Marley - and back to Bingley

The next bit of the walk, alongside the railway line, was really tricky as the path ran between two fences and was almost completely overgrown. I got stung by nettles, scratched by brambles and stumbled in holes, so I was glad to reach the safety of a proper track again. It climbed up towards Marley, which is a tiny hamlet with some early 17th century properties - Marley Hall and some farm buildings. The hall itself was set back in gardens and I couldn't get a decent photo. (You get a better view from the train!) The building in the photo below is, I think, originally a farmhouse. They have a lovely wide view across the Aire valley and up towards Keighley.

I struggled to find the path out and back to Bingley, until I spotted this tiny stone bridge and a stile hiding behind a tree! The map wasn't much help as the detail was not clear. Then I saw the yellow waymarker, so that was a relief.

The return leg took me through woodland, mixed in parts with some coniferous larch too. I've decided I don't like walking through larch woods - too stark and forbidding! The narrow path was a little precarious in parts as well, along the edge of a steep slope, so I didn't enjoy the walk back as much as the outward journey - and it was drizzling by then!

Still some interesting things to spot: I love the old stone stiles.

The phantom den builders had been at work here too. These structures seem to be in all our woodlands these days.

Once through the wood, the path joined an ancient route called Altar Lane down into Bingley and back to Ireland Bridge. Some nice views from here - though even better if I'd have climbed further up the lane instead of down, as it takes you to a rocky outcrop known as Druid's Altar. I'd had enough walking for one day, though it is always satisfying to follow a new route successfully by myself.

Deer and Riverside

When the man (see yesterday) let the horses off the lead in the field, one of them continued to follow me, so I was a little relieved to be able to put a gate between me and him, if only because he was so big! I think he was just being friendly. He neighed a farewell to me!

A little further down the lane, I think as far as vehicles can go, is this old cottage, called Cophurst (I think). It is really quite remote, a good mile or more out of Bingley along the narrow track. It looks to have been renovated rather beautifully.

Over a stile and into a field and there were interesting things to discover - some lovely foxgloves beside an old drystone wall, and then a curious tank or trough that had a tiny stream running into it. I suppose it was intended to provide water for animals.

The walk I was following was called 'Deer and Riverside'. I'd seen plenty of riverside by this point, so I was delighted to see some deer too (fallow deer, I think, as they had dappled coats). Of course, they spotted me even quicker than I saw them and soon bounded off into the woodland. This part of the walk ran right down to the railway line. I'd often seen the area from the train so it was nice to explore it on foot. 

Ravenroyd

Ravenroyd farm is now run as an equestrian centre, and it looked busy and professional as I passed through. The public footpath goes round the side of the house and past some other buildings at the rear.

There was a gentleman leading some horses out to pasture, so they followed me right along the track. The gentle clip-clop of a horse's hooves is such an evocative sound, quite soothing. I noticed some of the horses wore net hoods, to protect against flies I think.

Bingley to Ravenroyd

Leaving Bingley behind, I followed the track alongside the river. It is quite peaceful, although the track is the main access to a riding school and stables at Ravenroyd so it is used by vehicles. I'd not walked this way before and I was quite charmed by how attractive this stretch of the river is.

The farm at Ravenroyd draws your eye from afar. It is a listed building built in the early 1600s, with later additions. It has wonderful mullioned windows and an unusual stone gutter with projecting rainwater spouts. It nestles rather sweetly in the valley, and I was reminded that this area is known as 'Throstle's Nest' - throstle being an old word for a thrush. I've not found out a great deal about the house, except that at one time it was associated with the Quakers.

River views

Once across Ireland Bridge, my route took me alongside the river, with nice views of the backs of the properties on Bingley Old Main Street. The weir was originally built to power a mill that has now been demolished.

As I said yesterday, the surrounding properties do sometimes flood and I noticed a 'river level recorder', which I assume gives advance warning of potential problems.

You don't have to walk far from the main roads to begin to feel like you're in a different world. The river was very calm and there were some super reflections.

The path follows a track that leads past the newish apartments. A little further along there are three large detached properties, so newly built that only one is lived in so far. Across the river, a small estate of older houses leads to Bingley Cemetery, so the buildings give way to trees and greenery. After that, it all becomes suddenly quite rural....

Ireland Bridge

I took a walk recently that started from Ireland Bridge in Bingley, and it struck me that I'd never really photographed this area before, so here it is. The bridge itself is a Grade II* listed structure and a significant crossing point over the River Aire. It takes the road from Bingley through the villages of Harden, Wilsden and Cullingworth and eventually to Haworth and over the moors to Hebden Bridge, so I often drive over it on my way to see the family. There has been a bridge here since medieval times and the current structure was built in 1686. It was widened and altered in 1775 and was again strengthened in 2010 to take modern traffic. It is, as you can see, relatively narrow and forms something of a bottle neck at peak times.

