Restoration

Walking down Dock Lane towards the canal, I happened to pass a yard and noticed this lovely old car. A guy was working on it so we got into conversation, which proved to be most interesting. 

The car is a 1929 Model A Ford, which the owner said he had rebuilt from scratch. He now uses it for pleasure trips and at 1940s re-enactment events. I'm no expert but it looked beautifully restored and appeared to be in pristine condition. He told me its top, bone-shaking speed is 35mph so it obviously cannot be driven far on normal roads but he has a large van into which it fits, so he can drive anywhere and unpack it when he arrives. 

This little cluster of buildings comprises the old pumping station for the Bradford Branch canal (below), alongside an even older lock-keeper's cottage. I first mentioned them on my blog HERE. Chatting to the owner of the car and cottage, he told me something of its history. As I mentioned yesterday, the Bradford Branch canal, opened in 1774, suffered terrible pollution and caused a canal-side outbreak of cholera after which it was closed for a while. It seems that a lack of fresh water flow was the problem so the pumping station and system was built in 1872, to bring in water from the main Leeds-Liverpool canal. 

There was a lock behind where the pumping station is now. The lock-keeper's cottage was built at the same time as the canal, when it was a tiny one-up, one-down place. In the 1800s it was extended, more or less doubled in size. The canal, as I said yesterday, closed in 1922 and was filled in in the 1950s. The man I was talking to bought a parcel of land and the buildings many years ago. He commenced a painstaking restoration, extending the cottage some more but retaining many of its old features. He converted the pumping station for residential use and sold it on. 

Later, the pumping station house again came up for purchase and was bought, strategically, by Bradford Council, apparently with an eye to the planned regeneration of the canal and canal corridor down into Bradford. Of course that was an ambitious scheme that came to naught and the pumping station remains empty and unused, no doubt deteriorating as time goes on. It seems a great shame as potentially it is a lovely house with an interesting heritage. 

New builds

Looping back round the other side of the scrap yard (see yesterday), you cross over the railway line and then across Bradford Beck. This area used to be where the 3.5 mile long Bradford Branch of the canal ran. It was an offshoot of the Leeds-Liverpool Canal, opened in 1774 to carry goods to and from the centre of Bradford. It was, apparently, plagued with problems, suffering serious pollution that caused a major outbreak of cholera and led to its closure for several years. The canal was eventually closed in the 1920s and subsequently filled in, with only a stump left by Junction Bridge. 

In the early 2000s, a plan was drawn up to recut the canal all the way from Shipley into Bradford as part of an ambitious regeneration scheme... but it came to nothing. Since then a cycle route has been laid (which is where I was walking) and some new townhouses and flats have been built. With a bit more investment and care, the area could become quite attractive but I suspect in the current climate it will be difficult to find the money for an improvement project. 

You turn your back for a minute...

You turn your back for a minute and everything changes! Well, I suppose by 'a minute' I really mean three months. It must be at least as long ago as that since I drove (or walked) through the part of Shipley town centre that lies beyond the shops and market square. There used to be a drive-through automatic car-wash here. I sometimes used to take my daughter through it as a treat when she was little (in the car, of course!!) as the whirling brushes and soapy white-out used to make her giggle. The car-wash ceased to be, driven out of business by several 'hand car washes' in the neighbourhood, mostly staffed by Eastern European migrants. They work hard and generally do a good job. Anyway, this little bit of land sat idle for several years but it appears now that there is a business developing it, with a new showroom under construction. I'll take bets on what it will be... a car dealer? 

The building beyond is flats with a retail unit on the ground floor that currently (and curiously to my mind) houses a branch of Laura Ashley, the clothing and homewares chain. I say curiously because it sits well away from Shipley's main shopping centre and, though it has a small car park, seems a bit of an anachronism. They closed the branch in Leeds city centre, which always seemed as though it would attract more custom. I'm also taking bets that this branch will fall victim to the post pandemic recession. I can't really see it surviving unless high-street retail bounces back quickly.  

