Voice of the Countryside

RE- ORGANISATION 2012

2011-12-24T09:42:00.003Z

This is to notify readers this blog
will be rebuilt during the coming year

Ploughs before Ploughman's Lunches

2011-06-24T15:51:00.008+01:00

Heading my on-line Cook Book is a photograph of a Turn-wrest Plough pulled by Oxen.

I understand it could be somewhere on the Suffolk border in Southern England .

While looking for something else I came across this wonderful Polish site - it shows farm practices long since forgotten in this country.

Wye

2011-06-24T15:07:00.001+01:00

I will be adding more soon but thought you could enjoy the link now.

http://www.wye.org/index.asp

Old Ilkley

2010-04-15T15:35:00.008+01:00

Somewhere in Brook Street

Somewhere near Mill Ghyll

The Bandstand and Shelter
West View Park

(Now the Millennium Green)

Happy New Year folks for 2010

2009-12-16T15:18:00.001Z

Not quite in character, are they!

2009-12-02T12:49:00.000Z

Oh Lord, who switched that on!

2009-12-02T12:48:00.000Z

When Lights were Lights

2009-12-02T12:45:00.000Z

The Poor Little Fairy

2009-12-01T15:02:00.001Z

Voice of the Countryside: Gluten Free Ale at Bar t'at - Ilkley

2009-08-27T14:13:00.001+01:00

Gluten Free Ale at Bar t'at - Ilkley

2009-08-25T13:37:00.005+01:00

It's here folks.

Am drinking the first bottle and it's a flavoursome ale.
Even if you don't suffer from gluten and/or wheat alergy
give it a try.

GHA is by Hambleton Ales by the way.

Gluten and Wheat Free Ale

2009-08-21T13:19:00.004+01:00

Thanks to Market Town Taverns a trial run of gluten and wheat free ales will soon take place at Bar t'at in Ilkley. I for one will welcome this as cider has not the flavour nor drinkability of a good ale.

If you have problems with gluten and/or wheat based foods and drinks, or know someone who does, please support this local trial. Tell your friends too.

Everyone should be able to enjoy a glass of decent ale.

Mega Duck visits Bar t'at.

2009-07-16T15:06:00.003+01:00

Mega Duck has found the ideal place to relax after a hard day swimming around in duck soup. In the not to distant future a Duck will be seen once again at, or possibly on, Bar t'at. That's right folks, Bar t'at. The best ale and wine bar in Ilkley. At least your host on this web-blog thinks so. Who's to argue with a Webfooted Traveller?

ILKLEY AN ALTERNATIVE GUIDE

2009-05-21T13:06:00.002+01:00

“There was an old well at which I used to drink when I was a boy......,” so Robert Collyer told the folk of Boston USA, in a lecture. Ilkley, the Olicana of Ptolemy and Ylcanley of Saxon times. Some form of population has inhabited this area for over five millennia. Each tribe leaving their mark. None more so than the Victorians and the present crew! Rombalds Moor, of which Ilkley Moor is but a small part, covers an area from Hawkesworth in the east to nearly Skipton in the west, with the Dales of Wharfe and Aire being north and south, respectively.

The Town, on the other hand, has been in existence as we see it today only a comparatively short time. In the year 1800, it was nothing more than a mucky little hole with a beck running through it. A population of about three hundred (give or take the odd dying wretch), and not much else. Apart from a cold spring high on the Moor. A few years earlier, the then Squire Myddleton, converted a building on t'moor into one this Country's first Spaw Baths. At least that is what it became later. One might call it a 'Sauna in reverse'.

So it was these small buildings became the foundation of modern Ilkley. Over a passage of time the 'Well' or 'Bath' house became known as White Wells. The taking of the 'spring' water which brought about such change to this part of Wharfedale and it's effects on the local countryside, must have been astronomical. More so than the long proposed by-pass!

Imagine spending all your life in a thatched cottage by a babbling brook, when in the next instance, some bod called Hamer Stansfeld, from a place he calls Headingley near Leeds, reckons he's going to put Wheatley and Ilkley on the map! Ten to one you've never heard of Headingley, let alone seen a map.

