Image by freefotouk via Flickr

Today I have a Yorkshire Dales miscellany gathered from around the blogosphere, items that have caught my attention and that I hope will interest you. They cover quite a wide range of topics, from archaeology and photography to the re-establishment of an ancient job. It would be nice also if they added to the visitor numbers of the sites I’ve found and enjoyed. (By the way, this is quite altruistic; I have no commercial connection with any of these sites or their owners).

Yorkshire Dales News: Cash help for Dales parishes

One of the ancient trades of the Yorkshire Dales, the parish lengthsman, is to be partially resurrected long after the job disappeared, thanks to grants from the LEADER programme organised by the Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust. …

This next item, about the current consultation on the proposed extension of the Lake District and Yorkshire Dales national parks is a few weeks old now, but is still highly relevant.

Yorkshire Dales News: National park extension: CLA urges locals to …

The CLA is urging people who live and work in the area covered by the proposed extension to the Lake District and Yorkshire Dales National Park Boundaries, to be sure of how the changes could affect them before responding to the …

Next are two “-ologies” – archaeology and ornithology. The first of these I’ll be watching over coming months to see if anything anything especially interesting emerges as I’m currently preparing to launch a new blog on archaeology for the non-specialist and it would be nice to have a linkage between the two sites.

Yorkshire Post: Power work in Dales turns up Iron Age site

ENGINEERS burying power lines in the Yorkshire Dales have unearthed a piece of ancient history which has baffled experts. Along-buried strip of ash and burnt material …

National Park Authority: Farmers help wading birds to survive

Wading birds are being given a helping hand by farmers in the Yorkshire Dales. Arkengarthdale and Swaledale are hotspots for wading birds like curlew, redshank, lapwing and snipe, and the farmers are working with …

And finally, a photogallery:

Landscape Photography blog by Tristan Campbell, Harrogate based …

Yorkshire Dales · Nidderdale · Pateley Bridge · Harrogate · Wharfedale · Outer Hebrides. Landscape Types. Moorland · Seascapes and coastline · Trees and woodland · Skies and clouds. Seasons. Winter · Spring · Summer · Autumn …

That’s it for this time. More again soon.

Yesterday I dropped my wife off for an hour in Newark-upon-Trent to do whatever wives do when they “go into town”, and with camera in my pocket I drove five or six miles down the A46 in search of a memorial. What I came away with was quite a surprise.

Having lived in this area for only seven years, and for the early years I was away travelling on business for much of the time, I can’t claim to be an expert on its local history. I was aware of a battle having been fought to the south of Newark during the fifteenth century Wars of the Roses but knew little about it.

At first attempt I missed the church of St. Oswald, down a narrow lane toward the Trent in East Stoke, but eventually found it on my way back toward the main road. The church building here is very ancient in its origins, although substantially rebuilt in the 1700s.

What I originally came to find was a memorial plaque bearing an inscription “Blessed are the peacemakers” (words of Jesus from the Gospel of St. Matthew). I found it, and the photograph above of the church shows at its far left the top of the statue rising out of the bushes. More on that in a later article. The thing that caught me by surprise, however, was a large stone plaque against the wall of the church itself.

As I’ve said, the fact of a battle was not new to me. What struck me was the sheer scale of the event. As I now know from further reading, in the space of just over three hours on June 16th 1487, in what today is a peaceful backwater overlooking the valley of the meandering River Trent, a total of 48,000 men fought so intensely that they left 7,000 dead behind them.

The Earl of Lincoln was in command of the Yorkist troops, a mixture of English rebels and Irish recruits backed by a mercenary force of Germans led by Colonel Martin Schwartz and funded by the dowager Duchess of Burgundy. The Yorkist rebellion had seemingly been defeated at the much better known Battle of Bosworth Field two years earlier. This was a ‘last-ditch’ attempt to gain the crown, and if successful the Earl of Lincoln was expected to be in a position of considerable power. It was not to be.

Although King Henry VII was present, and nominally at the head of his army, the effective military leader on the Lancastrian side was the Earl of Oxford. At first it appeared that the smaller number of Yorkist troops were about to prevail, but Oxford maneuvered skillfully and the King kept his throne.

In a field close by there is said to be another memorial stone with the inscription: “Here stood the Burrand Bush planted on the spot where Henry VII placed his standard after the Battle of Stoke (June 16 1487)” I haven’t seen that yet, and can feel another bout of exploration coming on. Map. More on the Battle. English Heritage Battlefield Register.

The picture below of St. Oswald’s Church, Grasmere, is new to me today. This morning I was looking around one of the sites that I sometimes promote as a source of wall posters when I spotted a set of etchings that I’d never previously noticed.

