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 Yorkshire

I was born in Whalley on the border with the West Riding of Yorkshire and so include in the web site the towns and villages of nearby Yorkshire, where some of my ancestors originated where they are buried and where some of my family still live and work.
Photographs of most of these towns and villages can be found in the Photo Album and it would be great to include your own photos if you have any of the towns and villages, events and such like in the album.
What do people see in Yorkshire? The answer is really quite simple. Everyone's attracted by Yorkshire, the land of the White Rose. Everybody believes they know the place even without having been there. Yorkshire has such a considerable individuality, powerful but welcoming, just a dash wild and definitely different. Yorkshire under different names has been around far longer than 2000 years. Therefore that special sense of oneness which has faced the challenge of time and welcomes the promise of a new age.
With York as it's capital one of Europe's most beautiful cities, encircled by ancient walls with it's galleries, museums and the matchless York Minster make York a cultural treasure house.
The Yorkshire Dales, where much of the landscape is limestone country, rich green valleys (known locally as "dales") topped with white limestone cliffs (known as "scars") cutting through more wanton uplands beneath dizzying peaks ("fells") of gloomy millstone grit. All over the dales, fields and pastures are bordered by characteristic white drystone walls which criss-cross the hillsides in intricate patterns; set against the limestone cliffs and escarpments these walls (which were originally built by sheep farmers in days gone by) look almost a natural part of the limestone scenery as viewed today. The geology here gives rise to some spectacular natural features, such as the towering white cliffs and limestone gorges at Malham, and spectacular waterfalls in deep woodland ravines such as those found at Ingleton. But besides the obvious attractions, a hidden world lies beneath the surface of the Yorkshire Dales, with the limestone hills being honeycombed by countless caves and potholes. A subterranean wonderland of stalactites, stalagmites, cathedral-sized chambers, underground rivers and waterfalls, stays here to be examined by the bold, with new passages and cave systems still being discovered and surveyed.
More moderate tourist attractions include popular riverside beauty spots such as Bolton Abbey in Wharfedale, and Aysgarth Falls in Wensleydale, though it is always possible to get away from the tourists in the hundreds of square miles of unspoiled countryside that stretch out inside the borderlines of this beautiful national park. But that's not all, the Yorkshire Dales expand to the north from the market and spa towns of Settle, Skipton, Ilkley, and Harrogate, in North Yorkshire, with most of the larger southern dales (Ribblesdale, Malhamdale, Airedale, Wharfedale and Nidderdale) running roughly parallel from north to south, and the more northerly dales (Wensleydale, Swaledale and Teesdale) running generally from west to east. There are also many other smaller dales (e.g. Littondale, Langstrothdale, Coverdale, Bishopdale and Arkengarthdale, that is to name but a few) whose tributary streams and rivers feed into the larger valleys, and which are always well worth a visit.
To the east the countryside becomes gentler, sloping off to the Vale of York and the towns of Ripon, Thirsk, and the historic city of York itself. Beyond that, to the north east lies Yorkshire's other national park, The North York Moors stretching to the Yorkshire coast, and its popular seaside resorts.
To the south west and the south lie Bronte Country and the conurbation of West Yorkshire, including the industrial cities of Bradford and Leeds.
Britain's most famous long distance footpath, the Pennine Way passes through the Yorkshire Dales, as does the Dales Way footpath, the Coast to Coast Walk, and the Settle - Carlisle Railway, one of Britain's most spectacular train journeys.
For sheer solitude and unspoiled natural beauty, the Yorkshire Dales remains one of England's "crown jewels", and no visit to the north should be complete without exploring some of the country's finest limestone scenery !
You will also see in the towns descriptions,  books that I would recommend anyone to read and collect. So look out for these images.

 


Curious Tales of Old West Yorkshire
Written in a gothic style, this title is a compendium of curious tales from Old West Yorkshire containing exciting discoveries about the county's most famous and most enigmatic family - the Brontes. All things connected with the strange side to West Yorkshire's heritage are included.


 BOLTON ABBEY:
Bolton Abbey is a exceptional dales village adjoining to Bolton Priory, a ruined Cistercian monastery on the banks of the River Wharfe, just north of the spa town of Ilkley in the Yorkshire Dales.
This famous beauty spot forms part of the Duke of Devonshire's country estate, which also includes the riverside walk through the woods to the Strid, an infamous stretch of water where the River Wharfe is forced into a deep thundering channel. Another walk leads through the so called "Valley of Desolation" (actually a pleasant wooded ravine) to Posforth Gill waterfalls and on up to the rocky crest of Simon's Seat, towering over the quaintly named village of Appletreewick.
Much of this area is bracken moorland noted for grouse shooting and hunting on the Duke of Devonshire's country estate. Also worth a visit is Barden Bridge and Barden Tower, an ancient ruin a few miles upstream of Bolton Abbey and the Strid.
Villages Of The Yorkshire Dales
VHS
A compilation of film footage through the seasons depicting the Dales countryside. Includes Ribblesdale, Wensleydale and Swaledale.

