Northern England Tourist Links
North of Bradford

The links on this page point to sites describing places of interest between 10 and 125 miles of Saltaire and North of a line from the Humber in the East along the M62 motorway to the Dee Estuary in the West and up to the Scottish Border
They are arranged in circles or arcs centred on Saltaire and subdivided into East, North and West.
The distances mentioned are straight-line rather than by road although individual entries do have travel distances in miles and kilometers plus travel times; these are taken from the AA AtoB software sometimes adapted by rounding off . Sometimes this is to simplify them and sometimes - such as Castle Howard - because the place itself is not on the AA's list. . Obviously they are not completely accurate but they do give an indication of how long it should take you. So as always you should use your skill and judgement

Tourist links within 10 Miles

Places South of the line will be here

Main page

Page links

Index
East
North
West
Map 1 Yorkshire, Lancashire,Cumbria and County Durham
Map 2 Northumberland and the Scottish Borders.

York
Dales
The Three Peaks of Craven
Yorkshire Coast
Lancashire Coast
North Pennines
Northumberland
Tyneside
County Durham
Lake District North
Lake District South
Scottish Borders / Dumfries and Galloway

Webcams
Maps

Bradford is slightly nearer to the Lancashire coast than to that of Yorkshire but the need to cross the Pennines to the west means that in terms of travel time the city is in the centre of the North of England.
Some of the more distant places are too far for a comfortable day-trip - although I drive up to theLake District for a day's walking - but I hope that these pages will demonstrate that the area around Saltaire is an ideal touring centre.

There are two International airports within the central area - Leeds-Bradford, and Manchester, fast train services on the east-coast line from London and trains from the European ferry port of Hull, in addition the area is served by the M1 motorway from London and the motorway-standard A1 Great North Rd and the M62 from Hull or from the M5 -M6 west coast corridor

Road distances to Saltaire can be found on the travel page

Accommodation links
Hotel links from Smooth-hound
Accommodation from Bradford-net
and their Hotels page

Webcams
We do not yet have a Saltaire Webcam but maybe sometime- imagine watching the summer sunrise catching the golden spike on the cupola of the church or the winter sunset lighting the south front of the mill, autumn coming to Baildon Bank or the lights going on at Hope farm high above the village
Meanwhile........
There are few webcams in this region and fewer which show anything worth seeing. Here is a selection of the useful or evocative.

Bolton Institute - WEBCam 3
View of the centre of the Lancashire town including the Town Hall
Smardale viaduct webcam
Not yet operational but it should show trains on the spectacular Settle-Carlisle Railway

Skiddaw - Weather
This is not really a webcam as it is only updated once a day but is actually useful.. Every morning Ann Bowker photographs Skiddaw or the direction where it ought to be, and puts the result on her Mad about Mountains web-site - thus it provides visual evidence of the weather in the Vale of Keswick, Northern Lakeland( 102m/164km[2h 15m])
(Warning: The Lake District covers a small area but the effect of the mountains on the weather is crucial so if you see that it was sunny at 6.30AM it does not mean that it will be sunny when you get there or that you would not be in danger of dying of exposure on the High Fells while you could be sunbathing beside Derwent Water. This warning applies to all hill and moorland walking even that around Bradford - so 1) learn about Hill Walking, 2) go prepared.and properly equipped 3) remember that it may take longer to get down than to get up: so plan and give yourself enough time.)

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The North Of England can be pictured as a triangle with its base resting on the Midlands and - to complicate matters - its apex shifted to the right.. Derbyshire, Lancashire, Yorkshire Cumbria and County Durham form the main body of the triangle with Northumberland as the sector below the apex. This page deals with the area north of the M62 motorway
Running up the triangle and slightly to the left of the centre line are a range of hills reaching 1500 to 1700 feet in the south and closer on 2000 feet in the centre. The highest point at Cross Fell, overlooking the Eden Valley in the North, is just under 3000 feet.
There are three other areas of high ground. To the left the Lake District (rising to over 3000 feet)and to the right the North York Moors and, much lower, the chalk hills of the Wolds.
Low ground runs from south to north on both side s of the central hills.

The geology of the area is fascinating and there are a number of geology links included on this page. here is the simplest model for understanding the carboniferous series in Yorkshire from the pen of Sir Nicolaus Pevsner(I have added emphasis to bring out the image more easily).

