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60 years ago, an extraordinary man called Harold Briercliffe | 0:00:02 | 0:00:06 | |
wrote a series of books about his great passion: cycling. | 0:00:06 | 0:00:10 | |
Now largely forgotten, these overlooked gems were the culmination of a lifelong epic journey. | 0:00:10 | 0:00:16 | |
His destination? The whole of Britain, on two wheels. | 0:00:16 | 0:00:20 | |
Over half a century later, armed with one of his reliable cycle touring guides, | 0:00:20 | 0:00:25 | |
I'm riding Harold's very own bicycle, a Dawes Super Galaxy. | 0:00:25 | 0:00:29 | |
Hand-built in Britain, this was the ultimate touring machine of its day. | 0:00:29 | 0:00:34 | |
I'll be taking it on a journey of rediscovery, | 0:00:34 | 0:00:38 | |
to find the magnificent countryside Harold explored all those years ago. | 0:00:38 | 0:00:42 | |
I'm going in search of Britain by Bike. | 0:00:42 | 0:00:47 | |
Today, I'm in the north of England. | 0:00:47 | 0:00:49 | |
Welcome to Yorkshire, and Bronte Country. | 0:00:49 | 0:00:52 | |
Straddling the Yorkshire and Lancashire borders, and cut from the Pennine Hills, | 0:01:05 | 0:01:09 | |
these vast stretches of craggy moorland promise tough cycling, beautiful views, | 0:01:09 | 0:01:13 | |
and stories of extraordinary people. | 0:01:13 | 0:01:16 | |
We'll be focusing on a number of heroines as resilient | 0:01:16 | 0:01:21 | |
and varied as the landscape itself, some are more famous than others. | 0:01:21 | 0:01:26 | |
They call this Bronte country. | 0:01:26 | 0:01:28 | |
But for cycling author Harold Briercliffe, the attraction had little to do with literature. | 0:01:28 | 0:01:34 | |
He calls this some of the best cycling in Britain, | 0:01:34 | 0:01:36 | |
and he was drawn to Yorkshire not because of the celebrated sisters of Haworth parsonage, | 0:01:36 | 0:01:42 | |
but because of this, the wild and windswept moorland, | 0:01:42 | 0:01:45 | |
the tiny hamlets and villages cut from the rough local stone. | 0:01:45 | 0:01:50 | |
And the deep and winding valleys. | 0:01:50 | 0:01:52 | |
It's majestic countryside. | 0:01:52 | 0:01:55 | |
My route follows Harold's 30-mile tour through the Upper Calder Valley. | 0:01:56 | 0:02:00 | |
It starts and finishes in Hebden Bridge. | 0:02:00 | 0:02:03 | |
First stop, Haworth, before heading west towards Wycoller. | 0:02:03 | 0:02:07 | |
Then it's uphill and down dale to Blake Dean and the | 0:02:07 | 0:02:10 | |
scenic Hardcastle Crags, before turning back towards Hebden Bridge. | 0:02:10 | 0:02:14 | |
BRIERCLIFFE: The characteristic fell and dale country of West Yorkshire is unmistakeable. | 0:02:15 | 0:02:21 | |
There is little level land, and both valley bottom and climbing hillsides | 0:02:21 | 0:02:26 | |
are cut up into innumerable holdings by the stone walls, | 0:02:26 | 0:02:29 | |
sometimes straight, and often wriggling, which so surprise the newcomer. | 0:02:29 | 0:02:34 | |
Harold Briercliffe was quite prepared to cycle hundreds of miles, | 0:02:36 | 0:02:40 | |
and did so, in his exploration of the Yorkshire Dales. | 0:02:40 | 0:02:43 | |
But when he came here to Hebden Bridge, | 0:02:43 | 0:02:45 | |
he thought it was a very good starting and finishing point for a smaller tour of about 30 miles. | 0:02:45 | 0:02:53 | |
Harold was born in Rochdale, just 13 miles down the road from here, | 0:02:53 | 0:02:57 | |
so he'd have known the area well. | 0:02:57 | 0:02:59 | |
Which makes it all the more surprising how little he has to say about Hebden Bridge. | 0:02:59 | 0:03:04 | |
Hebden Bridge should be left by the Keighley Road. | 0:03:04 | 0:03:09 | |
Was there really nothing worth saying? | 0:03:09 | 0:03:13 | |
When Harold visited, this was a struggling mill town | 0:03:13 | 0:03:16 | |
where industry was in decline and money scarce. | 0:03:16 | 0:03:19 | |
Yet it enjoyed a vibrant inner life quite hidden from the casual observer like Harold. | 0:03:19 | 0:03:24 | |
60 years on, we can see just what he missed, | 0:03:24 | 0:03:27 | |
thanks to a remarkable woman. | 0:03:27 | 0:03:29 | |
Her name was Alice Longstaff. And in 1921, at the age of 13, | 0:03:31 | 0:03:36 | |
she took an apprenticeship at this shop here when it was a photographer's studio. | 0:03:36 | 0:03:41 | |
She would end up running the whole business, | 0:03:41 | 0:03:44 | |
and taking photographs of the people of this area for over 70 years. | 0:03:44 | 0:03:48 | |
Because of Alice Longstaff's dedication, | 0:03:48 | 0:03:51 | |
