Click on photos to enlarge.
FABULOUS WHITBY
Category: places
Newcastle Jaunt
Couple of nights in Newcastle was just what was needed. Not been before and had heard that it was a cool place, so myself and a mate booked into the Travel Lodge on the quayside. Would certainly recommend – it was cheap, clean and very comfy and to top it all we had a river view. It also has a cafe where we had a completely adequate breakfast for 8 quid. Great position too. Love what’s been done with the quayside – its a lovely wander alongside the Tyne, with lots of places for refreshment.
Click on photos for larger image.
All views of Newcastle and its Quayside are dominated by the seven great bridges and it is of course as a fortified bridging point that Newcastle owes its origins. Today’s famous ‘Tyne Bridge’ is a great steel bridge of 1928 but it is the lower level Swing Bridge of 1876 that marks the site of the earlier Tyne Bridges of historic times. Here a medieval bridge of uncertain date superseded an earlier Roman bridge. The bridge was in existence by 1179 but was rebuilt in 1248 following a fire. Constructed of stone, it had 12 arches. Its entire course was cluttered with a picturesque collection of houses and shops of wood and stone, as well as defensive towers and a chapel. In 1724 Daniel Defoe compared the street of houses on the bridge to that which existed on London Bridge at the time.
In November, 1771 a flood wrecked the Old Tyne Bridge destroying the buildings that lined its course. A temporary bridge was constructed in October 1772, replaced by a new stone bridge in 1781. It was the only bridge across the Tyne in Newcastle until the High Level Bridge opened in 1849.
The seven famous bridges across the Tyne, which link the city to Gateshead on the south bank of the river are from west to east; the Redheugh bridge, King Edward VII Bridge, Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, The High Level Bridge, the Swing Bridge, the George V Bridge (or Tyne Bridge) and the Gateshead Millennium Bridge.
The George V Bridge, a road bridge more familiarly known as the Tyne Bridge is the most famous Newcastle landmark. Opened in 1929 by King George V and built by Dorman Long of Middlesbrough, it closely resembles the very much larger Sydney Harbour Bridge which was also built by the Middlesbrough firm at around the same time.
The lowest of the Tyne bridges in terms of height is the Swing Bridge of 1876, a road bridge that leads directly into the old heart of the Newcastle Quayside below the castle keep. Designed by the famous Tyneside engineer William Armstrong (1810-1900) it opened without ceremony in June 1876. The Swing Bridge replaced the Georgian stone bridge which had very little clearance for ships passing beneath. The swing mechanism of the new bridge enabled larger vessels to reach the upper parts of the Tyne – where of course the famous Armstrong works at Elswick were located.
The Swing Bridge (like its Georgian predecessor) is located on the site of the Roman and medieval bridge. During the construction of the Swing Bridge, two Roman altars were dredged from the river that were dedicated to the gods Neptune and Oceanus. They would have belonged to a shrine built to protect the Roman bridge of Pons Aelius from the tidal Tyne.
The King Edward VII Bridge is a rail bridge, built in 1906 by Cleveland Bridge of Darlington and opened, appropriately enough, by Edward VII. The Redheugh and Queen Elizabeth II bridges are more modern structures. The present Redheugh Bridge, a road bridge, is a concrete structure and was opened by Diana, the Princess of Wales in May 1983. It is the third bridge of that name, superseding earlier bridges of 1871 and 1901.
The Queen Elizabeth II Bridge is a steel structure used by the Tyne and Wear Metro system and was opened by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in November 1981.
Oldest of Newcastle’s present Tyne bridges, is the High Level Bridge which was erected in 1848 to the designs of Robert Stephenson, it comprises two tiers for road and rail. One of the best views of Newcastle can be obtained from on board a train as it crosses this bridge on the main London to Edinburgh line. The High Level is so-named because it was the first Newcastle bridge to span the Tyne from the top of one bank to another. All earlier bridges had spanned the river at low level.
The most recent of the bridges is of course the beautiful Gateshead Millennium Bridge which is for the use of cyclists and pedestrians only. Opened in September 2001, the whole bridge can be tilted by 40 degrees to allow ships and boats to pass underneath.
The large weird shaped glass covered building on the far side of the river is The Sage.
The Castle, Newcastle, or Newcastle Castle is a medieval fortification in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, built on the site of the fortress that gave the City of Newcastle its name. The most prominent remaining structures on the site are the Castle Keep , the castle’s main fortified stone tower, and the Black Gate, its fortified gatehouse.
