Barden and Burnsall Bridges

barden-bridge

“Barden Bridge by Andrew and Annemarie CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

 

Barden Bridge

  • Approach Barden Towers from Appletreewick on the riverside path and the first thing you see is a graceful stone bridge of three segmental arches. The massive pointed cutwaters provide niches in the parapets.
  • The bridge is humpbacked and quite narrow at around 10 feet.
  • Whilst the first recorded bridge existed in the 14th century it was probably not the first.
  • In 1659 £300 was spent on the bridge but by 1673 it was washed away in a ‘great inundation of water’. A tablet on the approach wall records ‘This bridge was repayred at the charge of the whole west riding 1676’.
  • New parapets were placed in situ in 1856 and again in 1956 after heavy flooding.
  • Walkers can stand in the niches and admire the flowing Wharfe as it gurgles under the bridge towards Bolton Abbey, Ilkley and beyond.

It is said the bridge was crossed by William Craven a local farmers son who went on to be mayor of London.

Barden Bridge

“Barden Bridge by david_pics CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Burnsall Bridge

burnsall-view-winter

Burnsall Bridge. Photo Tejvan

  • Burnasll bridge is one of the most photographed bridges in the Yorkshire Dales and I make no apology for the photo below.
  • Returning to William Craven who left the dale, was apprenticed to a London mercer and became mayor of London in 1611. From his newly created wealth he endowed Burnsall Grammar School, restored the church and bore the cost of rebuilding the bridge.
  • “a good bridge and all paved” was a description of Burnsall bridge in 1752 which again needed rebuilding in 1884 following severe flood damage.
  • There are three segmental arches with small side arches and triangular section cutwaters which create pedestrian retreats.
  • This bridge carries now significantly more traffic than Barden bridge.
18 Burnsall Bridge

18 Burnsall Bridge by voithite CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Photo Burnsall Bridge Autumn

burnsall-autumn-1000

Burnsall Bridge Sumer

bursnall-bridge-summer

Credits

 

Related

Posted in Photos, Yorkshire History and Heritage | Tagged | Comments Off on Barden and Burnsall Bridges

Ampleforth Church, Abbey and Stained Glass

Ampleforth Abbey & Church
Ampleforth village is home to an abbey, college, school and the parish church.
The Saxon church of St Hilda at Ampleforth is believed to contain Medieval stained glass windows. Certainly the C.of E. church dates back to 1390 although the stained glass is said by some to be of a more modern design.

Ampleforth Gnadenstuhl

The Benedictine monastery or abbey and its church of Our Lady and St Laurence contains modern stained glass created by Patrick Reyntiens a former pupil of the catholic school.
‘The Lady Chapel is now a very intimate, reflective place in contrast to the Abbey Church which has very plain windows.’ see more from Christina White and the Catholic Herald

The Lamb is our Light

Reyntiens Family – Stained Glass Artists

Patrick Reyntiens is a former pupil of Ampleforth College. Patrick is a worldwide figure known for hand-painted stained glass that he has been designing and making work for over 50 years.
He is renown for his work in Churches and Cathedrals in the UK and Internationally. This includes the Baptistery Window of Coventry Cathedral where he collaborated with John Piper. His other famous works include windows at Liverpool’s Catholic Cathedral of Christ the King.
For Ampleforth he designed the new windows with his son, John, also an accomplished stained glass craftsman.
John Reyntiens designed and replaced many of the windows at St George’s Chapel Windsor after the destructive fire of 1992.

Stained Glass Windows

Ampleforth Abbey is only 1 mile away from the village. You can discover the Abbey as visitors are encouraged to attend church services or visit the grounds, lakes and woodlands. In these modern times there is now tea rooms, a shop and a visitors centre. You can even play a round of golf on the Monks course.

Our Lady and St Benedict’s church is served by the monks of Ampleforth and has been the parish church for the village’s Catholic population for many decades, often being considered a chapel-of-ease to the farmers of the area. Attached to the Roman Catholic parish is the co-educational primary school, St Benedict’s, which is run by the Diocese of Middlesbrough.

