Hawes, Yorkshire Dales

A weeks rain?? !!

The market town of Hawes is situated at the western end of Wensleydale in the Yorkshire Dales National park and is probably most famous for the production of cheese (12th century french Monk recipe carried on by farmers wives in the 16th century) at the creamery just outside the town centre. Like many other locations in Yorkshire, the making of TV programmes such as the nostalgic  James Herriot's "All Creatures Great and Small" bring the tourist to Wensleydale with a destination of Hawes to purchase some cheese (12th century French monk recipe) that the animated characters of Wallace and Grommit adored.
    Several months ago I was asked if I wanted to go with friends for what can be best described loosely as a spiritual retreat to a country house near Carnforth in North Lancashire. Essentially, the weekend was just going to happen for me as I was just going to be a car passenger, but I needed to get the friday off work as the group always do a hill walk on the fringes of the Lake District on the way down. However, not one to get off lightly, yes you've guessed it, I was informed at short notice that I was organising the friday walk. In previous years, the group have climbed mountains with grades that would make any ordinary hillwalker proud. Unfortunately, after studying the weather forecast all week, today was no "Jacks Rake" Langdale Pikes day! I was weighing up a choice between the Lake District mountain "High Street" from Haweswater or the Yorkshire Dales mountain "Whernside" from Ribblehead viaduct. To cut a long story short, the weather was awful and seeing I was the only one in the car who had not been before, it was me who got the blame !! The walking option I eventually came up with on the day, was to go to Ribblehead viaduct ( Carlisle & Settle railway) and assess the weather.
   As it seemed like a poor start to the day with regards to the weather, I came up with the idea of stopping at Hawes  for an hour to see if the weather would improve, hence the reason for being here.
   It had been some time since I was last here and even though I had an idea of the layout of the town, I was unsure of the images I would end up with. Although the weather didn't help, I was a little disappointed with the architecture of the buildings. There was some scope near the waterfall above, but I had to keep up with the group who gave me a mixed impression that they didn't want to get too wet in the town but wanted to head south to start the walk.

Unlikely fusion of ancient and modern !!

Rain shelter !!

On the edge of town, there was an eerie faceless farming sculpture scene within a small fenced park in the middle of the road that looked more like part of a nativity scene.

I had an idea of what I wanted to photograph but it wasn't happening for me due to the dynamics of the angles and obstructions on the ground. I wasn't quite happy with just taking the shepherd as the background was messy but kept the image anyway......

early Christmas card ??!!

Ropes have been made in Hawes since well before 1725 when the first registered ropemaker died.  Records show that bell ropes for the local church were made between 1726 and 1802. It became a family business during the 19th century when they also looked after the toll road entrance fee into the town. At the beginning of the 20th century, the rope business was sold to another family but the railways and World War one played their part in disturbing the balance of what had gone on before.

In the 1920s, the previous family owners needed the adjacent Gatehouse as a dwelling for his newly married son so the business was moved to its present site near the (now disused) railway station. The rope making continued through the difficulties of getting supplies during World War two until electric motors changed the process in 1952. As more of the family retired, it looked likely that the business would close in 1974 but it was kept alive by two college lecturers who moved to the area and continued to use the family name. The retired owner was still around to mentor the couple in the transition period but the business survived due to another unusual occurrence at that time and indeed to this day, thanks to an event which takes me back to the beginning of this post ....the publishing of the fictitious books of the Vet, James Herriot.

Church Bell ropes

scented scones !!

We ended up in a local cafe away from the rain and even although I didn't fancy certain items to eat, we discussed, like country folk, the weather and I was left perusing the options for the afternoon walk, thinking about the continuing theme of the excessive Hawes moisture both outside and inside!!