Canalside village where the living is easy

WHENEVER I think of Kildwick the name conjures up images of a Viking battle, with slaughter very much in the air.

The truth is, however, that this is an idyllic spot sandwiched between the Leeds to Liverpool Canal and the River Aire.

In the days of coaches and horses and before the coming of the railway which follows the line of the River Aire, Kildwick was a busy spot.

Still recognisable are the old blacksmith's forge - now a shop - and coaching inn still serving travellers.

Also on the old road is a milestone built by the Turnpike Trust.

The Turnpike road connected Skipton with Keighley and then onwards to Bradford and Halifax and it remained busy until the recent bypass was constructed.

Kildwick now remains in a magnificent time warp and within easy reach of Blackburn via Clitheroe to Skipton or along a direct route via the Calder Valley and through Colne.

From an old swing bridge I followed the towpaths lined with old warehouses, now converted into waterside residences of real character.

Below the canal is one of the finest churches to be seen in Yorkshire - and one of the longest.

For centuries local folk have known it as the "Long Kirk."

With various additions, many of which may be regarded as improvements, the church has been a focal point of the village since Norman times and perhaps even before that. The stonework has been somewhat blackened by the days of the Industrial Revolution, when smoke spread in a pall from Bradford and Keighley along the dark polluted waters of the River Aire.

Things have greatly improved but the church seems to have acquired dignity from its brush with working Yorkshire.

Inside is a collection of handwritten letters from Florence Nightingale, thanking the good folk of Kildwick for their generous gifts to the soldiers of the Crimea in the 1850s.

Nothing could be further from the blood and guts of war, or the belching smoke of industry, than the walk which continues through and above the village.

Kildwick Hall, dating in part to the 16th century - with the site even older than this - was for some years an hotel.

It is now owned by a member of the Morrison family.

Their supermarket chain began its illustrious career near Bradford and is still based there.

The hall is now set in gloriously open countryside, its hedgerows littered with clumps of summer flowers and birds such as swifts, swallows and martins skimming over the surface of canal, river and ponds.

The pollution levels are so slight that the water vole, now something of a threatened species, can thrive in both canal and river.

The "Ratty" of Wind in the Willows is more like a hamster than a rat, with a broad friendly face and short stubby tail.

It is also a very clean animal and is almost totally vegetarian.

My journey through the Kildwick area started before noon and it was almost 9pm as I returned to my car.

Such was the interest that I had eaten two meals, enjoyed two half pints in the pub and sat in the Long Kirk to cool off.

I had walked less than six miles, gone red - rather than brown - in the sun and listed more than 40 species of plant and 19 species of bird.

This is what walking means to me - strolling, stopping and watching.

Summer is the ideal time to use every precious minute of a long hot day.

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