this is one of the best-chronicled communities in Britain. | 0:03:51 | 0:03:55 | |
All the events of small town life are preserved | 0:03:55 | 0:03:57 | |
in a collection of pictures taken by Alice and her colleagues. | 0:03:57 | 0:04:01 | |
As a result, we can see Hebden Bridge during the 1940s and early '50s, | 0:04:01 | 0:04:06 | |
just as Harold was writing his Cycling Touring Guides. | 0:04:06 | 0:04:10 | |
Alice Longstaff's life and work is the subject of a play written by author Angela Cairns. | 0:04:10 | 0:04:17 | |
Alice Longstaff was... | 0:04:17 | 0:04:21 | |
born out of the rocks of this area. | 0:04:21 | 0:04:23 | |
She felt she was hewn out of the very stone. | 0:04:23 | 0:04:27 | |
She was a farm girl, her parents had originally been weavers. | 0:04:27 | 0:04:30 | |
And she very early developed an interest in photography. | 0:04:30 | 0:04:34 | |
It was at the age 13, she saw the advertisement | 0:04:34 | 0:04:37 | |
in the Westerman studio, which seemed to be made for her. | 0:04:37 | 0:04:41 | |
So, unlike many parents who wouldn't encourage a girl in particular, | 0:04:41 | 0:04:46 | |
doing such a radical thing, they paid £6 to the local grammar school | 0:04:46 | 0:04:51 | |
to take her away so that she could begin her apprenticeship. | 0:04:51 | 0:04:56 | |
Yet, the woman who chronicled the lives of others left a mystery about her own. | 0:04:56 | 0:05:01 | |
There was speculation about her 57-year marriage, | 0:05:01 | 0:05:04 | |
especially after her death in 1992. | 0:05:04 | 0:05:07 | |
She had done a very strange thing in her will as far as her husband was concerned. | 0:05:07 | 0:05:12 | |
She did. She surprised and staggered a lot of people. | 0:05:12 | 0:05:16 | |
In brief, the will disinherited him. | 0:05:16 | 0:05:19 | |
Why did she do that? | 0:05:19 | 0:05:22 | |
It was an imbalanced marriage, where she wore the trousers, and she would say so. | 0:05:22 | 0:05:26 | |
John was very much in the background. | 0:05:26 | 0:05:29 | |
It was almost as if she didn't need him. And in another era, | 0:05:29 | 0:05:32 | |
one might have asked questions about her sexuality, but of course, not then. | 0:05:32 | 0:05:36 | |
Alice's real legacy was the Longstaff Collection, | 0:05:36 | 0:05:39 | |
some 10,000 photographs dating back to the early days of the Westerman studio, | 0:05:39 | 0:05:44 | |
and capturing Hebden Bridge throughout the 20th century. | 0:05:44 | 0:05:48 | |
There were prints and duplicates, there were boxes and boxes and boxes of them. | 0:05:48 | 0:05:54 | |
Unclaimed and unnamed thousands. | 0:05:54 | 0:05:56 | |
It was extraordinary to find prints | 0:05:56 | 0:05:59 | |
leafed away in the pages of Yellow Pages and other telephone books. | 0:05:59 | 0:06:04 | |
Almost like a reckless, random and careless collection. | 0:06:04 | 0:06:07 | |
How unusual was it to be a female photographer? There had been Julia Margaret Cameron | 0:06:09 | 0:06:14 | |
some time earlier. Was this an oddity in this part of the country? | 0:06:14 | 0:06:18 | |
She had her heroines, such as Julia Margaret Cameron. | 0:06:18 | 0:06:21 | |
But yes, it was extremely rare. | 0:06:21 | 0:06:23 | |
She was encouraged by Ada Westerman who was the Westerman daughter, | 0:06:23 | 0:06:28 | |
who had taken the studio over from her father. | 0:06:28 | 0:06:31 | |
So, between them, the two women felt that, although they were doing something quite rare, | 0:06:31 | 0:06:36 | |
they were doing something terribly significant for the community, | 0:06:36 | 0:06:39 | |
and building a reputation for women in this town. | 0:06:39 | 0:06:43 | |
The Westerman studio, later Alice's own shop, | 0:06:43 | 0:06:45 | |
was part of the fabric of town life. | 0:06:45 | 0:06:48 | |
Alice's speciality was hand-tinted portraits of children and families. | 0:06:48 | 0:06:53 | |
Although renowned for her forceful personality, | 0:06:53 | 0:06:55 | |
she seemed able to put her subjects at ease, to raise a smile, | 0:06:55 | 0:06:59 | |
and to capture the intimacy of the moment. | 0:06:59 | 0:07:01 | |
I think she knew she had an almost unprecedented gift, | 0:07:01 | 0:07:05 | |
something to offer this community. | 0:07:05 | 0:07:07 | |
Everybody had their photographs done in their early days, | 0:07:07 | 0:07:11 | |
before people had their own cameras. | 0:07:11 | 0:07:13 | |
And a favourite local expression was, "'Ave yer seen yer photographs in t'winder?" | 0:07:13 | 0:07:18 | |