Footnote
The Church of England parish church is dedicated to St Hilda, an English abbess who founded Whitby Abbey. The church dates back to Saxon times, with elements from the 13th century. Attached to the church is a primary school run jointly by the Church of England and the North Yorkshire County Council Education service.

Credits
Ampleforth Abbey & Church by Lawrence OP Completed in 1898, the Benedictine monastery of Ampleforth with its church which dates to 1925.
“Let the oratory be what it is called, a place of prayer;
and let nothing else be done there or kept there.
When the Work of God is ended,
let all go out in perfect silence,
and let reverence for God be observed…”
– from the Rule of St Benedict.
Ampleforth Gnadenstuhl also by Lawrence OP
The Lamb is our Light by Lawrence OP all CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Stained Glass Windows by Jo Jakeman CC BY 2.0

Patricia Rogers’ weblog on Stained Glass

Book Cover
A Stained-glass Christmas by Patrick Reyntiens tells the Christmas story illustrated with a collection of stained-glass images dating from the 12th to 15th centuries. Each is reproduced as an acetate window which can be used as a christmas decoration.

Posted in Yorkshire Arts & Music, Yorkshire History and Heritage | Comments Off on Ampleforth Church, Abbey and Stained Glass

Trust Your Arboretum in York

Castle Howard arboretum. Autumn!

The Arboretum Trust is a joint venture charity between Kew Gardens and Castle Howard.
Set in 150 acres of fine Yorkshire landscape of tranquility and beauty, the arboretum is tucked away in the Howardian Hills. It is 15 miles north east of York just off the A64 and whilst opened to the public for only 13 years it has been a long time in the growing.

Where do the Trusts Trees Come From?

1. The earliest trees of rare and interesting subjects are either historically important, original introductions or propagated by cuttings or grafting from such plants. The site was first surveyed in 1563!
“In the first decades of the eighteenth century, it was a highly praised and very early example of a woodland garden, predating the English taste for the Picturesque by almost a generation. In 1710, it was described by Thomas Player as “a most natural wood, cut through with winding paths and decorated with summer houses, cascades and statuary……”

2. There are the many attractive plants that have benefited from the expertise at Kew such as the acid loving plants like the Red Maple, Acer rubrum ‘October Glory’. These trees look particularly pleasing and colourful in autumn.

3. The majority of trees have been raised from seed originally collected on numerous expeditions. They have been augmented by the Kew, Howick, Sunningdale and Wakehurst nurseries.

Arboretum

All of the collection including over 800 rhododendrons are documented on a detailed Plant Records Database. Like a similar list from Thorpe Perrow this document contains a vast amount of information for each individual plant.

Wild life benefit from the environment of mature and developing trees. There are thousands of butterflies, dragonflies and small mammals to look out for. Around the lakes are many species of birds that can also be watched from a special observatory.

Read more about competitive gardening in Yorkshire

Credits
Castle Howard arboretum. Autumn! by Philip Ed CC BY-NC 2.0
Arboretum by James Laing CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
The Arboretum Trust Kew at Castle Howard Patron: HRH, The Prince of Wales Link

Posted in Yorkshire Trips and Places | Comments Off on Trust Your Arboretum in York

Keep Yorkshire Tidy Very Very Tidy

Bin & done

Rubbish belongs in a bin not on a beauty spot or road side. Our local railway station has lots of these see-through litter bins but mainline stations like Leeds seem to have opted out of litter measures.

Fly-tipping is the ‘illegal deposit of any waste onto land or a highway that has no licence to accept it.’ Illegal dumps of waste can vary in scale and the type of waste involved. Conviction for fly-tipping crimes can lead to significant penalties under The Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005.

