I ♥ Saltaire

Part of Salts Mill, reflected in the window of the Saltaire Dining Room opposite.  The Dining Room now belongs to Shipley College.  I think the heart-themed window display is the work of their design students.  (It seemed an appropriate motif to acknowledge Royal Wedding Day here).  For more information about the original use of the Dining Room, please see this earlier post.

This is my entry for Weekend Reflections, hosted by James at Newtown Area Photo. Please click here to see more reflection-themed photos from around the world.

Boatmen on the Kennet

 

The theme of the World Heritage Day celebrations this year was 'Water', so there was a particular focus on Saltaire's waterfront.  There were some very interesting talks and displays about the canal and the river and the part they have played in Saltaire's development.  One of the reasons Titus Salt chose this location for his mill was the proximity to water power from the river and transport links on the canal and railway.  The canal was opened in 1777 and the railway in 1847, so both predate the mill which was opened in 1853.

The Leeds and Liverpool Canal Society's boat, the Kennet, was moored in Saltaire over the weekend with an exhibition inside about local waterways.  Built in 1947, the boat is one of the last unconverted boats to have worked on the Leeds-Liverpool Canal and, typically, is a wide-bodied barge and not a narrowboat.  Boats carried all manner of cargo including alpaca wool from the Liverpool docks to Saltaire.  The early examples were towed by horses. (See also my post here).

Saltaire beach

What a difference from a few months ago - this area was flooded during the winter (see my earlier post). Now the River Aire has resumed its usual proportions, leaving an area of  - well, earth... not exactly sand. But it may as well have been a beach, as there were children paddling and digging just as though they were at the seaside.  It's great to see Roberts Park in Saltaire, refurbished last year, being so well-used on a lovely, sunny, spring day.  There's something for everyone - cricket to watch, a huge area of grass for games and picnics, music in the bandstand and refreshments from the Half-Moon Café.  It really feels to be back to its Victorian hey-day and that's good to see.  Maybe they should go the whole way and bring in a load of real sand for the summer!

Incidentally, if you're interested in seeing more of Yorkshire's beauty, I have recently posted a number of photos of Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal on my other blog, Seeking the Quiet Eye.

Springtime melodies

The band weren't actually playing 'Younger than Springtime' but they might as well have been ... or maybe 'Younger IN Springtime' would have been a more appropriate title.  Crowds of people of all generations gathered around the bandstand in Saltaire's Roberts Park to listen to the Hall Royd Band giving the first concert of the 2011 season.  The bandstand (new last year to replace the original Victorian one that had long since disappeared) looked picture-perfect encircled by blossom trees, its dome sparkling in the sunshine.  I definitely think that a good brass band playing in the bandstand is my favourite; the sound was terrific.  I've heard smaller ensembles and different types of music but somehow the sound of brass works best.  The audience, including the four silver-haired ladies on the bench, were clearly enjoying the entertainment and the wonderful weather.

Alpaca Parade

(Click on picture to enlarge it)
Well, I wondered how long it would be before Saltaire adopted the idea of painted creatures. Skipton, as reported on my blog some while ago, had their sheep. Now Saltaire has alpacas - and not only painted ones; we had real ones too. I adore them - such lovely woolly things and they have gentle, pretty faces.  I think they can be a bit vicious and spit if not well-handled but these three seemed quite docile and contented. ( I'm afraid I didn't take proper notice of the farm they came from, sorry!)

They were all gathered for an 'Alpaca Parade' on Monday to celebrate World Heritage Day.  Without alpacas, Saltaire probably wouldn't exist. It's a well-known story that Titus Salt, on a business trip to Liverpool one day in 1836, was intrigued by a some bales of wool from Peru, gathering dust in a warehouse. He took a sample of the 'useless' material, that no-one else wanted, back to Bradford and set about working out how it could be washed, combed and spun.  He and his team discovered that, by combining alpaca weft with a cotton or silk warp, a durable, light, lustrous cloth could be produced at reasonable cost, eminently suitable for the fashions of the day.  From that innovation, it's fair to say, Titus Salt made his fortune.

