2010 March | Yorkshire - God's Own County

Well Shod

dales-tanners Tannery Workers in the Dales

‘With the large numbers of cattle and sheep raised in the Yorkshire Dales over the centuries, it is not surprising that industries associated with the by-products of the meat industry were established in villages throughout the area. Leather production indeed was once one of the most common industries throughout the whole of Britain’ according to the Dales National Park team read more.

Unfortunately many skins are now packed for export as explained by The Bradford Hide Co. and Sculcoates Tannery Hull. Tanning machinery once a thriving industry in Otley at G L Murphy is now on a reduced scale.

For working men good boots were a must, see the footwear above. Women and children were not always as fortunate and had to patch, repair and wear secondhand at times. In the 19th Century the wearing of slippers was the genesis of being slipshod.

Clogs of the traditional British design with a leather upper on a wooden sole have actually been worn since at least Roman times. Some historians suggest their origins may go back further still. The Yorkshire manufacture of Clogs Walkleys of Mytholmroyd claim to be ‘the only place in the world where the great British clog is manufactured in its entirety.’
Walkleys

Yorkshire Boots are made in Richmond at Altberg Bootmakers
See also Shoes Booted About

The Lupin Man of York – George Russell

Photo CC by Thor Thorson 1

George Russell 1857 – 1951

George Russell developed a passion for Lupins, gathered seed from North America and around world and then grew them on two allotments in his home city of York. He never carried out vegetative propagation or hand pollination, preferring to let natural pollination by bumble bees do the hybridisation for him. At the end of each season he collected seed from the very best plants and sowed it. Any inferior plants were rigorously removed. George Russell, like most Yorkshiremen, only wanted the very best, and was ruthless in his selection.
For 23 years George had bred his Lupins and resolutely refused to sell them commercially. But in 1936 a deal was done for his seeds to be grown at Bakers nursery Boningdale as long as George had the right to ‘Rough’ or deselect any that did not meet his standards. Once the seedlings were in flower George was sent for so he could inspect the crop. Jimmy Baker must have been flabbergasted when George insisted on destroying 4,200 of the 5,000 seedlings (some quality control eh! modern growers take note).

The Lupins on his York allotments were improved through breeding. The top varieties had flowers all around the stem in a wide range of colours. Eventually George Russell allowed his seeds to be sold and in 1937 they were selling at 12 seeds for one shilling equal to 1d each.

Lupins were introduced into Britain from North America in 1826. The blue flowered spikes we occasionally saw on railway embankments were the predominant colour. Fast forward a hundred years to 1937 and the Royal Horticultural Society awarded its highest honour to a ‘ jobbing Yorkshire gardener’ George Russell for developing a strain of Lupins that were causing a sensation.

Photo cc by Magnio

The Chelsea Flower Show 2008 displayed the Lupins below. As Lupins are not very long lived plants many of George Russels varieties have been lost but this display shows some of the great flowers that George showed it was possible to grow. Why not try in your garden this year. Lupins are available as plants or seeds from Thompson Morgan

Photo cc by steve 2.0

See Old Lupin photos on Gardeners Tips.

Who could get 2 allotments now with the current fashion for growing your own? Who would have the patience to wait so many years before they tried to make any money out of the flowers they had bred?

Shoes Booted About and Out

Posted by brian in Yorkshire Business and Money | Yorkshire History and Heritage - (4 Comments)

Stead & Simpson is one of the oldest, most well-known and respected names in the British footwear industry. The business can trace its history back to 1834, when it was founded as a Leeds based manufacturer of footwear. At its peak in the 19th century the company employed over 1000 staff in Leeds and manufactured 7000 pairs of shoes each week. During this period there were 23 tanneries in Leeds.

Factories and mechanization came to this large industry after 1850 as shoe makers gradually recognized the usefulness of consolidating the various processes at one location. Within these central shops, or factories, machines were perfected that imitated specific hand processes.

A ‘Cordwainer’ is someone who makes shoes and other articles from fine soft leather as distinct from a cobbler, who repaired them. This distinction gradually weakened during the twentieth century, when there was a predominance of shoe retailers who neither made nor repaired shoes. That also saw the end of another shoe related occupation a ‘Boot Laster’ or maker of lasts. Major volumes of imports started and continues today with only Clarks in Somerset as a major UK based volume manufacturer.

