Saltaire, World Heritage Site

Saltaire definitely pulled out all the stops to celebrate World Heritage Day over the weekend of 15 -18 April - and the wonderful spring sunshine helped enormously, bringing visitors in large numbers.  It's ten years since Saltaire was granted World Heritage Status by UNESCO.  The criteria by which it received the accolade are:
Criterion (ii): Saltaire is an outstanding and well preserved example of a mid 19th century industrial town, the concept of which was to exert a major influence on the development of the "garden city" movement.
Criterion (iv): The layout and architecture of Saltaire admirably reflect mid 19th century philanthropic paternalism, as well as the important role played by the textile industry in economic and social development.

For more information please have a look at the UNESCO World Heritage website.

Regular visitors will recognise the lovely Italianate tower of the New Mill (opened in 1868, so not that new now!) and the covered footbridge over the Leeds-Liverpool Canal, which links the newer building with the earlier Salts Mill.  (I think some of you know this place now like the back of your own hand - even if you've never visited for real!)

Golden light

The weak spring sunshine, low in the sky late one afternoon, seemed to touch the pussy willow by Saltaire's New Mill with a sprinkling of gold.  (April Fool's Gold perhaps?)

I have played up the effect a bit in Photoshop, thinking the photo lent itself to a bit of 'antiquing'.  I'm trying to teach myself how to use textures and blending modes.  I'm making slow progress but it's fun.  I'm wondering now if I should have cropped this a bit more, to get rid of some of the sky and reflection on the left that is too bright.... but I still quite like the image.

It must be spring!

If yesterday's photo showed a popular spot for an outing in the early 20th century, then today's shows the modern equivalent.  I don't suppose the early residents of Saltaire would have had any notion that one day the village would be designated a World Heritage Site and would become a real draw for tourists.  This is the approach along the canal towpath, with the church on the right bank and the New Mill ahead.  The eagle-eyed among you will have spotted today's refreshments.... yes, the red and yellow ice-cream boat is back, so it must be spring - even though it doesn't look very spring-like!  (After being warm and sunny all week when I've been stuck indoors,  it's cool and cloudy again now it's the weekend.)

In spate

Well, nothing like Cyclone Yasi or the snow in the States here (thank goodness) but the start of February has seen gale force winds  and heavy rain across Scotland and the North of England.  I met a friend for lunch and we decided to go to the Half Moon Café in Roberts Park, which gamely remains open during the winter and therefore seems worthy of support.  It was quite a hard walk down to the park in the strong wind.  The River Aire is flooding its banks and thundering over the weir by the New Mill.  I thought it worthy of a picture even though the light was poor.  I battled to keep a reasonably steady hand on my camera, as the wind was buffeting me around.

Heritage Trail 7 - Saltaire's Mills

'Look towards the mill chimneys - can you feel a breeze behind you?'  (Hope you're well wrapped up on this wintery walk!)  Sir Titus Salt deliberately built his mills on the eastern side of the village.  He was concerned about the harmful effects of smoke produced by factories and located his mills where the prevailing westerly wind would blow the smoke away from the village. (I know this first-hand - my workplace is directly east of the mills and sometimes the wind funnelled along the valley is so fierce that you can barely stand up.)

Salts Mill is on the right of the photo (its huge chimney is hidden) and the building on the left is the New Mill, built a few years later, with its ornate Italianate chimney.  The Victoria Road bridge goes over the canal and at one time went straight over the river into the park.  Since the river bridge was demolished, the road ends rather abruptly in the wall you can see. (The old film clip I mentioned yesterday has footage of people walking across the original bridge, with the mills in the background - at 2.34 in the film.)

I took all these photos on such a dull winter day - they're not the best in that sense but, in a way, I like the dark feel.  And I am really enjoying showing you round my hometown.  Some of you have commented that you are beginning to recognise parts and 'know where you are'.   That really pleases me - and I hope it doesn't make my blog boring.  There are only so many photos you can take in a square mile or so, but I keep endeavouring to find new angles.

[On the street plan the photo is taken from near the green man. The New Mill is No 16 and Salts Mill is No 1]

Lights

I was out with my camera and tripod taking photos of the Living Advent Calendar windows and then I got a bit carried away!  Saltaire looks different and slightly mysterious at night - especially against the eerie sodium glare from the city street lights that casts a golden glow across the night sky.  This is a view of the New Mill seen from Roberts Park, across the river.  The reflected lights make it an obvious choice for Weekend Reflections this week. (For more interpretations on the theme of reflections,  please go to James' Newtown Area Photo).  I'm still a novice at night photography but it produces some interesting images so I shall resolve to get some more practice.

For a view of the New Mill from a similar vantage point but in the daylight, please see here.

Skywatch - Mackerel sky

The striking chimney of Saltaire's New Mill (see also yesterday's photo) and one of the old lamp-posts (once gas, now electric) outlined against a 'mackerel sky'.  These clouds, properly termed altocumulus or cirrocumulus, are known as a mackerel sky as they resemble the scales of the fish. There is much folklore attached to them, rooted in fact, as they often herald a bout of wet weather on the way in 6 or 8 hours.  I have a particular fondness for them.  My old geography teacher - an inspirational man - once enthusiastically dragged me outside on the way out of the school morning assembly to show me just such a sky and teach me about it.  I've never forgotten that special little lesson.

"Mackerel sky - never long wet, never long dry."

This is a Skywatch Friday entry - for more please click the link.

