Art in Dean Clough

At Dean Clough, I particularly wanted to see an exhibition of photographs of Haworth and other places linked to the Brontës: A Brontë Reader, by Helen Burrow. They're black and white images, taken with a Holga camera, so they have a characteristic blurriness and grittiness which rather suits the subject matter. The exhibition is partnered by a book of the photos paired with quotes from the Brontës' books, letters and other reflections.

Whilst I was there, I explored the other galleries, and these were some of the artworks I enjoyed:

Exquisitely coloured and complex bas-reliefs, made of folded and crimped paper - by Pierrette Vergne (lovely name too!)

A series of life drawings made by Doug Binder, painter in residence at Dean Clough.

Playful ceramics by Ian Stewart, including Gorilla with kitten (above).

An oddly compelling sculptural installation by Connie Lo Ho Yee: In the Absence Of... that involves illusion (how is it held up?), sound and 3D printing. One of my friends remarked that it looked like 'toothpaste in space' - well, yes...

My favourite exhibit, possibly, was a photo of Dean Clough taken in the 1930s by the famous photographer Bill Brandt: Catchpoint - Hail, Hell and Halifax.

Dean Clough in Lego

The Dean Clough Lego project came about as the result of a discussion amongst staff about the difficulties of depicting the huge site (see yesterday).  The individual mills are so close together, in a deep valley, that it is difficult to photograph them or convey their size. An aerial view would show the whole site but lose the historical details. Someone - perhaps jokingly - suggested building it in Lego. Thus it was that in 2009, Michael Le Count (a primary school teacher) and Tony Priestman (a computer data specialist) began to construct a model, in their spare time, using only commercially available Lego pieces. They are still at it! It's a huge model and astonishingly detailed, well worth seeing.

Dean Clough

Once the world's largest carpet factory, Dean Clough in Halifax is, like Salts Mill in Saltaire, a triumph not only of the Industrial Revolution but also of the entrepreneurial vision of men in more recent times. As with Salts Mill, one of those men was the late Jonathan Silver.

The carpet factory, Crossley's, opened in the mid-1800s and closed in 1983. It was then bought by Sir Ernest Hall, along with the young Jonathan Silver, who began to develop it as a business and cultural complex. The partnership between the two men did not last long as they had very different ways of working. Jonathan left and in 1987 he bought and began to develop Salts Mill with a similar vision.

(There's another connection too. In 1866 Titus Salt Jnr married Catherine Crossley, daughter of the Halifax carpet magnate, Joseph Crossley, joining the two great textile dynasties.)

Nowadays the complex of mills holds over 150 different businesses with over 4000 employees. There is a hotel, a theatre and several gallery spaces, restaurants, a gym and retail premises. It is a busy working environment and a tourist attraction, with over 60,000 visitors a year.

It has certain similarities to Salts Mill on the exterior but is not as ornate. Though larger in total area, it was in fact several different mills in its heyday. Inside it has a rough industrial vibe in parts but it is divided into much smaller spaces and feels more contemporary. It has lost the sense of a Victorian mill, which Salts Mill still proudly capitalises on.

Tong Park

My camera club will hold its biennial exhibition this summer, so I've been choosing a few photos to have printed. Stage two of the process is to get them mounted, so I trotted off to the picture framer that I use, in Baildon. It was a very cold, frosty day but, as the sun was shining, I also took the opportunity to have a short walk round nearby Tong Park.

Tong Park was a mill village that was built by the Denby family around their Tong Park Mill in the 1850s. Unlike Saltaire, little now remains of their empire. The mill finally closed in the 1990s and is now an industrial park. Some of the original village was demolished from the 1960s onwards and now the area is a pleasant and mixed residential zone. There are a few rows of Victorian terraced houses still dotted around. Interestingly, I noticed some of them are 'back to backs', where the houses share party walls on three sides, with only the front wall having a door and windows. They were often badly built and came to be considered unfavourably, so most have now disappeared.

What does remain is the mill dam, nestled in the Gill Beck valley. It provides a tranquil focal point in an area of grassland and woods, rich in wildlife and unusual plants that thrive on the glacial moraine.

The ducks were rather bemused that the lake was completely frozen over. They just stood around, seeming rather fed up with things. 

Climbing out of the valley, there was a good view back over the lake towards the Hollins Hall golf course and, to the left, the rather picturesque cricket ground. On the hillside (where the evergreen tree is) stands a war memorial, erected by the Denby family to commemorate the men from Tong Park who died in WWI.