Litter according to Keep Britain Tidy is ‘waste in the wrong place caused by a human agency’ but what this really means is that litter is caused be people. Put simply it is people dropping their waste in our parks, on our beaches, on our streets and in all our public places that creates the problem of litter in our communities. Littering from moving cars is a dangerous and unnecessary activity. The average fine is around £100 although a magistrates’ court can impose a fine of up to £2,500.

With dog fouling it is the the responsibility of the dog owner or the person in charge of the dog to clear up any dog foul left by their dog. If you fail to clean up after your dog you can be issued with a Fixed Penalty Notice, or if the case goes to court a fine of up to £1000.00.

Fly-posting is difficult and expensive to remove and can create a feeling of unease and fear. It costs council tax payers thousands of pounds a year to remove fly-posting which is defined as ‘the display of advertising on buildings and street furniture without the consent of the owner’.

Wish You Were Here

Blue Flag Beaches in Yorkshire 2012
Bridlington North Beach
Hornsea
Scarborough North Bay
Whitby West Cliff
Withernsea
Sadly Filey missed out this year on the Blue Flag awards given to coastal destinations with the highest standards of water quality, cleanliness, safety, and environmental management.

Leeds Liverpool Canal Shipley
Canal Litter

The Love Your River campaign backed by Defra, the National Trust, the Environment Agency, the Wildlife Trusts, Keep Britain Tidy and Water Companies will promote the value and benefits of rivers to everyday life. Yorkshire has some of tthe best and cleanest rivers in the UK so lets keep them pristine.
Let’s not have anymore oil spills ‘About 5,000 gallons of diesel, worth thousands of pounds, leaked into the River Aire in Leeds on Saturday night. The Environment Agency said the oil had covered an eight mile stretch from bank to bank between Leeds and Castleford.’ more from BBC

Posted in Our Yorkshire | Comments Off on Keep Yorkshire Tidy Very Very Tidy

Buy a Bit of Yorkshire

Yorkshire Flag

The Yorkshire Mafia Conference returns to The Royal Armouries for 2013 as ‘Buy Yorkshire’.
This is said to be ‘the best B2B conference and exhibition in the North of England’.

Yorkshire’s National Conference 2013 will be pushing the boundaries a bit further by adding some killer workshops, a very cool conference, an app that brings social media right into the very heart of Yorkshire business, plus some more surprises along the way.

Buy Yorkshire 2013 is without doubt an event of national standing and it is held right here in Yorkshire to celebrate all that is good about buying Yorkshire products and services. Do your bit for Yorkshire by doing business in, from and with Yorkshire, regionally, nationally and internationally.

Key Bits Stats

– 2 days, 2 halls

– 170 exhibitors

– the best brands

– the wealthiest self made business people

– a very cool conference app

To grab a piece of the action and buy a bit of Yorkshire check out this link or contact the Yorkshire mafia.

According to Richard Tyler in the Daily Telegraph ‘An online support network is adding muscle to companies doing business in the county. Yorkshire wit and whippets are the unlikely magic ingredients behind the latest business networking phenomenon to emerge on these shores. If Facebook is cool, then the “Yorkshire Mafia” is downright dangerous…’ read more

Posted in Yorkshire Business and Money | Comments Off on Buy a Bit of Yorkshire

Tyke the Dog not a Real Tyke

20120725_112104-2.jpg
Who would call a dog Tyke? Well an expat Yorkshire man living in one of the colonies may be tempted. Anyway this Canadian photo was the first to be found on a web search for Tyke.
In Arnold Kellett’s book ‘The Yorkshire Dictionary’ he claims a tyke is another word for a dog or cur especially a small mongrel terrier used for catching rats. A possible derivation of the nickname comes from the ‘sight of a Yorkshireman owning such a dog, the nickname was commonly applied to anyone born and bred here.’
A youngster is often referred to a ‘little tyke’ in a term of tolerant affection.

