Saltaire

10/&/2017


Having picked up Sybille and Don from Leeds, we set out to the west, making the 14 miles to Saltaire by 7pm. A long day, but a grand trip up the Aire Valley, much more scenic than our memories. 17 locks, several in staircase formation, with the top gate of one being the bottom gate of the next. A photo is attached.
Some locks have a ground paddle system. This allows the opening of a sluice into the side of the lock, meaning less of a waterfall effect created when the sluices in the actual gates are opened. Some locks  are quite leaky, including ones with cascades higher than the boat. Fortunately our front doors were closed at one such lock, so only the well deck was flooded and it has 2 floor drains).

Our mooring in Saltaire is adjacent to the old mill building, surrounding us in the golden stone used by Sir Titus Salt when he built his model village in the 1860s. The village included a hospital, and alms houses, for retired employees (pictured), long since sold to private buyers. He paid retirees a pension, long before any legislated requirement. The village also includes allotments (gardens), a 19th C philanthropic system dear to my heart.

The giant mill itself, is a feast of grand architecture, arts and crafts, antiques, and a huge number of David Hockney paintings and opera sets. The mill history is a tale of 2 visionary individuals, Titus Salt and Jonathan Silver.

After lunch today, we retraced our steps from 2013, and walked with Syb and Don up Shipley Glen, through beech forests, along the Aire, and on to a celebratory dinner at the licensed restaurant, 'Don't tell Titus!', referring to his antipathy to alcohol consumption in public.

Comments

  1. Michael E17 August 2017 at 18:24

    Oohhh...another place to put on the list to visit. How uplifting to read about these philanthropic actions

    ReplyDelete

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