Barnsley Born and Bred

Posted by brian in Books & Literary Work | Villages, Towns and Cities - (0 Comments)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B001DURSD8/richardpettin-21

Markets were first established in Barnsley by Royal Charter in 1249. ( That is the year not nearly ten too one in the afternoon)  The current markets in the local areas provide ‘quality products at bargain prices’. Small and casual traders can take space for a reasonable cost.

Goldthorpe Market every Monday (second hand), Tuesday and Saturday
Hoyland Market every Tuesday and Saturday, Thursday (second hand),
Wombwell Market every Tuesday, Friday and Saturday
Penistone Market every Thursday
Barnsley Market Hall and Meat and Fish Markets every day except Thursday and Sunday,
Open Market Held every Tuesday (second hand and collectors), Wednesday, Friday and Saturday,
Car Boot Every Sunday 7:00am to 1:00pm

Tourism in Barnsley is still an unknown quantity with the Tourist Office closing on Saturday and Sunday but go figure. Still the greatest asset is the local people so go into Pub for a good listen if not chat. Alternatively see the links below for information on  local attractions.

Cannon_Hall_Museum_Park_and_Gardens

Elsecar_Heritage_Centre

Cooper_Gallery

Worsbrough_Mill_and_Country_Park

Book Cover

Brilliant Book on Barnsley Born and Bred Boys and Blokes  by Brian buyable by Barclaycard

Well I’ll go to t’foot of our stairs – we had a little dog we called Grieg after t’composer.
‘Did it like classical music or summat?’
‘No it used to pee agin t’suite’.

Facts About Sheffield

Posted by tejvan in Our Yorkshire | Villages, Towns and Cities - (1 Comments)

sheffield

Sheffield by Bramapp

Sheffield ‘the city of steel’ has undergone profound change since its iconic steel industry closed down in the 70s and 80s (as well as coal mine closures).

 

  • The name Sheffield is derived from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city.
  • Historically Sheffield is part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and is now part of South Yorkshire.
  • The population of the City of Sheffield is 555,500 (2010 est.) and it is one of the eight largest regional English cities.
  • In the Nineteenth Century, Sheffield gained reputation for being premier producer of steel. It made key innovations in the development of stainless steel. This was used in a variety of tools and cutlery and became very popular. This growth of the steel industry made Sheffield a key player in the industrial revolution.
  • After much regeneration, the Sheffield economy is said to be worth £9.2 billion in 2007 (2007 GVA)
  • Sheffield has two universities – Sheffield University and Sheffield Hallam University.

Sheffield Cooling Towers (HDR)

Sheffield Cooling Towers. The two towers were destroyed in a controlled explosion in 2008. (BBC link) There were part of the former  Blackburn Meadows power station and they were situation close to the viaduct on the M1.

10 Interesting Facts About Sheffield

  1. Sheffield has the highest ratio of trees to people of any city in Europe. 2.5 million trees.
  2. As early as the fourteenth century, Sheffield was known as a place for the production of knives. It was even mentioned in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales.
  3. In 1991, Sheffield hosted the World Student Games at the new Don Valley Stadium and Sheffield Arena
  4. In the 1980s, it was often called ‘The Socialist Republic of South Yorkshire’ because of its strong left wing politics.
  5. The Sheffield District of Hallam was said to the wealthiest part of the UK, outside London, in a 2004 report by Barclays bank.
  6. Sheffield is known as a ‘green city’ It provides much energy from incinerating waste.
  7. Sheffield boasts the world’s oldest football club – Sheffield F.C. It was formed in 1857, mainly by a group of cricketers.  Sheffield F.C. won the F.A. Amateur cup in 1904.
  8. Sheffield Wednesday  is one of the oldest professional football clubs in the world, and the fourth oldest in the English leagues.
  9. Sheffield Crucible Theatre stages the annual World Snooker Tournament
  10. The Sheffield Ski Village is Europe’s largest outdoor artificial ski resort

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Otley Recognises Our Diamond Queen

Posted by brian in Villages, Towns and Cities - (0 Comments)

Glen Folk

A celebration of the written and spoken word will take the form of a competition on the theme of Diamonds to recognise ‘The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee’ in Otley, West Yorkshire.
The closing date for entries is 20th January 2012 so get your poems or short stories in to good order. ‘To take part in the free-to-enter competition, all you have to do is polish up your writing skills by entering a short story of up to 600 words or a poem of up to 60 lines on the theme of ‘Diamond’. Diamonds are renowned for their brilliance and rarity, but you don’t just have to stick to the jewel, any interpretation of the word and its associations is fine.’
Adult winners will receive two free tickets to the ‘Grand Opening Feast of Creative Writing’ on March 9th plus a mystery gift and an opportunity to read their winning work. Younger winners will receive Amazon gift vouchers from the Otley town mayor.