Stead & Simpson started as a footwear maker but switched focus onto shoe shops. In the 1960s it had more than 400 retail outlets and 4000 staff and is now based in Leicester. Stead & Simpson, whose brands include Shoe Express, Lilley & Skinner, and Peter Briggs, made losses last year and has been through a period of administration. The company has already sold off 25 factory outlet stores trading as Famous Footwear. ShoeZone of Leicester acquired the company in 2008.

Stead & Simpson were not the only shoe retailer to face problems. In 2009 the Ziff family rescued 160 Barratts and Priceless shops, part of the Stylo group at the Bradford based company from administration. Unfortunately 220 stores closed and the Dolcis brand disappeared.

Available from amazon by clicking the book.

Camara Pubs With York Heritage and Magnetism

Posted by brian in Food and Drink | Yorkshire History and Heritage - (0 Comments)

Legend had it that there were 365 pubs in York, one for every day of the year. Half the pubs of York have gone since the 1950′s and there have been some historic losses. We need to protect those with special interest interiors and ‘support our pub heritage’. I will drink all I can in helping this cause.

Pubs with Interiors of Historic Interest

Black Swan in Peaseholme Green is a Grade ll* listed building with medieval timber-frame. There has been sensitive remodelling of the interior in the 30′s and 70′s but the original domestic interior survives. The 17th century staircase, doorways, fireplace and oak panelling have created a pub with very distinctive character.

Blue Bell on Fossgate has a slightly gaudy red tiled exterior that is not the most welcoming. For those who venture inside however an Edwardian treat awaits. The rooms are wood-panelled and traditionally furnished throughout, with the bar room only having enough room for 3 or 4 tables. A side lobby has two etched doors accessing a tiny front bar room and a rear ‘former-smoke room’ that is too narrow for some corpulent American visitors. This room and the lobby both have hatch access to the bar.The Blue Bell is a Grade ll* listed building and I hope the pub chains leave the interior alone.

Royal Oak on Goodramgate is a small stylish town pub. There is documentation dating it back to the 15th century. The Royal Oak has both 18th and 19th century extensions to the back. It went through a major restoration project in 1934, a ‘Tudor Revamp’ according to Camra. Now with a gas fire rather than traditional logs it is still a cosy place to drink. Eating and your enjoyment thereof, depends on the landlord and cook at the time you visit.

The Swan on Bishopsgate, just outside York’s Bar Walls, was only the second pub to be designated a Tetleys Heritage Inn in the 1980′s. 30 years on and The Swan Inn has been nominated for “best real ale pub” in The Press Pub Awards 2009/10, and was Camra’s pub of the year. Probably enough said but the interior layout is one of only 3 surviving pubs witha genuine inter-war years layout within York.

York Arms beneath the shadow of the Minster is a homely little pub that escaped the open-plan movementr in the 1970′s. The site was a former Chapter coffee house but a licensed house was build on the site in 1838 and still has two main lounge areas, and a tiny snug at the front of the pub. It is a Samuel Smith pub so you will know it offers value for money in the beer pricing.

Lighthorseman was built in Fulford Road during Queen Victoria’s reign and survives as a multi-roomed public house of some style. There is a wealth of original Victorian features including the only original Victorian bar remaining in the city. Deservedly there is a grade 2 listing. With accommodation available you can check out its own web site.

I am sure I have not covered your favourite alehouse, boozer, hostelry, local, watering-hole or call it what you will. If my omission is unwarranted then I am happy to add further pubs to this page or better still visit them for myself. Please comment below.

Photo by SFB579 CC

beer

On Yer Bike to Farndale Daffodil Valley

Posted by brian in Food and Drink | Yorkshire Dales | Yorkshire Trips and Places - (1 Comments)

Farndale, aka ‘Daffodil Valley’ by virtue of the ‘Lenten Lilies’ which carpet the valley floor in a sea of yellow each spring. The Daffodils, Narcissus pseudonarcissus, were probably brought to the valley and Douthwaitedale by 12th century Monks and got the old name Lenten Lily from the fact they normally bloom around Easter, a little later than most British Daffodils. If you are not worried by crowds then a weekend trip at the end of March or April will repay your perseverance. Because of the cold weather this year you may find a warmer and quieter time to visit will be mid-week mid-to late April.