Grasmere Church, etching by David Law

David Law (1831-1902) was a nineteenth century Scottish engraver and watercolourist. In his youth he served an apprenticeship as a steel engraver and was for many years employed as a map engraver in the Ordnance Survey.  In mid-life he decided to focus on artistic work and by his early forties was a frequent exhibitor at major art exhibitions throughout the UK. He was often commissioned to produce etchings for leading British art publications.

Among David Law’s etchings were several beautiful Lake District landscapes, especially in the Grasmere and Rydal area.

Framed copies are available by clicking here or on the picture above. These are “restrike etchings”, that is additional impressions from etched plates which survived intact after the original edition was published, in this case more than a century ago. The prints are hand-coloured to create high quality collector’s items.

I was about to write another blog article about Coniston Water, but was browsing through some recent entries on other people’s blogs when I came cross a marvellous description of a weekend on the water from travel writer and photographer Lucinda Manouch. I enjoyed it so much that I decided to put a link to it here for others to see.

Yes, I’ll eventually get around to writing what I’d planned for today, but for now you can enjoy Lucinda’s stimulating description of days on the water and camping at Coniston – and she didn’t restrict herself to the lake itself but also ventured a little way down the Crake, the river that flows out of the southern end of the lake and carries its water to the sea.

Swallow and Amazons (Coniston Water) – LucindaManouch.com
“… As we made the 3 hour trip to Cumbria I was still trying to decide which lake to visit. Some I had paddled before, some where just too small and some seemed a little tricky to get to. Then I saw Coniston water on the map and memories of playing Swallows and Amazons on the river as a child came flooding back. …”

By the way, if you have never read Swallows and Amazons you can get a copy here from Amazon.co.uk (no pun intended in referring to this bookseller).

The Lake District has been getting quite a bit of TV publicity recently.  We’ve seen a presenter “swim-hiking”, a hotelier doing an overnight two-length swim in Windermere – that is, the full length of Windermere and back – and although I am not an addict myself I understand that even Coronation Street has been showing a honeymoon by the lake. All of this is on top of the weather reports and recovery from the recent flooding.

Here, however, is an item that I’ve not seen anywhere else apart from the National Park web site, an important meeting tomorrow, 20th January :

Lake District National Park – Bassenthwaite Reflections

A pioneering nature reserve will be the focus of a public meeting to forge future action plans for the special wetlands area. The Lake District’s first reserve of its kind at Dubwath Silver Meadows, near Bassenthwaite Lake, will come under discussion at a gathering on 20 January. People will be asked for ideas and help in safeguarding the future of the seven hectare site which is managed by a local farmer for wetland flora and fauna. Heritage Lottery Fund backed Bassenthwaite Reflections …..

On the artistic front there’s a new exhibition starting at Brantwood, Coniston.

New Exhibition at Brantwood Coniston

Coniston artist Joy Grindrod says, “This Saturday is the start of my latest exhibition “Peat Light”, held in the Severn Studio at Brantwood, Coniston. There will be new work showing, many are of local scenes and some Scottish landscapes. It will be showing until 7th March …”

Some Interesting Links – Recent Items on Other Sites

• Britain’s big freeze in pictures: Derwentwater in Lake District turns to ice (telegraph.co.uk)
• Country diary: Lake District (guardian.co.uk)
• Fell walker swept away by avalanche survives (guardian.co.uk)
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Usually when I recommend a Lake District book it’s one that I already own myself. I prefer to do this so that the blog does not degenerate into an undiscriminating commercialism.

Today, though, I’m making an exception. Although I’ve seen and admired Mark Denton’s The Lake District: The Panoramas on a number of occasions, for some unaccountable reason I’ve never actually bought a copy. However, I’ve seen this book of remarkably beautiful photographs praised so many times that I’m putting it up here anyway.

This would make a marvellous gift for a friend or family member who loves the English Lake District, or even to introduce someone for the first time to this wonderful part of the country.

There’s no doubting that Mark Denton is an outstanding landscape photographer. He has worked not only on rural but also on city landscapes including books on Edinburgh and London.  You might also like to take a look at his Yorkshire volumes: Yorkshire Moors & Wolds and The Yorkshire Coast.

I have written several times recently about the River Ribble and its tributaries, especially the Hodder.   Now, here is a new book to enjoy.

The Ribble is substantially a Lancashire river, but in fact rises in the heights above the Yorkshire Dales. These are outstanding landscapes, walking-country par excellence, from the bleakness of the river’s origins to the lushness of the mid and lower stretches of the Ribble Valley, and out past the old Preston Docks to the estuary at Lytham.

This new volume, Landscapes of the Ribble, by photographer Andy Latham (it is his first book) will be a welcome addition to the library of any lover of the region and its rivers.