Otley Creative Writing Word Feast

The Word Feast will be a weekend series of events in March and Grand Opening Feast is planned for Korks wine bar on Friday the 9th March 2012 with lots of other events over the weekend.
Come to Wetherspoon’s at The Bowling Green to discuss how you get from the blank page to the finished manuscript or poem. Local writers will be starting off the discussion.
On the poetry front Pat Borthwick ‘will use a variety of starting points to inspire ‘sensational’ new writing. There will be published poems available as models and the session will include some quiet time to develop one or two of your starting points further. The last hour will be set aside for readback/feedback time so that your poem gets its first public airing. Constructive comments will be encouraged so that writers take home from the workshop ideas for ways to further improve their poems’.
That is not all with events to suit all ages and skill levels.

Other Otley Events and Activities

Besides this inaugural writing festival Otley hosts a very popular Walking Festival, Agricultural Show, Carnival, Cycle Races, Street Festival, Vintage Transport Extravaganza, Folk Festival including a ‘poems and pints’ event, Beer Festival, Science Festival and Victorian Christmas Fayre.
Keep an eye on Otley as a lively community is always bringing new ideas to locals and visitors.

otley show hostas 025

Other Contacts

Otley Courthouse
Otley Word Feast
Otley Town web site
Otley Film Society

Rights of Way – Rights of Bradfordians

Posted by brian in Villages, Towns and Cities - (0 Comments)

bradford garden

Should this be called West Field or Bradford Folly Foot in mouth?
Without a better name ‘Temporary Park’ will have to do!

bradford1 022

It peeved lots of Braford citizens when Forster Square was decimated and the rights of way along Broadway were hacked around to suit the councils remodeling plans. Planning was approved over 8 years ago.
It is a bit rich telling us that making the eyesore slightly less ugly is not creating a new right of way.

I guess a right of way is the last thing Bradford folk want and if the council need more feed back then they should first act on what they have already been told. Councillors could reflect in the City Hall lake for example.
The next local elections is likely to demonstrate a total lack of belief in the council.

Clock that

See the internal photographs of the New Vic or Gaumont before 3 more years of abject neglect.

Walks Around Ilkley

Posted by brian in Villages, Towns and Cities | Yorkshire Trips and Places - (3 Comments)

Holiday in Ilkley like the Victorians used to do using Shanks’s Pony. You do not have to walk all of the Dales Way to have a good holiday with fresh air and exercise. The River Wharfe runs through the town and you can follow it down stream to Denton and Ben Rhydding or up stream on the reasonably flat walks to Addingham.  Before tackling the Moors themselves there are several more challenging walks on the rivers northern shore to Beamsley Beacon or Mount Calvary and Middleton Woods.

The moors have two main routes running north to south. From the town centre you can go straoight up and across to Dick Hudsons and on over Baildon moor to Shipley. The other route heads south west up the track towards Keighley old road. The heather moors are precious resourses and walkers are encouraged to stick to the main pathways.

On the moor there are many features to visit such as White Wells, Cow and Calf Rocks and the Tarn or Hebers Ghyll and the Swastika Stone. Simple directions for the famous walk across the moor to Dick Hudsons   (with acknowledgement to Ilkley.org) Leave the centre of Ilkley up Wells Road to the cattle grid, then aim up the hillside to White Wells. Take the path to the rear of the buildings towards Ilkley Crags and up the steps to a cairn at the top. Go forward along a broad track, partly a board walk and often a bit boggy, past the boundary stone of Lanshaw Lad and the Twelve Apostles stone circle. Ahead is Baildon Moor with Otley Chevin to the left and Almscliff Crag in the distance. Cross a wall by a stile and continue to a rough walled track down leading to the road and Dick Hudsons, the renown watering hole and foody pub.

