Historic buildings & Industry

This Autumn I have had a rare chance to revisit a favourite place: Hardcastle Crags near Hebden Bridge. In its heart sits this mill and pond. The mill, now a small cafe, even has seats where I am here to picnic whilst admiring this wonderful view. This fine old mill now owned by The National Trust lies in a very picturesque valley. The Gibson Mill was built around 1800. It was one of the first generation mills of the Industrial Revolution. The Mill was driven by a water wheel inside and produced cotton cloth up until 1890. In 1833, 21 workers were employed in the building, each working an average 72 hours per week Enjoy full size.

Man and nature come together here at Hardcastle Crags to give us a bit of piece and harmony. It was not always so. The buildings are part of the Gibson Mill which provided work for some locals many years ago. PiP

A retrospective look at the Portland Canal basin in Ashton-u-Lyne. This is the junction of three canals: Ashton Canal to the left, Huddersfield Narrow canal to the right and I am on the Peak Forest Canal. The building you can see was originally the 19c Ashton Canal warehouse here, now a free museum and cafe. The 1835 bridge is an old cobbled pathway, that allowed horses to continue along the canal. The Pip is an old waterwheel of the same warehouse -just to the right of this scene. NB Nice full size. A canal basin is (particularly in the United Kingdom) an expanse of waterway alongside or at the end of a canal, and wider than the canal, constructed to allow boats to moor or unload cargo without impeding the progress of other traffic, and to allow room for turning, thus serving as a winding hole. (Wiki)

Ingleton - an old village of true character in the North Yorkshire Dales area. The story of the viaduct: www.forgottenrelics.co.uk/bridges/ingleton.html The last trains went over this in 1963 and the track was lifted in 1967 - now a gas pipe sits there instead. Nice full size.

Servicing the famous 'Settle-Carlise' railway route here is a distant view of its station (on the left) from the main road just below the Inn. Placed here to accompany my adjacent photo of the 'Station Inn' and my Ribblehead viaduct captures. (PiPs) Nice full size.

This little corner was part of the coal colliery that was sited here. It will have certainly have housed a steam engine as running from here and still present is a small water-way that leads to the weir. Later in its life it was also used in conjunction with the nearby iron works. To me, it has always been a ruin, that should not be a surprise as the cessation of coal mining here was in 1887. Nice full screen.

Memories of Tuscany: San Gimignano and its towers Our first full day trip out here in Tuscany was to San Gimignano and Volterra. San Gimignano is famed for its high narrow towers, some show here. This is a beautiful hilltop town but unfortunately I never got the chance to capture it from low down nor far away, showing the classic view. Enjoy full screen "San Gimignano, a small walled village about halfway between Florence and Siena, is famous for its fascinating medieval architecture and towers that rise above of all the other buildings offering an impressive view of the city from the surrounding valley. At the height of its glory, San Gimignano's patrician families had built around 72 tower-houses as symbols of their wealth and power. Although only 14 have survived, San Gimignano still retains its feudal atmosphere and appearance. Recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1990, San Gimignano offers visitors the chance to step back in time" - www.discovertuscany.com/san-gimignano

You have to be in San Gimignano to really appreciate the medieval beauty and history of this place. Here we are in perhaps the very heart of this walled town, at the 11th c Piazza Duomo. The steps belong to the Bassilica S.Maria Assunta and the building on the left is the Town Hall (Comune San Gimignano) and I am under the archway of a big towered building called Torre Rognosa. It is warm and bright here; hence many of the visitors seek these squares for a quiet place to relax in the shade. The town has many stoned archways; here we can see four alone. Enjoy full screen

A view from the inside of this wonderful palace or to be more exact, the internal courtyard, that lends us a high clear view outside, to the tall tower of Mangia. Inside here on the walls are quite a few things of interest including this bronze sculpture of ‘The Capitoline Wolf’ depicting a scene from the legend of the founding of Rome. The sculpture shows a she-wolf suckling the mythical twin founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus. See PiP Enjoy full screen CWP Rising to the Sky 2024, 17th place

My last photo from this wonderful city is one of the main streets up to the high centre of town. To me, this was my favourite shot of the trip. Its…well, just so classical Italian. I love the straw coffee colour of these buildings and any artist out there might be familiar with a couple of the main names for their paints: ‘Raw Sienna’ and ‘Burnt Sienna’, which are both very similar colours to what you see here. I wonder if the names derive from scenes of Siena like this?.... Our Ipernity friend Daniela, below, provides the answer. Enjoy full screen

Pisa on the River Arno is known to everybody. Not really for this beautiful view of its striking buildings on the river but for its famous leaning tower. – That will come later for us but in the meantime, stroll slowly with my wife and I, over its majestic bridges, and soak in the sights and colours on our way to it. Enjoy full screen.

A walk through the center of the old city eventually brings us here to the Piazza dei Miracoli, formally the ‘Piazza del Duomo’ – Cathedral Square. Centre of attraction in this photo is the cathedral itself, the Cattedrale di Pisa which was started in 1063. The left side of this picture is actually the front main Entrance (pip). To the left of that (facing the entrance) is another impressive round building: The San Giovanni Baptistery (Battistero di San Giovanni) . Of course to its right is the famous leaning tower. Pisa Cathedral is a medieval Roman Catholic cathedral dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, in the Piazza dei Miracoli in Pisa, Italy. It is a notable example of Romanesque architecture, in particular the style known as Pisan Romanesque. It is the seat of the Archbishop of Pisa. Wikipedia “San Giovanni Baptistery (Battistero di San Giovanni): The Baptistery of San Giovanni was founded on 15 August 1152. It is here that the Sacrament of Baptism is administered and the Christian embarks upon the path of Faith. The reason that such a fascinating and enigmatic building was constructed was certainly the wish to endow the cathedral with a worthy adjunct: a Baptistery that, in terms of position, size, materials and style, would be in harmony with the majestic building that already stood opposite.” Enjoy full screen.

