Jowetts and alpacas

At the 130th anniversary of the Shipley Glen Tramway celebrations, there were a few other attractions in Thompson Lane Field. Altreka is a family run alpaca trekking centre in Baildon. They had brought along two of their alpacas for people to get to know. They seemed very patient and amenable to being walked around the field. I'm not sure I fancy taking a trek with an alpaca, to be honest. Sounds even harder to manage than a dog on a lead. At least my camera is well-behaved - and that's what I usually take trekking! 

The Jowett cars were very well-behaved, lining up in an orderly manner. Jowett cars and vans were manufactured in Bradford between 1906 and 1954, designed initially as a lightweight vehicle that could cope easily with Bradford and Yorkshire's hilly terrain. The Bradford Industrial Museum has a number of the vehicles in its collection, though I think those shown were from a local enthusiasts' group. 

The Tramway's birthday

On 18 May 1895, Sam Wilson opened the Shipley Glen Tramway, a cable-hauled narrow-gauge tramway with two cars. It connects Saltaire (at the back of Roberts Park) with what was then a fairground and various attractions on Shipley Glen. The fairground is long gone but Shipley Glen is still a lovely area to walk or picnic, and the Tramway is still there. It has been restored and is operated by volunteers. For £2.50 (adult fare) you can ride up and down all day if you so choose, but just a single ride from the bottom saves a steep walk uphill. 

On 18 May 2025, they celebrated its 130th birthday with an open day and events in Thompson Lane Field. It was lovely to see queues of people waiting for a ride (and it must have helped bring in some much needed income to keep it going. It's been very close to closing completely, many times over the years). 

I've ridden it lots of times but I still enjoy the experience and enjoy, too, the delight of other passengers, especially the children. The two cars pass each other halfway along the ride and everyone waves! Good, wholesome, simple fun in a complicated world. 

The Bradford Progress

There's so much going on at present that I'm having difficulty keeping up to date with my blog posts! This event on the canal happened a couple of weekends ago. It was a Bradford UK City of Culture 2025 event, called 'The Bradford Progress', and involved a musical journey across the Bradford district, celebrating the music made in the city and those who make it. It was created by Paraorchestra, which is a collective of professional disabled and non-disabled musicians, under the leadership of Charles Hazlewood and in collaboration with Jeremy Deller (a Turner prizewinning artist). 

It all began at first light on the Saturday with a dawn ritual by Paraorchestra and the Commoners Choir, among the ancient Cow and Calf Rocks on Ilkley Moor. There was then 'an unbroken procession of music that wove its way into the heart of the city across two days, carried over land and water by hundreds of musicians from across Bradford'. They performed on the moors, in parks, in museums, on trains, in Undercliffe Cemetery, in the Broadway Shopping Centre and finally in City Park in the centre of Bradford. 

Although (being deaf) I don't hear music very well, I decided I'd go and watch the canal procession, and I'm glad I did as it was a joyous affair (with the added bonus for me of bumping into a number of friends along the way). Musicians were playing on various boats, which joined and left the procession as they slowly journeyed from Bingley Five Rise Locks through to Saltaire. 

The musicians below were from Paraorchestra, skilfully managing not to injure each other whilst creating a lively sound from Saltaire's rather compact Titus trip boat. 

Liza Bec, a composer living with music-induced epilepsy, was playing beautifully on what I understand is a Roborecorder, a digitally-enhanced instrument they built specially to help overcome their disability. (Click the link for more info)

I'm not certain but I think the third boat I saw was the Toby Brazier Quartet, playing a catchy blend of jazz fusion. 

There were lots of people turned out to watch, on what was a beautiful spring day, and it was well-stewarded by the many volunteers supporting the City Of Culture, with paramedics in attendance too. (One young man was carrying such a massive load of medical equipment that I joked with him that he'd be the one needing resuscitation!)

So far I've been pleasantly surprised by the quality and variety of events on offer under the Bradford UK City of Culture 2025 banner, their inclusivity and the way they have been organised. Well done to Shanaz Gulzar and Dan Bates, who head the leadership team - and of course to all the hundreds of local people making it happen on the ground. 

Heptonstall's Methodist Chapel

The old and new Anglican churches in Heptonstall aren't the only places of worship in the village. There is also a Wesleyan Methodist Chapel, though it is not now in regular use. Built in 1764, to house a rapidly growing non-Conformist congregation, it clings to the hillside on the north east side of the village, with wonderful views over the valley.  The formation of the congregation was overseen by John and Charles Wesley, the Anglican evangelists and preachers, who founded the breakaway Methodist revival movement. Octagonal chapels are unusual though not unique, believed to have no corners for the devil to hide in, and focused around the central pulpit. 

We didn't find the chapel open, though I gather some of our members eventually managed to find a keyholder and were allowed inside. 

We were graced by a visit from a rather fluffy cat, who stretched out in the sunshine on the warm stone steps, quite oblivious to the photographic equipment sharing its space. 

The Cragg Vale Coiners

A couple of years ago, the BBC showed a TV drama series called 'The Gallows Pole', based on a novel of the same name by Benjamin Myers. It was an oddly surreal dramatisation of the true story of the Cragg Vale Coiners, mostly filmed in Heptonstall and Hebden Bridge. Some filming took place in the Heptonstall Museum. Its main room, which was a pub in the drama, is still set up with props from the TV series and has some of the costumes on display.  

