Shipley MRC Exhibition

With the editor having been away in London visiting family since the 16th I have been holed up at Shipley on my lonesome. The most interesting thing that took place while she was away was a visit to the Shipley Model Railway Club on the 19th.

St George's Quay in '0' gauge. The coal chute actually drops coal into the hold.

With 13 layouts on display including the clubs 2 permanent layouts there was plenty to see and watch. Spread over 3 floors it was probably the best exhibition I’ve seen this year.

Very well made river and viaduct on an 'N' gauge layout.

Other than this I have spent the rest of the time catching up on little repair jobs that get left for a rainy day. The weather wasn’t good enough to touch up any paintwork on the outside but the interior got a spruce up.

Welsh narrow gauge in 009 gauge. Real smoke included.

Breakdown train awaiting it's next call out.

Saltaire’s Harmonium and Organ Collection.

Truemans Harmonia in Saltaire

While in Saltaire we visited the Victoria Hall which is another grand building which was originally the Institute. This is still used as an events venue with a large reed organ in the main auditorium. In one of the side rooms is a collection of reed organs and harmoniums from around the world which is one man’s work along with his long suffering wife. Most of the organs are found in damaged or dismembered conditions but they painstakingly restore them to working condition.

Victoria Hall in Saltaire contains a museum of Harmoniums and Organs.

They have been obtained from churches,chapels,old cinema's where silent movies used to be shown before they were demolished. The proprietors told us that they had a picture of an organ that had been built especially for an exhibition which I suspect may have been the Festival of Britain some time around 1935. However they never ever thought they would see it let alone own it but their wish came true when it was found and it now takes pride of place among their collection.

This organ is a one off having been specially made for an exhibiton possibly the festival of Britain exhibition in 1935.

Fire! Fire! Just kidding and being prepared!!

Fire buckets and hose pump at Oakworth Station on the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway. 100 years old and still looking good.

The Old and the New

The road bridge isn't wide enough so a seperate pedestrian bridge was built.

Saltaire Combined Reformed Church.

Despite Sir Titus being a supposedly modest man and not one to spend money frivolously his church was something to be aligned with a grand mansion or hall. We only got a sneak preview in the church just as the warden was about to lock up so she could go to work.

The former Congregational church at Saltaire built by Sir Titus Salt for his workers.

We did learn that Sir Titus wanted his wife to sit among the congregation and get all the gossip from the workers about him or the company but she refused. She insisted that a balcony for her and the family be built at the rear of the church above the congregation. Sir Titus relented and gave her what she requested but then had two huge chandeliers built and hung in such a position so that her view was completely obscured.

Inside Sir Titus Salts Congregational church.

The church was closed for a period but was re-opened in 1958 after restoration and redecoration and has under gone subsequent restoration. Being a Grade 1 listed building under the guidelines of English Heritage everything has to be restored exactly as it was originally. Unfortunately vandalism in the form of smashed windows and lead stolen from the Mausoleum roof adds to the overall running cost of the building.

Sir Titus Salt is entombed in this crypt on the side of his Congregational church. Unfortunately thieves keep stealing the lead off the roof.

Sir Titus salt was supposed to be a modest man but his church is far from modest with his initials TS in abundance on the buildings.

Open All Hours?

Shop sign in Haworth. Open all Hours? Yeah Right!

Saltaire World Heritage site.

With just a hint of sunshine we walked back along the towpath this morning to Saltaire. Walking between the two mill buildings that Sir Titus Salt had built gave just a hint of what this man achieved in his lifetime.

Salts Mill encompass the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. Salts Mill on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. There is a building on both sides of the canal with a walkway between them.

At the end of the mill building we turned into Roberts park which is officially closed at present undergoing a major restoration programme. Luckily the walkways are open so we walked through the park to Baildon and found the Shipley Glen Tramway. This is also closed for refurbishment but we had a good look at the distance and gradient of the tramway.

The housing for the rolling stock on the Shipley Glen Tramway.

Archway to the entranceway of the Tramway.

Back at the canal we ventured up into what is know as Salts or Saltaire (model) Village which is the housing that Sir Titus Salt had built for his mill workers circa 1860 and is now a world heritage site. This included a school, as he was a great believer in education, a hospital to care for the health of his workers, a church to look after their spiritual needs, almshouses and a pension for the aged or infirmed and Roberts Park to encourage sporting activities to keep idle minds away from alcohol. Sir Titus was believed to be Tee Total therefore no pubs were built or even allowed in the village.

Saltaire laid out in grid formation. This was the start of town planning as we know it today by towns and cities all over Britain.

The village being set out in grid formation was to make the most out of the land available and was a fore runner of other Victorian employer built villages, namely Bournville (George Cadbury) and Port Sunlight ( W.H Lever). From these came town planning as we know it today. There were also different style houses, the three storey houses were for communal living of single workers, a two storey house with a small front garden for foremen or Overlookers as they were called. The lowly workers had no front garden and just a small back yard but allotments were provided on land between the village and the railway. There was also a centrally situated Bath house where families went for the weekly bath but these have since been demolished.

The three storey buildings were accommodation for single workers at the mill while foremen had these houses with gardens. Workers had no garden.

Along the Western edge of the village he built some grander style semi detached houses for his executives, teachers and church minister with splendid views over open countryside but this has long since disappeared under more housing. Regardless of their standing in the company each house occupier had running water, a toilet, gas lighting and paved yards which was exceptional for the period. Sir Titus really looked after his workers but I suppose he did have an ulterior motive and that was to keep the mills operating producing luxury cloth from Llama and Alpaca wool. When he died his family found to their dismay that the fortune Sir Titus had accumulated had mostly be given away to worthwhile charities.

Sir Titus also looked after the aged and infirmed by providing these lovely Almshouses.