These photographs not only show the people of Hebden Bridge, | 0:07:18 | 0:07:22 | |
like the groups of women mill workers sitting by their machines, | 0:07:22 | 0:07:26 | |
they also document the rise and fall of an industrial town, | 0:07:26 | 0:07:29 | |
from the arrival of the railway to the mills' grimy decline. | 0:07:29 | 0:07:32 | |
In the '60s, Alice's camera even captured the spirit of hope | 0:07:32 | 0:07:36 | |
and regeneration that marked the town's change in fortunes. | 0:07:36 | 0:07:40 | |
How important do you think the collection is | 0:07:40 | 0:07:43 | |
as a historical record of Hebden Bridge through the decades? | 0:07:43 | 0:07:46 | |
By photographing all the various groups, teams, brigades, | 0:07:46 | 0:07:50 | |
everyone in the town virtually, | 0:07:50 | 0:07:53 | |
it really is a documentation of an area and its life, | 0:07:53 | 0:07:56 | |
its working life, and that's what Alice accidentally has done for us. | 0:07:56 | 0:08:02 | |
Alice Longstaff's photos give us a privileged glimpse into the past of Hebden Bridge, | 0:08:02 | 0:08:07 | |
and it's not surprising that this working town went unremarked | 0:08:07 | 0:08:11 | |
by a passing cyclist like Harold Briercliffe. | 0:08:11 | 0:08:13 | |
Because it's only in retrospect that an archive like Alice's can | 0:08:13 | 0:08:17 | |
take on the significance that makes it more than just a local curiosity. | 0:08:17 | 0:08:22 | |
Harold might not have had a lot to say about Hebden Bridge, | 0:08:22 | 0:08:25 | |
nor indeed would he have known anything about Alice Longstaff. | 0:08:25 | 0:08:29 | |
But she was certainly a kind of local heroine around here. | 0:08:29 | 0:08:32 | |
And Hebden Bridge itself is just fabulous. | 0:08:32 | 0:08:34 | |
Very liberal, very ethically aware, very bicycle friendly. | 0:08:34 | 0:08:38 | |
A good place to base yourself. | 0:08:38 | 0:08:40 | |
And, from here, you can get out and explore some of the wilder parts of the countryside. | 0:08:40 | 0:08:45 | |
The Keighley Road immediately commences to climb out of the Calder Valley, | 0:08:45 | 0:08:50 | |
and from the ledge commands a splendid prospect. | 0:08:50 | 0:08:54 | |
From here, Harold's route continues through the village of Pecket Well, | 0:08:57 | 0:09:01 | |
and then leaves the busy A road, | 0:09:01 | 0:09:03 | |
striking out over the high moorland towards Haworth. | 0:09:03 | 0:09:07 | |
Harold delighted in listing every rise and fall of the road | 0:09:07 | 0:09:11 | |
until the determined cyclist eventually reaches the final climb. | 0:09:11 | 0:09:15 | |
Up to the setts or cobbles of the main street at Haworth, | 0:09:15 | 0:09:19 | |
to where the swinging sign of the Black Bull beckons. | 0:09:19 | 0:09:23 | |
There's plenty about Haworth that wouldn't have changed at all since Harold came through. | 0:09:23 | 0:09:29 | |
It's still got a real ancient charm to it, | 0:09:29 | 0:09:32 | |
and was clearly always cycling-friendly. | 0:09:32 | 0:09:35 | |
But the first stop for any visitor, however they choose to get here, | 0:09:42 | 0:09:46 | |
is the Old Parsonage. | 0:09:46 | 0:09:47 | |
Haworth is internationally renowned because this was the birthplace and the home of the three Bronte sisters | 0:09:47 | 0:09:53 | |
who, in 1847, all had big novels published. | 0:09:53 | 0:09:57 | |
Emily had Wuthering Heights, Charlotte, Jane Eyre, and Anne had Agnes Grey. | 0:09:57 | 0:10:02 | |
And even Harold recognised how far their fame had spread. | 0:10:02 | 0:10:06 | |
They weren't just local heroines, they were global. | 0:10:06 | 0:10:10 | |
BRIERCLIFFE: The writing of three sisters, | 0:10:10 | 0:10:12 | |
daughters of an incumbent of Irish extraction with a French name, | 0:10:12 | 0:10:16 | |
together with the human weaknesses of their brother, have brought to this | 0:10:16 | 0:10:20 | |
hilly Yorkshire townlet a fame that has spread, with the usual results, | 0:10:20 | 0:10:26 | |
to the far corners of Hollywood. | 0:10:26 | 0:10:28 | |
The Bronte legend failed to impress Harold. | 0:10:28 | 0:10:31 | |
They may have been three Yorkshire girls creating works of literary genius, | 0:10:31 | 0:10:35 | |
but all this business about their harsh upbringing, | 0:10:35 | 0:10:38 | |
holed up in some forbidding parsonage, | 0:10:38 | 0:10:41 | |
surrounded by the miserable wastes of the Yorkshire moors, | 0:10:41 | 0:10:44 | |
Harold wasn't buying that at all. | 0:10:44 | 0:10:47 | |
The setting of the inn, graveyard, | 0:10:47 | 0:10:49 | |
