The Dales Way. Terry Marsh

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      The Old Bridge, Ilkley; the official start of the Dales Way

      Officially, the Dales Way begins beside the Old Bridge spanning the River Wharfe, formerly a packhorse bridge built in the 1670s to replace several previous bridges that failed to stand up to the river. The bridge is located down Stockeld Road, which branches from the A65 on the west side of Ilkley, just before reaching the town centre. If starting in the centre of Ilkley, walk north along New Brook Street, until you can go left through Ilkley Park, then continue to reach the Old Bridge. Walkers arriving by rail should turn into Brook Street, and then continue north into New Brook Street.

      Without crossing the bridge, go left onto a track alongside a house and The Old Bridge Garden centre; note the stone bench at the start, for the benefit of those walking the Dales Way. The nearby signpost exaggerates the distance to Bowness a little, as does one for Addingham a little farther on.

      The track soon meets the river, here broad, fast and shallow, and follows this until it emerges at a road near the Ilkley Lawn Tennis and Squash Club. Go forward along the club’s driveway, following it to the main buildings, and there diving left to a metal kissing-gate. Through the gate, follow a grassy path across a meadow, passing a redundant gate to another metal gate next to a large ash tree.

      After this, press on beside a fence to yet another kissing-gate beside a hawthorn beyond which the path continues between fences, and then follows a clear route, at times alongside a narrow stream, finally to emerge once more onto the banks of the Wharfe. Here another redundant kissing-gate heralds a narrow path rising to a footbridge. A little further, from the high point, such as it is, the track descends, travelling along the edge of a small wooded hillock with many glimpses of charming riverside scenes, a characteristic of much of this stage of the walk, and indeed the whole of the Dales Way.

      The route rejoins the riverbank after a gate giving into rough, riverside pasture. Eventually, the riverside path runs out to a gate giving onto the old Addingham road, now a quiet back road parallel with the A65. Bear right along the old road as far as Old Lane, and there turn right. The lane leads to a small housing estate, Low Mill Village.

      Low Mill is a peaceful retreat of carefully refurbished Industrial Revolution cottages won from the ruins of an old mill on the banks of the Wharfe. Amazingly, the mill seems to have survived the attention of the Luddites, an organisation formed in 1811 during a period of great distress, and opposed to the mechanisation of the textile mills in the industrial centres of the East Midlands, Cheshire, Lancashire and Yorkshire, believing it to be a cause of unemployment. In a five-year period of wanton destruction, the Luddites smashed machinery and destroyed the mills that housed them. The first outbreak was at Nottingham and is said to have been inspired by a young apprentice, Ned Ludd. Compared to what followed, that first upsurge was a mere token gesture, leading as it did to far more serious and organised rioting, especially here in the West Riding of Yorkshire, where many people were killed, mills and machinery destroyed, and rioters tried and executed or transported. Charlotte Brontë’s novel Shirley is set in this troubled time.

      Nearby Addingham received its share of rioting, but Low Mill seems to have escaped and now presents an historically interesting interlude early in the walk.

      Follow the road through Low Mill and continue on the other side to the end of an old lane (Low Mill Lane). Continue straight on, passing a row of cottages and the Old Rectory, which adjoins Addingham church, and then turn right (signposted) down a flight of steps to an old packhorse bridge, the parishioners’ route to the church. Carry on into the churchyard, there turning left to pass the church, and following its access path out towards the village of Addingham. From the old packhorse bridge it is possible to bear left across a field below the church to intercept the footpath and driveway to the church.

      Addingham church

      Follow the path and driveway away from the church, and as the drive bears left, leave it by branching right beside a stone bench and over another bridge into a ginnel (alleyway) between cottages that leads out onto North Street. Turn right and walk gently uphill into Bark Lane.

      ADDINGHAM

      Addingham grew largely during the Industrial Revolution, but its greatest claim to fame is that it sheltered Archbishop Wulfhere of York (from 854 to 900), who fled here when the Vikings began their campaign of terror against Christian people in the 9th century.

      The village is situated at the Aire Gap on a principal route through the Pennines, and there was a settlement here long before the archbishop’s arrival. It was later known as ‘Long Addingham’ because it was based around three separate locations – the church, the old school area and the green – rather than a single centre like most other villages. Until the advent of the textile industry in the late 18th century, the village developed as a farming community. The last working textile mills closed in the 1970s, although nearby Low Mill opened for wool processing in 1999.

      Communication links improved vastly with the arrival through the village in 1888 of the Ilkley to Skipton railway (which closed in 1966).

      There has been a church in Addingham for over 1100 years. The present building, set in an open field, has nave roof, arcade and chancel dating from the 15th century, with a gallery of 1756. The church is dedicated to St Peter and is one of a few in this region with a blue-faced clock. This is a fashion started by the old established clockmaking firm of William Potts and Sons of Leeds. Beginning with Bradford cathedral, the firm has since been asked to paint the dials of several clocks. The blue paint for St Peters is a specially mixed colour known as ‘Potts Blue’, it having been discovered that numerals in gold leaf are even more legible on a blue background than on black.

      As the road bends, leave it by branching right, down steps, heading back to the Wharfe. Ignore the footbridge on the right, to Beamsley, and continue upriver. From this point, there is a fine view across intervening fields to Beamsley Beacon. When the ongoing path forks, branch right to return to the riverbank. Press on to another small mill redevelopment at High Mill, which for a moment deflects the route away from the river. Just beyond High Mill the route enters the site of Olicana caravan park. Follow the main drive until, at a signpost, you can turn right to return to a Wharfeside path.

      Soon, through a gate, the way leaves the caravan site and goes forward across two pastures beyond which the path rises gently onto the top of a wooded slope, and then to a stile giving onto a narrow path above the river. From the end of the path the route descends steeply back to the riverside grounds of Low Park.

      Low Park was once part of the parkland grounds of Farfield Hall. From this stretch of the river, where fishermen try to catch trout or grayling, there are splendid views to the wooded hillside of Beamsley Beacon. The beacon commands the surrounding countryside as a beacon should, and as one of a chain of bonfires was used in medieval times to signal events across the north of England.

      The Wharfeside path is never in doubt and requires little description. It leads eventually to a ladder-stile spanning a wall, and then upfield to a low step-stile beyond which the path rises through a small copse to steps leading up to the B6160. Cross the road with care and go through a gate opposite to the rear of the Farfield Friends Meeting House.

      Farfield Friends Meeting House

      Farfield Friends Meeting House is one of the earliest Quaker meeting СКАЧАТЬ