London Irish v Leeds Tykes, 15-Apr-2006
Leeds Carnegie RUFC has a long heritage stretching as far back to 1878 and the formation of Headingley FC. They merged with Roundhay RUFC to form Leeds RUFC and then from 1998 to 2007 they were called Leeds Tykes.
Why they need to be named after Leeds Met’s Carnegie School of Sport – still our money counts – maybe?

Michael Jackson - Thriller

No Michael Jackson was not a real closet tyke. This is a graffiti art work by American artists Tyke Witnes & Ewok

Other Real Tykes

‘Tykes’ is a quarterly magazine about folk music, song and dance. It covers Yorkshire and surrounds, and is read by people as far afield as the US and Australia; even by one or two in Lancashire!
Not only that but Barnsley FC are called the Tykes and their fans are ‘Tyke Mad’
A shame angling is not a paralympic sport or Yorkshire could expect loads more gold medals from members of ‘Yorkshire Tykes Disabled Angling Association DAA’

Photo Credits
“20120725_112104-2.jpg by Roger Hiscocks CC BY-NC 2.0
London Irish v Leeds Tykes, 15-Apr-2006 by Richard Carter CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
Michael Jackson – Thriller by anarchosyn CC BY-SA 2.0

Posted in Our Yorkshire, Photos | Comments Off on Tyke the Dog not a Real Tyke

Triathlon for All in Yorkshire

Honolulu Triathalon 2008

Swimming is the first of the 3 events in the Triathlon. For the Olympic triathlon, the swim section is 1.5km about 0.93 mile. This is followed immediately by a 40km or 25 mile bike ride at a frenetic pace. The last section is the 10km 6.25 mile run and all three are completed in around 1hour 45 minutes.

This weekend’s World Championship win in Hyde Park London sends the Yorkshireman Alistair Brownlee to the top of the world rankings. “I can’t believe it. It was tough”, said Brownlee from Leeds, after his performance. It’s great to win at home but it is on to Australia for the final of this years World Championship series. Let us hope a Yorkshire man is crowned World Champion and that he goes on to win a gold medal at the 2012 Olympics. Alistair is only 21 and it must be a young mans game as his younger brother Johnathon also competed at Hyde Park and is ranked 49th in the world.

A shorter approved Triathlon the ‘Sprint version’ is a good way to get into the sport. Many events are organised for charity purposes and it is also a good way to get fit. The sprint triathlon involves a 0.75km (0.46 mile) swim, a 22km (13.75 mile) bike ride and a 5km (3.12 mile) run. Try a local event if you think you can finish or want a challenge, a pdf of some events in Yorkshire can be found here.

There is a World Kids Triathlon in Yokohama at the end of the month. I doubt I could beat any of the entrants even over the short distances of Swim: 100m, Bike: 5km, Run: 1km . The distances double depending on age. At the other end of the scale is the Ironman competition which involves a 3.84 km (2.4 mile) swim, a 179.2 km (112 mile) cycle and a 41.6km (26 mile) run so I am off to get in training ( for the sitting, snoozing and sleeping triazzzzzzzz.)

Honolulu Triathalon 2008 by rcastag CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Posted in Yorkshire Sport and Pastimes | Comments Off on Triathlon for All in Yorkshire

Breeze from a Charity Book Shop

Ian Oliver is a Yorkshire born writer who now lives in Haworth.

In a book I bought from a charity shop Ian has produced a light entertainment with his book ‘Breeze’. Unfortunately it is a romp with none of the detailed observation and character building demonstrated by other famous authors who hailed from Haworth 

As the blurb would have it :- ‘Bobby and Ryan are a couple of young chancers from Manchester who decide the only way to get away from their hum drum lives is to rob a local villain by the name of Jack Roberts of his ill gotten gains. When things don’t go as smoothly as planned they are forced to skip the country pretty fast. They soon set up a new life for themselves in sunny Spain, but the past has a habit of catching up with them. So their dream of a peaceful life in the sun is beginning to look a little hard to achieve. Every time they get past one obstacle another one seems to be waiting for them…..’