Gibson Mill

One final post from Hardcastle Crags... This shows Gibson Mill from the back, beautifully reflected in the mill pond.

Abandoned

Remarkably, this old range and kitchen is still on the top floor of Gibson Mill, a relic of when the place was a busy restaurant in the early 1900s.

It seemed to fit the theme for March in my online photo group, which was 'Abandoned'. I suppose you could argue that it is hardly abandoned, since it is now in the care of the National Trust. But it was clearly abandoned at some stage. I don't think you'd get far trying to cook on it now! I can vividly picture waitresses in long black skirts, starched white aprons and frilly caps, rushing in and out for the orders.

Now and then

Gibson Mill has a fascinating history. It was built in 1805 as a water-powered cotton mill but, as the Industrial Revolution gathered pace, the initial attractions of the site (alongside a fast flowing river to power the waterwheel) became more of a hindrance. The valley is narrow and when packhorse transport was overtaken by rail and road, it became increasingly difficult to get supplies and goods to and from the mill.

It finally closed as a mill in 1902 but was almost immediately reopened as a restaurant. During the previous decade the wooded valley, full of waterfalls and picnic spots, had became a tourist attraction and various small pavilions had opened, serving refreshments to cater to the weekend visitors from the nearby industrial towns. The mill became an 'entertainment emporium', with first and second class (!) restaurants, a dance floor and later a roller skating rink. At its height in the 1920s, the area was attracting 500,000 visitors a year. People were transported from Hebden Bridge railway station in open carriages called wagonettes that could transport 25 people at once, pulled by teams of four horses. The last owner left the mill and the estate to the National Trust, on his death in 1956.

You can see from the photos that superficially the Mill is still very similar to what it looked like in the early 1900s. It is, however, now one of the NT's flagship sustainable enterprises. Apart from a telephone link, it is completely 'off-grid', generating electricity from a water turbine and photo-voltaic panels, heating from a bio-mass boiler and having composting toilets.

(Old photos are taken from the display panels around the mill. Hope nobody objects!)

A walk round Hardcastle Crags

The National Trust not only cares for many historic properties but also manages huge areas of the British countryside and coast. One area locally that falls under its jurisdiction is Hardcastle Crags, a wooded valley very near to where my daughter lives in Hebden Bridge.

My granddaughter attends a Church of England primary school, and they were having a special Easter service in the adjoining parish church. She had a part in it, so I went along to watch. It was an early start for me, and then it was all over by 10.30am so I had the rest of the day to play with. Although it was a bit dull and drizzly, I decided I'd take a walk round the Crags. (There is no entrance fee to the NT's country areas but my newly acquired membership of the organisation does give me free parking. It would be rude not to use it!)

The valley has many way-marked trails of varying lengths and difficulty. I set off on the red route, scrambling up through woods and outcrops of millstone grit and returning along the riverside. Much of the walk was paved with old stone flags, which usually denote ancient packhorse routes. The local area was home to many handloom weavers in the 18th century, so there was a busy trade of goods criss-crossing the valley on horseback.

In 1805, Gibson Mill, a water-powered cotton mill, was built, harnessing the power of the river, Hebden Water, which runs through the valley to join the River Calder in Hebden Bridge. The mill forms the focal point of the Hardcastle Crags trails, and now has a café, gallery space and educational facilities.

Though the countryside still seemed held fast in the grip of winter, I saw quite a few birds as I walked through the woods, including a great spotted woodpecker, which didn't stay still long enough for me to photograph. Upstream from the mill, I saw a grey heron. They do stand still - sometimes for hours!

The path back to the carpark ran alongside Hebden Water, which tumbles over little cascades and has many points where you can cross by stepping stones or packhorse bridges, another sign of how busy this now quiet and peaceful valley once was.

Like a mirror

The canal was calm as a mirror when I went walking along the other day, so the reflections were lovely. This is the scene looking back towards Saltaire from the bridge at Dowley Gap. There are some old mill buildings here, which have been converted into two or three residences. It ought to be (and at first glance looks to be) nicer than it really is. It's all a bit of a hotch-potch and rather tatty. Added to that, on the far side, it overlooks the beautiful  cess pits of the sewage works, which make their presence known odiferously as well as visually. It's not really somewhere I'd choose to live... Maybe you'd get used to the smell, like people living near busy roads get accustomed to the noise.

