God's Own County

Norber Erratic Boulders Near Austwick

Posted on February 2, 2016 by Hortoris

‘A quick course in geology will take eons or longer.’

Is an erratic one of the ‘Rock of ages cleft for me?’

Twixt Austwick and Clapham in Crummackdale lies a group of erratic boulders called the ‘Norber Boulders’ up on Norber Brow.

Erratics are large rocks deposited by glacier or ice flows on top of the natural underlying rock strata.
Norber boulders are dark grey green Silurian slates and sandstone grits. They were originally carried up from the Silurian basement floor of the valley by glacier moving south from Ribblesdale. They were left stranded on top of the lime stone.
Unprotected limestone has eroded by rainfall and the boulders often stand on limestone pedestals polished and scratched by ice.

Some of the boulders still show markings from when they were dragged along the ground being scratched and ground beneath slow moving ice.

A great walk with accompanying photographs is available on the walking englishman
See also what to see in Clapham

Yeager Rock is a large glacial erratic on the Waterville Plateau in Washington USA. Erratic was one of many dropped by the Okanagon lobe of the last glacial period.

Erratic Rock State Natural Site by Frederick Miller et al plus ‘Big Rock Glacial Erratics’ by the same team are the geology books of choice on the subject of ‘Erratics’.

Posted in Yorkshire Dales | Tagged geology | 1 Comment

Village Shops

Posted on February 1, 2016 by Hortoris

Old fashioned, some village shops may be but they are an important part of our heritage.
Keep using village shops and speciality retailers in your area or you know what will happen.

This Hull location may have been intended as a wholesale outlet but boarded up shops are a feature in towns and cities. City shops may be re-purposed but villages close down their shops and they are gone for good.

A sign of the times with a European flavour

‘Half a Pound of Tuppenny Rice; Life in a Yorkshire Village Shop’ from Hazel Weaver gives a good account of itself and life in a corner shop in the 1920’s & 30’s.
Hazel grew up in her father’s Huddersfield shop and a collection of stories recalls her memories of those times. Some tales are sad but some are truly hilarious.

‘The corner shop was not just a place to buy groceries. It was a place to meet familiar faces and help people out. People bought groceries on a daily basis and going to the corner shop provided many people with a daily routine. Yet finding the finances for groceries could be a struggle and, when times were hard, many people would have to obtain their groceries ‘on tick’.’ source amazon

Posted in Yorkshire History and Heritage | Comments Off

Train Spotting at Bolton Abbey

Posted on January 28, 2016 by Hortoris

The 12th century priory at Bolton Abbey is a great place to visit. The estate on the banks of the Wharfe has been owned for centuries by the Duke of Devonshire.

Things to Do at Bolton Abbey

Inspect the Church and the ruins of the old priory and discover a landscape full of history. The grave yard is of particular interest.

Walk across the stepping stones or have a picnic by the river.

Go to Strid woods and see the dangerous whirlpool or just inspect the local flowers.

Stroll or Yomp along a section of the Dales way.

Walk up to Simon’s Seat if you are feeling fit (about 8 miles) or look for rabbits in the Valley of Desolation.

Or do a bit of train spotting at Bolton Abbey railway station. You can ride on the refurbished Embsay to Bolton Abbey steam railway line in either or both directions.

Friday 22nd – Monday 25th April 2011 is a special weekend with Thomas The Tank Engine and friends. Suitable for lads of all ages.

In addition to the ‘All Aboard with Ivor the Engine’ there are other specials including 1940s Weekend, Harvest of Steam, Strawberry specials, Diesel Gala and Santa Trains.

Trains run every Wednesday throughout the year and on most summer days

The railway has two fully operational signalboxes and two others to include one to use as a demonstration signalbox at Bolton Abbey.

There is a full history of the line from Skipton to Ilkley of which Bolton Abbey- Embsay is the only surviving part

Embsay Station built in 1888 and the new award winning station at Bolton Abbey are only 15-20 minutes apart but the trip is a nostalgic delight.

After all the excitement I recommend ‘Buffers’ a happy cafe situated in the 17th century farm buildings, which were once part of the working dairy farm in Storiths. They have model railways galore and it is worth the walk up the hill opposite the Abbey rather than using the overcrowded Cavendish cafe on the estate.

Posted in Yorkshire Sport and Pastimes, Yorkshire Trips and Places | Comments Off

Pork Pies and other Growlers

Posted on January 26, 2016 by Hortoris

Just a 2017 reminder not to forget your ‘Christmas pie’. Stand pie, Gala pie or large pork the variety will not matter but I shall pass on a Melton Mowbray.
Yorkshire folk are not fetishists but we do love or at worst like our pork pies. Why not ask John Prescott!

In April 2010 pie fans, including superhero Pie Man, lined the cobbles outside the Old Bridge Inn, Ripponden, to sample entries in the 18th annual Master Pork Pie Maker competition. then there was the internet sensation the Burger King Pie Man. . Get along to snarf a great pie from around the country and remember last years overall winner was Simon Haigh of Hinchcliffe’s in Netherton near Wakefield.