Walking The Dove and Farndale

If you are not on your bike ‘Walking world’ has a range of interesting walks including Church houses in Farndale on this site. Wikipedia’s entry for Farndale must have been written by a southerner who dislikes moorland as ‘Farndale is surrounded by some of the most inhospitable moorland in England, and is sandwiched between Bransdale and Rosedale. …… Around the north of Farndale, is the track bed of the old Rosedale Ironstone Railway which forms part of two Long Distance Footpaths these being Wainwright’s Coast to Coast Walk and The Lyke Wake Walk’. Well they are right about walking so forgive and forget. There are many fine walks along the banks of the river Dove starting at the small hamlet of Low Mill where a nearby field is used to accommodate the hundreds of cars which arrive during the daffodil season.

Tea Rooms and Refreshments

Refreshments are available at the Daffy Caffy at High Mill and the Feversham Arms Inn at Church Houses. The “Daffy Caffy” cafe tearoom is situated on the well known daffodil walk in beautiful Farndale, North Yorkshire, England. The scenery and walking is quite magnificent, whether it be along the river or climbing up to Rudland Rigg on the North York Moors. In the hamlet of Church Houses, Farndale, the Feversham Arms ‘serves good food and beer for the passing walker’. Just up the road is St Mary’s Church a small moors village church built in 1831 and well worth a visit even when the Daffodils have gone.

Other Village Activities

Alt country bands, renown folk singers and even Yorkshire Countrywomens Associations use the Band Room in Farndale variously described as ‘England’s tiniest major venue,’ ‘The greatest small venue on Earth,’ and ‘a corrugated iron shed in the middle of nowhere.’ There is a big gig no 29th August 2010 the night before the 103rd Farndale Show staring Megafaun ( I will say that a bit louder). Built for the Farndale Silver Band in the 1920s this 100-capacity wooden building adds atmosphere to most performances if you can get a ticket.
Picking Daffodils is not an activity that can be pursued as Farndale is now a protected Nature Reserve. Leave the flowers for others to see and the seeds to reproduce naturally.

churches, tea, walking

Stalactite & Stalagmite at Stump Cross

Posted by brian in Our Yorkshire | Yorkshire Sport and Pastimes | Yorkshire Trips and Places - (0 Comments)

Remember the Difference between Stalactite & Stalagmite

A stalactite is named from the original Greek stalasso “to drip” and meaning “that which drips” (drips do not go up except in science fiction.)
A stalagmite also from the Greek stalagma is the “drop” or “drip” that ends up on the floor or running down the walls. (Sounds like a student flat)
You can remember the Greek derivation and work out which is which or you can recall the schoolboy incantation ‘As the tights come down, the mights go up!’ or another memory aid A stalactite – with a “C” – hangs from the “C”eiling in a cave system or cavern. A stalagmite – with a “G” is on the “G”round of a cave system or cavern.
Helictites are a delicate cave formation of calcium that changes its axis from the vertical at one or more stages during its growth creating a curving or angular form. Helictites have been described in several types, ribbon helictites, saws, rods, butterflies, “hands”, curly-fries, and “clumps of worms”.( I do not mind meeting Curly Fries but Clumps of Worms ugh!)

Stump Cross Caverns lie between Pateley Bridge and Grassington in Nidderdale. The limestone cave system at Stump Cross extends beyond the show caves which are open to the public to an overall length of approximately 4 miles. Many of the deeper caverns are only accessible to experienced cavers.(see below) In both areas there are numerous Stalactites and Stalagmites to inspire and damp corners to explore.

How the Caves Were Formed

The formation of Stump Cross Caverns began millions of years ago, when the area which is now the Yorkshire Dales was covered by oceans. Sediment from the ocean floor would eventually form limestone, the basic material from which the caves are made. The caves themselves began to form as the limestone was eroded by weak acid rain, created when carbon dioxide from the atmosphere mixed with the precipitation to form carbonic acid.
Many years ago, underground streams found their way into the cracks and began to expand the cave system as more rock was worn away. Once the streams had gone from the upper levels of the valley the cave system was left behind, and the mineral structures that are present today slowly began to form as water dripped through the caverns.

The caves at Stumps Cross were discovered in 1860 and have long been a visitors attraction. As I child I remember the’ butchers block’ a lump of stalagmite that was lit be a gruesome red glow. The impressive reindeer cavern was opened to the public in 2000 and development continues. The Stump Cross centre now includes a spacious tea rooms to cater for Patrons, who work up an appetite touring the caves, via a ‘Luxury Yorkshire Afternoon Tea’. Cave entry for the public is about £7 and more details and opening times are available here.

