal wounds, for which feat he was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross.  (See more HERE) 

The sculpture is easily overlooked, placed on a traffic island in the city centre but it was well worth seeing. Installed in 2001, after a public vote, to mark the new millennium, the five-metre bronze sculpture depicts Aaron standing next to a tree, up which are climbing children, progressively representing the passage of time between 1950 and 2000, with the girl at the top releasing a dove of peace, all representing the freedom his sacrifice helped ensure.

It was somewhat ironic that, just as I took the photo, a plane flew overhead. 

Sometimes it's the details that seem most touching. 

'Ribbons'

Sculptures in Leeds #1

We had a camera club outing to Leeds recently to photograph some of the many public artworks around the city. We started with this one: 'Ribbons' by Pippa Hale. It's a relatively recent (2024) addition, situated between the Leeds Playhouse and Leeds City College. The sculpture is made of corten steel ribbons, inscribed with over 400 names of women, past and present, who have made a contribution to the city of Leeds. It includes some famous names but also ordinary folk, who have all been nominated and put to a public vote. The ribbons denote connectedness and also allude to the ribbons suffragettes wore. 

Better known names include: Rachel Reeves MP (represents a Leeds constituency and is our current Chancellor of the Exchequer); Nicola Adams (gold medal winning Olympic boxer); Lucy Bronze (footballer); Dame Barbara Hepworth (sculptor); Corinne Bailey Rae (singer-songwriter); Judith Blake (Leader of Leeds City Council); Mel B (Spice Girls singer); Leonora Cohen (suffragette); Liz Dawn (Coronation Street actress); Helen Fielding (novelist/screenwriter who created 'Bridget Jones'); Brenda Hale QC; Jude Kelly (theatre director, producer and founding artistic director of Leeds Playhouse);  Gabby Logan (sports presenter); Barbara Taylor Bradford (novelist)....

The full list can be found HERE and includes women from the fields of medicine, education, politics, the arts, charity work, engineering, science, sport, and community champions. 

I was intrigued to find out who Florence Shufflebottom was - and even more intrigued to read that she was a Leeds born sharpshooter and performer (1931-2014) often known as the British Annie Oakley. She was known for her impressive shooting accuracy which included tricks such as shooting a pipe from her partner's mouth while bending backwards over a chair! (I don't think I'll try that!)

By the river

The Upper Coach Road (see yesterday) has a track off it, which leads down to the river and is the access drive to the Bradford Amateur Rowing Club (BARC). I always speculate on the reason for the graceful curve in the track. Was it to avoid the trees? (Were they even there when the track was first made?) Is it designed to follow the boundary of the Milner Field Estate? The Rowing Club was founded in 1867 by Titus Salt Junior, and the land the club-house occupies belonged to him. Whatever the reason, I think it's far more attractive than a straight drive would have been. 

At the bottom you arrive at Hirst Weir, which has gradually broken down from the steep edge it once had when it was associated with the mill on the far bank. Indeed, fairly recently there were diggers there, distributing the rocks even further, partly I think to mitigate flooding on the drive and partly to improve access for fish swimming upstream to spawn. At the moment the water level is as low as I've ever seen it. You could probably safely walk across the river here right now (though I wouldn't recommend it!) 

Looking upstream, the trees are definitely beginning to show a yellowish, autumnal tone. 

The BARC club-house was in the process of getting a new roof, winter-proofing it I guess. (This was a week or so ago and it's probably finished by now.) The building is Victorian, constructed in 1893. The top floor is a bar and function room, leading onto a wide balcony. On the ground floor, there are changing rooms and a gym. The club's extensive fleet of boats and equipment are housed in an adjacent boathouse.  The club uses the 600 metre stretch of the river from the weir up to the aqueduct.

Taking the scenic route back home

From the top of Shipley Glen, I walked down through the woods where outcrops of millstone grit stud the valley side. The views over the Aire Valley from here are far reaching. At the top of Trench Meadows a huge tree has fallen, its bare branches looking like the ribcage of some mythical giant. 

I wandered down to Crag Hebble Dam, built in 1911 across the stream called Loadpit Beck to supply water to the dye works at Salts Mill.  It's a peaceful spot though, like many of our water courses, the dry summer has led to an overgrowth of algae that rather spoils the beauty. 

Another ancient bridleway links the mill dam with the Milner Field estate, once home to Titus Salt Junior. 

The boundary of the estate here is marked by a peculiar metal 'kissing gate', erected in 1872, known locally - for obvious reasons - as 'The Birdcage'. 

Another track leads along the estate's boundary to one of the two gatehouse lodges built for the mansion at Milner Field. The mansion itself was demolished but the gatehouses remain and give an indication of the heavy Victorian Gothic style of the original building. 

Again, good views from here looking out towards Shipley. (Saltaire is hidden, to the left.) The cows belong to Milner Field farm, once the home farm for Salt's estate, which still continues as a dairy farm. 

From the gatehouse, the broad straight drive back down to Saltaire is the Coach Road, once the main carriage drive up to Milner Field House.