Growlers

‘When it comes to finding a great pie, you are never going to go too far wrong if you ask a Yorkshireman.

According to the concise gentlemen of Oxford and the Yorkshire Post, a growler is a small iceberg or a four-wheeled cab. They do not know what they have missed. Anyone from these parts devoid of vegetarian tendencies would tell those who write our dictionaries that a real growler is a thing of beauty, rare personality and infinite variety. It is a pork pie’. read all the Yorkshire Post article.

Growlers are apocryphally named as they cause and or stop the belly growling. A double whammy in the noise stakes but lets not go there.

The stand pie is a bigger version and an essential part of Christmas with triangular wedges for all comers complete with home-made piccalilli.

Gala pies seem to end up with an egg cooked into the middle of the meat but no matter how you slice it I always get a bit of white and no yoke.

A good pie has a crisp fresh hot water crust, plenty of liquefied jelly and a solid clump of juicy pork and fat with a secret mix of spices.

Condiments and accompaniments should be mushy peas and mint sauce but I am happy with brown sauce, pickled egg or a couple of pickled onions. Of course if you want to get ‘Pie Eyed’ the best accompaniment is a pint or three of Best or Bitter.

I did my courting in the 1960’s at Pie Herbert’s on Carlisle Road in Bradford but sadly it hasn’t lasted as long as my marriage.

Wilson’s small traditional pork pies, known in Yorkshire as growlers, use only locally sourced meat, have won numerous national awards and range in size from2″- 9″ in diameter.

- Wear your pork pie hat this Christmas
- Skipton butcher Farmhouse Fare in High Street reigned victorious in a ‘War of the Roses’ battle to find the best pork pie in Yorkshire and Lancashire. Meat Trader December 2010 Great Northern Pork Pie Competition.
- Delia Smith reckons the most famous English pork pies come from Melton Mowbray and traditionally, a very small amount of anchovy essence was used to add subtle additional flavour. Seems a bit fishy to me!
- There’s nothing like a homemade (in Yorkshire) ‘raised pork pie’ and Rick Stein shows us how to do it properly.
- I can just about forgive Jones Pies for adding Yorkshire Blue Cheese or Yorkshire Relish to there special pork pies but not for using Bury Black Pudding! Still they are sponsoring Huddersfield Town in the Premiership and judging by the 2017 results we know ‘who ate all the pies’.
- Visit Wilson’s Butcher’s and see the Pork Pie Wedding Cake.

Telling Porkies comes from Cockney rhyming slang Pork Pie a lie but it is no lie that Yorkshire pies are great – who ate them all?
Telling Porkies Pork pie or Porkie pie, often shortened to porkie, is the Cockney rhyming slang term for lie.

The other results for 2010 from the Pork Pie Appreciation Society site were

2nd WILSON’S OF CROSSGATES, LEEDS. Continue reading →

Posted in Food and Drink & Yorkshire Products | 5 Comments

Ledsham from Fairburn Ings

Posted on January 24, 2016 by Hortoris

Fairburn Ings is a great nature reserve and RSPB sanctuary near Castleford that covers 700 acres and includes open water, marshland, wet meadows, feeding stations and small areas of reed bed.
On a grey winters day a walk around the large lake gives you opportunity to see many varieties of water fowl. Then take a walk over the hill and through the woods to Ledsham a picturesque village with one of the oldest churches in Yorkshire.

The old 8th century Saxon doorway at 4 feet high was obviously built for people of a smaller stature than we find today.

Inside the church is a memorial to Sir John Lewis Master of the Ironmongers’ Company 1657-8 and a founder of the East India company.

‘Sir John Lewis erected and endowed an Hospital here, for the maintenance of ten aged poor people, who, by his will, are required religiously to observe the Sabbath day, and to be present at Church, in the time of divine service and sermon. source genuki
Our modern day equivalent is for the local pub to have a six day license. Not opening on Sunday stops drunken villagers annoying the lady of the Ledsham Hall.

I was walking but Ledsham is about half a mile west of the A1 at the turn-off for the A63 to Selby and the Selby Fork Hotel.

The old oak paneled hostelry is now famous for the meals it serves in the separate little snugs and bar areas. I had a pint of the local Simpson and Simpson Ledsham bitter which was light hoppy and clean tasting.

Posted in Our Yorkshire, Villages, Towns and Cities | 1 Comment

Books at Grassington

Posted on January 19, 2016 by Hortoris

I was visiting Grassington last year on a walk via Linton and called into the book shop at the bottom of high street. Elliott’s Page Turners had a good and cheap selection of books and I carried 4 of them home (next time I will drive.) Their web site is still incomplete so I can’t supply a link but if you are in Grassington it is worth a visit. The name implies thrillers and fiction but they have a specialism in supplying teaching books an so have a good children’s section.

There is another book shop up the high street but my hands and library were already full. The Dales Book Centre for local walking books, Yorkshire books, fiction, bargain paperbacks, various prints and browse through our once (or more) read books and children’s books. They also offer a book ordering service where you can collect your Amazon orders.

I buy a lot of books from charity shops and did browse in one very busy Grassington shop but as the area is renown for walking I got my boots moving again.