Use of the site for defensive purposes dates from Roman times, when it housed a fort and settlement called Pons Aelius (meaning ‘bridge of Hadrian‘), guarding a bridge over the River Tyne. Robert Curthose, eldest son of William the Conqueror, in 1080 built a wooden motte and bailey style castle on the site of the Roman fort. Curthose built this ‘New Castle upon Tyne’ after he returned south from a campaign against Malcolm III of Scotland. Henry II built the stone Castle Keep between 1172 and 1177 on the site of Curthose’s castle. Henry III added the Black Gate between 1247 and 1250. Nothing remains of the Roman fort or the original motte and bailey castle. The Keep is a Grade I listed building, and a Scheduled Ancient Monument.
The Castle Keep and Black Gate pre-date the construction of the Newcastle town wall, construction of which started around 1265, and did not include it. The site of the keep is in the centre of Newcastle and lies to the east of Newcastle station. The 75-foot (23 m) gap between the keep and the gatehouse is almost entirely filled by the railway viaduct that carries the East Coast Main Line from Newcastle to Scotland. (from wikipedia)
Fabulous views of the city from the top of the castle.
The first three photos are of Newcastle Cathedral – some really old grave stones inside (16th century) and a nice cafe.
The rest are a selection of shots that might give you a flavour of the city. I really took to it.
Ripley to Ripon Circular via Fountains Abbey
Fantastic bike ride today with mike. 24 miles in beautiful sunshine and beautiful Yorkshire countryside. A great break at Fountains Abbey for lunch. it really looked like summer had arrived.
We rode through Studley Royal park and took the road to Ripon stopping at the cathedral. Ive been to Ripon and walked around the cathedral many times but never been inside, so took the opportunity to do so today.
Children at the local school have made origami angels, with have been hung above the nave. They looked pretty good. The cathedral is pretty impressive and in amazing condition for something so old.
The Cathedral Church of St Peter and St Wilfrid, commonly known as Ripon Cathedral, and until 1836 known as Ripon Minster, is a cathedral in the North Yorkshire city of Ripon. Founded as a monastery by Scottish monks in the 660s, it was refounded as a Benedictine monastery by St Wilfrid in 672. The church became collegiate in the tenth century, and acted as a mother church within the large Diocese of York for the remainder of the Middle Ages.[2] The present church is the fourth, and was built between the 13th and 16th centuries. In 1836 the church became the cathedral for the Diocese of Ripon.[3] In 2014 the Diocese was incorporated into the new Diocese of Leeds, and the church became one of three co-equal cathedrals of the Bishop of Leeds.
The cathedral is notable architecturally for its gothic west front in the Early English style, considered one of the best of its type, as well as the Geometric east window.[3] The seventh-century crypt of Wilfrid’s church is a significant example of early Christian architecture in England.[3] The cathedral has Grade I listed building status.
Aberford Circular with some interesting history at Barwick in Elmet
This was a very pleasant 34 mile circular ride via Alwoodley, Scarcroft, Thorner, Bramham, Aberford, Barwick in Elmet, Scholes, Thorner, Shadwell and Eccup.
I stopped in Barwick in Elmet to have a look around and found this.
Wendel Hill and Hall Tower Earthworks. An Iron Age hill fort with earthworks and a Norman Motte and Bailey castle. In modern times the Royal Observer Corp used it for observation during World War 2.