church and parsonage is not as gloomy as portrayed by some earlier writers. | 0:10:49 | 0:10:55 | |
If Harold was disappointed by Haworth's lack of gloomy atmosphere, | 0:10:55 | 0:11:00 | |
I'm sure it was more than made up for | 0:11:00 | 0:11:02 | |
in the huge numbers of refreshments provided for weary cyclists. | 0:11:02 | 0:11:07 | |
And, believe me, you'll have worked hard for them. | 0:11:07 | 0:11:09 | |
I'm following this route, the Cycling Tour Guide | 0:11:09 | 0:11:12 | |
written by a chap called Howard Briercliffe from the late '40s. | 0:11:12 | 0:11:15 | |
And he says the Yorkshire Dales have some of the best cycling you can find anywhere in Britain. | 0:11:15 | 0:11:20 | |
-Yes. -Do you think that's true? -Yes, I agree with him. It's beautiful. | 0:11:20 | 0:11:24 | |
-It's hard work though. -Yes. I feel that too. | 0:11:24 | 0:11:27 | |
-I'm with you. -You've got to be prepared to get off and push and not feel bad about it. | 0:11:27 | 0:11:33 | |
Yes, exactly. It's not an area for big egos to come into, is it? | 0:11:33 | 0:11:37 | |
Not at all. If you do the hard you work, you get the benefits, like today. | 0:11:37 | 0:11:40 | |
The views have been stunning. | 0:11:40 | 0:11:42 | |
-Where are you going on to now? -Cycling to Keighley and catching the train back. | 0:11:42 | 0:11:46 | |
But we're having coffee and cake. | 0:11:46 | 0:11:47 | |
-Coffee and cake here. -Excellent. | 0:11:47 | 0:11:49 | |
Enjoy that and I hope you have good weather for the rest of the day. | 0:11:49 | 0:11:53 | |
-Thanks so much indeed. -And I hope you have a lovely trip. -Thank you! | 0:11:53 | 0:11:57 | |
One of the important things you learn about the cycling community | 0:11:57 | 0:12:00 | |
is, not only are they friendly, they also tell you important things. | 0:12:00 | 0:12:03 | |
For example, there is no shame in getting off and pushing, | 0:12:03 | 0:12:06 | |
especially on cobbled streets which are almost impossible to ride on. | 0:12:06 | 0:12:09 | |
And, do you know something else about Haworth? | 0:12:09 | 0:12:11 | |
The traffic can be nose to tail. | 0:12:11 | 0:12:13 | |
The next part of the route leaves Haworth | 0:12:22 | 0:12:24 | |
and heads west for a mile or so to Stanbury. | 0:12:24 | 0:12:27 | |
Then on to the tops, higher and higher, | 0:12:27 | 0:12:30 | |
past the Ponden reservoir until we reach the border with Lancashire. | 0:12:30 | 0:12:34 | |
I don't like the look of those clouds. | 0:12:36 | 0:12:38 | |
Just across the border is Wycoller. | 0:12:41 | 0:12:44 | |
Now cherished for its untouched character, | 0:12:44 | 0:12:47 | |
this tiny hamlet was derelict for most of the 20th century. | 0:12:47 | 0:12:51 | |
And Wycoller has its own Bronte connection. | 0:12:51 | 0:12:55 | |
Wycoller Hall is reputed to be the original of Ferndean Manor in Jane Eyre, | 0:12:55 | 0:13:00 | |
the rambling building to which Rochester retired when maimed and blinded, | 0:13:00 | 0:13:05 | |
there to be comforted, in the long last, by Jane. | 0:13:05 | 0:13:09 | |
It's said that the Bronte sisters were regular visitors here to Wycoller. | 0:13:13 | 0:13:17 | |
They'd have walked over from Haworth. | 0:13:17 | 0:13:19 | |
As you can see, most of the house is now in ruins, but one key feature still remains, | 0:13:19 | 0:13:24 | |
and it's something that is mentioned specifically in Charlotte Bronte's greatest novel. | 0:13:24 | 0:13:28 | |
-QUOTE FROM JANE AYRE: -This parlour looks gloomy. | 0:13:31 | 0:13:33 | |
A neglected handful of fire burnt low in the grate, | 0:13:33 | 0:13:36 | |
and leaning over it, with his head supported against the high, old-fashioned mantelpiece, | 0:13:36 | 0:13:41 | |
appeared the blind tenant of the room. | 0:13:41 | 0:13:43 | |
This is Rochester's old-fashioned mantelpiece and it's still standing, | 0:13:43 | 0:13:48 | |
although the rest of the building is in ruins. | 0:13:48 | 0:13:50 | |
When Harold visited in the '40s, the house and its once magnificent fireplace were in a sorry state. | 0:13:50 | 0:13:56 | |
Throughout the 19th century, the village was gradually abandoned | 0:13:56 | 0:14:01 | |
as people sought work in the mill towns of Hebden Bridge and nearby Colne. | 0:14:01 | 0:14:05 | |
As the towns grew, so did the demand for water, | 0:14:05 | 0:14:08 | |
and plans were made to create a vast reservoir in the Wycoller Valley. | 0:14:08 | 0:14:14 | |
There's certainly no lack of water today. | 0:14:14 | 0:14:17 | |
Despite the rain, local historian John Bentley is here to tell me how | 0:14:17 | 0:14:21 | |
