Nestled in the foothills of the Pennines, the Bradford area boomed in the 19th century. Economic growth founded on textile manufacturing turned the small market town of Bradford into a city, and outlying hamlets strung along the meandering rivers of West Yorkshire were dragged into the industrial age.
But poverty prevailed; until 1907 the hungry and destitute were dependent on charity to provide them with “a bun, a banana and a beverage.” That was the year when Bradford became the first place in the country to provide council-funded school meals, following recognition that education was wasted on hungry children.
A year earlier, Surrey-born Edith Nesbit had written “The Railway Children”, painting an idyllic vision of family life full of adventures in the pastoral countryside of Edwardian Britain – a far cry from life 220 miles to the north in the Worth Valley, where steam trains were hauling hundreds of tons of coal along the Keighley branch line every week to keep the mills running.
Fast forward now through two World Wars to the economic crisis of the 1960s – the branch line was closed, but thanks to opposition from local people and railway enthusiasts, it reopened again six years later, just in time for the five-mile route of the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway to provide a perfect setting for the first “The Railway Children” film in 1970.
A sequel to the original film was shot in similar locations in 2022, and in the intervening years, the character of the Keighley and the Worth Valley has changed again – think “boots, books, beer, bales and … curry”
Boots: the 11-mile Worth Way follows the route taken by textile workers from Keighley to the 19th century mills, which were once responsible for the River Worth being heavily polluted. But no longer! The river’s now home to otters, herons, kingfishers, and dippers, and there’s a Nature Reserve at Damems.
Books: it was nature and the moorland surrounding the pretty little village of Haworth that inspired the Brontë sisters, who were writing their novels in the middle of the 19th century. I like nothing better than sitting drinking a cappuccino and reading a book outside a café in the centre of the village, watching the world go by, and imagining one of the sisters walking up the old stone steps of the Post Office, bound manuscript in hand, ready to be sent off to their publishers.
Beer: Just eight years after Charlotte Brontë died, Timothy Taylor built a brewery in Ingrow by the Knowle Spring – the source of the water used to brew their beers, including Madonna’s favourite: “Landlord Bitter”. Just reading the words on their website makes you understand why: “filtered through layers of black rock and limestone, the water is said to taste like melted snow.”
Bales: visit Oxenhope on the first Sunday in July to witness the annual Straw Race. Picture teams of two running a 2.5 mile / six pub race in fancy dress, drinking a pint at each pub! It’s said to have started with a bet by two local farmers in the mid 1970s – possibly after a pint or two of Landlord!
Curry: food in the Bradford area has come a long way since “Poor Law Guardians” were distributing “a bun, a banana and a beverage” to waifs and strays. I’ve never tasted a better curry than in Keighley – not surprising, given that Bradford is invariably voted the Curry Capital of Britain.
Article contributed by Tess Pike, Yorkshire Blue Badge Guide: https://yorkshiresbestguides.co.uk/project/tess-pike/