The New Mill

Another view of one of Saltaire's major buildings, the New Mill - framed by the trees and flowerbeds of Roberts Park.  Completed in 1868, on the other side of the canal from the original Salts Mill, it was built to increase the wool spinning capacity at a time when the business was expanding. This block is now used as administrative offices for the NHS (Health Service). The site was developed further in 1907-09 when another five storey mill was erected behind this one.

Sir Titus Salt again commissioned Lockwood and Mawson, the architects behind the rest of Saltaire, who continued with the then-fashionable Italianate style evident in the rest of the village.  Sir T insisted that the building should be worthy of its prominent position beside the main throughfare, Victoria Road, and opposite Saltaire's beautiful church.  The chimney is particularly memorable, being modelled on the campanile of the church of Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari in Venice.

(For different views of the building, please click the New Mill label.)

Saltaire's New Mill

The New Mill, Saltaire.... looking quite old in this photo. It's rare that you get such a perfect reflection in the River Aire at the top of the weir, so I wanted to take the picture. But it was a really dull day yesterday (I'm on holiday so it's raining, natch!) so a sepia treatment seemed like a good option.

This Mill was an addition to the main Salts Mill, completed some 15 years later in 1868 (which was, incidentally, the same year that the last houses in Saltaire were finished). Sir Titus Salt had it built as an extra spinning mill, to make use of excess steam power and to produce even more yarn for his busy weaving department in the main mill. It was built on the site of the original Dixon's corn mill, which existed when Sir Titus bought the land in order to relocate his textile business out of Bradford to a healthier, cleaner site. A mill weir was already there, but it was replaced in 1871 by the one you now see.

I had another photo of the Mill from this side in my blog on 29 June last year and you can click the 'New Mill' label below for more photos of this building from different aspects. It is notable for its splendid tower, a copy of a Venetian campanile. The New Mill is now converted to offices, occupied by the Bradford District NHS Care Trust.

Riverside Repairs

Someone has been doing a little repair work to the windows at the Riverside Court Apartments. He was up in a cherry-picker for a few days, working along the building. It looked like he was redoing the seals between the windows and the stonework, as he had a trowel in his hand. Hot work - the sun was blazing down.

This building is on the opposite side of the Leeds-Liverpool Canal from the main Salts Mill. (See this photo for the whole facade of the apartments). It was an addition to Titus Salt's New Mill, which is at the far end of the block, with the ornate chimney. At one time there was a gas works and gasometers here. The land was redeveloped during 1907-09 (during the time the Mill was owned by Sir James Roberts). These later buildings are sympathetic to the style of Salts and the New Mill but are actually an early example of reinforced concrete construction, with stone facings. They were originally connected to Salts Mill by three covered walkways across the canal; only one of these now remains. The buildings were redeveloped again in the 1990s into 97 luxury apartments, retaining the external features. They are very pleasantly situated between the canal and River Aire, and close to the rail station - ideal for those commuting to Leeds or Bradford.

Ice cream boat

Ah...Easter school holidays, a bit of sunshine, blossom suddenly bursting out...must be time for an ice-cream. Well, how fortunate - the ice-cream boat has sailed into town! I have not noticed this in years before, but it looked to be doing a good trade as I passed by on my way home from work. They were selling ice-cream, drinks and cakes. This is generally quite a busy spot in Saltaire, at the entrance to Roberts Park and at the point where you can get down from Victoria Road onto the canal towpath. The boat was called "Arr Gee Bargies" or something similar. It is a wide-bodied barge rather than the traditional narrow-boat.

New seat

There's so much renovation going on in Saltaire - not just the playground at my end of the village, but Roberts Park too. (See my blog of December 21). It will be lovely when it's finished but at the moment it all feels a bit unsettling! The winter snows have left everywhere looking a bit the worse for wear. Add to that the mounds of soil, metal barriers and quantities of orange plastic tape and nowhere looks very beautiful right now!

I think, in a few weeks time, when the leaves are starting to appear on the trees and the gardeners have done some planting, the park will begin to look more attractive again. This new, painted seat gives an idea of the way things are being improved. It's a replica, I suppose, of the original Victorian park benches. It will be a nice place to sit and watch the world go by. The refurbished Half-Moon Café is due to reopen in two weeks time - so you will soon be able to buy a cup of tea too.

With the trees still bare, you can see how Salts Mill stands above the park and how the park is joined to the village by the green metal footbridge. (At one time, Victoria Road came down right into the park but the road-bridge was demolished as unsafe in the 1950s).

Sunday by the New Mill

I've walked this way hundreds of times and taken many photos - and I quite like this one. Sometimes this stretch of the Leeds-Liverpool canal in Saltaire, between Salts Mill and the New Mill, seems a bit dark and lonely. It's often in shadow, as the buildings block the sun. But mid-morning on a beautiful spring Sunday the towpath was busy with walkers, joggers and cyclists. And there was a sense of life, as though people and things were waking up. Let's hope the coming weekend has such good weather too.

See here and here and here for other pictures of the same stretch.

Saltaire New Mill

Saltaire New Mill, glimpsed through the trees. Not much to say about this one except that I thought it was an unusual view of the Mill.

And it's still snowing...

N...ice!

I came out of work early on New Year's Eve (to get ready for partying!) and took the longer walk home, along the canal, just for a change. I don't normally go that way in winter. It's still very cold. I can't remember a winter for ages when a cold snap has lasted so long; most of the past few winters have been really mild. The canal is iced over in places, the ducks all scrabbling around in the bits where the water runs free. This scene, where the Leeds-Liverpool canal passes between Salts Mill and the New Mill, is one I have taken so many images of. It looks different again with the ice. See 6 August for a summer version of the same stretch of canal.