The name Barwick comes from the Old English words bere (‘barley’) and wīc (‘settlement, specialised farm’), thus meaning ‘a barley farm’ or ‘an outlying grange or part on an estate reserved for the lord’s use, producing barley‘. The name is first attested in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Bereuuith and Bereuuit.[1][2] The appellation ‘in Elmet’ serves to distinguish the settlement from the various others of the same name. The first attested appellation of this kind for Barwick-in-Elmet is in fact the Latin Berewyke juxta Abberford (‘Barwick-by-Aberford’) from 1301. The combination Berewyke in Elmet is first attested in 1329.[3]
One of the most notable village landmarks is the wooden maypole 86 feet (26 m) high that stands at the junction of Main Street and the Cross, this means that the maypole in Barwick is the second tallest in the UK. The triennialmaypole festival (held on Spring Bank Holiday) typically brings large crowds to the area. Every three years, the maypole is lowered, inspected, maintained and re-erected. The festival celebrations include a procession (involving floats decorated by local organisations), children’s maypole dancing, morris dancing, a street craft market, the raising of the maypole ceremony and the maypole queen. Traditionally the maypole was lowered and raised manually using an intricate system of ropes and ladders. Although methods have changed in recent years, the maypole is still carried by hand from Hall Tower Hill to the heart of the village. During the raising ceremony, it is tradition for a local villager to climb halfway up the pole to disconnect the guide ropes. The climber is then spurred on by a large crowd to climb all the way to the top of the pole, to spin ‘the fox’ weather vane (a custom thought to bring good luck to the village). The festival takes place every 3 years, the most recent one being 29 May 2017. The date of the next rise was going to be the 25 May 2020 but had to be postponed until 31 May 2021 because of the coronavirus.[citation needed]
Beside the maypole is what appears to be an old village cross, which is actually a memorial to the dead of the First World War, carved in the old fashioned style.
Wharram Percy Deserted Medieval Village.
Found this place by browsing my Outdoors GPS OS Maps app. Its a fab app – all your maps in one place with gps so you can see exactly where you are and you can build your own routes for walking or cycling or………..? I plan most of my walks using it, as you can check out points of interest, work out how many hills you are going to have to go up and down, and their gradient! One of the best things is the GPS, which I found to be pretty accurate, as knowing where you are on the map is not always so easy. You can use it offline too, which is a great plus. It gets some rather bad reviews on the Google Play store but Ive not had any problems. You have to pay for offline use – think its £19. Another one which gets very good reviews and does lots of extra stuff is View Ranger. I use Komoot for cycling, although map My Ride is good too, but they don’t have so much info on them.
Anyway, on to Wharram Percy. All the info about it is on boards, so click on the photos to read them.
Its amazing to walk where people lived in the middle ages and before. Below you can see how the village would have looked.
The the landowners evicted the villages so that they could use the land for sheep farming. Unbelievable!!!! Imagine what that must have been like.
Above you have what was called the improvement farm built 18thC. Click on the info board on the first photo to see info.
Above are a few images of the church first built in 10thC . The info board shows the various phases of building. It was still used by local villages even when Wharram was deserted.
Next we have the churchyard. The gravestone still standing are all from 18thC but 700 medieval skeleton have been found, which have revealed some very interesting evidence of how the villagers lived. Click the photos to read.
Next up is the mill pond.
Imprints are left in the ground of medieval Long Houses and Farmsteads and a Manor House.
I found this place fascinating and very atmospheric. There’s Wharram Abbey just down the road too.
Bramhope History Walk
The walk starts from the gate onto the golf course at Holt Farm on Holt Lane. Make your way straight on down the hill bearing right towards Breary Nature Reserve and Pauls Pond. Make your way leftwards around the pond going straight on into the woods. A little way in you will see a gate on the left, by an information board, turn through this gate towards some converted farm buildings. Go through the yard and over the cattle grid. Where the road bends to the left, take the path on the right towards the direction of Bramhope. Deer are often spotted here. Go over the stile at the bottom into a field (beware the cattle if they’re there) and carry straight forward past the rugby club on your right. You will come out onto The Sycamores.
Turn right up the Sycamores to the end of the road and cross over the A660 and climb over the stile and follow the way markers.
Breary Grange farm was established by the monks of Kirkstall Abbey who owned most of the land around Cookridge, Adel, Bramhope, Pool, Arthington, Horsforth and further afield. Kirkstall Abbey must have been very, very well off. In the last photo you can see the farm at East Breary. Both East and West Breary were townships, each had a farm but no village.
Eventually you reach Black Hill Road where you take a left. Shortly you will see Bank Top Farm, here take a footpath on the left, part of the Ebor Way. On your right as you walk through the fields is Blackhill Quarry . The main source of Bramley Fall stone is here, operated by Mone Bros Ltd since 1979. But the quarry has been worked for a lot longer than that. In 2011, four thousand tonnes of Bramley Fall sandstone, sourced at Blackhill, was used to widen the Blackfriars bridge across the Thames, when the new railway station was being constructed in London.
Follow the way markers which will lead you to Breary Lane East. There are some amazing houses down here, but their view across country has been blighted by the building site of Miller Homes.