The rocks of the West Riding spread in age across a vast length of time - from the Pre-Cambrian and early Paleozoic of the North-West to the Permo-Triassic under York itself - perhaps four hundred million years. To demonstrate the bulk arrangement of the various rock formations it is useful to imagine them as a low pile of rugs or carpets, of diverse size,thickness, and texture, lying upon a hard floor: and the whole assemblage tilted over to one side - which is the east - with the upper units displaced to the east as well. In places some of the carpets have been wrinkled up and worn away, so that the lower ones and the floor below, can be can be seen through the holes. Finally, to complete the model, a great cut or fracture (a 'fault' to the geologist) has been made from west to east half way across the pile in the north, and the 'loose' northern part raised relative to the rest.
N Pevsner The Buildings of England: Yorkshire: The West Riding Harmondsworth Penguin 1959 pp11-12
Geology
Welcome to the Yorkshire Geological Society Web Site


Geological Map of Yorkshire

Yorkshire Tourist Board
Yorkshire, North of England UK

North East England History Pages

East to North East
To the East is the Vale of York an area of fertile farmland which lies between the foothills of the Pennines and the rolling hills of the Wolds.To the North of the Vale are the North York Moors which are bounded on the North by the sea. The Yorkshire coast is rocky and bounded by cliffs as far south as Bridlington. Between there and Spurn Point it is only a temporary landscape for Holderness has only existed since the end of the last ice-age and is fast disappearing into the sea.
within 25miles
To the East of Leeds a narrow ridge of soft magnesian limestone from which, in places, gypsum is mined, extends from north to south. This is Roman Ridge so called because it provided a natural route for the main road . This was certainly used by the Romans , who built a fort at Castleford but is much older. Beneath the limestone and the later rocks to the east theWestphalian Formation or Yorkshire Coal Measures continue. At the point where they disappear under the overlying rocks mining subsidence has caused the creation of flashes or lakes and these attract migrating birds in great numbers. at Fairburn Ings(30m/49km*[40mins])the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds has set up a reserve with a number of hides from which they may be observed.
Lying next to the Great North Rd and standing amidst good arable farmland are some great mansions from the past
Bramham Park, Queen Anne Mansion House and Gardens, Wetherby (25m/ 40km*[35mins]) is special because of the survival of a 17thC landscape garden

.within 50 miles
York (35m/50km [1hr]))



should not be missed . Founded 2000 years ago it boasts a spectacular Roman tower,Anglian and Viking remains, medieval Churches and streets, Georgian buildings and Victorian railway relics.
City of York Council - Welcome to the Worldwide Gateway to York
YORK, ENGLAND
Museums and Galleries in York:
IntroductionArchaeology in York


York Minster

Prehistoric York

NRM - National Railway Museum
The Jorvik Centre
The York Dungeon


Micklegate Bar

During the Civil War York was besieged by the Parliament The forces of Prince Rupert crossed from Lancashire to raise the siege. The result was the
Battle of Marston Moor 1644 (28m/45km) If you discount the ugly monument there is nothing to see there - except the battlefield. Using the map provided by Harrogate council you can follow clearly the moves of the various forces. There charged Cromwell's Ironsides and there Leslie's Scots......An evocative diversion from the main road.

within75 miles
To the east of York the land rises to the Wolds which have recently been the subject of paintings by David Hockney. These rolling chalk hills have been the site of human life for thousands of years and contain two important monuments - the standing stone at Rudston (the tallest monolith in the UK)and the abandoned medieval village at Wharram Percy
Welcome to Pocklington (48m/78km[1hr15m])
Beyond the wolds the flat lands of Holderness contain the port of Hull(72m/117km[1h30m]) and, just north of it Beverley with its medieval Minster church(69m/112km)
The Coast


Staithes
The Yorkshire Coast consists of a variety of different land forms and it is worth getting some background from East Yorkshire Coast - Geology and Geomorphology

Yorkshire Coast On Line, the complete guide to tourism and business on the Yorkshire Coast, featuring Scarborough, Whitby, Bridlington and Filey


Filey Brig
a gritstone platform running out to sea
from the cliffs of Carr Naze
Bridlington on the Internet(76m/122km[2hr])

Just beyond York on the road to Scarborough or Whitby is
Castle Howard(53m/88km[1hr 20m])The baroque palace of the Howards designed by Vanburgh and Hawksmoor and 300 years old in 1999.


