Marsden and the HNC gets an upbeat article in the Daily Mail !

[jake_crew]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/escape/article-11547187/Why-Marsden-Yorkshire-sums-essence-scenic-county.html

 

The Riverhead brewery Tap also gets a mention.

[Sea Dog]

Can't you just paste in the text? Apparently the Chinese government and several other agencies monitor our internet history and I couldn't possibly let them see I've been reading the Daily Mail.

[jake_crew]

In the absence of the comics of my youth - the Beano and Beezer, I regard the Daily Fail as an excellent substitute comic, which recycles into top class parrot cage lining material.

 

Anyway here goes (pictures not included) :-

 

Britain at its best: Why Marsden in Yorkshire sums up the essence of this most scenic county

• Paul Kirkwood climbs Pule Hill to admire the view of Marsden from up high

• The village, which is surrounded by moorland, has 'a strong community vibe'

• Nearby is the end of the longest, deepest and highest canal tunnel in the UK

By Paul Kirkwood For The Daily Mail

Published: 22:03, 16 December 2022 | Updated: 22:03, 16 December 2022

After puffing to the top of Pule Hill on the Stanza Stones Trail, I’m standing in an old quarry where poetry written by local lad Simon Armitage is etched into the rock. His verse appears on six stones across the South Pennine watershed.

All are inspired by water, and the one I’m reading is titled Snow. One line runs: ‘Snow, like water asleep, a coded muteness to baffle all noise, to stall movement, still time.’

Nearby, the poet’s bench sits on the hilltop pointing towards Ilkley, where the trail ends. I wander over to the other side of the summit to view Marsden, where I’m staying, tucked away deep in the Colne Valley.

As earthy and resolute as better-known West Yorkshire villages such as Haworth — but more authentic and less touristy — Marsden owes its growth to the wool industry. The skyline tells its own story, with two square towers either side of a pepperpot chimney.

Paul Kirkwood explores Marsden, an 'earthy' and 'authentic' village in Yorkshire. While there, he visits nearby Tunnel End on the Huddersfield Narrow Canal (above) 

The mills fell silent decades ago and the population has since dwindled to 3,800. Six tenter posts, between which cloth was stretched and dried after scouring, stand forlorn, like gravestones for a lost industry.

I wonder if the mills are ripe for redevelopment, given that Marsden lies surrounded by scenic, National Trust-owned moorland, on the railway line midway between Manchester and Leeds. 

It also has a strong community vibe. Locals meet at the grand former Mechanics Institute, today a volunteer-run arts centre.

Marsden owes its growth to the wool industry, though the mills fell silent decades ago, Paul reveals. Picture courtesy of Creative Commons 

There’s also the Riverhead Brewery Tap, a real ale pub with its own micro-brewery. It’s beside a weir, so you can enjoy a drink and watch ducks waddling by. A sign advertises Asian steamed buns served upstairs.

The Cuckoo Day Festival, with a fancy-dress procession, marks the arrival of spring here; and in October, during Marsden’s famous jazz festival (which recently celebrated its 30th anniversary), crowds spill into the streets.

The highlight of my weekend is a visit to Tunnel End, which marks the start of the longest, deepest and highest canal tunnel in the UK. You can reach the End and its visitor centre by shuttle boat from the railway station, or take a short stroll along the Huddersfield Narrow Canal.

Marsden's Riverhead Brewery Tap is beside a weir, so you can enjoy a drink and watch ducks waddling by.

Marsden is 'tucked away deep' in the Colne Valley, pictured above.

Flanked by a railway tunnel, two disused service tunnels and a reservoir overflow chute, the canal tunnel, which stretches for three-and-a-quarter miles, was dug using pickaxes, shovels and gunpowder over 16 years from 1795.

Entering it on one of the tourist boats is like going into a mine, grotto and sewer combined. Barges used to be weighed down with water to lower them within the canal and create headroom.

There were insufficient funds to provide a towpath, so barges were propelled through by ‘leggers’ who lay across the top of the boats and walked along the walls.

Meanwhile, horses carried cargo over the moors. I wonder who had the worse deal, the nags or the leggers, as I continue along the old packhorse trail.

The sudden rattle of a concealed passing train reminds me that I’m nearly back in town. Wandering past the football ground and a bandstand in the Victorian park, I’m soon reminded what a homely place Marsden is.

If someone was to ask me to take them somewhere that sums up the essence of Yorkshire, then this is where we’d come.

 

 

 

Personally I'm more worried about copyright infringement than chinese spyware !   🤫

Edited December 18, 2022 by jake_crew

[Sea Dog]

41 minutes ago, jake_crew said:

Personally I'm more worried about copyright infringement than chinese spyware !   🤫

Edited 39 minutes ago by jake_crew

Crikey, I didn't expect you to actually do it! 

[Heartland]

The sudden rattle of a concealed passing train reminds me that I’m nearly back in town. Wandering past the football ground and a bandstand in the Victorian park, I’m soon reminded what a homely place Marsden is.

 

I thought all the Pacers had been withdrawn from service. Now those trains rattled and rolled

 

Is not Marsden the place where they filmed the Last of Summer Wine shop where if you went in you always came out with something you did not need or want. A bit like Arkwright, I suppose.

[David Mack]

5 hours ago, Heartland said:

Is not Marsden the place where they filmed the Last of Summer Wine shop where if you went in you always came out with something you did not need or want. A bit like Arkwright, I suppose.

Last of the Summer Wine was originally filmed in and around Holmfirth, but as the town got more famous on the back of the series, a lot of the later programmes were largely filmed around Marsden. They still used Holmfirth for key locations like Sid's cafe (and I think Norah Battye's house).

[Hudds Lad]

5 hours ago, Heartland said:

Is not Marsden the place where they filmed the Last of Summer Wine shop where if you went in you always came out with something you did not need or want. A bit like Arkwright, I suppose.

Marsden moor was the location of Edward & Tubbs’ shop in The League of Gentleman.

 

Mostly LotSW was filmed round the Holme Valley as @David Mack has said, i grew up in a surrounding village to Holmfirth that was sometimes used for filming (giant plastic carrot on wheels was one i remember), and when they made the spin-off First of the Summer Wine the shop was our village Post Office. We had a love/hate relationship with that programme, and the price hikes and tourists that came with it.