North of England

Only in Yorkshireland

bruceonthefringe 2025, Beer, North of England, Places to go, Yorkshire Tags: , , , , , , , Leave a comment

A couple of weeks ago I went down to Yorkshireland, but not the old hometown, first I spent a few days by the seaside, well, mainly in the Scarborough Beer and Cider Festival. Twas a rather jolly occasion, ciders, perries and the occasional beer. If you ever happen upon a Camra beer festival I would highly recommend going in, that is, if you would like the opportunity to try a wide range of beer styles (and real ciders too).

Had a quick stop in Robin Hoods Bay on the way, love it there!

At one time I would have stuck with apples and pears, but these days I like to explore some of the hoppy ales. There’s always a list with a few tasting notes to help folk navigate through the choices on offer; well, there is for the beers, ciders just have numbers between 1 and 7 to denote sweet to dry, but cider bar volunteers are usually very good with extra details to help cider novices (they will have sampled them all!) While the cider bar selection was broad and fine, nothing really stood out for me, unlike As Within, So Without a pale ale from The Meanwood Brewery in Leeds, wowzah! Grapefruity and biscuity, almost chewy, I’d definitely have some of that again!

Scarborough – it has it’s ups and downs

Then, I headed inland to deepest, dampest Yorkshire, actually apart from the day I travelled across, it wasn’t too damp. A lack of muddiness inspired me to head to Mytholmroyd to complete the Cragg Vale Coiners’ Walk, the plan was to start at the end, get up to where I copped out last time, then head to the road back down into the town. Yeah, no, that map, it’s a tad vague when you’re following it, nevermind doing the route in reverse (last attempted in 2023, you can read about it in A walk through the Vale). As last time, I didn’t quite follow the route but I was roughly in the right area; I think I found Scout Rock, well, there was a gate next to it and a bit further along was the beacon. At that point I had run out of time and had to head back to my car. Hopefully one day I’ll get to do the whole thing in one go!

That is, indeed, a beacon. Outstanding panoramic views up there

I know just where to get some great snacks for that day. Now, I’m probably wrong but I’m sure the butcher called it a naked egg, yeah, surely that’s just an egg? This was a scotch egg but instead of the breaded outer layer it’s wrapped in bacon, bloody tasty bacon – a breakfast egg? Well, there’s egg, bacon and sausage (meat), by gum, it’s substantial. In the same place I spotted a sign saying Yorkshire Scoundrels, obviously I had to enquire about them; a bit like a cross between a cake and a scone (ahem, pronounced like cone with an s in front, rhymes with stone) and there’s dried fruit in it, the man said, okay, one please (I don’t actually like scones but I was feeling daring). Yummy! Apart from the three nuts, but they were whole and very visible so easy to take out. I feel like I’ll need to find some old-fashioned cloudy lemonade to wash it all down!

Wickedly tasty (sorry, no photo of the egg)

It’s late, I must away to my bed, I shall leave you with an snippet from the letters page in last Saturday’s Times. Honestly, this is the most bizarre combination for a curry – banana and spaghetti curry. Huh? What? The letter ends “I still serve sliced bananas with curry”, sure, fine, I can go with that, but spaghetti in a curry?!? G’night.

A walk through the Vale

bruceonthefringe 2023, Cragg Vale Coiners, Holyrood Park, North of England, Walks, Yorkshire Tags: , , , , , , , , 1 Comment

Just back from another jaunt down to deepest dampest Yorkshire, boy, was it damp! Even with temperatures into the low twenties on several days, the feeling of damp prevailed. But hey, I finally got to do the Crag Vale Coiner’s Walk, on a bright sunny day too. It was really great, even when I took an accidental detour, well, it was a tricksy bit to figure out from the description and map (somewhere around Lower Lumb, but at least I was always headed in the right direction, not lost just a tad misplaced).

Hoo Hole – ancestral home of owls??
Into Spring Wood

The walk is a circular route beginning and ending in Mytholmroyd. It’s 5¼ miles long and is quite strenuous in places, a tad muddy too – and that was after unseasonably reasonable weather, oh, and there’s farm mud to negotiate through! I employed a fleet foot approach, tread lightly, move quickly, speed yourself over the top!

The woodlands around Cragg Vale are awe-inspiring, oh, some of the trees were magnificent, I could have dawdled for hours admiring them. The moorlands above have panoramic views all around, including across to Bell House, the home “King” David Hartley; that’s it on the right hand side of the picture below.

The boardwalk pathways through the bogs on the moor attest to how dangerous the area would have been back in the Coiners time.

The Lumb Stone on Bell House Moor

It took rather longer than I expected (even without my departure from the mapped route), so I didn’t have time to stop for a drink at the Robin Hood Inn, a shame as it is a fine, old fashioned pub with well-kept ales.

I fully intend to walk it again in reverse, hopefully next summer, allowing much more time! The map (by Christopher Goddard, a local cartographer) with all it’s illustrations, instructions, information and quotes from The Gallows Pole is a delight unobtainable from reading bits off a mobile phone. Yay for paper maps I say!