Wycoller village was saved by two formidable women. | 0:14:21 | 0:14:26 | |
Why was there a need for so much more water? | 0:14:26 | 0:14:29 | |
Just the fact that Colne was a growing town. | 0:14:29 | 0:14:31 | |
Factories were being built, and new buildings, new premises. | 0:14:31 | 0:14:34 | |
And all of them, obviously, what had come along in Victorian towns? | 0:14:34 | 0:14:38 | |
The water closet. And everybody needed water every hour of the day. | 0:14:38 | 0:14:41 | |
And looking round in the area, where was the natural source? | 0:14:41 | 0:14:46 | |
And here was the answer. | 0:14:46 | 0:14:48 | |
You have a valley with two streams running in from the moors, | 0:14:48 | 0:14:51 | |
a good collecting ground. | 0:14:51 | 0:14:53 | |
All you needed to do was dam across the valley | 0:14:53 | 0:14:56 | |
and they had enough water to provide Colne for the next 50 years. | 0:14:56 | 0:14:59 | |
But there was a problem. | 0:14:59 | 0:15:02 | |
The lady who owned this valley, Susannah Benson, born Hartley, | 0:15:02 | 0:15:07 | |
was very keen on the valley and she looked after the building. | 0:15:07 | 0:15:12 | |
She lived here in Wycoller House just across the stream, | 0:15:12 | 0:15:16 | |
and she wasn't keen. | 0:15:16 | 0:15:18 | |
They planned to buy land that the reservoir was going to cover. | 0:15:18 | 0:15:21 | |
They didn't want to buy the extra bit of fields that were going to be under water, | 0:15:21 | 0:15:25 | |
which was very unfair for the landowner, | 0:15:25 | 0:15:27 | |
who would be left with half-fields and a barn here, which would have no use. | 0:15:27 | 0:15:32 | |
So she did argue and file the petition against the reservoir itself. | 0:15:32 | 0:15:36 | |
Susannah stood up to the Colne Waterboard, forcing them to buy her entire estate, | 0:15:36 | 0:15:41 | |
including the land that wasn't needed. | 0:15:41 | 0:15:44 | |
And her stubbornness had unexpected consequences. | 0:15:44 | 0:15:47 | |
They found water elsewhere, and lots of it, under the ground. | 0:15:47 | 0:15:52 | |
They drilled, they found all the water they needed, | 0:15:52 | 0:15:56 | |
and all the Colne Corporation needed was a quarter acre of land to build a pump house, | 0:15:56 | 0:16:01 | |
and they'd landed themselves with 370 acres which | 0:16:01 | 0:16:05 | |
they then had to manage because they'd compulsory-purchased it. | 0:16:05 | 0:16:09 | |
The Waterboard abandoned the reservoir plans, but they wanted to keep Wycoller just in case. | 0:16:09 | 0:16:14 | |
The Hall and the village remained untouched, unprotected, but also undeveloped. | 0:16:14 | 0:16:20 | |
The ruins and abandoned cottages were a favourite spot for tourists and locals. | 0:16:20 | 0:16:26 | |
People often came here to enjoy this sense of a deserted village. | 0:16:26 | 0:16:33 | |
And many said it should remain a deserted village. | 0:16:33 | 0:16:36 | |
It was an attraction because of it. | 0:16:36 | 0:16:38 | |
But how long could it have remained? | 0:16:38 | 0:16:40 | |
One generation or two at most would have enjoyed it. | 0:16:40 | 0:16:43 | |
Then it would have been rubble. | 0:16:43 | 0:16:44 | |
The Waterboard wanted to demolish the Wycoller buildings, | 0:16:44 | 0:16:48 | |
but they faced fierce opposition from another feisty Yorkshirewoman. | 0:16:48 | 0:16:52 | |
Local librarian Evelyn Jowett was determined to save the ruins, | 0:16:52 | 0:16:56 | |
and she set up the Friends of Wycoller | 0:16:56 | 0:16:58 | |
to preserve this precious site. | 0:16:58 | 0:17:00 | |
There was an active group of builders and men who were able to come down, | 0:17:00 | 0:17:05 | |
put time and work in. | 0:17:05 | 0:17:07 | |
Stones were used to build up the bank, which would have collapsed and looked bad. | 0:17:07 | 0:17:12 | |
The walls would stop being undermined and this fireplace was preserved. | 0:17:12 | 0:17:15 | |
Evelyn Jowett, the librarian at Colne, was a driving force behind this. | 0:17:15 | 0:17:20 | |
And I don't think she came down here with pick and shovel, | 0:17:20 | 0:17:23 | |
but she was instrumental in getting others to do | 0:17:23 | 0:17:26 | |
and influencing local bodies in Colne to get behind the scheme. | 0:17:26 | 0:17:30 | |
And one of the things she used as the librarian, | 0:17:30 | 0:17:33 | |
which was so good, was publicity. | 0:17:33 | 0:17:35 | |
And she got articles in magazines throughout Lancashire, | 0:17:35 | 0:17:38 | |