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!)

Surprise View

The aptly named 'Surprise View' - a lovely vista of the ruined Fountains Abbey, with the River Skell in the foreground that forms part of the Studley Royal water garden.  There is a high-level path through the woods around the estate, which leads to a Gothic pavilion called Anne Boleyn's Seat (though she never sat there, for sure!).  Coming out of the trees, the sudden view along the valley takes you completely by surprise and is as impressive and beautiful as it must have been when it was first conceived more than 200 years ago.

I will be posting some more photos of Fountains Abbey and the Studley Royal estate on my other blog, Seeking the Quiet Eye, starting here (three posts in all).

The Temple of Piety, Studley Royal

Celebrating International World Heritage Day today...  Part of the formal gardens of Studley Royal, which together with Fountains Abbey form another beautiful World Heritage Site in the heart of Yorkshire. 

The gardens were laid out in the early 18th century (Georgian) in the Studley Royal estate by John Aislabie, MP for Ripon, who had inherited the land in 1699 through his mother's family.  The 1720 'South Sea Bubble' financial disaster ruined his career and (after a period of imprisonment in the Tower of London) he retired to Yorkshire to devote himself to his garden. After his death in 1742, his son William further developed the estate by buying the adjacent ruins of Fountains Abbey and incorporating them into the design.  Thus, one end of the gardens is a very formal French-inspired water garden and the other a much more romantic and wild landscape.  Subsequent owners (luckily) neglected to overwrite the earlier designs and so the originally conceived ideas largely still survive.  There are several buildings, like the Temple of Piety, solely intended to form focal points in the design and to highlight particular views across the valley.

The Cellarium, Fountains Abbey

This is probably one the most famous images of Fountains Abbey and one of the most stunning parts of the ruins.  This long span of vaulting, incredibly, survived intact when the Abbey was dissolved and began to be plundered for its stone. It formed the roof of the Cellarium, the area where the monks ate, slept and socialised - though, when the monastery was in use, the area would have been partitioned and not the long, open space we see today.

The monastery was founded in 1132 and, soon after, was admitted to the Cistercian order, an austere and devout order that originated in France.  A large lay brotherhood, working alongside the monks, cared for the buildings and farmed sheep and soon the Abbey was wealthy and influential.  It seems, however, that the enterprise grew too large for its monastic roots and economic collapse in the 14th century saw the monastery decline and some of its lands sold off.  A brief period of revival was cut short in 1539 by King Henry VIII's Dissolution of the Monasteries (when he made himself the head of the Church of England and severed ties with the Roman Catholic Church).  In 1540 the estate was sold to Sir Richard Gresham and became the property of a succession of wealthy families, who built Fountains Hall and landscaped the gardens.

Fountains Abbey

When I pulled back the curtains last Saturday morning, I decided that to spend the day doing chores as I'd planned was criminally insane.  It was clearly going to be a splendid day - and it was... more like summer than spring. So I grabbed my camera and set off for Fountains Abbey, which is a very famous beauty spot north of Harrogate, about an hour's drive from here.  It also happens to be another World Heritage Site like Saltaire.  And since we are celebrating World Heritage Day on Monday 18th, it seems a good time to show you some of its beauty.

In actual fact the site is 'Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal' - a huge medieval monastery (reduced to ruins by Henry VIII's brutal dissolution of the abbeys in the 16th century) set within the beautiful valley of the River Skell, which was transformed in the 18th century into a stunning water garden and deer park by the Aislabie family who lived at Studley Royal, adjacent to the Abbey.

You could easily write a book about its history and the estate as it is today (and people have done!) so I won't try and cover everything here.  Please have a look at the website for more information and pictures - and enjoy my photos of this lovely spot.

This is my entry for 'Weekend Reflections' hosted by James at Newtown Area Photo - the gathering place for beautiful and creative interpretations of that theme from bloggers far and wide.  Do have a look at this week's other entries - click here.

Blue window reprise

I have posted this on my blog before, in the very early days, but it's one of my favourite photos of Saltaire URC.   The famous Victorian church is much photographed and it's hard to find a new angle on it.  Looking upwards above the entrance door, there is this little blue glass window and you can see some of the detail under the canopy, which has undergone extensive restoration since I took the photo.