There are a number of older cottages too. At the junction at the bottom of the road take a right onto Creskeld Lane then left onto Creskeld Drive. Now I have to warn you that the next mile or so is in suburbia, but not any old suburbia because this is high end Bramhope and I just love looking at all these beautifully styled houses. You’d need a £1000000 or so to buy one and employ a cleaner! but they are all so individual and beautifully designed and the views over the valley are to die for. As you near the bottom of the hill there is a path off to your right opposite Hall Rise on the left. This takes you through woods towards the North entrance of the Bramhope tunnel and a where Bramhope Corn Mill used to be, if you would like a short detour.
The solarium that you see in someones garden is a listed building and was in the grounds of Bramhope Hall. Keep going up Hall Drive, which is a quite a large hill. At the top you meet the A660 again. Turn left and come to the Puritan Chapel.
Bramhope Chapel is gable on to the Leeds Otley Road, its principal elevation facing south, with a small enclosed sanctuary at the east altar end, and a bell cote surmounting its west gable. It was formerly in the grounds of Bramhope Hall, which has been demolished, and now stands close to the edge of the hotel car park. It is built of coursed squared sandstone and has a stone slate roof.
The chapel dates from 1649, and is a single storey Puritan Chapel having a virtually symmetrical 6 bay elevation with round headed doorways in bays 2 and 5, the remaining bays have 3 light windows except for the 1st bay that has a two light window, all with chamfered mullions set in double chamfered surrounds with square heads (Thornborrow, 2004).
Principal structural alterations date from the early 19th century, when the walls and roof structure were raised by a few feet and a flat plaster ceiling (now removed) was inserted. After a period of neglect and severe storm damage in 1962 it was placed in the care of the local authority and thoroughly repaired (Stell, 1994). It was built by Robert Dyneley of Bramhope Hall who was a devout Puritan.
The second photo shows some graves of the inhabitants of Bramhope Hall over the years. The fourth photo is interesting as it states that Francis Walker and his wife Susannah and all descendants bearing the name of Walker are interred in a straight line facing Northwards. The next photo is of Charlotte Darwin wife of Francis Darwin(Rhodes) of Creskeld. He assumed her surname and arms in 1850 upon inheritance of Elston Hall from Robert Alvey Darwin[4] and they took up residence at Creskeld Hall.[5] The estate thus came into the ownership of the Rhodes family, who had been in Wharfedale for many centuries.
The next one is Sarah Ellen Rhodes nee Sheepshanks. We met the Sheepshanks family in Arthington from Arthington Hall. The last is a memorial to William Rhodes who died in 1869.
I have found there are so many connections with families within the West Riding areas.
The Hall (demolished in the 1960s) is thought to have occupied the site of an earlier medieval hall, and is located underneath what is now the hotel, off Leeds Road. The Hall is thought to have incorporated building phases from at least the 16th century, and is known to have been owned by the Dyneley family from 1546 until 1767. Between the 17th and 19th centuries the Hall had several owners and was structurally altered several times.
The earliest known settlement in the area was a British camp established off Moor Road. The Romans built a road through the area from Adel to Ilkley, traces of which remain in a field near Leeds Bradford Airport.[2]
Bramhope is mentioned in the Domesday Book as the manor of an Saxon thane, Uchill. In 1095 the manor passed to Percy family, and in 1165 was sold to Ralph de Bramhope. In the 13th century the monasteries owned much of the land and had granges where sheep were grazed. The monks used tracks, such as Scotland Lane and Staircase Lane, as they travelled from their outlying granges to Kirkstall Abbey.[2]
The village had a small population until the 20th century. The Black Death of 1348-9 reduced the number of adults to 34, but this gradually increased to about 400 in 1900. Now it is in the region of 4,500.[2] Water was drawn from private wells or the town well at the foot of Northgate (now Church Hill). The town well was restored in 1991 by the Bramhope History Group, and is located opposite St Giles Church.[2] The plaque says that the well was exposed in 1991, so perhaps it had been lost for some time.[3]
If you come out from the chapel turn left, walk past the hotel entrance and just past there you will see the information board about the well and the hall pictured below.
Back to the walk. Cross over the road to St. Giles church – theres not a lot of interest to the church, but opposite, the other side of Church Hill is Old Manor Farm circa 17th.