and even throughout the country, so that people were... | 0:17:38 | 0:17:41 | |
Their interests were aroused, more visitors came and more donation came into the Friends of Wycoller. | 0:17:41 | 0:17:48 | |
Evelyn and the Friends of Wycoller successfully arrested the village's decay | 0:17:48 | 0:17:52 | |
and thanks to their intervention, | 0:17:52 | 0:17:54 | |
and the stubbornness of Susannah Benson 50 years earlier, | 0:17:54 | 0:17:58 | |
Wycoller was eventually made a conservation area. | 0:17:58 | 0:18:01 | |
Unlike some visitors, Harold Briercliffe took a practical approach to the village's charms, | 0:18:01 | 0:18:08 | |
showing off his expert eye by listing Wycoller's famous bridges | 0:18:08 | 0:18:13 | |
and comparing them to a catalogue of others he'd seen on his cycling travels. | 0:18:13 | 0:18:17 | |
BRIERCLIFFE: A clear stream flows down the dell to enter the village | 0:18:20 | 0:18:23 | |
close to a 13th-century pack-horse bridge of double arches. | 0:18:23 | 0:18:28 | |
There is another bridge, too, consisting of three large slabs | 0:18:28 | 0:18:31 | |
on boulders, akin to the clapper bridge at Tarr Steps, in Somerset. | 0:18:31 | 0:18:37 | |
While not far away, a single-slab bridge recalls the bridges of Dartmoor. | 0:18:37 | 0:18:42 | |
And that single slab is known as The Clam Bridge. | 0:18:42 | 0:18:46 | |
Possibly more than 1,000 years old, it narrowly escaped being swept away twice in recent years. | 0:18:46 | 0:18:52 | |
No wonder, look at this. | 0:18:52 | 0:18:54 | |
Gee whizz! Have a look at that. | 0:18:54 | 0:18:56 | |
I cannot believe how much the river's risen just in the time I'm sitting in there with John. | 0:18:56 | 0:19:01 | |
I mean, it's been raining quite hard but most of that is made up from | 0:19:01 | 0:19:05 | |
all of the rain water coming down from off the top of the moors. | 0:19:05 | 0:19:09 | |
I mean, this is a flash flood, and I tell you what. | 0:19:09 | 0:19:12 | |
I'm getting out of here, otherwise I might be stuck here for longer than I want. | 0:19:12 | 0:19:16 | |
Evelyn Jowett and Susannah Benson's achievements were impressive, | 0:19:18 | 0:19:22 | |
especially for a time when women struggled for recognition. | 0:19:22 | 0:19:25 | |
When Harold wrote his books, even the world of cycling suffered from sex discrimination. | 0:19:25 | 0:19:30 | |
Harold's wife Maimie, pictured here, won success as a racer, | 0:19:30 | 0:19:34 | |
winning numerous time trial events. | 0:19:34 | 0:19:36 | |
But women who were simply enthusiastic club cyclists fared less well. | 0:19:36 | 0:19:41 | |
Amongst them, Rene Stacey, now 92 years old, and the oldest surviving | 0:19:41 | 0:19:46 | |
founder member of the Hitchin Nomads, Harold's cycling club. | 0:19:46 | 0:19:50 | |
When there was races, it was very, very rarely a woman's race. | 0:19:50 | 0:19:55 | |
Women were in the very minority. | 0:19:55 | 0:19:58 | |
But when men were racing, they needed a lot of marshals, didn't they? | 0:19:58 | 0:20:02 | |
And feeders. The thing is, before the war, we weren't allowed what they call "road racing", mass start. | 0:20:02 | 0:20:10 | |
It all had to be time-trial at minute intervals. | 0:20:10 | 0:20:13 | |
So if there was 60 riders you were an hour getting the starters off. | 0:20:13 | 0:20:18 | |
You start at 6am and finish at 6pm. No stops. | 0:20:18 | 0:20:23 | |
So you had to run along beside them with food and all that sort of thing. | 0:20:23 | 0:20:28 | |
Women came in handy so we were encouraged. | 0:20:28 | 0:20:31 | |
It wasn't always because we wanted to go running after boys. | 0:20:31 | 0:20:35 | |
The boys needed us for working! | 0:20:35 | 0:20:38 | |
Leaving Wycoller, the route once again climbs out of the valley and up to the moors. | 0:20:45 | 0:20:50 | |
Park your ego at home, and push. | 0:20:50 | 0:20:53 | |
Once on the tops, the road dips up and down before crossing from Lancashire and back into Yorkshire | 0:20:56 | 0:21:01 | |
for the return leg of the journey. | 0:21:01 | 0:21:03 | |
On the descent, before a sharp hairpin, there is a small chapel on the left, | 0:21:06 | 0:21:11 | |
famous as the haunt of the "Henpecked Husbands", a Yorkshire society, | 0:21:11 | 0:21:15 | |
members of which come here once a year to escape the attentions of their wives. | 0:21:15 | 0:21:20 | |
'The society Harold describes is so secret no-one really knows of its origins, | 0:21:24 | 0:21:29 | |
'but I've come to Blake Dean to meet Nick Wilding, | 0:21:29 | 0:21:32 | |