The Rochdale Canal

There's a really pleasant walk along the towpath of the Rochdale Canal through Hebden Bridge. It has lots of interest and history since many of the old mills and warehouses are still standing, most now converted into residential units. I began my walk by passing under the bridge that takes the road down to the railway station. As in many of our Yorkshire valleys, the roads, rail, river and canal jostle together in a narrow corridor. The building on the right just beyond the bridge is the Machpelah Works, built in 1840, a listed building now mostly apartments but once a fustian (cotton cloth) warehouse.

Beyond is a row of cottages, built in the early 19th century. Its traditional windows with the woodwork all painted in different colours really make it stand out as an attractive focal point.

Beyond the cottages and a mill (that's now a really great nursery where my youngest granddaughter used go), there is a small marina with a Visitor Information Centre beside it, forming an attractive open space in the middle of town. Further still and there is a series of locks and an aqueduct that carries the canal over the River Calder.

Then there are more old warehouses and houses related to the canal. The Rochdale Canal was fully opened in 1804, the first completed Trans-Pennine route to Manchester. (The Leeds-Liverpool, a much longer route, didn't fully open until 1816, although the bit through Saltaire from Shipley to Skipton was open by 1774. )

I ended my walk at the picturesque bridge, though you can of course go much further along the towpath - a very attractive walk.

The greatest town in Europe?

To celebrate my recent birthday, I went over to see my family for the first time since early March. As I've mentioned before, they live in Hebden Bridge, a bustling town in the Calder Valley, over the moors from Saltaire. It's a funky little town, attracting a lot of creative people, and the town centre reflects that, with masses of small independent shops. (The Co-op supermarket is probably the only chain store in town). It's a bit of a tourist hotspot too, given its history and quirkiness, so the town centre is usually heaving with people. I often drive straight through to my daughter's home on the far side of town.

It was, however, the summer solstice and I'd hoped to catch some sunset shots on the drive home. Sadly, too much cloud meant that aim was frustrated but I did have an evening wander around the town. It was much quieter than usual - a combination, I suppose, of the relatively late hour and the lockdown keeping people at home. It lacked the usual bustling atmosphere but at least you can see the buildings in my photos!

Hebden Bridge has been called 'the greatest town in Europe'. (See HERE) I wouldn't rate it that highly but it's certainly a lovely place to live and well worth a visit to explore.

The steep-sided valley is prone to flooding and the earliest settlements were all up on the hilltops. The town itself, originally just a tiny settlement around a river crossing, grew in the 19th century when weaving mills developed, making use of the area's abundant water power. Most of the buildings date from that time and the town rises dramatically up the surrounding hillsides, making use of every scrap of available land. 

This is an interesting building, called Machpelah (a Biblical reference to the cave used as a burial place by Abraham in Genesis) apparently because the land was originally bought by a Baptist minister as his burial site. These cottages appear to date from the early 1800s. Some of the windows have 'blue plaques' that tell who lived or worked here at various dates in their history. From the rows of windows in the gable, I would imagine that part of it was a weaving workshop. Prior to the growth of mills in the Industrial Revolution, weaving was a cottage industry. Many buildings in this area have multiple windows in the upper storeys to let light into the workshops.

St Pancras Renaissance

My nephew had thoughtfully chosen The Gilbert Scott restaurant in the St Pancras Renaissance Hotel for our meeting and meal in London. Thoughtful because it is just across the road from Kings Cross station, from where our train departed in the evening; grand but not intimidating, it is relatively quiet in the early evening, with tables spaced quite widely and soft furnishings to absorb clatter; and they have a good gluten free menu - so it was ideal for deaf old me and my dietary needs. The food and service were excellent and it was such a delight to be able to converse quite easily, at least until the venue started to fill up with diners as the evening progressed.