Walk up the hill past some old cottages on your left and another listed building on the right, then reach the Cross and the Fox and Hounds pub, which has been here since 1728. Bramhope has two distinct characters. At the cross-roads of Eastgate and Church Hill is the historic centre of the once nucleated settlement. The second came following the construction of the Leeds to Otley turnpike road in the mid 19th century. From this time Bramhope developed into a suburban settlement, particularly from the 1930s onwards.
The church Hill and Eastgate routes were known to have been bridleways in the medieval period and the sunken nature of parts of them suggest that they are ancient landscape features.
Most of the standing buildings centred around the crossroads near Church Hill date to the 17th and 18th centuries, and reflect the largely rural and agricultural past of Bramhope village. They are typical Yorkshire millstone grit buildings, with little ornamentation, and have stone or slate roofs. Many of the buildings are Grade II Listed former farmhouses (such as ‘Old Manor Farm’ (1691), Bramhope Manor (originally constructed in the 16th century but rebuilt in 1803), 1 Church Hill (late-17th century) and ‘The Hollies’ (mid-18th century)), however there are also indications of local industrial production at ‘The Smithy’ (dated 1687) and ‘Weavers Cottage’ (1709).
So turn left and walk down Eastgate and you will see the weavers cottage on your right. There are then a number of cottages, then some houses of 17th/18th century. And then the Methodist Church which is the biggest church in Bramhope. Methodism in Bramhope has a long history, the first documentary evidence of Methodist preaching in the village dating back to 1777. Services took place in cottages and barns for many years until the first chapel was built in 1837. This building eventually became too small so the present church was built to replace it in 1896.
After the church there are a few other buildings of interest but I haven’t been able to find any information about them.
The first house above has a date of 1758 above the door. Go down a lane by the side of the Knoll Playground ( see info in photo below).
At the end of the path cross straight over the road and follow the path through the woods. As you come to the end you will come across another railway tunnel shaft.
So now you meet Moor Road. Cross over and you will see a stile to your left which you clamber over and check out the sighting tower which I have mentioned before ( Bramhope Tunnel Update Post). See map below and finish off walk this way following post backwards.
There will be another post on Old Bramhope soon. Old Bramhope is up Old Lane past the Robert Craven Memorial Hall. I hope to do some detective work on the children’s home there.
Bramhope is one of Leeds many conservation areas believe it or not! Miller Homes have been allowed to build on what must have been Green Belt in Bramhope, so I don’t know what conservation status actually means!
From Bramhope to Arthington
(REMEMBER YOU CAN ENLARGE PHOTOS IN GALLERIES BY CLICKING ON THEM. THEY LOOK SO MUCH BETTER WHEN YOU CAN SEE THE DETAIL.)
We started our walk here by the church at Bramhope. Opposite is the Brittania Hotel which is a bit of an eye sore built in 1971. It was built on the site of Bramhope Hall – more of that when I do the history of Bramhope.
c1900-1904. View of Bramhope Hall, home of the Dyneley family from the 16th century onwards.
The well and pump were restored in 1991. To read the history of it click on the photo of the info board to enlarge.
The above is the walk that I mapped out. I didn’t record it, so its not quite the correct milage, which worked out just over 8mls. Theres some steep hills as it crosses the “ridge” that the Bramhope Rail Tunnel runs under. We actually went off piste at the bottom of the hill into the woods towards the railway line, where it exits the tunnel and got a photo of the ornate crenelated portal.
We walked through the woods following the path of the line, which was a lovely walk but a dead end, so we had to retrace our steps.
When we met the road we walked down to Creskeld Hall.
The place-name is first attested in the twelfth century, as Creskeld and Creskelde. The name comes from the Old English words cresse (‘cress‘) and kelde (‘spring, well’, itself a borrowing of Old Norse kelda). Thus the name once meant ‘spring with cress growing nearby’. The place-name thus suggests that the settlement dates back to before the Norman Conquest of England.[2] A spring of fresh water flows past the Hall all year round; and watercress grows in abundance in the streams and water gardens.
n 1189, Hugo de Creskeld gave all his land at Creskeld with an annual rent of 6d and a common pasture of 260 sheep to Kirkstall Abbey. A chapel was attached to the house before the end of the 12th century. The Manor House was leased to Sir Richard de Goldsbro and in 1352 a deed was executed between Sir Richard de Goldsboro and Robert Tottie relating to the granting of Creskeld wood for the smelting of iron. This deed is said to be the oldest deed relating to that industry now in existence.
