Salts Mill is an amazing place in itself http://www.saltsmill.org.uk/ go
click to see the huge building and listen to the birdsong and wonderful calming music !
( then pop back leter lol)
" Sir Titus Salt was born near Leeds, Yorkshire, in 1803 to Congregationalist parents. He was the eldest of 6 children. His father leased a 100 acre farm in the area where he worked hard and prospered.
In 1822, Titus’s father Daniel left the farm and started his own business in Bradford as a woolstapler. Titus, then aged 18, joined his father and learned all aspects of the wool trade. He travelled to London, Liverpool, Norfolk and Lincolnshire learning about different types of wool and how to buy and sell between farmers and wooltraders.
When he was 28, Titus bought some Donskoi wool from Russia, but he couldn’t sell it – the tangled fibres made it difficult to process. Some of us might have given up at that point, but not Titus Salt; instead, he bought a mill of his own and began to spin the wool himself. His mill prospered, and soon he bought four more mills in the centre of Bradford. "
This above is taken from the official website so it gives you an idea who Titus Salt was.........do go over there and read about the fascinating story of how the enormous building and the village of houses for his workers was saved, renovated and has become a national treasure here in the north of england. It was all down to Jonathon Silver who saw the potential and realised the horror of plans to build a bypass road through the entire site.
David Hockneys drawings and paintings are hung and can be viewed within the enormous halls that once housed noisy, dangerous mill machinery.
An amazing place..
Anyways.....30 plus places in the village were open and displaying various art work by local artists and crafts folk. So you got to see the insides of the original old houses themselves, BONUS!
Mostly very small houses with no gardens to speak of, back to back yards and alleys, but the most amazing stained glass windows and I even found (painted over) Lincrusta in one or two of them.
Lincrusta was the Victorian equivalent of our Anaglypta wallpaper, I suppose a cheaper alternative to wood panelling. It was often over painted with wood effect colours, to simulate wood panelling in a way.
( from she who doesnt have an MP3 or music in the ear anything...so is easily surprised anbd pleased lol)
OKAY..........so what did I see there?
"Samantha Bryan I am a mixed-media artist based in West Yorkshire."
http://www.brainsfairies.co.uk/gallery.php
Go look at this fairy of hers............isnt she simply the most oddball and wonderful fairy ever? Look at the weeny leather shoes! Darent take a piccy off her blog, it seems rude and it was too crowded in the wee house to take a photo then.
Do go look though.
The houses.......click to enlarge and see the original old stained glass in this one...and the street scene shows what were the larger, foremans houses, one or two in each street no doubt to keep the workers in line when not IN work!
The houses are small but lived in, many rented, several were up for sale, must look to see how much they cost! Mostly lived in by young professional couples since no room in them for families and afew by arty folks....with modern cars as you can see!
Though did spot this old Treasure.... with cream leather bucket seats and a fine old wooden dashboard that had a beautiful grain to it....
Displayed in Salts Mill are stunningly beautiful examples of Bermantoft pottery.........
WOW or what and such rich colours and patterns.....
Jardinaire heaven....
....and lillies, hundreds of long stemmed lilies in pots all over the place, what must that cost to keep them fresh and alive all year long mind you too....
Wonder what the inset metal area behind the lillies was for in its heyday?
:)
just loved this post.that saltsmill site is wonderful. loved hearing people walk on the wooden floor. almost felt like i was there.
ReplyDeletealso loved seeing the houses and cars.