The bridge has a pub at either end (both really nice pubs). At the Bingley end is the Old White Horse, an ancient coaching inn in the oldest part of Bingley, opposite the parish church. (See HERE).  At the other end is the Brown Cow Inn (see below). It is said that the bridge was at one time called Bingley Bridge and the name got changed because Irish textile workers in the local mills crossed it to drink in the Brown Cow, which became known as 'the Irish pub'. I don't know if that's true.

There is an interesting mixture of old and new housing, with quite a few modern apartments having been built in recent years, where there used to be mills. Unfortunately proximity to the river does mean the properties sometimes flood. The Brown Cow, sitting quite low down, has been badly hit several times.

Folly!

It all started so well, with a pleasant amble down Beckfoot Lane to the packhorse bridge (HERE)
and on to the next little stone bridge over Harden Beck. There's an old mill here, originally driven - I assume - by water power from the beck. I don't know when it closed down but the buildings have been converted into several residential units.



Once over the narrow bridge, my walk took me across Shipley golf course (oddly named, since it is actually on the edge of Bingley). The right of way is marked by large white stones, but you have to be very careful not to get in the way of golfers and flying golf balls. Not being a golfer myself, I find it quite hard to tell which direction they are aiming in. So I walked quite fast across this bit!

Beyond the golf course, the view opens up along the Harden Valley, bounded on one side by the Bingley St Ives estate and on the other by Cottingley Woods. It's all very green and lush. I actually love this gentle little valley, quite peaceful nowadays. There are some old buildings, now very nice houses, nestled in hay and wildflower meadows.

Harden Grange Farm, which you can see in the distance below, is now a riding school and livery yard.

I took the path up into Ruin Bank Wood, climbing steeply up the valley side. I was hoping to find the old ruined folly hidden in the woods.

The woods are mostly larch trees, grown for timber. As I walked up to the main track it all became very muddy and difficult to negotiate, churned up by forestry vehicles.They must have huge thick tyres that had gouged out deep ruts. I came to a junction in the track and went straight on - wrong, as I then came to the other side of the wood. I retraced my steps and turned right, along the muddy track. It was hard going and not at all pretty. I find the straight trunks of pine trees rather forbidding compared to mixed woodlands like Hirst Woods.

Further on there was more evidence of forestry activities, with huge stacks of messy timber. Not the neat log piles you'd expect, these were smaller branches and looked more like waste. You'd think at least they could use it for chippings for mulch. Perhaps they do, eventually.

I never did find the folly! I obviously took a wrong turn somewhere. The track came out into Cottingley housing estate and, to be honest, it was a relief to be on firmer ground. I had then to search for the footpath down to the main road. It turned out to be steep and rocky and more like a river bed, though luckily not muddy here.

I was actually quite glad to get down to roads that I knew and eventually back to my car, on Beckfoot Lane. Not one of the nicest walks I've done...  Rather a folly, in fact. Ha!

All Saints Church, Bingley

I was pleased to discover that the door of the church of All Saints in Bingley was unlocked when I walked past. (This was ages ago, just before the coronavirus lockdown closed our churches. I haven't got round to posting this before now!) For the first time for several years, I went in to look round. It is sited in the oldest part of the town, near The Old White Horse, the historic coaching inn on Old Main Street. It's not a huge church but it's quite attractive inside. Some clear glass windows make the interior fairly light. There are some nice stained glass windows too but the one I really wanted to see, designed by the pre-Raphaelite artist Burne Jones, is now obscured by the church organ, which was resited in the 1960s. Very clever planning!

Some of the church dates back to the 15th century but it was restored with alterations and additions in Victorian times, as so many of our churches were. It retains the pews and Victorian carved oak screen separating the chancel from the nave.

The east window (above) over the altar has five 'lights' depicting the virtues, with some very nice faces on the figures (see below for a detail). It is the work of a stained glass artist called Henry Holiday and was made in about 1890. Its effect is rather spoiled by the protective metal grill on the outside which gives the tracery effect you can discern on the lightest areas, but I suppose sadly the threat of vandalism makes that necessary.

I don't know to whom the Annunciation window below is attributed, but it was very colourful.

Old Main Street

Bingley's Old Main Street has buildings dating back to to at least the mid 17th century, one of them a coaching inn sited strategically by Ireland Bridge over the River Aire. It was on the Leeds to Kendal coach route and coaches would have stopped here for refreshment and perhaps a change of horses. The inn has the characteristic stone lanterns on its gable (above), identifying that it once belonged to the Knights of the Order of St John. The street is still cobbled and is quite attractive, though it always has cars parked along its length. The main road was moved in 1904 to the other side of the church (to the right of my photo above) slicing through the church's graveyard. 

The church has an interesting old sundial on its tower, underneath the clock.