 HEBDEN BRIDGE:
Hebden Bridge, the `Pennine Centre', is a town of real character and grew out of textile production. Heptonstall, above the town, became the centre for weavers and Hebden Bridge, the river crossing point for pack horses laden with cloth, salt and food. First a wooden bridge was built and then the stone one you can see today - built in 1510. Heptonstall hand-loom weavers were overtaken by water-powered (then steam-powered) mills in the valley bottom. The mills and their chimneys, which today seem like strange sandstone fingers pointing at the sky, made the town prosper. Corduroy and worsteds were the speciality.
Many of these mills still survive and have found new uses.
Walk Through The Country, A - Yorkshire Dales
VHS



 ILKLEY:
Ilkley is a pleasing spa town located in lower Wharfedale at the southern edge of the Yorkshire Dales. Although within easy reach of the cities of Leeds and Bradford, Ilkley is encircled by superb scenery, with Ilkley Moor and the famous Cow and Calf rocks situated just above the town. Also on the moor is the famous whitewashed building known as "White Wells", which houses what is supposed to be a bath dating from Roman times. Ilkley was an important outpost during the Roman occupation, when it was known as "Olicana". Other attractions include the Victorian bath house in the town itself, and the recently refurbished Ilkley Pool and Lido, one of the country's last remaining outdoor swimming pools. Ilkley Moor is also famous as the setting of the folk song "On Ilkley Moor Bha' t'at" widely recognised as Yorkshire's county "anthem".]
James Herriot's Yorkshire (Tribute Edition)VHS
A tribute to the late James Herriot by Christopher Timothy, also a programme which takes the viewer to the towns, villages and countryside where Herriot lived and worked


 INGLETON:
Although officially only just on the edge of the The Yorkshire Dales National Park, Ingleton can brag about some of the finest limestone scenery in the region. Located on the western flank of Ingleborough, one of the area's famous "Three Peaks", Ingleton makes an great base for walking, climbing and caving.
Nearby attractions include the spectacular Waterfalls Walk, and White Scar Caves, now the largest show cave in the dales and one of the biggest in the country. Visitors to the caves walk through an artificially enlarged limestone fissure to meet a natural stream passage, containing underground waterfalls, stalactites, stalagmites, and other natural limestone formations. Finally, a recently constructed tunnel and walkway brings visitors to the impressive Battlefield Chamber, a huge boulder-strewn cavern formed by glacial flood waters during the last ice age. The Battlefield Cavern marks the end of the show cave as open to the general public, but for cavers and potholers there are miles more passages and caverns to explore. Above ground, popular walks and rambles include the ascent of two of the area's famous Three Peaks, Ingleborough and Whernside. Also well worth a visit are the limestone pavements above White Scar and Twistelton Scar, the latter providing excellent views of Ingleborough from across the valley of Chapel-le-Dale. Also nearby is the village of Cowan Bridge where the local school provided the inspiration for "Lowood School" in Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre. Being situated just off the main A65 which runs along the edge of the Yorkshire Dales National Park from Skipton to Kendal in Cumbria, Ingleton makes an excellent base not only for exploring the dales, but also the English Lake District and the Howgill Fells to the North and West.
Best Tea Shop Walks in West Yorkshire
A further volume in the well-established Sigma 'Tea Shop Walks' series, which covers the South Pennine area - first class walking country! Ideal for a lazy afternoon or a family walk with young children, all the walks in this new guide are easy-going, range from 4 to 8 miles and are complemented by a refreshing 'tea shop stop' at some point along the route. In addition, there's lots of background interest along the way - historic buildings, famous writers and artists, and links with the industrial revolution