The path less travelled

From Saltaire, I can walk east or west along the canal towpath. More often than not, I choose west, which quickly takes me into fields, woods and wild places. Just occasionally, when I fancy a change, I'll turn east towards Shipley. The walk is much less pretty, cutting through downtown Shipley and skirting some old mills and industrial units. It does eventually reach wilder and more attractive parts, but only after a fair old trek.

Nevertheless, the option is not without interest, especially when I haven't been that way for a while. Beyond Saltaire and Salts Wharf, one of the first points of intrigue is this little old cottage: Gallows Bridge Cottage. It dates back to 1834, though it has been extensively renovated. I read that it may once have been the home of a 'lengthsman', someone who patrolled and cared for a designated length of the canal. The footbridge beyond is Gallows Bridge, which was built around the same time as the cottage. There has always been a bridge here, protecting an ancient right of way, since this part of the canal was completed in 1774.  I'm not sure what the 'gallows' in the name refers to... something even more ancient - and deadly, perhaps? You might think the cottage an idyllic place to live, but it is a bit isolated as indicated by the several CCTV cameras and alarm.

A few hundred yards further on, you pass Junction Bridge, a typical single-arched canal bridge dated 1774. It's held together in parts by concrete but you can still see the old, worn, stone setts across the middle. The building beyond is Junction House, sadly now very derelict. It was once a warehouse, boatmen's lodgings and had a canal toll-house attached. There's some interesting information about this whole area HERE, which is an extensive assessment of the area for conservation purposes. The 'junction' referred to is that between the now defunct Bradford canal, which  branched off here, and the main Leeds-Liverpool Canal.

The conservation document is not complimentary about the newish flats and town houses in the development alongside the canal (on the left below), which it calls an 'unsympathetic inward-facing modern development'. The buildings on the right of Junction Bridge are Junction Mills and Dockfield Mills, once worsted mills, still used as commercial premises.

Gayle Mill

Another tick off my bucket list... Gayle Mill, near Hawes in Wensleydale, has been somewhere I've wanted to visit since it was featured some years ago on a C4 TV programme called 'Restoration'. The programme asked viewers to vote for a heritage restoration project, which would win a grant for its completion. Gayle Mill came in the top three in the national finals and though it didn't win (despite my vote), it attracted sufficient interest for the restoration to be completed.

It is a Georgian mill, originally built about 1784 as a water-powered cotton mill (strangely, as this is the heart of sheep country!). It was turned over to flax and later wool spinning, before becoming domestic accommodation in the 19th century. (There are intriguing remnants of Victorian wallpaper.) Around 1879 it was turned into a sawmill, the waterwheel being removed and replaced by a water-powered turbine that drives various woodworking machines (sawbench, circular saw, planes and lathes) by a series of belts and pulleys from a central lineshaft, as well as generating some electricity to light the mill and some nearby houses. The sawmill closed in 1988 and the building looked set to be converted to apartments. However, the North East Civic Trust oversaw the restoration and the mill is now managed by a trust and used as a working mill, museum and workshop for a variety of heritage skills training courses.

It was fascinating to look round. The volunteer who guided the tour was very knowledgeable and enthusiastic. He explained and demonstrated how the turbine worked, fed from the river via a sluice and down the mill race, seen in my top photo. When the river level is low, there is a mill dam higher up the hill that can feed water to the mill. He showed us these amazing cartwheels (below), explaining how they are made from three different types of wood that have different strengths and flexibility. The iron rim is made smaller than the wheel, heated in a fire and, when expanded, slotted round the rim. As it cools, it shrinks and pulls the wood tight on the spokes. This is a very skilled process. Like many of these country crafts, the skills are dying out and places like Gayle Mill are fighting to keep them alive.

Damart

At this time of year, hereabouts, you might be told to "Get tha Damart on" if it gets particularly chilly. Damart is a brand of thermal underwear, made from Thermolactyl, a unique patented man-made fibre. The Damartex brand is French but for many years the UK head-office has been here in Bingley, at Bowling Green Mills, beside the canal. The company have a large mail-order business, mainly selling classic clothing, underwear and homeware. I do have some Damart thermal wear, dating back to when I had a season ticket for the local football team, Bradford City. Thick, fluffy thermals were very necessary on the stadium terraces in winter and I can testify to their cosiness. Of late, I have favoured merino wool baselayers, finding them more comfortable and breathable for active walking, which is my favourite winter pursuit these days.