WEDNESDAY. At Skipton
The 2008 journey thus far: 235 Locks & 349 Miles & 46 Swing\Lift Bridges
Journeys using bus pass: 20
Myra took off to the laundrette whilst I took off on an information gathering exercise.
The buses to Settle leave at 45 minutes past each hour, and as Myra had returned quite quickly, we boarded the 10.45 and found ourselves in Settle some 40 minutes later. We went on our usual amble, looking into interesting alleys and side streets.
Before long, we came upon the magnificent building named ‘The Folly’ (pictured above) which was built in the 1670’s by one Richard Preston. Uncertainty surrounds the choice and date of the name; one theory is that the positioning of the corner mullioned windows represented a potential structural weakness. The passage of time has allowed this theory to be filed under the name of the building. The building is now home to the Museum of North Craven Life, but it was not open today and had no sign of opening times to be seen.
We ate our picnic in the market place and then walked to the Parish Church; I wanted to see a memorial to the Railway Navvies killed during the construction of the Settle and Carlisle line. It was high up in a niche in the porch. In the churchyard opposite the porch, there was a stone on the grave of John G. Owen, from Holyhead. He was a Navvy of 19 years of age, killed at Settle on Feb18th 1873. The stone displayed a fitting touch; his memorial inscription was in the Welsh language.
The church, consecrated in 1838, has two unusual features. Firstly it is dedicated to the Holy Ascension rather than to a saint and secondly, it is aligned on a North – South axis. The interior has a fine wrought iron screen behind the alabaster pulpit and alabaster font; amongst the fine glass windows, one at the front of the nave is by William Morris from a design by Burne-Jones.
We stopped off at Long Preston on our return journey mainly to visit the original Rohan clothing shop. I managed to get a pair of cord trousers wide and long enough to fit – amazing. We looked around the village and took a very good cup of tea in the village tea room. We arrived back on board Martlet some 20 minutes before the rain, boaters do get it right sometimes!
Weather today – Mainly dry, light scattered showers, heavy rain in evening.