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North

within 25miles

Skipton Castle(15m/24km[25min])
Embsay and Bolton Abbey Steam Railway, Yorkshire Dales

The Boy of Egremont at the Strid
Leaping the Strid he was dragged down by the hesitation of his dog.
It is said, dubiously, that his mother founded Bolton Priory in his memory

Harrogate (19m/30km[30min])
Knaresborough (23m/37k[40min]) - market town set above the deep gorge of the River Nidd with a ruined castle and the story of Eugene Aram - bandit, murderer and philologist.
Boroughbridge/Aldborough (31m/50k[50min]) Boroughbridge has the appearance of a coaching town on the Great North Road with a bridge built by John Metcalf - Blind Jack of Knaresborough - and a large coaching inn but the grid plan shows it to be something much older a medieval planned settlement.But all that is nothing to what appears to the west: three monoliths known as the Devil's Arrows all that remains of a much larger sacred landscape. To the east and only a short distance away is Aldborough an Anglian village with a large central green decorated with a Maypole and all this built within the still existing walls of a Roman fort. If you follow the best section of the walls on the west side you reach the quarry from which the Roman won the stone(steep sides - take care)
Between Harrogate and Ripon you find yourself in a village in Alsace this is Ripley rebuilt in this style by a 19th C Ingilby
Ripley Castle - North Yorkshire, UK - Ingilby family home since 1320 (23m/37km[40min])
Ripon, North Yorkshire(30m/49km[50min])
Welcome to Ripon Cathedral Online
WELCOME TO LIGHTWATER VALLEY THEME PARK(38m/54km[1hr])
Craven and Pendle geology

The Dales


Bolton Castle Wensleydale
WALKS IN THE YORKSHIRE DALES
The Yorkshire Dales Eagle
Daelnet
Yorkshire Net Guide to the Yorkshire Dales, Northern England


Kilnsey Crag
in Wharfedale

within 50 miles

Duncombe Park (56m/90km[1h20m])
Ryedale .co .uk table of contents
Eden Camp(55m/88km[1h20m])

The Three Peaks of Craven


Thornton Force
on the Ingleton Waterfall walk

Clapham, Ingleborough Cave and Nature Trail(34m/ 53km[50min])
Yorkshire Cave Areas This site is intended for cavers but there are no apologies for putting it here.
Gaping Ghyll There are a couple of show caves in the area (see the Clapham site above for one the other is White Scar) then there is Gaping Ghyll and twice a year it becomes a show cave Access is by foot from Clapham and then by bosun's chair down to the floor of the cavern 365ft below.
The Pennine Way (frames) the UKs first and most famous long distance trail.
WALKS IN NORTHERN ENGLAND
Public Transport in the Yorkshire Dales - Bus and Train Services
Coast to Coast Walk Accommodation & Services Guide: Introduction
Swaledale Folk Museum at Reeth in Swaledale(70m/111km[1h40m])
Settle - Carlisle Railway Business Liaison Group
Smardale viaduct webcam
The River Ribble - index page if you live in Australia, California or Japan and want to know what the rural North of England is like this is the site to bookmark for it follows the Ribble from the source (almost) to the Irish Sea - image after evocative image.

within75 miles

Southern Lake District
Lake District
Lakeland CAM A Personal View of the English LakesTony Richards' site featuring digicam pictures taken in the Coniston, Tarn Howes,Great and Little Langdale and Ambleside areas of the Lakes updated once or twice a day.
Lakeland's Top 200 Tops Details of 200 heights to scale
Barrow-in-Furness(85m/137k[2hr]) Vickers' development to house their workers (cf Saltaire)
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within 125 miles

Northumberland
Tourist Events and Activities in Northumberland
North East England History Pages
Visit Northumbria



Alnwick Castle(135m/218km[2hr45m])



Holy Island - Lindisfarne

The Border Reivers

County Durham
COUNTY DURHAM HISTORY


Durham



Prince Bishops of County Durham History - England

North Pennines

High Force,Teesdale
North Pennine Home Page
North Pennines About The Region
Tourist & Event Information
Historic Houses, North Pennines

