Walshford - Part 1

This is the "lady"on top of one of the gateposts

 at the entrance to Ribston Park grounds,

next to Walshford Bridge 

What is the link between
the Rainforest Fund,
Settle and
Walshford?
(Walshford is a hamlet on the River Nidd, on the A1, exactly  halfway between London and Edinburgh, 3 and a half miles from Wetherby and about 7 miles from Knaresborough and Harrogate)

The Bridge Hotel at Walshford is the location for the Eastern Region Speakers Club Competition on Sunday 9th March.

 I am taking part in the impromptu speaking section.(Because  somehow I won in the Region competition at Halifax) Do you remember I once wrote about speaking about the rainforest at Speakers Club? and about the National competition at York in 2014 The winners of these competiions will go to the National competition this year in Glasgow.

It's good to get a sense of place. So a month before the competition I went exploring.

The Nidd inside the Ribston Park grounds,
next to Walshford Bridge

I drove there .. but if I had walked...

From Settle it is about 6 miles walk to Malham Tarn.
From Highfolds, the cliff above the Tarn you can see Great Whernside (736m, 2415ft above sea level, about 14 miles to the north as the crow flies.
Great Whernside is the source of the River Nidd.
The river Nidd flows down through 3 reservoirs to Pately Bridge, then past Harrogate, through the Nidd Gorge - after which the land flattens - become FLAT in the vale of York, and the river meanders. Walshford lies about 70 miles from the source. And 16-20km further the river meets the Ouse just north of York

In more detail:

Great Whernside is not as high as Whernside - but still very high, only 62 ft lower than Ingleborough

Here are the highest peaks in the YDNP: 
Whernside ( 736m 2415 ft)
Ingleborough 723m (2372ft)
Great Shunner fell (716m 2349 ft)
High Seat, Mallerstang 709m 2326 ft)
Wild boar Fell (708m 2323 ft)
Great Whernside (704 m 2310ft)
Buckden Pike ( 702 m 2303 ft)

The water that rains of Great Whernside drains into streams which form the river Nidd.  Nidd Head Spring, 1.3KM north of the summit of Great Whernside.  A In its first few miles it is dammed three times to create Angram Reservoir, Scar House Reservoir and Gouthwaite

Ao about 70 km east t the last part very meandering, and you get to Walshford. Set on glacial and alluvial deposits with magnesian limestone underneath.

The Nidd is 94.45 kilometres (58.69 mi) long -

The river gets its name for the Celtic word for shining or brilliant.

It is 24m above sea level at Walshford and 13 m above sea level when it meets the river Ouse. It is abou 12km as the crow flies but 20km as the river meanders to the River Ouse.

I peered into the park, but there were gates and railings so I could not enter.

Ribston Park is next to and north of Walshford. this is where the Ribston Pippin apple was started - brought from Normandy in 1709. It is a precursor of Cox's Orange Pippin.

 Ribston Hall was a Knights Templar Preceptory from 1217 to 1307. Little of it remains, the chapel forming part of the hall, rebuilt in 1674.

History:

There used to be an inn called The Old Fox, a drovers' pub rather than a coaching inn and long gone, replaced by the Bridge Hotel.  The A1 was used by the Drovers driving cattle down from Scotland.

 Rev James Dalton (1764-1843) an important Botanist lived Copgrove 10 miles away  to the north, just north of Knaresborough (afterwards he moved to Catterick, then Croft) He collected plants and lichens. A lot of his material was given to the Yorkshire Philosophical Society which formed in 1823. Mark Seaward mentions him in his paper on Yorkshire Lichenologists.

I copy and paste from The history of the Herbarium of the Yorkhisre Philosophical Society 
The Rev. James Dalton, F.L.S., was the third and youngest son of Captain John Dalton, H.E.I.C.S. (the defender of Trichin- opoly, 1752-53), by Isabella, second daughter, and eventual heir of Sir John Wray, 12th Baronet of Glentworth, co. Lincoln. Born in Swinegate, York, on the 14th November, 1764 ; he took his B.A. degree at Clare Hall, Cambridge, in 1787; M.A., 1790; Ordained Deacon, 15th July, 1787 ; Priest, 23rd November, 1788 ; Vicar of Copgrove, January 22nd, 1789 ; Vicar of Catterick, March 12th, 1791 ; Rector of Croft, 3rd August, 1805. Married 4th Dec, 1794, at Bishop Stortford, Herts, Maria, youngest daughter, and co-heir, of the Rev. Edmund Gibson, Vicar of Bishop Stortford (grandson of Edmund Gibson, Bishop of London). Died 2nd January, 1843; Buried at Croft, 12th January, 1843. Now repre- sented (1894) by Lt. -Colonel J. C. Dalton, R.A., and Charles Dalton, F.R.G.S., sons of Lt. -General Charles James Dalton, Col. Commandant Royal Artillery.

So come with me on my walk ..

Here are the pictures - I'll write notes another day.

Syntrichia 

The moss in situe .. beside the old Great North Road

A ditch

Fertilizer in a barn

Wide angle view

Telephot view of same palce

New Walshford bridge - A1 Motorway

A168 - replaced the old A1 bridge

A168 - replaced the old A1 bridge