Yet this is exactly what Hamer and his mates did. One might say they turned "water into wine" or, as they say in Yorkshire, "water into brass". Large Hydropathic establishments grew from the virgin earth, such was the demand for this remarkable substance. There then followed the rest of the attendant services and crew. Also, about this time a railway wandered into the valley.

The first of many mill owners, industrialists and their families moved to the countryside for fresh air without fumes. I wonder what they would make of present day Ilkley? Not only had Ilkley become a fashionable water hole, it was now a commuter town.

Tenants of Jenny’s Cottage, Beacon Hill, Otley

2009-05-07T15:01:00.001+01:00

1799. John Tillotson. Beacon Keeper.

1830. Jenny Myers, wife of hind, John Myers, shepherd for John Hartley.

1860. Jenny Lee, wife of John Lee, hind or shepherd for John Hartley, corn merchant, in part of Garnett’s Mill, Otley.

1877. Jenny Miller. The road leading from East Chevin Road to Beacon Hill was named after her. Miller Lane. ( I’m not sure where this fits in with the rest ).

1883. Mr Veale from York. He enlarged the cottage from two rooms and a dairy to “Refreshment Rooms”. Built “Teapot Row” on Leeds Road (?) from the profits.

1908. Mr E Kirk, wheelwright, Yeadon.

1910. Senior Blackburn, Butcher, New Market Street, Otley. Lived in cottage till October 23rd 1934. Senior is the chap seen walking across Bond Gate with a pig, in old photographs of Otley.

1934. John Blackburn, son of Senior.

1947. Mrs Laurence Jackson, daughter of the above.

1958. Reg Marston, farmer, till 1972. Fred Atkinson leased the catering rights from 1969-71.

1972. Sam Chippendale Foundation bought the cottage, Beacon Hill and 84 acres.

1976. Jenny’s Cottage was demolished and some stone used to build an extension to Hilton Grange Children’s Home, Bramhope. The remaining stone was used to build flower Fund Homes at Guiseley.

1977. Leeds City Council bought the whole of Beacon Hill plus the White House plantation.

ALTERNATIVE ENERGY

2009-04-22T13:47:00.000+01:00

ELECTRIC HAMSTERS

The recent discovery of pre-historic giant hamster remains promoted thought in the field of alternative energy. We believe, through genetic modification and DNA, an ‘ancient’ hamster could be created from a ‘modern’ hamster. This coupled with exercise drums of appropriate dimensions could provide mobile generating units for the populace. Pilot studies may prove present generating equipment to be out dated. Your thoughts on this would be gratefully received..

Otley in the West Riding of Yorkshire

2009-03-31T11:54:00.001+01:00

Otley Market

Otley has held a market since Saxon times but the recorded history really begins on 1st March 1222 when King Henry 3rd granted the first royal charter. The charter allowed the Lord of the Manor - the Archbishop of York - to hold a two day fair each year on the eve and the feast day of St Mary Magdalene. Originally the fair, ‘Otley Feast’ was held in the Parish churchyard and in the winter months in the nave itself - making it Yorkshire’s first supermarket.

In 1248, King Henry 3rd granted a further charter to Archbishop Grey for a weekly Monday market to be held. In 1290, goats cost one shilling and thre’punce each and the going rate for a good cow was six bob - 30p.

In days of yore the market sold butter, eggs, cheese, bread, wool, wood and livestock. The animals were tethered in nearby streets whilst bargaining and bartering took place at one of the town’s three market crosses. Just imagine streets lined with whinnying horses, bleating sheep, goats head down ready to charge or having a snack from the nearest washing line. Chickens and cockerels cackling and crowing, cows staring at passers by. Having milk delivered is one thing, but a whole cow on your doorstep!

From about 1650 onwards, the market was held every Monday in Cross Green - named after the old village green and market cross. The cross stood where now stands Otley Maypole opposite the Civic Centre in Boroughgate. Unfortunately, the original cross was destroyed by a lightning bolt in 1871. The first Maypole was also shattered in the same freak storm. Much of it landing on the roof of the Civic Centre.