The climax of any visit to this city has to be its famous leaning tower. I must admit, that I was even more impressed with the cathedral and its Baptistery all in the same square. One could get to the top if you were prepared to pay the price and wait for a few hours. We did not have the luxury of time and so had to forgo that experience. Must admit too, that I never took a single shot of my wife pushing the tower back straight, or having it in her hand, as countless other tourist seem to be doing. Ah well, it was still a most enjoyable lifetime experience witnessing all this. “The Leaning Tower of Pisa (Italian: Torre pendente di Pisa) is the campanile, or freestanding bell tower, of the cathedral, known worldwide for its nearly four-degree lean, the result of an unstable foundation. The tower is the third-oldest structure in the Square, The height of the tower is 55.86 metres (183.27 feet) from the ground on the low side and 56.67 metres (185.93 feet) on the high side. The width of the walls at the base is 2.44 m (8 ft 0.06 in). The tower has 296 steps but two less on the short side of the building. The tower began to lean during construction in the 12th century, due to soft ground which could not properly support the structure's weight, and it worsened through the completion of construction in the 14th century. By 1990 the tilt had reached 5.5 degrees. The structure was stabilized by remedial work between 1993 and 2001, which reduced the tilt to 3.97 degrees.” As usual, best visual results in full screen.

The charming, workaday, historic seaside town of Whitby on the North Yorkshire coast is the subject of today’s postcard. We are looking down from the high corner of the new town towards the river entrance, old town and the famous Whitby Abbey. Shooting directly into bright sunlight makes this a difficult shot but allows it a different feel to the usual views one sees from here. Out of sight, to the left sits the very distinctive jetty and below me to the right is the fish quays and market. Standing behind me is a statue to the town’s famous son, Captain James Cook. (See PiP) and adjacent photo. ‘James Cook (1728-1779) was born in the village of Marton near Middlesbrough and later apprenticed to a draper in the small fishing harbour of Staithes (11 miles north of Whitby). Later he moved to Whitby and became a trainee with a local shipping firm. Later, he joined the Royal Navy and was rapidly promoted to a command. It is as Captain Cook that the world still knows him – the man who charted the coast of New Zealand and the eastern coast of Australia and who was one of the greatest surveyors as well as one of the finest sailors and explorers of all time. He learned his craft in Whitby vessels trading to the Baltic and two of the vessels he used on his long and perilous voyages – ‘Resolution’ and ‘Endeavour’ were built in Whitby.’ - www.visitwhitby.com Full screen essential.

When one walks to the end of this oak pier, we find there is a ladder going underneath to an almost secret walkway, a spot inhabited by fishermen in bad weather. Here we see a view from there in monochrome, befitting this historic town. The tower seen here is the West Pier lighthouse, built in 1831 and occasionally opened to the public. Two Pips of alternate views included. Full screen essential.

Just after the steep valley of my path to here we arrive at last at the old Iron works itself. Now a heritage centre park with even a little café and local interest museum (unfortunately mostly closed). The big footprint area had lots of different buildings and the biggest that ran parallel to the valley bottom here has long since gone. Now try to imaging too, a giant railway viaduct arching over this valley in front of us starting and finishing above the high trees. Yes it was all there. See in the mono photo below. (pip) Wiki: “Samuel Lees junior founded Park Bridge ironworks in 1786 on 14 perches of land rented from the Earl of Stamford. Originally the ironworks produced raw iron; the ironworks was one of the largest in 19th century Tameside, and one of the earliest ironworks in the northwest. The ironworks which produced rivets for worldwide use was expanded including the construction of a weir and a water power building on the River Medlock. The success of the ironworks precipitated the construction of worker housing in the 1820s. Further worker housing was added in the 1840s and 1850s. The ironworks remained the largest such works in Tameside, including a nearby colliery and associated with the Oldham, Ashton and Guide Bridge Railway. The ironworks started to decline at the end of the 19th century with the cessation of coal mining in the Medlock Valley in 1887. Competition from the steel industry over a long period and the closure of the railway in 1959 further dented the profits. The ironworks finally closed in 1963, still under the control of the Lees family. The abandoned ironworks fell into decay and was demolished or reduced to ruins in the 1970s. In 1975 the Medlock and Tame Valley Conservation Association opened the Park Bridge Museum to encourage interest in the historical significance of Park Bridge. In 1986, the museum became a visitor centre, and in 1995 was renamed the Park Bridge Heritage Centre. " This is the end of this journey into my local countryside and industrial heritage. Thanks for joining me here. As usual best view full screen. PiPs Ps The figure in blue is my grandson.

An arched pier to the inspection point on Norman Hill Reservoir catches my eye with this wonderful light. This is near Piethorne reservoir above Newhey, Rochdale. See PiP HFF and have a great weekend.

A few months back we walked an unknown stretch of the Rochdale Canal from Walden to the centre of the old Yorkshire village of Todmorden. Just as we got to the edge of the village I spotted this very interesting wall that may once have been a dwelling perhaps. Of course for us fans of fences and suchlike it offers a real treat. The canal itself runs just between me and the low wall here. Enjoy full size and have a great week.