At the dissolution of the Monasteries, the Manor of Creskeld passed into the hands of Thomas Cranmer, a nephew of the famous Archbishop Cranmer. In 1596 the Wentworth family from Wakefield occupied the Hall and rented it for £15 a year. In 1660, it was inherited by Evelild, the eldest daughter of George Wentworth, who was the wife of John Thornhill of Fixby.
In 1846, Francis Rhodes[3] of Bramhope Hall, the next door estate, married the only child of the owner of the Hall Charlotte Maria Cooper Darwin. He assumed her surname and arms in 1850 upon inheritance of Elston Hall from Robert Alvey Darwin[4] and they took up residence at Creskeld Hall.[5] The estate thus came into the ownership of the Rhodes family, who had been in Wharfedale for many centuries.
Francis (Rhodes) Darwin was born in 1825. He became a barrister, then a magistrate and was Chairman of the Highways Committee and Alderman of the new West Riding of Yorkshire County Council for more than 50 years. He died in 1918 at the age of 93.
The present Hall at Creskeld occupies the site of the original Manor house and there are parts in the centre which date back to the 1600s, with very old oak beams. Much of the rest of the building was built between 1850 and 1920 and includes a chapel room that was rebuilt after a fire in 1870. This was never re-consecrated and is now part of the main house. A flat-roofed billiard room extension was added in 1919. This connects the rebuilt chapel with the main body of the house, and has enclosed a courtyard where the front entrance used to be.
The Hall has been privately owned by the same family since 1919 being purchased by Bertram Parkinson, the grandfather of the current owners. It was then the home of Colonel Sir Malcolm Stoddart-Scott OBE MC TD, Member of Parliament of the local constituency from 1945 until his death in 1973.
We then walked to the end of the lane, crossed straight over and down Warren Lane to the Arthington Viaduct which I’ve blogged about previously. We retraced our steps and then turned left along the Tadcaster to Otley Turnpike Road, which seems to have always had problems with heavy traffic!
The reason we walked the road is because I wanted to check out the buildings.
Here we came across the Old Post Office with the GR insignia for King George and the old school 1872.
On the south side of Arthington Lane, Crag View and Ivy Cottage, Holme View, are a pair of cottages, built of coursed squared sandstone with quoins and a stone slate roof, as an eye-catcher, in the 19C. The central two-storey part is Crag View, and the wings are single-storey with screen walls at first-floor level, topped by an open pediment and battlements. A row of six cottages, Nos. 5 to 10, was built in the early to mid-19C of coursed squared sandstone with quoins and dressings of the same, and a Welsh slate roof. All have a wide recessed arch at first-floor level, merging into the eaves. The row of cottages was originally symmetrical, with the ones next to the end slightly recessed, but No.5 on the right has been extended in a similar style, but without the blank arch.
Next we walked along to Arthington Hall.
The name Arthington is first attested in the Domesday Book as Hardinctone, Ardintona and Ardinton. The first element of the name comes from the Old English personal name Eard, a nickname form of longer names like Eardwulf; the connecting element -ing-, used to indicate Eard’s association with the place; and the word tūn (‘farmstead, estate’). Thus the name meant ‘Eard’s estate’. Spellings with th for d appear from the twelfth century onwards and are thought to show the influence of Old Norse pronunciation on the name.[4]Arthington was part of the estate of Aluuard of Northumbria, along with Adel, Burdon, Cookridge and Eccup, up until the Norman conquest of England. It was then given to the Count of Mortain (half brother of William the Conqueror). However, it had greatly reduced in value during the Conquest, falling from 30 shillings to 5, and much of the area was described as waste.
It was in the 12th century that Arthington (or Ardington) as a family name was established, as vassals to the tenant in chief, the Paynel and later the Luterel family. Peter de Arthington donated lands at Arthington to Kirkstall Abbey which led to the establishment of a nunnery known as Arthington Priory. The site is now believed to be occupied by the Nunnery, with the main house dated 1585 built from the ruins.[6] By this time the region had improved with more land under agriculture and more inhabitants.[5]
Originally built in the mid 15th century, the hall stands on the site of a former Cluniac nunnery endowed by the Arthington family in the late 1200s, and given by Henry VIII to Archbishop Cranmer in 1543, after the dissolution of the monasteries. Following a fire in the late 1700s, the house was substantially remodelled for Henry Arthington by Yorkshire architect John Carr, who was much in favour in Wharfedale at about that time, designing such illust-rious country houses as nearby Harewood House and Denton Park, and Farnley Hall at Otley.