Scotland - the Borders, Dumfries and Galloway
Scotland Calling, Scottish tourist information
Borders of Scotland
Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland
If touring in the area do not miss Ruthwell Cross now preserved inside the church in the little village of Ruthwell between Annan and Dumfries. You pick up the key from Mrs Coulthard's bungalow at the end of the lane, let yourself in, and there is one of the masterpieces of European Dark-age art.
Distances: Dumfries 139 miles/223km[3hrs], Ruthwell 130miles/ 209km[2hrs 45m], Moffat 146miles/ 236km[3hrs] Hawick 148miles/ 239km[3hrs 15m] Jedburgh 158 miles/ 254km[ 3hrs 20m] Melrose171 miles/ 275 km [3hrs 40m]
Finally no site dedicated to Utopian town-planning can omit Robert Owen's New Lanark in Clydesdale181miles/294km[3hrs 40min]
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Tyneside



Tyneside Newcastle upon Tyne(100m/161km[2hr])
The Angel of the North Anthony Gormley's Gateshead statue stands beside the A1 just beyond Washington services(93m/150km[1hr 55min])
Arbeia Roman FortSouth Shields(101m/163km[2hr])
Bede's World. Jarrow was the home of the earliest Historian in the British Isles(100m/161km[2hr])



TynemouthMedieval Castle and Priory overlooking the mouth of the Tyne(104m/168km[2hr10m])



Seaton Delaval Hall

Hadrian's Wall World Heritage Site Housesteads Fort is our representative distance here(132m/213km[2hr40m])but the wall stretches from Wallsend on theTyne(103m/166km[2hr5m]) in the east to the Solway Firth beyond Carlisle (105m/170[2hr15m]}in the west.

Northern Lake District
UK, Cumbria, Lake District, Northern Fells, Skiddaw, Tour, Walking
Eden Valley Net
Skiddaw - Weather
The Lake District - \today's\ pictures In addition to her morning update on the weather Ann Bowker goes for a walk every day taking her digital camera with her. Sometimes it's a stroll along the shores of Derwentwater sometimes its a 10 mile 3000feet/1000meters-of-ascent plus walk from Borrowdale up Langstrath to Esk Hause and on to the summit of Scafell Pike - the highest mountain in England - then back by way of the Corridor Route and the Sty Head Pass; and all this in the short daylight hours of mid-winter

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West
within 25miles



Wycoller Hall
said by some to be the inspiration
for Ferndean Manor in
Charlotte Brontë's "Jane Eyre"

Wycoller
Wallace Hartley: The most famous son of Colne - the bandmaster on the Titanic.



Pendle Hill

Pendle
Pendle on the Net - the online guide to Pendle, Lancashire, England.
Pendle Witches
Clitheroe, Lancashire - Historical Market Town.(34m/54km[50min]).


Lower Hodder Bridge
between Clitheroe and Preston

Gateway at Whalley Abbey
between Blackburn and Clitheroe

Lancashire Castles, Manors and Halls

Calderdale

Hebden Bridge

within50 miles

Lancashire Coast
If coming from Bradford try the route over the Trough of Bowland via Gisburn, Bolton by Bowland, where Henry VI hid after the battle of Hexham in the Wars of the Roses, and Slaidburn or via Clitheroe and Whitewell . Both routes meet at Dunsop Bridge the nearest village to the centre of Great Britain. The actual centre is in a dreary bog on the fellside some miles to the north but there is a memorial telephone box beside the road.
Beyond the Trough the Lancaster road descends and then climbs again to the Jubilee Tower at Over Wyre. If you have picked the right day - and I never have - you will be able to see from Inis Môn/Anglesey to Mona/the Isle of Man both about 80miles/129km distant (You might need a mirage to see them though but that is not impossble - I know a book dealer in Cleveleys near Blackpool who saw the IOM from the beach there in just such conditions - it should certainly have been below the horizon at sea level.) On such a day the mountains of Yr Eryri/Snowdonia (80 miles/130km)should be visible although it would be difficult to pick out the peak of Yr Wyddfa/Snowdon from that of Carnedd Llywellyn, only 300ft/100m lower and immediately in front of it. It far more probable that you can see the Clwydian Hills(50-60miles/90km) still in Wales but only just across the border.What you will see unless very unlucky is the flat plain of the Fylde punctuated by the exclamation mark of Blackpool Tower(20 miles/32km), the docks at Fleetwood(15 miles/23km)beside the Wyre estuary and a square box - not a monument to one of the the Platonic solids but the Nuclear power station at Heysham(10 miles/17km). Beyond, on the other side of Morecambe Bay is the mountain of Black Combe(32miles/51km) outlier of the Lakeland fells (you can see the Scafells but you have to look sharp right and crane your neck a bit.)