'who I hope can tell me more about these wife-fearing Yorkshiremen.' | 0:21:32 | 0:21:37 | |
-Hey, Nick, hello. -Hello, hello. | 0:21:37 | 0:21:38 | |
-Nice to meet you, Clare. -And you. Are you all right? | 0:21:38 | 0:21:41 | |
Yes. Now, you've come to talk about Blake Dean Baptist Chapel. | 0:21:41 | 0:21:45 | |
Yes. I hear there was some sort of secret society that was based here. | 0:21:45 | 0:21:49 | |
Ah, you mean the Henpecked Husband Society, don't you? | 0:21:49 | 0:21:52 | |
Now, that was very secret indeed, because, of course, everybody wondered who these people were. | 0:21:52 | 0:21:58 | |
Who were the henpecked husbands? | 0:21:58 | 0:22:00 | |
Because they were... It wasn't like being a mason, where at least your wife knows you're a mason. | 0:22:00 | 0:22:05 | |
They might not know what you did. But with the henpecked society man, | 0:22:05 | 0:22:09 | |
you didn't even know he was in there. | 0:22:09 | 0:22:11 | |
What were these husbands having to do that meant that they qualified as being henpecked? | 0:22:11 | 0:22:16 | |
I understand that there were mock trials, | 0:22:16 | 0:22:18 | |
and they had to admit to what they'd had to do for their wives, | 0:22:18 | 0:22:23 | |
and if it was a bit too serious, they would then be wheeled around either in a handcart, | 0:22:23 | 0:22:28 | |
or if in, for more serious things, it was a wheelbarrow. | 0:22:28 | 0:22:32 | |
There was a funny little book written in 1927 by a man who wanted to stay anonymous, | 0:22:32 | 0:22:38 | |
for best reasons known to himself, | 0:22:38 | 0:22:40 | |
who actually, tells us a little bit about the inner secrets of the hen-pecked club. | 0:22:40 | 0:22:44 | |
And it says, "Many old and grey men meet every Easter Monday for a humerous picnic to some quiet spot | 0:22:44 | 0:22:51 | |
"for a meeting without their other halves, to whose matrimonial strings they may be tied". | 0:22:51 | 0:22:56 | |
"For one day they privileged to imagine they are untied and at liberty. | 0:22:56 | 0:23:00 | |
"The antics they perform and their hullabaloos are really remarkable, | 0:23:00 | 0:23:03 | |
"and new members are subjected to searching questions and medical inspection", Clare. | 0:23:03 | 0:23:09 | |
I mean, fancy that! | 0:23:09 | 0:23:10 | |
What were they inspecting for? | 0:23:10 | 0:23:12 | |
I don't know but I don't think I really would have wanted to be a member of the Henpecked Society | 0:23:12 | 0:23:17 | |
if I was going to have a medical inspection by some strange person. | 0:23:17 | 0:23:20 | |
When did the last meeting take place, or is this something that's still going on? | 0:23:21 | 0:23:26 | |
Well, 1974 was the time when a picture was taken of them | 0:23:26 | 0:23:30 | |
and they were in the middle of Heptonstall High Street, | 0:23:30 | 0:23:33 | |
and that was the last known meeting of the Henpecked Society. | 0:23:33 | 0:23:37 | |
So do we think now that henpecked husbands just don't exist? | 0:23:37 | 0:23:41 | |
Oh, I'm sure they don't exist today, Clare! | 0:23:41 | 0:23:44 | |
And when Harold Briercliffe was coming down here with his hands on his brakes, | 0:23:46 | 0:23:51 | |
what would he have seen? | 0:23:51 | 0:23:52 | |
He'd have seen a wonderful architectural gem, actually. | 0:23:52 | 0:23:56 | |
Something most unusual. | 0:23:56 | 0:23:58 | |
When you were upstairs in the chapel, apparently you could virtually touch the preacher, | 0:23:58 | 0:24:02 | |
but I suppose if he was breathing fire and brimstone, | 0:24:02 | 0:24:06 | |
you wouldn't have wanted to touch him, would you? | 0:24:06 | 0:24:08 | |
So when did it sort of fall into a ruinous state? | 0:24:08 | 0:24:11 | |
Oh, that was in the 1960s and it was all very, very sad. | 0:24:11 | 0:24:14 | |
It got seriously vandalised inside, | 0:24:14 | 0:24:18 | |
and in the end, it was sold to a demolition man. | 0:24:18 | 0:24:22 | |
BRIERCLIFFE: As the valley of the Hebden Water deepens on the left | 0:24:23 | 0:24:27 | |
and becomes Hardcastle Crags, the road hangs above it in an aerial fashion, | 0:24:27 | 0:24:31 | |
giving revealing glimpses of the dark woods that hang below. | 0:24:31 | 0:24:37 | |
Whoo! | 0:24:39 | 0:24:41 | |
This weather goes from one extreme to the other. | 0:24:41 | 0:24:44 | |
I got so cold and wet, Nick said, "just get some cover". | 0:24:44 | 0:24:48 | |
But he did say, "When it stops raining, you've got to make sure you go and Hardcastle Crags." | 0:24:48 | 0:24:52 | |
And it's something that Harold mentions in the book as well. | 0:24:52 | 0:24:55 | |