This was a period when many rich Leeds merchants decided to swap the trading floor for the green and pleasant life of a country landowner-a condition that Carr himself aspired to. Born the son of a stonemason in 1723, he went on to become Yorkshire’s dominant architect, a gentleman, twice Lord Mayor of York, and a justice of the peace for the West Riding, with his own country house and estate.
At Arthington Hall, Carr’s most notable legacy is undoubtedly its famous flying staircase, described by the late Giles Worsley (Country Life, May 5, 1988) as a ‘masterpiece of joinery (and) one of Yorkshire’s unknown 18th-century marvels’. Set in an oval stairwell, it starts with two flights that meet at a half-landing to form a central, unsupported flight that is said to ‘bounce unnervingly’ when walked upon.
The route from Leeds to Wharfedale was already well-trodden by the time the Sheepshanks family (wool merchants, as the name suggests) bought Arthington Hall in 1842. In 1875, William Sheepshanks commissioned a Victorian extension by Alfred Waterhouse; a further wing was added in 1908. The hall has been the Sheepshanks family home ever since, apart from a period during and after the Second World War, when it was used as a convalescent home.
In the early 1990s, the present vendors, William and Alice Sheepshanks, bought Arthington from William’s late mother, Mary, who, with his father, Charles, reclaimed the house and gardens in the 1960s and restored them. However they sold the hall in 2012 as the running cost were becoming too much. I can’t find out who bought it or who lives there
The Nunnery
Situated on Arthington Lane, it is believed that this Nunnery was founded by Peter de Arthington about 1150. It was a small establishment with usually around ten nuns. At the time of the Dissolution of the Monasteries, Elizabeth Hall, the prioress received a pension of £35. Nine other nuns were offered much smaller amounts. The building became a home and the land around the farm. TB 15851B is on the house, thought to be the initials of Thomas Briggs and his wife who were early owners.
After suppression of the priory, in 1543 the site was given by the King to Archbishop Thomas Cranmer. In the time of Charles I, a plain but substantial hall was built on the priory land. The front doorway which is dated 1585, has been removed from some older building. In 1822 the hall was occupied as a farm house and was the property of the Earl of Harewood. In the parish records it is described as “a large well-built, square house, on a fine elevation above the river”.
Despite the loss of the ancient buildings, the 1822 records have an entry that states: “ARTHINGTON NUNNERY, in the parish of Adel, upper-division of Skyrack, and adjoins the village of Arthington”. This probably refers to The Nunnery, a farmhouse which is said to stand on the foundations and lower courses of the priory church.[3] Its farm buildings were possibly built over the monastery buildings.[3]
The information about the history of all these interesting places and buildings has been researched from many web pages and there are some links to these incorporated within the text. I have mostly used my own photos, as I like to show that I have actually been to all these places, but have used a few old ones from the internet too.
We walked to the church of St Peter built in 1864 for Mr William Sheepshanks of Arthington Hall. The first vicar was Thomas Sheepshanks. It is now a Coptic church.
We then made our way up a path up the side of the church, and ascended the ridge across some very muddy fields, finally reaching Bank Top farm where we cross the road following the Ebor Way back to Bramhope.
Phew this blog has taken a long time.
Cookridge/Horsforth History Walk
Didn’t intend to walk this far today. It was cold, breezy and very, very muddy. Mike and Tetley talked me into it. So as a little compromise, I drove to Cookridge cricket club and started the walk from there.
The bridleway down as far as the railway bridge is easy going if a little pot holed.
This is Moseley Farm, a grade 2 listed building, reputed to have been built as a house for the owner of the bleach works (demolished), remains of which are on the hill slope to south and east of the house.
Early C19, altered C20. Coursed squared gritstone, low-pitched stone slate roof with stone copings and kneelers. On site of or reusing parts of a C17 house. 2 storeys, 3 windows. Quoins. Garden front faces SW and has central door with tie-stone jambs, flanking large square windows with plain surrounds and C20 wooden frames; gutter brackets, end stacks. Rear, uphill side: entrance to right of centre with tie-stone jambs, recessed chamfered window surrounds to left and 2 to 1st floor, a tall central stair window with blocked opening below, centre.