Lancaster (57m/92km[1h30m]) dates back to the Romans became important as a centre of administration in the Middle Ages and grew rich as trading port in the 18th C (It traded in human beings -Africans) This has left a heritage of mainly georgian buildings but with two great monuments - the castle and the Priory church.
Lancaster Views
Lancaster Castle History
Lancaster Priory

North from Lancaster

Grange-over-Sands
where the River Kent
meets Morecambe Bay

Carnforth Railway Station(62m/99km[1h30m]) Not just for train fans some location filming for one of the finest films ever made about human relationships (if you can forget the plummy accents )Brief Encounter - was done here. This site has the timing of every shot. It is sites like this which justify the Web - information, which in this detail, is of interest to very few - available when wanted at the click of a mouse - imagine a publisher trying to make a profit out producing this as book.

Just to the North of Carnforth, between Warton and Silverdale(66m/107km[1hr40m]) is Leighton Moss bird reserve without a web-site at the moment but go and see it if you are even slightly interested in birds or wildlife. It is the home of the largest population of Bitterns in the UK. In the summer of 1998 I called in here on my way to somewhere else and hearing that Bitterns were visible at a particular hide I walked down there. There were no bitterns at first but the was a female Marsh Harrier quartering the reeds - these beautiful raptors breed here every year.Then a bittern flew up from cover. they are very strange birds 1m long and 2m wide (wingspan). "Well", I thought, "That made my day." at which point somebody said "Have you seen the deer?" and there were a family of red deer were splashing across the water . There are also otters but they are best visible when there is ice on the lake.

West from Lancaster
Morecambe was once known as the English Naples for it commands the most suberb views of the Lakeland fells dominated by the Scafells and by the dome of Red Screes beside the Kirkstone Pass (both about 30miles/45km away.) It was also known as "Bradford-on -sea" for in the summer and especially during the Bradford holiday weeks, when the mills were closed, one quarter of the population were vacationing Bradfordians.
Morecambe Bay is extremely tidal - twice a day there are many square miles of sand thefore it is worth heeding the warnings : Do not attempt to cross except in organised parties led by an official guide; believe the warnings about quicksand. Liverpool Tide Predictionsare good for Morecambe Bay also
Welcome to Morecambe 61m/97k[1h30m])
Heysham(63m/101k[1h40m]) just beyond Morecambe has not one but two saxon churches.
Wildlife of Sunderland point
.

Virtual Blackpool(65m/105km[1h30m])



within75 miles

Liverpool(73m/117km[1h30m])
MerseyWorld - Promoting Liverpool and its Regions
Liverpool and Wirral Guide
Liverpool Tide Predictions
Port Sunlight - A guide to the village In the generation after Sir Titus Salt manufacturers attempted to solve the problem of the relationship of Capital and Labour by the building of elaborate settlements; this was Lord Leverhulme's attempt inspired by the Garden City movement and named after his best selling soap. (On the Wirral opposite Liverpool - 87m/140km[1h 40m])


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Map 1
Yorkshire, Lancashire,Cumbria and County Durham
This is a sketch map therefore it is not to scale


Map 2
Northumberland and the Scottish Borders
This is a sketch map therefore it is not to scale

Glasgow is 25m/49km 35mins NW of Lanark. Edinburgh is 57m/91km 1hr25m NorthWest of Berwick upon Tweed

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Main Page
(with constantly updated news of Saltaire)
*
* Getting to Saltaire* Pictures of Saltaire * Books at Saltaire* Tourist information
* Victoria Hall - Saltaire's unique international and community venue
* Events at Victoria Hall August, September, October 1999*
History of Salt and his times to 1853*History 1853 -1876*Books about Saltaire
*a walk along Albert Terrace * Maps of Saltaire Region
* The Marble Likeness of their Liberal Master *Links
Northern Tourist Links(Bradford)

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