Caving as a Hobby

There is a list of Yorkshire Caving clubs and societies on the My Yorkshire web site. This may prove useful if you want to take up Potholing or caving as a retirement hobby but I think I will remain with my feet on the above ground. The Stalactite & Stalagmite formations have taken millennia to form and are very fragile so the British Caving Society produce guidelines on conservation access and protection.

I have no photographs as yet of the Stump cross formations so I have borrowed these American images from: Series: Ansel Adams Photographs of National Parks and Monuments, compiled 1941 – 1942, documenting the period ca. 1933 – 1942 Created By: Department of the Interior. National Park Service. Branch of Still and Motion Pictures. Photographer: Adams, Ansel, 1902-1984

locations, tea, Yorkshire Dales

Barry Cryer Support for Hernia Chronicles

Posted by brian in Books & Literary Work | Wit and Humour | Yorkshire Folk - (0 Comments)

Leeds born and educated, up to a point, Barry Cryer’s book now called The Chronicles of Hernia is a newly packaged comedy classic, first published in 1998 under the title ‘You Won’t Believe This But….’ Purchase from Amazon here
‘Still Alive’ is the name of his current touring show and it is worth making special effort to see Barry perform although he excels on valve radio where he is ‘the cats whiskers’.
Barry will be 75 this month and so I have picked out one or two lines with an ageist theme

“Stannah have got a new, faster stairlift. It gets you up the stairs before you’ve forgotten why you went.”

“Right now I’m having amnesia and deja vu at the same time. I think I’ve forgotten this before.”

From the new Uxbridge dictioery of alternative meanings for English words Platypus – to give your cat pigtails, Flemish – rather like snot, or Celtic -a prison for fleas.

If I go under a bus I don’t want any displays of loyalty.”

Barry the smoker gave an interview posted on Forces international:
‘There were two guys in the pub and one says, “I’ll see you tomorrow.” And the other one says, “No you won’t. I’ll see you a fortnight tomorrow, I’m going on holiday.” So the first one says, “Oh God, would you bring me back some cigarettes?” The other one says, “Course I will.” So they meet a fortnight later, and the guy’s got a big carton. So the man says, “Thank you very much. How much do I owe you?” And the other guy says, “Seventy-six quid.” The first man says, “Seventy-six quid! Where did you go?” And other guy says, “Bournemouth.” ‘

nostalgia

Tea Rooms to Visit on the Yorkshire Tea Council Trail

Posted by brian in Food and Drink | Our Yorkshire | Yorkshire Trips and Places - (2 Comments)

In 1919 Frederick Belmont opened his first Bettys Café Tea Rooms in the fashionable spa town of Harrogate. It seems like I was queuing from that date as the people snaked around the corner last weekend. There are six Bettys Café Tea Rooms to explore: the spa town of Harrogate has two branches one in the town centre and a second at the RHS garden at Harlow Carr. York has one in the square opposite St Helen’s and Little Bettys is just around the corner in Stonegate. You can also also find Bettys in the market towns of Northallerton and Ilkley.

The above logo from the Tea Guild has an Afternoon tea group that may interest those who like to pause in welcoming surroundings with a good cup of tea and a bite to eat. The Yorkshire locations include:

De Vere Oulton Hall – West Yorkshire

The George Hotel – Huddersfield

Swinton Park – North Yorkshire

Bagden Hall – West Yorkshire

Grinkle Park – North Yorkshire

Other Tea Council locations include Elizabeth Botham & Sons, plus Bullivant both of York and The Black Swan Hotel, Market Place, Helmsley. The Bridge Tea Rooms in Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire has been named as the winner of The Tea Guild’s prestigious Top Tea Place 2009 Award but that is not the Bradford Yorkshire where I have still to discover a true tea room but see Shipley’s earlier story.

The UK Tea Council’s “incognito” Tea Guild inspectors have taken tea in tearooms and country and city hotels across Britain, to find the finest tea experience. The anonymous judges award points in fifteen different categories which include the variety and excellence of the teas offered, efficiency and knowledge of service, décor, hygiene and cleanliness, ambience, presentation skills and most importantly the choice and quality of teas served. That seems like a fine job to have I wonder how much you have to pay them to go eating and drinking Teas?

Just a note on the Tockwith Tea Party where Betty’s of Fat Rascal fame sought to stop Fat Betty’s Cheese Nibbles from being made and sold. I understand the Cheese nibbles won but crumbs what a fuss.

dayout, tea