Photos and the City

Tag: travel

Saturday in York

I had to say goodbye to my Folly Cottage in Haworth, board the Brontëbus one last time and one train later I arrived in York. I stayed a bit outside the city centre and walked through Rowntree Park towards the city walls.

Situated at the junction of two rivers York was founded by the Romans in 71AD and became the capital of “Britannia Inferior” and later of the kingdoms of Deira, Northumbria and Jórvík, a Vikings capital.

York City Walls

I started exploring York with a walk on the city walls starting at the Micklegate Bar – once the most important gateway into the walled city.

York had been defended by walls since the Roman times, even today some parts of the original Roman walls and the Multangular Tower are still visible and can be visited in the Museum Gardens.

The name of this four-storey-high gatehouse is from the Old Norse ‘mykla gata’ or ‘great street’, and leads onto Micklegate (‘gate’ is Norwegian for ‘street’ remaining from Viking influence in York). It was the traditional ceremonial gate for monarchs entering the city, who, in a tradition dating to Richard II in 1389, touch the state sword when entering the gate.

The lower section was built in the 12th century while the top storeys in the 14th; the original barbican was removed in 1826. (Wikipedia)

The two top floors were inhabited until the mid 20th century, today they house a small museum.

The Victorians restored the walls, widened the wall-walk and rebuilt some parts.

View of York Minster, the Gothic Cathedral, from the city walls.

Museum Gardens

From the picturesque the Medieval ruins of St. Mary’s Abbey, the Multangular Tower and other stunning buildings there is much to see and to do in the Museum Gardens. And it´s also the perfect place to relax and take a breath. The city was quite full and after my quiet days in Brontë Country, I felt a bit overwhelmed.

Remains of the Roman fort are on both sides of the gardens and then there is the tower which is partly Roman and Medieval.

A 76-foot (23 m) section of 4th-century wall connects the Multangular Tower to a small interval tower. The side of the wall and towers facing into Museum Gardens is carefully faced in stone, as during the Roman period it was on display. The other side is rougher because it was originally covered by an earth bank. The wall and towers were still in use after the end of the Roman period in Britain, and were subsequently incorporated into the medieval city walls. (wikipedia)

10/09/2019
Saltaire

One morning in Haworth I hopped on the Brontëbus to Keighly and from there to Saltaire by train.

Saltaire is located near Bradford and is a Victorian model village, built in 1851 by Sir Titus Salt, a leading industrialist who wanted the workers of his woollen mills to be healthy and having good living quarters. Today Saltaire is a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Salt built neat stone houses for his workers (much better than the slums of Bradford), wash-houses with tap water, bath-houses, a hospital and an institute for recreation and education, with a library, a reading room, a concert hall, billiard room, science laboratory and a gymnasium. The village had a school for the children of the workers, almshouses, allotments, a park and a boathouse” (wikipedia)

Saltaire offered recreational activities like bands and clubs, but there was also a strict no-alcohol policy!

Sir Titus died in 1876 and after the death of Titus son Saltaire was taken over by a partnership which included Sir James Roberts from Haworth. Roberts had worked in wool mills since the age of eleven and had quite the business interests in Russia.

Roberts came to own Saltaire, but chose to invest his money heavily in Russia, losing some of his fortune in the Russian Revolution. He endowed a chair of Russian at Leeds University and bought the Brontë’s Haworth Parsonage for the nation. (wikipedia)

Salts Mill had to close down in 1986, like many other textile mills but was bought in 1987 by Jonathan Silver, an entrepreneur from Bradford, who started to renovate it. Today Salts Mill houses an art gallery, a museum, coffee shops, an amazing book shop and also some industrial companies.

In December 2001 Saltaire was designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

Saltaire, West Yorkshire, is a complete and well-preserved industrial village of the second half of the 19th century. Its textile mills, public buildings and workers’ housing are built in a harmonious style of high architectural standards and the urban plan survives intact, giving a vivid impression of Victorian philanthropic paternalism. (UNESCO)

After walking around the lovely village for a bit I met a fellow photographer. Carolyn and I met at a workshop in Italy and used my visit for a little catching up over ice cream and soup at the Salts Mill. Carolyn just had finished her project “In Between”, photographing girls between 10 and 12 years. At this stage in life when you´re half kid half teenager and lots of things are just a bit confusing.

The little bit bigger houses were the ones of the foremen.

Salts Mill

Saltaire has been featured in various movies and TV shows like the upcoming Netflix-series by Julian Fellows “The English Game”.

06/09/2019
Top Withens

Top Withens – the rumoured inspiration for Brontës “Wuthering Heights”. Even so, that might not be true walking there is a wonderful circular walk through Brontë Country.

I started at Haworth Main Street, passed the church and the parsonage and in the direction of the Lower Laithe reservoir, opened in 1925.

Passing through Stanbury – if it wouldn´t have been in the morning I might have stopped in one of the two pubs….

Moorland paths

Emily Brontë loved the moors. They were a playground and an escape. As an adult she walked them regularly, alone or with her sisters and they feature heavily in her writing. Her fictional interpretation of the landscape has become one of the reasons for our own romantic view, but she would have been well aware of the hardship and danger for the people who lived and worked there. (The History Girls)

Originally known as “Top of th’Withens”, Top Withens was probably built in the second half of the 16th century by George Bentley (or his relatives). At the time of the Brontës, it was inhabited by Jonas Sunderland and his wife Ann Crabtree (from 1811) and then their son, Jonas, with Mary Feather (from 1833). It was last inhabited by Ernest Roddy in 1926. (Wuthering Heights.co.uk)

View from Top Withens

Most farms relied on dairy farming for the bulk of their income, but those nearest the moors also kept sheep, while setting aside small tracts of land for pasture and cattle meadows, and to grow oats. The meagre living scratched from the earth by moorland farming families was never enough to thrive, and most would have relied on quarrying and weaving to supplement the family income. The Worth Valley surrounding Top Withens is dotted with old quarry sites. (Britainexpress)

The views from Top Withens over the moors were simply stunning. It´s the perfect place for a little picknick, lying under the trees and just looking around.

From here I simply followed the Brontë Trail to the Brontë Bridge and Waterfall.

Brontë Bridge & Waterfall

“I intended to have written a line yesterday, but just as I was sitting down for that purpose, Arthur called to me to take a walk. We set off, not intending to go far; but though wild and cloudy it was fine in the morning; when we got about half-a-mile on the moors, Arthur suggested the idea of the waterfall; after the melted snow, he said it would be fine. I had often wished to see it in its winter power, so we walked on. It was fine indeed; a perfect torrent racing over the rocks, white and beautiful!” (Charlotte Brontë, November 29th 1854)

I made my way back into Howarth and treated myself to some cream tea – the scones were delicious!

29/08/2019