Ron Freethy's Summer Walks - this week, around Bingley

IF you fancy a pleasant stroll into Yorkshire then why not try Bingley. It takes less than an hour from East Lancashire via Colne or via Skipton. Here there is a wonderful old church and from this there is a walk around one of the most attractive areas of the Leeds to Liverpool Canal.

There has been a church on the present site since Saxon times and there is an old cross dating at least to the 8th century and perhaps even earlier.

The Norman church is dedicated to All Saints and it once belonged to the Priory of Drax during the period between 1119 and 1147. Until 1540 the church vicars were appointed by Drax but the list of the priests in charge dates back to the time of King John about 1205.

The church is set in an attractive situation and is surrounded by a large churchyard and streets of lovely old cottages. The grounds were once much larger but the construction of a road in the early 19th century divided the cemetery in two.

From the church which is mainly 16th century but with later additions, a footpath leads onto the canal embankment. The Leeds and Liverpool is a cut of 1271/4 miles and there is lots of interest all along the length. The Five Rise Locks system, however, is regarded as one of the wonders of canal engineering. The system was devised by Jonathan Longbotham of Halifax, in 1774. The locks are able to rise boats over a height of 59 feet, two inches over a distance of 320 feet. When you think that the stone foundations and walls and huge cuts of heavy timber were cut and moved into position largely by human muscle it really was something of a miracle. Longbotham had to plan out the system on paper without the benefit of computer technology.

The wildlife to be found along this walk is always interesting but during my stroll in the hot summer sunshine, the countryside looked at its best. I saw an adult and a couple of well developed moorhens enjoying the sunshine while in the nearby reeds another adult moorhen was incubating the next clutch of eggs.

The hedgerows were dominated by elder and bramble. Bramble is a particularly underrated plant - people always complain about the prickles. Summer is the time to take a close look at the rose-like flowers of bramble. They really are pretty and one of my favourite puddings is home-made blueberry pie.

The area above the Five Rise Locks consists of a large basin where boats gather close to a cafe. For those who would like a short journey then why not board the Water Bus which operates on summer Saturdays, Sundays and Wednesdays, between Bingley and Shipley railway stations. The area around the Five Rise Locks has lots of informative notices and signposts, one indicating that it is 111 miles to Liverpool.

On returning to the church I enjoyed the cool interior. On the South Wall I found a memorial to a local man called General William Twiss. He is better known in the South of England as the man who designed the Martello Towers. These solid structures were built as part of the defence system at the time that Napoleon was threatening to invade England.

This reminder of war is so far in the past that it is easy to relax and enjoy this wonderfully peaceful stroll.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.