 Malham:
Malham, a small dales village north of Skipton in the lovely Yorkshire Dales National Park. As well as being the inspiration for Charles Kingsley's classic children's novel, The Water Babies, the area around Malham is perhaps most noted as featuring some of the finest and often stunning limestone scenery in the country. Attractions of special interest include:
Malham Cove
Malham Cove is a huge natural limestone cliff which was once the setting of a dramatic prehistoric waterfall. The valley above the cove is now dry, with the river having found an alternative route through an unfound cave system deep underground. Anyhow, at the foot of the cliff, a small stream called Malham Beck rises from a submerged cavern, which is still being explored by cave divers.
Gordale Scar
A big limestone gorge some 400 feet (150 m) deep, Gordale Scar is thought by numerous geologists to be the remnant of a huge underground cavern whose roof collapsed around the time of the last ice age. Gordale Beck cascades down the ravine in two spectacular waterfalls, one of which pours through a natural arch in the rock above. A short scramble takes visitors (at their own risk !) up the tufa* deposits at the side of the first waterfall into the top section of the gorge, which leads out onto Malham Moor.
* Tufa is a smooth limestone deposit usually formed when water containing calcium carbonate passes over exposed rock.
Malham Tarn
Set high above the village on Malham Moor, Malham Tarn is a large lake formed by glaciation in the last ice age, made famous as the setting for Charles Kingsley's classic children's novel, The Water Babies.
Today, despite the wildness of its location, Malham Tarn attracts many visitors to its nature reserve, where a pleasant walk leads along the shoreline to Tarn House, a remote country house which now houses a National Trust visitor centre.
Water Sinks
At the south end of Malham Tarn, the infant River Aire sets off on its long (and complicated) journey to the North Sea. The journey is complicated because, just a few hundred yards from leaving the tarn, the river mysteriously vanishes through deep fissures in its limestone bed at a place called, quite appropriately, Water Sinks.
For many years, it was believed that this river was the same as Malham Beck, re-emerging further down the valley at the base of Malham Cove (i.e. the most obvious course, simply tracing the route of the dry valley which leads from Water Sinks down to the cove itself). However, this is not the case, as fluorescent dye tests have now proved that the river disappearing underground at Water Sinks does not actually re-emerge until much further downstream, at a place now called Aire Head Springs south of Malham village, and near to Bell Busk ! [Malham Beck, meanwhile, appears to originate at another location on Malham Moor, before also disappearing underground to resurface at Malham Cove.]
It is clear that, whatever routes are actually taken by these streams underground, an extensive network of cave systems lies waiting to be discovered, despite the efforts of cave divers to penetrate the depths of the submerged boulder crawl beneath Malham Cove.
Janet's Foss, and Janet's Cave
A picturesque waterfall south of Gordale Scar, Janet's Foss is where Gordale Beck cascades over a tufa* capped limestone outcrop into a deep pool in a wooded limestone gorge. On the far bank is Janet's Cave, a dark hole which actually leads nowhere. From Janet's Foss, Gordale Beck flows through woods and then open fields before meeting up with Malham Beck, just south of the village. Further downstream, this tributary meets the stream issuing from Aire Head Springs (actually the infant River Aire) on its journey down towards Skipton.
Malham village
Malham village itself lies in a large valley called Malhamdale, which further downstream becomes known as Airedale. The huge precipice of Malham Cove dominates the scenery as seen to the north of the village, where the Craven fault marks a clear geological boundary between the gentle pastoral valley and the limestone uplands above. The Pennine Way also passes through Malham, and the village is a great destination for climbers, potholers, walkers and tourists alike offering tea rooms, a pub and cafes to visit after a day exploring the sights. There is also a car park and National Park information centre, with displays explaining the geology and natural history of the area.

 SKIPTON:
Skipton is a market town in Airedale, its position at the south western boundary of the Yorkshire Dales National Park earning the town's title as "Gateway to the Dales". Situated on the main A65 route which skirts the Yorkshire Dales and leads on to the Lake District, Skipton makes an ideal base for touring some of the best loved attractions in the Yorkshire Dales and northern England.
Nearby are the famous dales villages of Malham (with its spectacular limestone cliffs and gorges), Grassington, Burnsall and the celebrated riverside beauty spot of Bolton Abbey near Ilkley in Wharfedale. Just outside Skipton there is the village of Embsay, from where it is possible to take a steam train journey on the Embsay and Bolton Abbey Steam Railway.
Skipton



 SETTLE:
Above the town's market square towers the dominant limestone cliff of Castleberg Crag, and beyond that (but out of view from the town) the limestone outcrops and caves of Attermire Scar, which can be reached on foot. As such, Settle makes an excellent base for exploring the Yorkshire Dales varied limestone scenery, as well as the gentler rolling hills of the Trough of Bowland (not part of the national park, but designated an area of outstanding natural beauty in its own right) to the west. Just north of the town lies the village of Giggleswick, famous for more limestone cliffs and caves at Giggleswick Scar, and also Giggleswick School, with its distinctive green copper dome.
The name of Settle is also famous for the Settle - Carlisle Railway, without doubt one of Great Britain's most spectacular railway lines. Starting out from the gentle limestone uplands around Settle in the beautiful Yorkshire Dales the line heads north up Ribblesdale between the towering fells of Ingleborough, Whernside and Pen-y-Ghent, with some particularly good views of the latter seen on passing through Horton-in-Ribblesdale. At the head of Ribblesdale the line climbs onto open moorland and across the 24 span Ribblehead Viaduct, before entering the one and a half miles of the Blea Moor Tunnel under the eastern flank of Whernside, Yorkshire's highest peak.
The line emerges into Dentdale, one of the more remote northern dales, before leaving Yorkshire and traversing Mallerstang Common and onwards up to the northern terminus at Carlisle.

 SOWERBY BRIDGE:
Positioned at the meeting of the Rivers Calder and Ryburn, Sowerby Bridge was an meaningful river crossing in medieval times and possibly as far back as the Roman occupation. However, its evolution as a settlement is coupled largely with the textile industry. Water-powered fulling mills appeared to the east of the site of County Bridge in the 14th century, and it was this access to water which encouraged the further growth of premises for textiles and corn milling adjacent to the two rivers. Improvements to the local transport network, particularly from the 18th century, further consolidated Sowerby Bridge as an industrial centre so that by the mid-19th century it was a town of mixed industry with a population of 5,000.
Sowerby Bridge 1905


 


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