Keighley. East Riddlesden Hall, Steam Trains and Bronte Country.

Half way to Keighley we reached the famous Bingley Five Rise Locks.  Officially opened in 1774 each lock is connected to the next with no pound in between so the lower gate of one lock forms the upper gate of the next chamber, 5 chambers, 6 gates.  With a gradient of 1 in 5, a rise/fall of 60 feet over a distance of just 320ft they are the steepest lock flight in the UK.

Bingley Five Rise Locks

Bingley Five Rise from the top.  Bacchus is the second in the queue.

We spent 3 days at Keighley, having decided to take a steam train along the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway.  Very close to our mooring, was East Riddlesden Hall,  originally the Hall was the home of a 17th century cloth merchant and later the estate was a hive of farming activity. We spent a pleasant couple of hours there.

East Riddlesden Hall

The Great Barn is one of the most impressive in the north of England.  It is largely unchanged since it was rebuilt in the 17th century.

The Keighley & Worth Valley Railway line opened in 1867 its purpose to provide coal to the local mills. Now it’s a heritage railway and is the only complete preserved standard gauge line anywhere in the world.  Now running heritage steam and diesel trains through what is now known as Bronte Country.

The five stations on the line, including the platform used at Keighley station, still maintain their Edwardian splendour, one of which Oakworth, was the station used in the 1970 film The Railway Children, most famous for the “Daddy, my daddy” scene. The museum has many carriages on display and shows details of all the film and TV programmes they have been used in. End of the line is Haworth, where we spent the day visiting the Bronte parsonage and the village.  No shortage of wonderful cream tea shops.

Oakworth Station

The steam train on our journey to Haworth.

Haworth Station.

Haworth High Street.

Haworth Parsonage. The Bronte's Home.

The Old School Room Haworth.
Patrick Bronte (1777-1861) built this school for the children of Haworth. Charlotte, Bramwell, Emily & Anne all taught here. Site of Charlotte's wedding reception in 1854.

When the Bronte family lived in Haworth this was the druggist's house and shop.  Here Bramwell Bronte purchased the opium which was the indirect cause of his untimely death.

Skipton next.