A visit to Otley is worth taking by anyone, especially visitors from away. Look for ‘The Klondike’ or ‘Titty Bottle Park’. The Bramhope Tunnel Disaster Memorial. Walk in the footsteps of Thomas Chippendale or Turner. Visit the town’s markets or seek out the Kentucky Connection. Look for the Inn where Cromwell’s Ironsides are said to have drunk it dry. What is the connection between Mercury Row and one of the country’s leading authors. Also Otley’s Museum in the Civic Centre is highly recommend.

THE QUARRY

2009-03-27T14:58:00.002Z

The Quarry

There was a hill,
Years ago,
Before Man's needs were great.
A beautiful hill,
With fresh green turf.
Not a scar!
Not a blot on the landscape,
Of our Dale.

Why must Men replace our Dales
With plains of stone and rubble?
Do we need the County's backbone
When others could be found?
Is there no alternative in this
So-called scientific age?
Do we need a beautiful Dale,
Or just a scar?

Where will it all end?

ILKLEY MOOR

2009-03-27T14:22:00.003Z

ILKLEY MOOR

Ageless moor
You beckon me
To discover the secrets
Of your ancient stones.
Laid in times immemorial,
Clues from a long forgotten enigma.

The call of the Curlew in spring,
Wavering and lilting on high,
To disappear into long folds of heather,
A ghostly spirit from the sky.

Cradled in your majestic hills
A small white house;
With sparkling waters,
Cold, pure and clear.
The mecca of pilgrims,
Seeking solitude, peace and rest.

A playground now for young and old,
In search of something they may never find.
The Grouse cries out, “gobak, gobak.”
It is well to heed the sentinel’s warning,
For few have mastered your icy hold.

As the cold, damp mists settle over you craggy head,
‘neath which Roman legions and Rupert trod,
You keep your mysteries you ageless, quiet moor.
Will man ever solve the puzzle of your ancient stones.

Frazer Irwin

©1982

The above poem was inspired by and written at White Wells in the early eighties. The first verse may be found on a brass plaque dedicated to volunteers past, present and future, on an Oak bench overlooking the Darwin Gardens Millennium Maze, Ilkley.

Innocence & the mind of a child

2009-03-25T15:46:00.001Z

THE MIND OF A CHILD

Four year old talking to Mother

Mam.
What now.
Mam, when I grows up will I be as big as Dad.
That depends.
Depends on what.
On your genes.
Oh.

Child leaves kitchen and goes out with his mate.

‘Ere ‘arry how big’s yer jeans.
Why.
Well me Mam says it depends on yer jeans ‘ow big yer going to grow when yer grows up.
Well my Mam says it’s all to do with sweat peas but mine never tastes sweet when I pees.

Back in kitchen.

Mam.
Mam listen, why won’t Dad buy me a saddle for me rabbit.
What do you want a saddle for your rabbit for.
Well each time the others are having a piggy-back, they keep falling off.

Here Mother makes fatal mistake.

They’re not having piggy-backs.
Well what are they doing then.
They’re cuddling.

Silence from child. Mother looks worried.

Mam.
Oh what now.
Are they cuddling like you and Dad last night.

Mother drops plate.

Mam did your pees taste sweet when you was four.

The above is true and was related to me by the Mother of the four year old. For those unsure of the connection between pees and peas I suggest you read up on the work of Father Gregor Mendal.

The Largest Prehistoric Sacred Landscape in Britain

2009-03-07T13:41:00.003Z

Thornborough

It has just been brought to my attention how gravel extraction is threatening part of The Largest Prehistoric Sacred Landscape in Britain. Yes you read that right.

The Largest Prehistoric Sacred Landscape in Britain

A site few know exists. I didn’t and I only live a few miles down the road. Please help the Friends of Thornborough to save this most historic part of Britain’s Heritage. Join The Campaign to Save The Stonehenge of the North.

Quarries whether it be hills or gravel pits are doing irreparable damage to our island. Anyone travelling through Yorkshire’s Dales cannot fail to notice how hills vanish over the years. While understanding quarrying gives local communities much needed employment, there comes a time when one has to ask

'Do we really need stone in this modern day and age'