We hired a car yesterday and took ourselves off to explore some more of Yorkshire away from the canal and to visit our daughter in Bradford. So where did we get to?
First of all we stopped at Castle Hill, which we have been looking out to from our mooring in Huddersfield. It was sunny and bright with fantastic views, but boy was it windy right up there,making it hard to stand up on the exposed side of the hill.
Victoria Tower was built on the top of the hill to commemorate Queen Victoria’s diamond jubilee in 1897.
On the day it opened a choir of 40 sang from the top of the tower, but because it was so windy no-one could hear them! Must be a common occurrence up here.
The tower is built from stone quarried from nearby Crossland Hill, it is 32.3 metres high and the top of the tower is 350 metres above sea level. There are 65 steps up to a viewing platform and in 1977 a light was put on the top to mark our Queen’s Silver Jubilee.
Castle Hill is really the site of an Ancient Iron Age Hill Fort, and the evidence of various earthworks and ramparts can still be seen.
The views out over the surrounding countryside were amazing, a great vantage point for keeping safe watch and protecting those living in the fort.
Then we drove to Holmfirth on the edge of the Peak District, and well known as the setting for Last of the Summer Wine. I don’t think I have ever watched an episode of that long running series, so we were not too bothered about the spots linked to the programme.
It was just nice to walk around the cobbled streets, see the river running through the village and admire the buildings up and down the hillsides, enjoying the feel of the place.
The Monumental Almeshouses dated 1856 were built in gothic style as a memorial to the great flood of Holmfirth of 1852. The cost was covered by public subscription fund to provide aid to victims of the flood.
Believed to be the oldest building in Holmfirth, Th’owd Towser was once a windowless church lock-up where vagrants and criminals were held before being transferred to the county gaol in Wakefield. It has also been used as mortuary, ambulance and fire stations.
Looking up the cobbled Daisy Lane to the church.
This was the warehouse and studio of Bamforths & Co, Fine Art Publishers.
The business started by James Bamforth, a painter and studio photographer in 1870. They moved on to produce lantern slides, used in music halls to accompany songs and stories in the days before cinema. Then moving on to postcards, including saucy seaside ones and sentimental message cards popular during the war.
Our next stop was at Haworth, a former wool manufacturing village surrounded by the Yorkshire moors and Pennine hills, it was also the home of the Bronte family. It has kept much of it’s original character and claims that the Bronte sisters would recognise it today.
The church and parsonage where Patrick Bronte was the Perpetual Curate and where the family lived.
The Main Street, with the Apothecary shop and square at the top. There is a lovely olde worlde air about the place, we had a lovely time wandering round.
By now the afternoon was slipping by and it was time to make our way to Bradford to see E, but Ian had plans for one more stop………
……………Bolton Abbey Steam Railway Station.
But not to see the trains, oh no, not today.
You see although this short line is running steam engines and passenger carriages to the lovingly restored stations, there was something much for exciting here for Ian, something he had heard about and wanted to see for himself……..
Do you know what it is?
In the waiting room, in the ticket office, in the stationmaster’s office, in fact in every room along the platform there are Tilley lamps and other sorts of paraffin pressure lamps. With a huge collection on show around the station cafe too. We enjoyed a cup of tea and yummy cakes whilst Mr B spent some time admiring the different sorts and comparing his own collection.
There were loads of them, all types, inspection lamps, table lamps, flood lights, wall lamps, heaters, oh I don’t know, everything imaginable. Someone was very happy!
And the day was finished with a great time with E and her housemates in their new home for this year, and a superb buffet meal at one of the many good curry houses to be found in Bradford.
What a lovely day.
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