Our Northern Ways: The Mills of Yorkshire

| Salt Mill in Yorkshire – the inspiration for Malbrough Mills, perhaps? |

England Trip 2015 Travel Journal
Sunday, March 29 – Part One

What a country! Today was quite a literary and historic adventure. We visited the Brontë Parsonage and an old woolen mill in a countryside dotted all over with mills – some abandoned, some repurposed – on wild, windy hills. I felt like I'd been dropped into North & South, Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre! Truly.

There is nothing like Yorkshire scenery!

These surroundings obviously contributed so much to the stories and literary styles of Mrs. Gaskell and the Brontë sisters. The wild and rugged scenery, with heaps of clouds swirling furiously across the grey sky and the constant wind seem to have bred the independent spirit of their fierce characters, and woven itself into the stories themselves. It begins to weave itself into you if you stand out in it long enough!

We were on our way to Keighly (pronounced "keeth-lee") where some 'North & South' scenes were filmed, when we saw a sign for Salt Mill, a preserved historical site (indicated by the sign's brown color). So I made the decision to take a quick detour to explore it and to see the inside of a textile mill. It was basically on our way, after all, and it turned out to be an exciting, memorable experience!

Salt Mill with its smokestack.

On the third floor is an exhibit on the history of the mill, opened in 1853 by Titus Salt, and it was considered to be a model mill in its time, innovative with its technology and clean working conditions. (He sounds a bit like Mr. Thornton to me.) There were two original machines on display, and imagining one of these enormous rooms packed with rows and rows of them helped me to understand better than I ever had before Margaret Hale's initial repugnance at the idea of a mill, and especially of mill owners, as well as her pity of the working people. My understanding was quite vivid, in fact. The monotony of the nose and confinement oppressed my very imagination. And that was looking at an exceptionally comfortable mill!

Original machines from Salt Mill, used in making wool cloth.

One of the upper floors of the mill, now a little museum.

The back of Salt Mill

The ground floor of the mill. It's rather beautiful now, making it a bit hard to imagine it filled with the whir of machines.

A model of Salt Mill – it's like a small city!

 The third floor had an impressive view of the town outside – a town that looks exactly like I imagine Milton would look, with its grey stone and the spires of other mills dotting the skyline.

The town of Shipley, looking out from Salt Mill.
Doesn't it look like Milton??

North & South was set in a real time and based on real places and people so seeing these real cities and mills brought that history so much closer. It almost felt real enough to touch. This is why I love to travel! Well, one big reason.

A project to remember the people who worked in Salt Mill.
Here is Sarah Ann Morton – who knows, maybe we're related! That made history seem really close...

© 2016 Anna Morton

York the Magnificent

| The mighty York Minster |

England Trip 2015
Saturday, March 28

(10:56 PM) I am greatly enjoying my chocolate malted bar recommended by our poet barista Josh at the Costa Coffee in York. :) He was pleasantly friendly, chatting with me while Mom was off, and we had the longest conversation that I've ever had with anyone besides Mom since we got here. There is something special about making human contact while you're traveling because you find you have things in common with people and you learn some insightful things that you didn't expect.

Our barista Josh made clear that he doesn't like the busy-ness of London, preferring the slower and friendlier way of life in the north – another northerner who loves his part of the country. :)

Then I discovered that he loves poetry – he actually loves sitting by the river and writing it himself! We do differ on what sort of poetry, as his favorites are '50s beat poets, but he also enjoys 18th century novels. :) It was discovering that I studied English literature that brought on the subject. Much of this conversation surprised me, I admit, because I guess I didn't expect to meet a young working man in York who loves literature – even though I should have known better than to have any such preconceptions! After all, I've seen 'North & South' about fifty times! Oh well, I'm glad to say that I was pleasantly surprised out of my prejudices, not unlike Miss Margaret Hale. ;)

That was at the end of our day in York, so I will now say something about the rest of it, starting with the beginning.

We took advantage of the Park and Ride from the outlets on the south side of York, which dropped us nearby to the city's center and most of it's famous sights.

The Shambles in York

We had splendid weather! More glorious sunshine passing in and out of the clouds, lighting up the Minster and the ruins of St. Mary's Abbey beautifully. The latter would have put Marianne Dashwood into raptures, it was so picturesque.

We walked through the famous Shambles first, which is also picturesque, but a tad touristy with its shops and tea rooms. (FYI: "The Shambles" is where a large chunk of Tudor buildings have been preserved.) Still, its Tudor architecture is worth seeing because it takes you back in time in an amazing way! The slightly off-kilter buildings lean into each other over the street just like on a postcard.

We found these fellows over a shop window.

As we left The Shambles from this street in the photo above we entered a sort of square where a weekly market was going on. There were lots of fun local vendors selling crafts, toys, a dangerous number of delicious desserts....

A market at York.

....and some deerstalker hats.

How could I resist?
(Technically it was Mom's idea... Well, the collar bit was mine.)

We almost missed Molly's Tea Room because it is tucked away above an antique store. So when you follow the map to the spot you can't see it from the street. They had the most delicious looking cakes, so we had to have some after our pea soup and our cheese and chutney sandwiches. Another lovely touch was the lady charge calling everyone 'love' or 'darlin''. :) That never gets old!

Me with my lemon poppy seed cake and tea
at Molly's Tea Rooms

Mom with her coffee and walnut cake
in Molly's Tea Room

Split pea soup with a sandwich.

We glimpsed York Minster (the famous and enormous church) and found a used bookshop with seven rooms of books around the corner... How we got out of there in fifteen minutes is mystery.

The Museum Gardens with the Abbey ruins is just down the street. (Everything in York is nicely close together. It was constantly surprising me.) It is a lovely park! There are Roman, Medieval and Tudor ruins, and it was lush and green with daffodils and tulips everywhere.

The Roman wall in the Museum Gardens.

St. Mary's Abbey ruins in the Museum Gardens, built in the 14th century and destroyed by Henry VIII in the 16th century.

It's the epitome of a picturesque scene! (Picturesque in the 18th century romantic sense, that is.)
St. Mary's Abbey ruins.

Proof that we were there. :)

We found the Minster again, and Mom thought we should try going in even though it was closed by then. But this time being a rebel paid off. We went in the open door and realized that it was 5:14, which meant that we got to stay inside and listen to the evensong service that was to begin at 5:15! We stood in the corner listening to the choir and we got to take pictures. A total win. (Unlike in Westminster Abbey where one is never allowed to take pictures.) It was filled with that glorious golden light, making the warm stone glow and the stained glass windows jump out from the walls in vivid color.

There it is: York Minster!

We'd heard of its reputation for being enormous, and boy did it live up to that. It's massive!

The nave (or whatever it's called... it's the main part of the building, anyway).

One of the stained glass windows above us.

Later we found the city wall, which gives a great view of York. That is another Roman remnant – they're everywhere! York almost feels like a history book with its variety of architecture from the Romans to the Normans to the medieval period to the Tudors to the present day. Mom and I just loved it!

The Roman wall around York. One of the most complete of its kind at over two miles long.

Climbing up on the wall gives you a fabulous view of the Minster.

It was nearly dark, so after stopping by Clifford's Tower (built by William the Conqueror in the 1080s), we caught the park and ride bus back to the Outlets, stopped by Sainsbury's, and made it home safely.

Another bastion of William the Conqueror: Clifford's Tower, right in the middle of York.

© 2016 Anna Morton