Mausoleum

This is (a repost of) the angel in the Salt Family Mausoleum inside Saltaire's beautiful Victorian United Reformed Church. The church was built by Sir Titus Salt as a gift to the people of his mill village of Saltaire.  It was completed in 1859 but the Mausoleum was a later addition, added in 1861.  Sir Titus Salt himself was buried there in 1877 and several other family members are also laid to rest here.

Inside Saltaire's church (2)

This is a photo I've used before on my blog, but it nicely shows more of the inside of Saltaire's famous church.  Being a non-conformist church (originally a Congregational Church and now United Reformed) it doesn't have the separate chancel (the bit where the choir and clergy sit) that an Anglican church would have.  The organ and above that the pulpit, take centre stage, emphasising the importance of preaching and sung worship.  You can also see more clearly on this photo the scagliola columns I talked about yesterday - hollow columns, painted to look like marble.  The blue screening to the left of the picture hides the entrance to the Salt Family Mausoleum where Sir Titus Salt, Saltaire's founder and several members of his family are interred.

Inside Saltaire's church

The inside of Saltaire's famous Grade I listed United Reformed Church (formerly known as the Congregational Church) is as ornate as the outside - perhaps unusually so for a non-conformist church.  I am never sure whether I like or dislike the decorative cut-glass and ormolu chandeliers, originally lit by gas. They are so heavy that the roof had to be especially strengthened.  It is a nice light space inside though and the ceiling is most attractive.  The green columns, which you can see in the corners, are hollow and decorated with a paint effect called 'scagliola'.  A little balcony sits over the entrance door and looks up the aisle towards the front, where the organ and pulpit are.   I believe it was intended for the use of members of Sir Titus Salt's family, though as Sir Titus did not live in Saltaire himself, I'm not sure if he regularly worshipped in the church.

For more photos and information, please click the Saltaire URC label below.

Heavenly host

Things are definitely getting a bit more cheerful round here - colour is bursting onto the scene in swathes of daffodils and early blossom, with fresh green buds on the trees.  And then everything seems a bit more bearable, don't you think?

I can never decide which season brings out the best in Saltaire's lovely Victorian church.  In winter, snow can lighten up the stone work, autumn brings wonderful colour to the beech trees around it, summer means lots of visitors and fetes, with all the colour and life that brings.  And in the spring, a host of golden daffodils certainly has impact.... the church becomes the backdrop instead of the main focus.

Talking of visitors and fetes, next weekend April 15-18 sees festivities in Saltaire to mark International World Heritage Day - raising awareness of our history and the efforts needed to protect and preserve our heritage worldwide.  It's the first time this has been marked in Saltaire since the village and mill was granted World Heritage Site status in 2001.  Full information and a programme of events is available on the Saltaire Village Website.  I hope to bring you more news later!

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.

Saltaire in pink and green

Some early pink blossom looks pretty against a backdrop of ivy and a pinkish door.   Spotted on Albert Road in Saltaire.

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.)

Spring garden

A neat and simple display in a Saltaire garden - but one that brings a welcome reminder of spring.  I love the miniature daffodils.

Birds in a blue sky

Something about a blue sky with a few fluffy white clouds makes my heart sing.... and never more so than when it forms the backdrop to the sunlit stone of the World Heritage Site of Saltaire.  Here you can see the tower of the New Mill peeping up above the administrative block of Salts Mill.  The Pace logo, of the telecommunications company that now occupies much of the mill complex, reminds us that this is not just an old historic site 'pickled in aspic' but a living, working community with several very successful businesses at its heart.  The birds flying overhead are mostly gulls - not the seaside type but the ubiquitous black-headed gulls that can be seen all over the UK, including right here in the middle of the country in Pennine Yorkshire.  They like to sit on the mill roof in the sunshine and every so often they swoop off in flight - just, it seems, for the joy of it.

This is my contribution to Skywatch Friday.  For more skies from all over the world, click here.