So, I'm going to leave the bike and have a walk down. | 0:24:55 | 0:25:02 | |
Now owned by the National Trust, Hardcastle Crags has long been popular with visitors. | 0:25:02 | 0:25:07 | |
But this deep, wooded valley has a forgotten industrial past, | 0:25:07 | 0:25:11 | |
one that's led me to the story of another unusual woman. | 0:25:11 | 0:25:15 | |
You can see why this is a favourite spot for picnics. | 0:25:15 | 0:25:18 | |
It's so peaceful down here and so it's odd to think | 0:25:18 | 0:25:21 | |
that between 1903 and 1907, | 0:25:21 | 0:25:23 | |
this place would have been buzzing with activity. | 0:25:23 | 0:25:28 | |
To look at the Walshaw Dean reservoirs today, you'd never know | 0:25:28 | 0:25:32 | |
it took hundreds of Irish navvies four years to build them. | 0:25:32 | 0:25:36 | |
In contrast, it only took a few weeks to construct a place for them and their families to live. | 0:25:36 | 0:25:41 | |
Known as Dawson City, after the gold rush settlement in Canada, | 0:25:41 | 0:25:44 | |
it was home to almost 600 men, women and children. | 0:25:44 | 0:25:49 | |
With all those mouths to feed, the camp needed a formidable cook, | 0:25:49 | 0:25:53 | |
and local woman Thursa Adams was fit for the task. | 0:25:53 | 0:25:57 | |
She was quite a feisty female. | 0:25:57 | 0:26:00 | |
She smoked a clay pipe, wore a cloth cap, she insisted on using the gents' loos. | 0:26:00 | 0:26:05 | |
She played cards with the men as well, | 0:26:05 | 0:26:07 | |
and was very much one of the boys. | 0:26:07 | 0:26:09 | |
By 1908, the reservoirs were officially opened and the navvies had moved on to find work elsewhere | 0:26:09 | 0:26:15 | |
so Dawson City became something of a ghost town and this place was left to the picnickers. | 0:26:15 | 0:26:20 | |
There are 400 acres of rich and unspoilt woodland to choose from here, | 0:26:20 | 0:26:24 | |
but Harold says you should walk at least as far as the stepping stones that cross Hebden Water. | 0:26:24 | 0:26:31 | |
Oh, I've picked the wrong path! | 0:26:32 | 0:26:34 | |
The river scenery is of a very high order, the brown pebbly brook and the abundant trees | 0:26:39 | 0:26:44 | |
making a delightful picture at any time of the year. | 0:26:44 | 0:26:47 | |
Having explored the valley on foot, Harold's route continues along | 0:26:49 | 0:26:53 | |
the top of Hardcastle Crags, through Slack | 0:26:53 | 0:26:55 | |
and skirting the village of Heptonstall. | 0:26:55 | 0:26:58 | |
'I'm almost at the end of my journey. | 0:26:59 | 0:27:03 | |
'From here, the road forks to the left and Harold describes the route | 0:27:03 | 0:27:06 | |
'as it swings away and clings spectacularly above Hebden Water, | 0:27:06 | 0:27:10 | |
'before heading back down into Hebden Bridge. | 0:27:10 | 0:27:13 | |
'I've been told to "feather" my brakes so as not to wear them out too much for the final descent.' | 0:27:13 | 0:27:20 | |
Well, I've survived it, and survived the weather. | 0:27:20 | 0:27:23 | |
Coming back now into Hebden Bridge, I can just see it in the distance, downhill from now on. | 0:27:23 | 0:27:28 | |
'I've met some real challenges on my journey through the Yorkshire moors | 0:27:28 | 0:27:32 | |
'and drawn strength not only from this sturdy landscape, | 0:27:32 | 0:27:35 | |
'but also from the stories of ground-breaking women I've encountered along the way.' | 0:27:35 | 0:27:40 | |
As so as the sun begins to set, I've come full circle. | 0:27:40 | 0:27:44 | |
It's only about 30 miles to do the whole route, but even Harold admits that it feels like longer. | 0:27:44 | 0:27:49 | |
Those big climbs rewarded with incredible views right across the moorland. I've really enjoyed it. | 0:27:49 | 0:27:56 | |
And behind me, the lights of Hebden Bridge, | 0:27:56 | 0:27:58 | |
you can just make out the dark chimneys of the old mills. | 0:27:58 | 0:28:01 | |
We've chosen to focus on some of the local heroines of this area. | 0:28:01 | 0:28:05 | |
Some of them unsung heroines, like Alice Longstaff, the photographer. | 0:28:05 | 0:28:09 | |
Others much more famous, like the Bronte sisters. | 0:28:09 | 0:28:12 | |
And despite the rain, I had time to give a thought to those rare Yorkshiremen, | 0:28:12 | 0:28:17 | |
the Henpecked Husbands. | 0:28:17 | 0:28:19 | |
There seems to be no shortage of strong women around here. | 0:28:19 | 0:28:22 | |
Who knows, maybe there was something in the water? | 0:28:22 | 0:28:26 | |
It's been quite a journey. | 0:28:26 | 0:28:28 |