The mud started on the railway bridge and continues ad infinitum!
Here starts the Bramhope tunnel. After the railway bridge we carried on up the hill, passing what I took to be part of the old bleach works factory.
Nethersprings was one of north Horsforths many flax bleaching mills which was used for linen. The Flax seed would have been used for oil and the unbleached fibres of the plant for twine and rope. Ropeworks were many in Horsforth as well in the Woodside area and over the boundary at Clayton.
The Inghams owned Dean Grange Farm and still do. It has been owned by the Ingham family since the 1700’s. One of the sons Robert opened a pub called the Bay Horse for the navvies building the Bramhope Tunnel. In it he organised prize fights for his customers! You can imagine some quite riotous times here.
The above houses are where the beer house would have been.
Samuel Inghams will of 1825 shows that he also had an interest in Crag Farm, Cookridge, where his son William was sub-tenant. Rosanne Clelland (nee Ingham) also tells us that Samuel held the lease for Moseley farm as well as Crag and Dean Grange farms. Moseley and Crag farms are in Cookridge, whilst Dean Grange is across the stream in Horsforth.
After Samuel’s death, William took over Crag farm, Robert took over Moseley.
I have trawled through the family history of the Inghams and they were obviously an important family within the areas of Horsforth, Cookridge, Arthington and Otley.
It is a big farm but looks like its seen better days. The final photo was a cold store. All these buildings including the cold store are listed grade 2.
And so after all the history we walked on up to meet Scotland Lane. All this area is actually known as Scotland. Horsforth has had two royal visitors. The first was William the Conqueror, who crossed the Aire at Newlay on his way to confront rebellious Danes at York and took possession of land in north Horsforth from the Anglo Danish Earl Gamal. The land was later granted to one, Robert de Bruys, whose Scottish decendant ‘Robert the Bruce’ laid claim to the Scottish throne. He passed this way on one of his raids into Yorkshire after his victory at Bannockburn, reportedly spending the night at Dean Head Grange on the Horsforth Estate. That outlying area of Horsforth has been known as ‘Scotland’ ever since.
After the history lesson, back to the walk. We turned left, crossed over the road and a short while took the path over the field toward the airport runway. O my goodness was it boggy! We reached a fenced area around the perimeter of the runway and I proceeded to have to walk whilst doing the splits, in order to stay out of the deep mud and water streaming down a gully that was a path. We slid down ankle deep into it numerous times, which was funny to start with but soon lost its fun element. After a while we legged it over a lower bit of fence onto Horsforth golf course, that someone else had obviously done before us and made our way over to the road – Bayton Lane. We were quite glad to walk on the road but it wasn’t very pleasant; you would not think for a minute that we were in “lockdown” with all the traffic! We eventually turned off left after the golf course following a path back over field to Scotland Lane. We crossed the road and went down a lane that led to Owlet Grange circa 17th.
Another listed building. In 1200AD, Horsforth became part of the domain of the Abbots of Kirkstall who exploited its resources by quarrying and farming as well as using the water-power of the beck, to drive their famous forge. Monastic farm houses, often manned by lat brothers, were known as granges. We have Newlay Grange and two granges on the de Bruys land, Dean Head Grange and Owlet Grange.
And this one….
Some absolutely gorgeous dwellings around this area.
And then came the baptism in mud. We walked through a farmyard and entered a field that had had a great deal of tractor activity. We again snack up to our ankles in bog like mud, having to haul our feet out against the suction! I tried walking in the tractor track but it was so deep I could hardly get out!
We eventually made it back to Dean head Farm and our way home. FUN! And learnt so much history afterwards.
Arthington/Wharefdale Viaduct Photos
Bramhope Tunnel update
Today I found some footpaths across the top of the Bramhope tunnel and found the shafts that were dug for the diggers to be lowered into the tunnel. Some of them were left as air vents.
The tunnel starts not long out of Horsforth station.
The first air vent appears just off the Otley Old Road.
The next is between that road and Bramhope village.
I just had to touch the brick work and feel the history absorbed within the stonework.
Theres a lot of mounds along the route, which maybe some of the earth that was dug out. It can’t possibly be all of it though. I assume most was transported away somewhere???
Lastly i got closer to the sighting tower. You can see the platform at the top and theres a window which suggests that there may be a room there.
