My weekend walk took me through the centre of Baildon. Once upon a time Baildon was a proper village; now it's a suburban sprawl, full of people that commute to work in Leeds and Bradford. It spills down the hillside from the edge of the moors into the Aire valley. It's quite a pleasant place though, with a thriving centre and some nice pubs.
One of its proud features is the Potted Meat Stick. (So-called, I imagine, because of the pink mottled stone of its column. For those readers not from round here, potted meat is a kind of paté.) The Stick is actually a water fountain, though it no longer works (did it ever?) Apparently it was given by Baron Amphlett of Somerset as a memorial to his mother-in-law, Frances Ferrand. She was the younger daughter of the Holdens, a leading Baildon family. The fountain was dismantled and almost lost, then rediscovered in pieces, restored and put in its present position in the village centre in 1986. Obviously some people have quite an attachment to it, but in my view it's not the most attractive of memorials. I hope my son-in-law will show a bit more taste!
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