I've admired the amazing building many times but I'd never been inside and it is even more amazing inside. It was designed by George Gilbert Scott, opening in 1873 as the Midland Grand Hotel, in front of St Pancras railway station. The original hotel closed in 1935 and the building became railway offices. There was a fierce campaign to save it from demolition in the 1960s. Between 2004-11, it was extensively redeveloped into a hotel and apartments. It really is magnificent. It would have been a crime if it had been demolished. My phone pics aren't brilliant but they give an idea of the grandeur.

Cool pool

Bradford City Park was looking rather splendid in the winter sunshine when I passed through the other day. It's rare to see it empty. There are usually a few children or youths splashing around in the shallow water but it was really too cold for paddling! It meant that for once you could see the reflection of our beautiful City Hall, just a little blurred by the faint breeze across the surface. Although the sun was bright, it was too cold to hang around for long, so I took a quick snap on my phone and I headed off to Waterstone's book shop in the Wool Exchange, where at least it was warm and cosy. I omitted to take any pictures in there, but you can see the magnificent building on my blog HERE.

Bradford City AFC

Even further down Manningham Lane towards Bradford city centre, I came to Valley Parade, the home ground of Bradford City football club. They are currently in League Two with a slim chance of 'going up' in the world again this season. I used to have a season ticket in the late 1990s, in the heady days when they were in the Premier League for two seasons. It was good fun but times change, the people I used to go with moved away and my interest eventually waned...

In 1985, the stadium was tragically the scene of one of the worst disasters in football history, when 56 people died and nearly 300 were badly injured in a fire that ravaged through the old wooden main stand in a little over nine minutes. The stadium has had many alterations since, and the current Kop end, main stand, hospitality suites and function rooms were extended and improved in the late 1990s/early 2000s. The ground's capacity is around 25,000, though the highest attendance this season has been about 14,000.

Student days

After I'd walked round Lister Park, I suddenly took it into my head to walk down Manningham Lane towards Bradford city centre. It was, in many ways, a nostalgia trip, as I passed two places I once used to live, as a student and then when I returned to Bradford in my late twenties. Even in those days (1970s) it was a bit of a run-down area, full of student bedsits. These days it is even more sad, with many empty properties, a lot of litter and decay. The once-grand Victorian villas, former homes of wealthy Victorian industrialists like Titus Salt, now need a good deal of work to bring them up to a decent standard again, though it could be a lovely area if it had enough money spent on it.

One street with particular potential is Apsley Crescent (above). (I believe it was the birthplace of an old school friend of mine, who reads this blog. She may be interested!) It is supposedly a conservation area, having some large and at one time beautiful properties, built in the 1850s in the Classical and Italianate styles that were popular in Victorian Bradford.

Most of them are now either empty, used as commercial premises or broken up into flats and bedsits. The Manningham area is one of the most culturally diverse in Bradford, with many residents of Pakistani and Bangladeshi origin, Afro-Caribbeans, Eastern Europeans, and still some students living there (though many now live in rather stylish modern blocks in the city centre, of a luxurious standard that would have been unthinkable in my student days!)

Blue sky day

There was an amazingly uplifting blue sky when I visited Bradford's main art gallery at Cartwright Hall recently. The view of the hall from the water gardens is rather attractive, I think. The Edwardian Baroque building opened in 1904 as a purpose-built gallery, a gift to the city from Samuel Lister, a wealthy local mill-owner. It sits centrally in Lister Park, a pleasant oasis in the city.

For many years it has lacked a tearoom, apart from the kiosk by the boating lake that is only open in summer. Now it has a smart new café in the basement, serving coffee, a good selection of cakes and light meals, though I think people haven't yet realised its existence as it was virtually empty when I visited.

Going, going, gone

Walking to Bingley on the canal towpath, I noticed demolition of the Crosley Wood flats is underway. The tower blocks, Peel House, Brunswick House and Adelaide House, have been a local landmark for about 50 years, though not a very attractive one. When she was a little girl, my daughter used to call them 'the three flats of Bingley'. She could see them from her bedroom window when we lived in Bingley and she said they always made her feel she was 'home' .