After yesterday’s long journey back up to Edinburgh, I took myself up Moose Ridge this morning. Interesting goings-on up in the Park…

Those bags are impressively strong!

Good night all!

Down in the Vale with Davie and Grace

bruceonthefringe 2023, Cragg Vale Coiners, North of England, Uncategorized, Yorkshire Tags: , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Nearly two years ago, I wrote a blog post A Tale of Cards and Coiners about my trip to Yorkshireland when the first lockdown eased. I’d discovered a piece of local history that I’d had no idea about; that bit of history has now been brought to life on the telly. Well, it’s a three-part drama prequelling a novel based on events that happened around the Calder Valley in the later eighteenth century. Yes, that, oh so happy valley is on the TV again! I had wondered at the time if this was something that Sally Wainwright might take an interest in (well, she’s made Gentleman Jack about a local historical character).

Shane Meadows (known for This Is England) is the chap behind The Gallows Pole, starting it back to when David Hartley (the later leader of the Cragg Vale Coiners) returns home from being away in Birmingham for seven years. Those years had seen the onset of the industrial revolution which caused major upheavals for weavers and land labourers in places like the Calder Valley, many had to leave to find work in the new mills.

The opening scenes are of Hartley staggering across the moors, it’s all quite trippy, who/what are the weird stag men figures? Are they real or hallucinations? Then the opening titles kicked in, oh, they’re good, brilliantly done, they promise so much. Well, I wasn’t disappointed, that was a cracking first episode for me! This being Shane Meadows there’s quite a few first-time actors in there; he has all his cast working together, improvising to get into their characters, for quite some time before filming; and even then Meadows doesn’t have a full script, just outlines for the actors to follow.

My favourite scene from the first episode is when David steps outside from his father’s wake for some air, to discover that the girl he was courting before he went away is also outside and does not want to see or talk to him (so she says). David ends up sitting on steps round the corner from where Grace is sitting, and boy, she starts talking! Both are obviously quite shook up from seeing each other again; it was a lovely moment, tentative, angry, funny, coy, even a bit flirty by the end, testing each other out.

And it took me sooo long to figure out where I knew Grace’s voice from – Downton Abbey, she was Daisy, would never have figured it out from her face but the voice was so familiar (no, I didn’t cheat). I did a few double-takes at one character Tom, he had a real look of Tom Hardy but it was one of the first-time actors (Dave Perkins), I suspect it won’t be his last.

Much of the filming was done in the area, in Heptonstall and Hebden Bridge, just along the valley from Mytholmroyd and Cragg Vale (where David Hartley lived). I know the road through Cragg Vale up on to the moors very well, been along it many many times, with no idea that this was once the birthplace of a counterfeiting enterprise that almost toppled the British economy! Oh, one thing that struck me watching the first episode – the drystone walls. They’re quite dilapidated in areas now, but back in the late 1700’s they would’ve probably been in better condition than they are today (funny, the thoughts that pop into your head!)

No doubt the series will help attract yet more tourists to the area. I did get a copy of The Cragg Vale Coiners Walk but never got round to doing it, if this fine weather keeps up I shall give it a go next time I’m down. I might also pop into the Heptonstall Museum which has recently reopened (the local council had previously closed it as unviable), one of it’s rooms was used as a set in The Gallows Pole. The museum is open from Thursday to Sunday 11am – 4pm. It’s not far from the graveyard where David Hartley was buried after his hanging in York.

If you’re an energetic type you can walk up to Heptonstall from Hebden Bridge! (well, a very energetic type, it is a very steep climb) There are two fine pubs up there, The White Lion and the Cross Inn, both frequented by coiners back in the day. The place is literally steeped in history, sorry, I just had to get that in.

It’s rather late, I must to bed. Goodnight!

A Tale of Cards and Coiners

bruceonthefringe 2020, Coming out of Lockdown, Cragg Vale Coiners, Halifax pubs, North of England, Pubs, Uncategorized, Yorkshire Tags: , , , , , , , 1 Comment

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They seek him here, they seek him there – apparently he’s on the wasteland! If only those Frenchies had had a set of Pepys’ Wild Flower Sevens they’d have known where to look! Oh, how we chortled, gathered around the dining table finally able to do battle once more. I say battle, playing card games with family could be mistaken for warfare at times.

Yes, I’ve been down in the old country as restrictions have been loosened off. They’ve clearly had a rather damp time of it, all the local reservoirs are full to overflowing (in July, wow), luckily it wasn’t too bad for my trip. The warm weather meant I was roped into mowing the meadow that my mother’s lawn had become. I left a few patches of flowers, the selfheal did look very pretty and the bees love it. I was also given the dubious task of pruning the hedge; it’s done, not particularly well, but it’s done. I’ll be sure to time my next visit down for after it’s next trim.

