A 5.5 mile easy going walk, mainly at the side of the Leeds/Liverpool Canal and the River Aire with a pleasant halfway stop in Myrtle Park, Bingley, with no stiles and just one short hill through Nab Wood. At the end of the walk, do allow time to explore Salts Mill (see below).
Start point: Saltaire Station, Victoria Road, Saltaire (trains every 30 minutes from Leeds).
SALTAIRE is the name of a Victorian era model village. In December 2001, Saltaire was designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. This means that the government has a duty to protect the site. The buildings belonging to the model village are individually listed, with the highest level of protection being given to the Congregational Church (since 1972 known as the United Reformed Church) which is listed grade I. The village has survived remarkably complete.
Saltaire was founded in 1853 by Sir Titus Salt, a leading industrialist in the Yorkshire woollen industry. The name of the village is a combination of the founder's surname with the name of the river. Salt moved his entire business (five separate mills) from Bradford to this site near Shipley partly to provide better arrangements for his workers than could be had in Bradford and partly to site his large textile mill by a canal and a railway. Salt built neat stone houses for his workers (much better than the slums of Bradford), wash-houses with running water, bath-houses, a hospital, as well as an Institute for recreation and education, with a library, a reading room, a concert hall, billiard room, science laboratory and gymnasium. The village also provided almshouses, allotments, a park and a boathouse.
Salts Mill closed in 1986, and renovation to the complex began the following year. Today it houses a mixture of business, commerce, leisure and residential use. In the main mill building are:
The 1853 Gallery: several large rooms given over to the works of the Bradford-born artist David Hockney: including paintings, drawings, photomontages and stage sets. Industrial companies including the electronics manufacturer Pace plc. Various shops selling books, art supplies, jewellery, outdoor wear, antiques, suits, bicycles, and house wares; the last includes pieces by internationally known designers such as Alvar Aalto and Philippe Starck. Restaurants and cafes. The Walk
On coming out of Saltaire Station, turn left down Victoria Road passing Saltaire United Reform Church on your left and Salts Mill on your right. After crossing a bridge, turn left down to the Leeds/Liverpool canal and then right to follow the canal towpath, away from Saltaire with a fine view of the United Reform Church on your left. On reaching the first lock at Hirst Wood, turn right through a gap in the wall on your right and down some steps towards a bridge over the River Aire. At the far end of the bridge, turn left across the edge of a field towards a stone built dome to bear slight left over a small metal bridge along a wide track towards a brick building. Take the footpath to the left of the building and then right along the river bank passing Bradford Amateur Rowing Club. Remain straight ahead along the river bank with the river on your left for a fine river walk through the trees. Eventually, the footpath will bring you back to the canal. At this point, turn right and at bridge number 206, turn left over the canal and right again to continue along the towpath passing Dowley Gap locks towards Bingley.
Bingley is a market town situated on the River Aire and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, Bingley appears in the Domesday Book of 1086 as "Bingheleia". Bingley was probably founded about the time of the Saxons; certainly its name is Saxon in origin, meaning “Bing's clearing”, though this would not be the original spelling or pronunciation of Bing. Bingley is thought to have been founded around a ford on the River Aire. As well as the ford on the river, the other feature likely to have influenced Bing's decision and to foster Bingley's growth is the constriction of the Aire valley at the upstream side of the Bingley settlement. In medieval times Bingley was a Manor which extended several miles up and down the Aire valley and became a Market town with the grant of a Market Charter in 1212 by King John. One of the oldest buildings in Bingley is the coaching inn the Old White Horse Inn, conveniently situated on the flatter north side of Ireland Bridge. Like most towns of the West Riding, Bingley prospered from the Industrial Revolution. The Bingley section of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal was completed in 1774, linking Bingley with Skipton and with Bradford via the Bradford Canal. It travels through the centre of Bingley & then climbs dramatically up the side of the valley in the famous Bingley Five Rise Locks. Bingley Permanent Building Society merged with the Bradford Equitable Building Society to form the Bradford & Bingley Building Society (now a bank) in 1964. It was decided to site the corporate headquarters in Bingley. This brought several thousand jobs to the town but the building itself did not meet with universal acclaim. In 2004 the Bingley Relief Road opened. The £47.9 million road stretches from Crossflatts to Cottingley, threading through Bingley between the railway & the canal. One of the most expensive parts of the construction was moving a 150 meter stretch of the canal. A new town square was built and opened in December 2007. On reaching the outskirts of Bingley, with the Aire Valley Trunk Road on your left, continue straight ahead underneath a light coloured stone bridge to pass waterside apartments on your right. When you reach a metal footbridge turn left to leave the towpath up some steps turning right at the top and then left to go over the Trunk Road via a spectacular metal footbridge. Cross the road by a Pelican crossing and turn right passing houses on your left and a large stone wall on your right. The road bears left and then straight forward to Ferncliffe Road where you now turn right up towards the main road and a set of traffic lights. Cross the road at the traffic lights into Myrtle Court passing through a gate into Myrtle Park.
Myrtle Park in Bingley is a vast park area that is lovely place to walk at any time of year with a great river walk. The park also hosts the Bingley agricultural show and the fabulous Music at Myrtle concerts each year.
On entering Myrtle Park, take the left hand fork to pass by the band stand and then left towards the tennis courts and bowling greens where you will find the Café in the Park and toilets (inside the café). This makes an ideal place for a mid-walk lunch stop and to put your feet up. From the café, take the path down the right side of the bowling green through a gate and downhill to bear right down some steps towards a footbridge over the River Aire. Cross over this bridge and continue straight forward with allotments on your right and at the end of this path, turn left along a narrow tarmac road passing a cricket field and tennis courts on your left. Eventually the Shipley Golf Club fairways will be seen on your right and continuing straight ahead, you will once more reach the main Shipley/Bingley road by a bridge.
Here you need to cross the road with care to the footpath sign immediately ahead on the right hand river bank. On reaching the footpath sign, descend a flight of steps to the river and walk straight forward away from the bridge along the bottom of a garden. Your route now is straight ahead along this path following the river. At the end of the path, when you come to playing fields, continue following the public footpath following the river as it goes straight forward and then veers to the right. At the end of the last playing field, carry on to pass underneath the Aire Valley Trunk Road to reach a metal gate where the path continues slightly uphill between two stone walls before progressing downhill back to the river. At this point, do not take the right hand path but continue to stay on the side of the river. In due course, Nab Wood Cemetery will come into view on your right and here, continue over a small footbridge and underneath the railway. After passing a wooden seat on your left you will come to a footpath sign. Here, turn right up the hill and through the wood and as it levels out, continue following the main path through the wood to in time emerge at a car park at the side of the canal and Hirst Wood Locks. Walk over the top of the lock on to the towpath and then turn right to re-trace your route back to the start point in Saltaire.