Reviewers were left wanting more as the book is quite short at 192 pages of an open font. Still that must be a good sign as Ian is preparing further crime exploits from the duo. One quote is worth repeating to give you a flavour of the setting ‘ very true to life and for readers who have been to Benidorm I’m sure they may have met similar characters’.

I could only find a kindle version at amazon, so I will keep and prize my charity 1st edition copy in case Ian Oliver becomes a world best selling author in the future.

Posted in Books Club & Literary Work | Comments Off on Breeze from a Charity Book Shop

The Yorkshire Dales Mystery Series – A5

An academic background in forensic studies and archaeological investigations with a family home in Swaledale has provided Susan Parry with inspiration for The Yorkshire Dales Mystery Series.
The Corpse Way is the first in a series of mystery books that already has five titles. Set in some fantastic countryside with an easy going style the books are not hard to read nor the plots too complex to follow.

Book Cover
Corpse Way by Susan Parry

Preface ‘The Corpse Way’ A Yorkshire Dales Mystery

‘A quiet summer holiday in the picturesque Yorkshire Dales was just what Millie needed. No excitement, fresh air and huge helpings of her Grandmother’s home cooking.
But Millie is drawn into an intriguing mystery that surrounds the isolated shooting lodge on the moor, the Dutchman who rents it and the sudden death of two residents in the village. Convinced that Lizzie Banford did not die of natural causes, Millie sets about finding the truth.
Set in the lead mining area of peaceful Swaledale, this is the first in the series of Yorkshire dales Mysteries.’

The pace is fairly slow with the story concentrating more on developing characters for future books. The star is the Yorkshire countryside.

Yorkshire God’s Own County Book Club Opinion

One percent inspiration and ninety nine percent perspiration should be the formula for a good read.
Just a shame some perspiration was missing from the publishers or proof readers who have allowed some minor errors to creep in to the text. (A bit like this post you might think.)
Probably a book best left for pleasure reading rather than as a feature for your readers book club.
I am not keen to recommend the books on my initial exposure therefore I have not provided amazon links for this series although you can use our Yorkshire at Amazon button if you wish.

Footnotes


Other Books in the Series

Death Cart (The Yorkshire Dales Mystery Series)
Corpse Way (The Yorkshire Dales Mystery Series)
Grave Hand (The Yorkshire Dales Mystery Series)
Craven Scar (The Yorkshire Dales Mystery Series)
I think these are good ‘pithy’ titles and may be I should give the books a second chance.

Posted in Books Club & Literary Work | Comments Off on The Yorkshire Dales Mystery Series – A5

Rombalds Revels 2009

Olicana History Society and Friends of the Manor House are currently running a ‘Rombalds Revels’ event. With roots in the Middle Ages the theme will include music, street circus and dance with a big event on August 22nd 2009. Medieval music by Steven Tyler and his Hurdgy Gurdy will feature and a sample can be heard on myspace Steven is also playing at The Royal Armouries Leeds for 3 days over August bank holiday weekend.
At Ilkley, jugglers,stilt walkers, fire eaters, magic and the rocks, that are the remnants of Giant Rombald’s walk over the moors, will be on display. Funding has largely been provided by the Big Lottery Fund so most events will be free.

Ilkley Heritage Guided Walks

Throughout the year there are guided walks organised covering the many historical aspects of Ilkley. The balance of the August 2009 programme is outlined below.

Wed 12th Aug Roman Ilkley starts 2.00 p.m.

Ilkley 1859 Darwin’s Visit starts 7.00 p.m.

Wed 19th Aug Prehistoric Rombalds Moor starts 2.00 p.m.

Villas of West Ilkley starts 7.00 p.m.

Sun 23rd Aug Ilkley Cemetery starts 2.00 p.m.
Wed 26th Aug Ilkley 1859 What Darwin saw starts 2.00 p.m.

Organised by Bradford Council

Posted in Yorkshire Trips and Places | Comments Off on Rombalds Revels 2009