Books On Grassington

Selection

Posted in Books Club & Literary Work | Tagged Travelogue | 1 Comment

Facts about Leeds – Interesting and Unusual

Posted on January 17, 2016 by tejvan

Leeds Town Hall, The Headrow.

Leeds Population – 751,500, (2011 census population of Leeds)
Leeds Metropolitan borough had a population of 1.7 million. (2011 census)
Nickname: “Loiner” or Leodensian – Latin for person from Leeds
Motto: “Pro rege et lege” “For king and the law”
City status: 1893
GDP: £51 bn (2011 est)

History Leeds

Origin of Leeds was when the Kingdom of Elmet was covered by the forest of “Loidis”, the origin of the name Leeds.
In Middle ages, an important centre for making white broadcloth being traded at the Leeds White Cloth Hall.
During the industrial revolution, Leeds had many wool and flax factories. But, also remained an important centre for agriculture.
The Leeds Corn Exchange was built in 1864, it has since been converted into an indoor market.
In post-war Britain, many traditional manufacturing industries declined. To a large extent, Leeds reinvented itself as a service sector town, with banking, insurance and finance main business.

Continue reading →

Posted in Yorkshire Facts - Interesting and Unusual | Tagged facts | 1 Comment

Reflecting on Yorkshire

Posted on January 17, 2016 by Hortoris

Mirror mirror on the wall what is the fairest county of all?

If you don’t believe it is Yorkshire why are you reading this website?

Lister Park boating lake has been restored to it’s former glory and the grub in the cafe reflects the good taste of the many customers noshing and supping.

One thing about Yorkshire is the weather – we always get some!

Across the fields behind Harry Ramsdens was this puddle reflecting the future puddle makers up in the sky. It may be wet wellie walking but the air is crisp and clean.

Harrogate is at the posher end of the county or at least it likes to think so.

When it comes to the International Conference Centre it can rightly boast of being ‘one of the most impressively integrated conference, exhibition and events venues in Europe’ leaving other to reflect on Harrogate’s prowess.

Reflecting the Yorkshire take on the humanities this sculpture is in Harlow Carr gardens taken over from the Northern Horticultural Society by the RHS some years ago.

On reflection I should have photographed some Henry Moore sculpture at Bretton Park for this feature.

Canals feature strongly in our Yorkshire landscape and this view reflects Hebden Bridge along the Rochdale canal towards Sowerby Bridge, whilst the picture below is in Shipley on the Leeds Liverpool canal.

Posted in Yorkshire Trips and Places | Comments Off

Dry Stone Wall Pictures

Posted on January 11, 2016 by tejvan

Dry Stone Walls above Malham

Dry stone wall near Burnsall

Continue reading →

Posted in Photos | 2 Comments

Otley Manor House – Pub Love

Posted on January 9, 2016 by Hortoris

The Manor House is just one of Otley’s many pubs that have provided numerous happy (inebriated) memories. What is not to love about a good drinking session especially when there is some live music.

Naming The Manor House

As befits an old town dating from before Roman times, there are stories of several Manor Houses.

Remains of the old Archbishop’s Manor House were found during the construction of St Joseph’s RC Primary School near to the River Wharfe.

Thomas Chippendale, the famous furniture maker, was born in Otley, and his statue stands in the town, next to the old grammar school he once attended in Manor Square.

The site of the ancient Mansion of the Archbishop of York, at the north end of the town, is still denominated the Manor House. More on Genuki

The Manor Club was a Gentleman’s Club until its closure after the end of its 100 years lease in 2002.

Pub Reviews – Love ’em or hate ’em

How dare I feature a Lancastrian brewery on these Yorkshire pages. Well I was keen to correct reviews I read about the Manor House near the Maypole in Otley. Absolute none-sense published about Yorkshire hospitality.

‘ Beware you feel like trespassing…. however, if you want a taste of traditional Yorkshire, complete with its pitfalls and whatnot, this place might well be perfect to you. A Thwaites pub through and through, they generally serve 3 ales, a dark mild, a bitter and a guest ale.’ (Aniela M). I like the Nutty Black when I am on a big drink but Lancaster Bomber is probably the top ale.

‘It’s not the most welcoming of pubs, but not many pubs in this town are overly welcoming. Because it’s a Thwaites pub it’s a bit of a favourite with the old gents of Otley, so anyone after anything lively or youthful should probably look elsewhere. Conversely, anyone looking for a traditional Yorkshire pub and some traditional Yorkshire folk should go no further than the Manor. Or anyone after some cheap ale.’ (Alex K) read more on Yelp

Well that is far from my own experience. I enjoy a visit to Otley to tour the pubs or go to the Church organised beer festival. Invariably I try to get into the Manor House, although it is thronged during Folk Festival weekend. One key reason for me is the ‘Mild’ which is a great session beer and I wish more pubs served it based on a heavy barrelage and through put.

I think a pub named after ‘The Manor’ is entitled to some airs and graces but that has never been my experience in this fine hostelry ( I am not looking for a free pint either)

Posted in Books Club & Literary Work, Food and Drink & Yorkshire Products, Yorkshire History and Heritage | Comments Off