I joined in the long evening walks over the local hilltops, well, I followed on behind, not a clue where we were, just the odd distant memory popping up. Wandering on the tops did occasionally put us in the clouds, like here looking across to the M62…..

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…….but invariably the sun would reappear as we wound our way lower and home again.

I even learnt some local history when one evening a far hillside was pointed out as Coiner’s Country (I’d tried a knowledgeable grunt, but then had to admit to my ignorance). Coiners were folk who clipped bits off gold and silver coins to make more counterfeit coins (that’s the simplified version).

Turns out the Cragg Vale Coiners were notorious as the most organised gang in the 1700’s, so much so their leader was known as “King David” Hartley. He’d learnt his skills while working in Birmingham, then took them back home where the local weavers were in dire straits and welcomed any way to make some money. Enter William Deighton, an excise officer, sent to investigate, exit Deighton murdered by two coiners; well, he had arrested “King David” in the Old Cock Inn in Halifax, which led to the “Duke of York” aka Isaac (David’s brother) calling a meeting in the Dusty Miller (a Mytholmroyd pub), putting a price of £100 on his head. The Crown got serious and despatched one Marquis of Rockingham to deal with the problem however he saw fit (imprisonment, hanging, deportation to the African colonies, apparently).

“King David” lies in Heptonstall graveyard. He was convicted for coining and hanged in York in 1770. There’s a book The Gallows Pole by Benjamin Myers that tells the tale, fictionalised but faithfully drawn from historical accounts and documents; I’ll definitely have to get me a copy. There’s also The Cragg Vale Coiners Walk by Christopher Goddard, a must-buy before I head down again.

The Dusty Miller and The Old Cock are still going to this day, according to a quick check on Facebook. Interestingly, The Old Cock was later frequented by one Branwell Brontë. He also drank in the Union Cross in Halifax, definitely still open as I had a pint in there just last week. Sadly another pub from that time,  the Upper George (a pub I misspent plenty of time in in my younger days) hasn’t reopened yet, no doubt another haunt of Branwell’s.

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I shall leave you with another card, played by my brother announcing he had Scabious on the Moorland, well, I had to say it – “You can get an ointment for that”.

Toodle pip!

Beware the Ides of May!

bruceonthefringe North of England, Places to go, Pubs, Uncategorized, Weather Tags: , , , , , , Leave a comment

I say this because the weather this last week or so has been darn lovely which, in my experience means the sunshine ration for Edinburgh will have run out by August! Brollies and rain macs will be must-haves at this year’s Fringe, I predict.

This coming Monday is Victoria Day, a little known public holiday in parts of Scotland; it’s celebrated on the last Monday before or on 24th May, which was Queen Victoria’s birthday (I just looked that up, I’ve only known it as usually the third Monday in May). I used to get it as a public holiday from work and in the further past we had the previous Friday off too, before they cut down on our public holidays – yes, I am a working moose, the bills don’t pay themselves, unfortunately!

It was a weekend to be off as most people are working and the kiddies are in school; Bud and I had some great camping trips with glorious weather. The Lake District being just down the road was a favoured destination. Beautiful scenery, good campsites and plenty of great pubs! Oh to be waking up in Great Langdale with the sun already shining and lambs gambolling about the place (those same lambs you could have quite happily barbecued at 4 in the morning when they did their own version of the dawn chorus!); then, later rounding off another perfect day with a drink or three at the Old Dungeon Ghyll’s Hikers Bar, a no-frills pub with good grub and well-kept ales (I could be wrong but I think they have been in the Good Beer Guide nearly, if not every year). And only a drunken stagger away from the campsite!

Over in the east County Durham and North Yorkshire, another favourite area for Bud and I to visit or use as a good stopover when heading south. Let’s face it that whole swathe across the north of England is bloody marvellous, scenery, great pubs and grub and lovely locals. One particularly sunny May we went to Beamish, if you’ve never been, go!! I’d wanted to visit for years but just never got round to it, one day I’ll have to go back and see what I missed last time – it’s awfully big, a full day and you still won’t have seen it all!

Heading south there’s Bishop Auckland, Barnard Castle, Richmond, Leyburn, to name a few old market towns worth a stop and wander around. Leyburn sits on the A684 which runs across to Kendal with plenty to enjoy in between. Leyburn is also a hop and a skip away from Middleham, which is very close to the Forbidden Corner, so good we went twice (a few years apart). The Forbidden Corner started out as a private folly, but then like Topsy, it growed and growed, now there’s grottos, towers, tunnels, chambers, a maze and beautiful gardens. But, and it’s a big butt, it will be full of children. If you have children this is the bestest place you could take them, but do microchip them first so they can be located when you lose sight of the little dears, and you will! This is why a May visit, on a weekday preferably, book for a visit straight after breakfast ahead of the coachloads of school trips, is great.

Ah, the sun is beckoning me to go oot and play. It teases Edinburgh with the prospect of a fine Meadows Fair in a couple of weeks but more on that little extravaganza later.

Toodle pip!