When you are worn out from walking you may find a show at The Kings Hall or Ilkley Playhouse.  Alternatively read  ‘On Ilkley Moor’ by Tom Balding whilst you are on Ilkley Moor or sat in the bar at the Cow and Calf hotel.

Read about views on top of Ilkley
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Beverley Facts Interesting & Unusual

Posted by brian in Villages, Towns and Cities | Yorkshire Facts - Interesting and Unusual - (0 Comments)

Beverley Minster

History of Beverley

  • St John of Beverley built the Minster during the late 600′s as a site for pilgrims.
  • Further pilgrimages from Europe began after the establishment of Franciscan and Dominican religious locations.
  • Beverley opposed Henry VIII during the ‘Pilgrimage of Grace’ – the pro Catholic rebellion. The religious establishments were still closed but not decimated.
  • Beverley has stood independent of near by Hull and since the Middle Ages has had a flourishing trades guilds originally based on wool.
  • As the capital of the East Riding of Yorkshire, Beverley prospered in the eighteenth century and many Georgian buildings remain.

Beverley

Retail in Beverley

  • Beverley Friary YHA, shown above, is located in a restored historic friary that dates from the 1330s. The building has lots of character with a history room with an exhibition on the building’s history as well as the oldest wall paintings in Yorkshire.’
  • Wednesday market is a triangular square with restaurants pubs and shops plus some stalls selling fruit and veg.
  • Butchers row is a main shopping area
  • ‘Toll Gavel’ leads off Butchers Row and up to Saturday Market that would be square but for the former Corn Exchange.
  • ‘Nellies’ or the White Horse Inn is a Sam Smiths16th century hostelry.
    Myth or not but it is said Lewis Carroll noticed the 18ins high carved stone figure of a rabbit that serves as a corbel at one side of a stone archway in the historic St Mary’s Church. There is a White Rabbit shop on Dyers Lane and Beverley is quite an Alice in Wonderland.
  • A milliners and hat shop survives due to mad hatters at the racing and good marketing. It is called the Beverley Hat Company.

Beverley Minster Door

Interesting and Unusual Facts

  • Beverley is known for hosting various music festivals throughout the year including June Folk Festival and an Early music festival.
  • There are often food festivals and events in town or on the Westwood.
  • Affordable affluence voted Beverley the best place in England to live.
  • The Guildhall is only open on a Friday.
  • Beverley is located between the River Hull and the common land of  Westwood about 6 miles from Hull.
  • Beverley Grammar school is the oldest in England.The Beverley Building Society was founded in 1866 and is one of the UK’s oldest established societies.
  • ‘Ode to Joy Beverley’ is not by Beethoven or anything to do with Beverley but is a lampoon written by Les Barker on one of the Beverley Sisters.

Beverley Tardis

Beverley Racecourse

  • Beverley probably had a permanent race track as far back as 1690.
  • The first grandstand was built in 1767
  • The mile and a half circuit located on the historic Westwood is ideal for the flat racing.
  • The Aunt Bessie’s Yorkshire Pudding Handicap Stakes will take place at the evening meeting on 1st July 2011

Beverley

Hospitals and Hospitallers

  • In the early 13th century the Knights Hospitallers came to Beverley
  • The mayor and aldermen built a hospital in 1740 endowed with money from Ann Routh and Chris Moor for the maintenance of 12 poor church going widows.
  • Wharton’s hospital was endowed before 1712

Beverley

Beverley hospital

Ann Routh’s Hospital.

Related

Timeline for Beverley History

Beverley Church of St Mary’s

Folk Festival Abroad

Skipton Facts Interesting & Unusual

Posted by brian in Villages, Towns and Cities | Yorkshire Facts - Interesting and Unusual - (0 Comments)

Sheer bliss

History

  • Skipton is Anglo Saxon for Sheep Town. There is still a Sheep Street and an aptly named pub on it called The Wooly Sheep Inn.
  • Full sized, ornamental, painted sheep are used to promote events around the town. Sheep day is held on the last Sunday in July.
  • Skipton Castle is a well preserved Norman castle built around 1090 and given to the Clifford family in 1310. (That is the year not the time on a 24 hour clock)
  • The castle was a Royalist stronghold until falling to Oliver Cromwell in 1645. It and the Clifford family took an active part in the War of the Roses.