Book Details:
ISBN-10: 0711230285  -  ISBN-13: 978-0711230286
Publisher: Frances Lincoln (2010)
112 pages; hardcover; 26.8 x 25.4 x 2.4 cm
Cover price: £16.99

As of 15th January Landscapes of the Ribble was priced on Amazon.co.uk at only £9.54.

Janet’s Foss, near Malham – Image via Wikipedia

With the beginning of 2010 not only am I expanding the blog to cover a wider area of the North of England (see my post about the changes at Around-England 2010) but I’m also starting a series of news updates about different areas of the region which I hope will interest people. My aim will be to bring to the surface items that might otherwise be missed, as well as giving easy access to different angles on already well-known news. So here goes with No. 1 of the Yorkshire Dales series.

The BBC early evening series on Great British Railway Journeys, fronted by Michael Portillo, has visited several of the areas covered by this blog – including the Lake District and the Yorkshire Dales. If you’ve not seen the programmes you can catch the series on BBC iPlayer.  (This link takes you to last night’s programme; the others are easily found from there).

I had of course remembered Portillo’s earlier political career and his time as Minister for Defence, but had forgotten that he was previously Minister of Transport.  It was fascinating to hear him say that among all the many things he was involved with over those years in Margaret Thatcher’s cabinet he considered the saving of the Settle to Carlisle railway line, and especially the great Ribblehead viaduct, to have been one of his major achievements. Here’s another blogger’s take on the programme as it visited Dent.

The Barrister Blog: Blacksmith in Dent in the Yorkshire Dales
One of the people who is featured is Lucy Sandys-Clarke who is a blacksmith in Dent which is at the top of the Yorkshire Dales and just down the road from Sedbergh and the Howgill Fells. It’s fantastic to see traditional crafts …
Publish Date: 01/12/2010 20:13
http://timkevan.blogspot.com/

Ribblehead Viaduct, Settle-Carlisle Railway – Photo by: Andrew Barker – Fotolia.com

A second item for today comes from the editor of the Dalesman who earlier this week blogged about the consultation currently being carried out by Natural England into possible extensions to both the Lake District and Yorkshire Dales national parks.  Like me, he appears to be somewhat sceptical as to the merits of the scheme.  I’m not opposed to protection of the countryside, of course not, but am not at all certain of the benefits from layers of bureaucratic planning control.  In fact, I suspect that if they’d had planning authorities in the Middle Ages most of the beautiful natural and built environment which we now fondly protect would never have come into existence.

Proposed extension to National Park
A public consultation is currently under way on four proposed extensions to the Lake District and Yorkshire Dales National Parks. Residents, businesses and landowners are all being asked to let their views known to Natural England on …
Publish Date: 01/11/2010 7:58
http://www.news.dalesman.co.uk/

Having said that, I’ll once again show myself up to be inconsistent.  We certainly need planning authorities to slow the steady march of windfarms across some of the most beautiful areas of our countryside.

Yorkshire Dales News: Dales windfarm enquiry opens
One of the most important planning enquiries held in the Yorkshire Dales for many years opens next Tuesday (January 12) to decide whether some of the finest landscape in the north of England will be dominated by five huge wind turbines …
Publish Date: 01/06/2010 18:00
http://www.daelnet.co.uk/

OK, that’s enough for this week.  I’ll try to get another one out about the same time each week.

In previous articles I’ve referred to my love of the River Hodder in Lancashire.  Recently I came across some photographs taken one very snowy Saturday morning in, I think, 1991 (or it may have been 1992). It was a splendidly crisp day, and great to walk where no man had gone before, as it were.  I started by the Hodder itself, and then decided to drive into the Trough of Bowland and walk up by the Langden Brook, one of the smaller streams that feeds the Hodder.  I’d lost the photographs for many years, but have never lost the memory.

The Hodder near Dunsop Bridge (1991?)

Got here before the gritters

Looking down on the Waterworks, Langden Valley, Bowland

I’m the first here – apart from the sheep

The snow is thinner here – but desolate for miles now

As I’ve said before, the Hodder with its villages, and the Trough of Bowland deserve to be much better known – but don’t come in droves will you; I’d like to see it stay peaceful.

As I looked around this morning for something that illustrated the challenges faced by people during this period of unfamiliarly heavy and protracted snowfall in England I came across the following.  It gives a down-to-earth description of the situation for many of the people who produce our food.  The rest of us should be grateful.

From the Lancashire Telegraph

East Lancashire snow: How farmers are coping

Monday, 11th January 2010, By Emma Cruces »

“THE big freeze has left East Lancashire farmers working around the clock to keep their animals fed and watered. ……….”

[And I liked the pragmatic get-on-and-do-it attitude of the closing sentences:] 
” You couldn’t prepare for it, even if you knew, and you couldn’t do anything more. At the end of the day it’s the same for lots of people. You still have to make a shilling, so you get on with it.”

Full article »