They were owned by the local social housing provider, Incommunities, who took the decision to demolish them after the Grenfell Tower fire disaster. They apparently had a piped gas supply which was considered unsafe and, being increasingly run down, they were not popular to live in. They have rehoused the remaining residents and the tower blocks are being demolished mechanically rather than by a controlled explosion, probably because of the location on the hillside above the canal. Ugly as they were, I might miss them a little.

The preserved village

Harris, day five
On our trip to Lewis, we also paid a short visit to Geàrrannan blackhouse village. These traditional blackhouses were abandoned in 1974, when the residents were moved to more modern social housing nearby. They are only about 150 years old, but built in a very traditional croft style that was once common in the Scottish Highlands, Hebrides and Ireland. Since these at Geàrrannan were the last blackhouses in Lewis to be vacated and they sit in such an attractive setting overlooking a stony beach, the decision was taken to make this a conservation area. In 1991 a programme of restoration was undertaken. Now, there is a museum and some holiday accommodation within the carefully restored village, where modern amenities have been discreetly integrated.

The buildings have double-skinned drystone walls with earth packed between them, and roofs made of straw thatch and turf, anchored with ropes and stones to withstand the harsh Atlantic gales. Fires would have burned peat and originally the smoke was left to find its way out through the thatch. The houses are long and would have accommodated families at one end and animals at the other, separated by a thin partition.

Petwood Hotel

Whilst I was staying with my sister in Lincolnshire, we went for a leisurely stroll around the little town of Woodhall Spa. It grew up in the 1800s, when a plan to sink a coal mine instead revealed mineral-rich spring waters, leading to the town's development as a healing spa. It's very attractive and has some interesting independent shops, including a great secondhand bookshop, where we spent quite a while browsing.

We also went for a coffee on the garden terrace of the Petwood Hotel, in the town. Its award-winning, restored gardens are beautifully kept and well-used for weddings and other events.





The hotel has an interesting history. It was built as a country house for a wealthy heiress, Baroness Grace Van Eckhardstein, in the early 1900s, after a painful divorce. She wanted a retreat, located in her favourite wood or 'pet wood'. Built in an elaborate Tudor/Jacobean style, it has lavish details such as beautiful oak panelling and a hand-carved staircase. She lived there, eventually with her second husband, although during WWI it served as a military hospital. Returned to private use after the war, it became a hotel in 1933.




At the beginning of WWII it became a base for RAF officers, notably of 617 Squadron, the famous Dambusters. They were a top-secret squadron entrusted, among other things, with the destruction of three German dams in the Ruhr, which was achieved in 1943 using the innovative Barnes-Wallis 'bouncing bomb'. The Petwood Hotel is now full of RAF memorabilia and tributes.

Bridgewater Place

Bridgewater Place, an office and residential block in the centre of Leeds, is - at 112m high - the tallest building in Yorkshire. A group of us from the camera club were in Leeds one evening (ages ago!) taking photos, so I set myself a mini-project to take a set of interesting and unusual photos of it.

The shot to the left is the 'standard' view, although it looks very different from different viewpoints.

It has had a lot of problems since it was built in 2007, not least that its shape and bulk channels and accelerates the wind in the area. Sadly, people have been injured as a result, and one man was tragically killed when a lorry was blown over onto him. Since then the adjacent roads are sometimes closed in high winds and some baffles have been erected across the road to try and mitigate the problem. You can see them in the photo.

The setting sun turned it a cheerful coral pink. At night the tower is lit up with coloured lights, though I didn't take a photo after dark. 

The Norman Manor House

You get your money's worth at Burton Agnes because the entrance fee gives access to not one but two houses, the second being the original Norman manor house built by Roger de Stuteville in 1173. It was encased in brick in the 17th century, when it served as a laundry to the newly built hall next door. Thrillingly however, you can enter the original Norman vaulted undercroft, and climb a 12th century spiral staircase to the Great Hall above, which was restored and reroofed in the 15th century. There are small delights to be seen, like the peg holes in one of the pillars, believed to be for playing the game of 'nine men's morris'. There's also some old graffiti scratched on the wall.