Places of Interest

  • Holy Trinity Church contains a monument to Earls of Cumberland from the 1540′s.
  • Skipton Auction Mart doubles as an entertainment centre with a variety of literary and artistic works being performed in the parade ring and pens. ( Aromas are provided free).
  • Craven district has based its Museum and Gallery in Skipton.
  • Leeds Liverpool canal runs through Skipton and there are many pleasures to be found on and around the water. The Viking cruiser below must have escaped from York!
  • Skipton has a train station connecting to Leeds, Bradford, Lancaster and the Settle to Carlisle line but a steam railway at nearby Embsay that runs to Bolton Abbey.

Viking Cruiser

Retail Action

  • There are markets in the wide high street on a Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. Stalls on both sides of the road can get busy with visiting shoppers.
  • Copper Dragon Brewery has a visitors centre that you won’t wish to leave, unless it is to visit one of the many Skipton pubs selling these great brews.
  • The small retailers need all the support they can get to remain viable. Buy local or on your visit to Skipton. Charity shops are creeping into the high street as they are with many market towns.
  • Skipton is not surprisingly the home of the Skipton Building Society but 4 miles away is also the home of the Ecological Building Society.

skipton Building Society

Eating in Skipton

  • There are numerous cafes and ice cream parlours. Photos of some are shown at the end.
  • Restaurants and hotels have short pithy names like Rhubarb, Rendezvous Le Caveau and The Baby Swan
  • Pub food is available near the canal or you can even get an Ice Cream on the canal itself

Ice Cream Floats

Famous People

  • Iain Macleod a former Chancellor of the Exchequer was born in Skipton
  • Thomas Spencer, the co-founder of Marks & Spencer, was born in Queen’s Court, Skipton in 1858.
  • Not bad for a town with a polulation of around 15,000 at the last census

Related
Skipton for Boating

Skipton’s Other Building Society

Skipton Weather

Cafe Society

Fat Boys
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Pronounce on Keighley

Posted by brian in Villages, Towns and Cities | Wit and Humour - (1 Comments)

Keighley

What can you say about a town who’s tourist brochure is called ‘See Keighley in 45 Minutes’.
Well it covers 26 town centre sites but I get ahead of myself.

How do you say Keighley

  • Pronunciation is not a strong point for many off cumdens
  • Keighley must rank as one of Yorkshires most erroneously pronounce place names
  • Say after me ‘Keeth Lea’ pronounces Keighley
  • A confused American was discussing pronunciation with a local over breakfast….’ now chap can you tell me how to say where we are, but say it very slowly so I can remember the pronunciation’ and the local says ‘B..U..R..G..E..R K..I..N..G’
>Keighley In History
  • The town is at the meeting point of two important rivers The Worth and The Aire and hence it is in Airedale.
  • The name means farm in a clearing and Keighley was included in the Doomsday Book as an area under cultivation of about 700 acres. It was recorded under the spelling Cichhelai
  • East Riddlesden Hall was built around 1650 but also contains a priest hole from a century earlier and a large medieval tithebarn. It is now open to the public by the National Trust.
  • Cliffe Castle is a Victorian, neo-Gothic edifice that now contains a museum. The building is set in a park with views across the Airevalley towards Ilkley and Steeton
  • Much of the towns wealth over the centuries has derived from wool and the textile trade. Until recently it was a major center for textile machinery.
  • The well maintained and renovated Steam Railway, ‘Keighley and Worth Valley Railway’ starts or finishes in Keighley and runs to Oxenhope via Ingrow and Haworth.

Modern Keighley

  • Keighley was the setting for the film Blow Dry starring Josh Hartnett, Warren Clarke, Alan Rickman, and Bill Nighy. Blow Dry opens with the announcement that the small town of Keighley will host the year 2000 British Hair Championships.
  • When researching this article I intended focusing on the local pop concert called ‘Aire Do’. Now I wonder if the film provided the inspiration for the title of Keighley’s Glastonbury tribute. Talking of tributes two of the bands appearing in 2011 are ‘Quo Incidence’ and Stayed as Quo. Next year visitors may be Bogus Quo, Taste of Quo,  or Shameless Quo.

Keighley

Keighley Town Center organised the 45 minute brochure which is actually about a decent strolling route around the town. I popped into a coffee shop half way round but should have visited one of the many pubs selling local Timothy Taylors beer. If it is good enough for Yorkshire folk it is good enough for Madonna.

