Wharfedale

These are just a selection of photos I took a few weeks ago. The first bunch are of Linton Bridge and the River Wharfe just outside Grassington. The concrete retaining walls of Linton Mill by the side of the bridge now support a housing development called ‘Linton Falls’. A corn mill has probably stood on this site from Medieval times. In 1788, Robert Hargreaves & Co of Addingham built a worsted-spinning mill there. Soon after a new tenant, Samuel Gill, and until 1804, his partner James Parker, turned the mill over to spinning cotton. By 1830 it had returned to worsted spinning under the ownership of J & W Birkbeck. Birkbecks then built a five-storey cotton mill on the site in the mid-19th century. This mill burnt down in 1912 and was replaced by a smaller structure. This went out of business during the 1950s. It was demolished in 1983 apart from the houses facing onto the footpath that crosses the river. Prior to demolition, the mill’s rare uniflow steam engine was rescued and is now in the collection of the Bradford Industrial Museum.

The second batch is further up the Dale at Hubberholme which is the home of the George Inn and St Michael and All Angels Church. The Church is famous for it's pews, carved by Robert Thompson, the “Mouseman of Kilburn”. Several of his trademark mice can be seen carved in the pews.

The author, J.B. Priestley, described St Michael and All Angels Church as “one of the smallest and most pleasant places in the world” and he has a memorial at the back of the church and his ashes were scattered in the churchyard.

The George is an old, beautifully preserves Dales Inn. The pub was originally constructed as a farmstead in the 1600's and was once used as the vicarage. When the vicar was at home he would put a lighted candle in the window as a signal to his parishioners. This tradition is carried on today with a candle lit whenever the bar is open. The candle is also used in the annual land-letting auction known as the Hubberholme Parliament and is held on the first Monday night of the year in a tradition dating back centuries. The local farmers gather to bid for 16 acres of pastureland owned by the church, the proceedings of which go to help the poor people of the parish. The vicar oversees the proceedings and sits in the House of Lords ( dining room ) while the bidding takes place in the House of Commons ( the bar ). The highest bid made when the candle flickers out wins the auction. Who says Yorkshire folk are tight?