In the late 18th century, the Cragg Vale Coiners were a gang of weavers and labourers, under the leadership of 'King' David Hartley. They supplemented their meagre income from farming and weaving by 'clipping' or shaving the edges of genuine coins. (Done skilfully, this clipping was hard to discern). They then melted down the shavings to produce counterfeit coins. They were pretty successful and proved hard to track down, as this was such a wild and remote area. Eventually, however, one of the gang betrayed the others and in 1769, William Deighton, a public official, arrested David Hartley. He was tried and hanged in York in 1770. He is buried in Heptonstall churchyard, along with his wife Grace, who by all accounts did pretty well herself out of her husband's misdemeanours, able to buy property and live well after his death, until she herself died in 1802.  William Deighton was, in turn, murdered by the coiners, shot dead in Halifax. Most of the coiners were rounded up and arrested, though Hartley's brother Isaac seems to have evaded punishment. 

David Hartley's grave is easy to find because of the coins left as offerings.  

I had to go back to 2011 to find an old photo of mine, showing the inscription more clearly. Time gradually weathers the lettering on these old graves. 

 

Heptonstall Museum

Heptonstall has a small museum, happily open on the day I was there. It shows how life would have been in the village in times gone by and has an exhibition about the Cragg Vale coiners, which I'll post more about tomorrow. The Museum is right beside the old, ruined church, housed in a building that dates back to 1600. Originally a warehouse, it was later a school, then a bank, and became a museum in 1972. 

One room contains a replica of an 18th century handloom. Most of the people in this area used to eke out a living from sheep farming and handloom weaving, so that many homes would have had a loom similar to this. 

These (below) are hobnail boots, the kind that many people wore in times past, the soles strengthened and given grip by nails. 

Others wore clogs: leather shoes with wooden soles. I can't imagine they were very comfortable, with no flexion in the sole, and they must have been very noisy, clattering on the cobbles and stone floors. They'd have been hardwearing though, and lifted your foot slightly out of the mud and wet. The museum had a number of pairs in the dressing up area for children to try on. 

 

St Thomas à Becket, Heptonstall

Here are a few more photos of the old church, St Thomas à Becket, in Heptonstall. With parts dating back to the 1200s, though extended since then, it was damaged in a fierce storm in 1847, after which the new church was built just across the graveyard. The ruins of the roofless church are preserved and it has a peaceful atmosphere, with plenty of arches and angles to challenge a photographer. 

This niche in the wall near where the church's altar would have been is, I believe, called a piscina. It would have been used for washing communion vessels and for 'the reverent disposal of sacred substances', through the drain or sacrarium, which would have drained direct into the ground and not into a sewer. 

The floor of the old church has some inscribed gravestones, though it's not clear if these remain in situ or have been lifted from the graveyard itself to provide a firm floor.  On very old graves, people were often listed by initials rather than full names.  

Old and new church

Heptonstall is unusual in having two churches within one graveyard. The old church, St Thomas à Becket, was built around 1260, with later adaptations. A huge storm in 1847 caused part of the tower to fall away, so in 1854 the current church, St Thomas the Apostle was constructed a few yards away. The old church and ancient graveyard are carefully maintained and services are sometimes still held within the ruined nave. 

There are approximately 2100 graves in the old churchyard, and I read somewhere that there may be up to 100,000 people buried there. Many of the graves list whole families; where possible they have all been transcribed, which is important as, over the years, the lettering weathers or the stone crumbles away.  

I could honestly spend all day wandering around graveyards. there are many stories to uncover, especially where there are old graves. Some of these date back to the 1600s. 

Behind the new church, another more modern graveyard is still in use. It's here that the resting place of the poet and writer Sylvia Plath can be found. Her life and tragic death are well-documented and the cause of much speculation. Her husband, the poet Ted Hughes, from whom she was separated at the time she took her own life, comes from this area of Yorkshire and had her buried here. Her grave is a place of pilgrimage for some.  It has been damaged several times by people trying to obliterate her married name and the inscription chosen by Ted Hughes for the memorial.  

"Death must be so beautiful.  To lie in the soft brown earth, with the grasses waving above one's head, and listen to silence.  To have no yesterday, and no to-morrow.   To forget time, to forgive life, to be at peace."         

Sylvia Plath (The Bell Jar) 

 

Heptonstall's oldest buildings

One of Heptonstall's oldest buildings is Stag Cottage in Stag Fold, which dates back to the 1500s. I tried to get a photo of it (above), as it is charming, but the light was very tricky. You can get a better appreciation of it, inside and out, from the website listing it as a holiday let, HERE. There are several 'folds' in the village. The term originally meant an enclosure where animals were kept, but in Yorkshire it seems to have become a term for cottages clustered around a yard, perhaps originally all belonging to the same family.

One of the old buildings on the main street was the Cloth Hall, where the 'pieces' woven by the handloom weavers were brought, from their homes, to be sold to merchants. It's now a private residence and you can discern areas on the stonework where alterations have been made during its history. Above the door is a datestone: 1545-1558. 

There's an archway preserved, just off Northgate, inscribed with the initials IB and the date 1578. 

I'm sure there are more charming corners I've yet to discover.