For the views of others read You’re welcome to Keighley

Scarborough Facts Interesting and Unusual

Posted by brian in Villages, Towns and Cities | Yorkshire Facts - Interesting and Unusual - (0 Comments)

Scarborough

Scarborough Castle Facts

  • The castle is managed and maintained by English Heritage.
  • This natural fortress was used by prehistoric settlers, Romans and the castle built for King Stephen in 1136
  • During the civil war the castle was under siege for 12 months and then taken by the parliamentary army. There are some stone cannon balls on display at the castle.
  • In 1914 German warships shelled the castle Keep and curtain walls and in the town 19 people were killed.
  • St Mary’s Chapel (below) is on the edge of the headland and was built around 1000 AD. It needed rebuilding in the 12th and 14th centuries

Scarborough

Scarborough Facts

  • Scarborough is blessed with two sandy bays in the blue flagged north beach and south bay.
  • In 1829 Anne Bronte died and was buried in Scarborough.
  • There are blue plaques around the town including ones celebrating Anne Bronte, Wilfred Owen the poet and the birth place of Charles Laughton the actor amongst others.
  • It surprised me that the Conservative club hosts regular bingo sessions, do they shout government instead of house when there is a winner.
  • The Spa has been refurbished at a cost of £6.5million and reopened in May 2011 with a performance by the Bolshoi Symphony Orchestra.

bempton scarborough

A view of South bay, St Mary’s, the Town and the Castle on the Headland.

Scarborough

Childern’s Facts

  • Kids are well catered for. There are numerous amusements, rock stalls and fish and chip suppers available.
  • Based at the Rotunda there is a Dino club and Plesiosaur Party events. Dinosaur Coast fun days happen along the fossil coast.
  • Dad can go watch county cricket on North Marine Road.
  • The 100 year old Peasholm Park has a boating lake and you can hire boats including ones designed as swans to enjoy the water.
  • The lake is used for many Naval Warfare Shows during summer.

Scarborough

Doctor Who visited Scarborough in years to come.
Below is a picture of another Scarborough time traveler.

bempton scarborough
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Goldthorpe a Gory Glimpse

Posted by brian in Villages, Towns and Cities - (0 Comments)

Regeneration has not worked particularly well for Goldthorpe in the South Yorkshire coal mining area.
Shops are boarded up and the market of up to 64 stalls the means of buying cheap food and clothing has had regeneration plans cut.

Goldthorpe - backs. Easter 1968

A village recorded in the doomsday book, Goldthorpe was a medieval farming area in the Dearn Valley. In 1988 it got a railway station but lost the coal mine that had helped the village to grow to 7000 people.

The Barnsley council ‘Goldthorpe Masterplan’ was approved in January 2009 to address:
• Poor quality housing
• New housing that is becoming isolated from the existing settlement
• Poor condition of the existing school
• An underused main shopping area, and a popular but poorly located market

But little was done when funds were available and now cash is tight action seems to have stopped all together. All the talking and quango involvement has done nowt. What a shame the hot air and cash wasted wasn’t better directed into action!

Goldthorpe: Queen Street Sunday morning. Easter 1968

Sources
‘Goldthorpe: Queen Street Sunday morning. Easter 1968

This one features the air pollution which struck me when I visited the area for the first time that same Easter. Of course these days the air is crystal clear. No mines, no jobs, no air pollution!
My mother-in-law told me how her mother-in-law (Edgar’s mother) on a visit to their new home on the Hampshire coast said: “You don’t wash your curtains very often, do you Sheila?” Apart from not being exactly the way to endear yourself to your daughter- in-law, this highlighted the extent to which the struggle to keep the home clean in the coalfield just didn’t pose the same problem down South.
Note that by 1968 at least one family in Queen Street had a car to wash of a Sunday morning, and everyone appears to have a telly.
I think that during his Easter 1968 trip to Yorkshire Edgar must have been consciously trying to record the place, time and people with a few quality shots.
From by florriebassingbourn, on Flickr under Creative Commons (above)
Goldthorpe – backs also from florriebassingbourn, on Flickr shot by Edgar (top)
Thanks, the photographs are evocative of another era.
Big Issue North
Exterior picture of Goldthorpe Church by Dearnsman
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