Saltaire

Monday 21st August '17

After a great weekend with family in Bristol and Cam, we made our way back to Apperley Bridge via Barton Marina where we are booked in for October. It is a great place with lots of facilities in addition to the usual boater things, we are really looking forward to our stay there, although we are away from the boat for a large part of the time we have the berth booked.
Today we made our way up to Saltaire passing through Dobson 2 rise and Field 3 rise locks, the weather was fair and warm making it a pleasant trip. We arrived in Shipley passing the now defunct canal junction where the Bradford Canal used to climb up to its terminus close to Forster Square, very little of the canal remains with just a few of the old bridges giving a clue to its route.
A lot of information about this canal can be found online and the following site has a virtual tour of the route with photos should you wish to explore it further:

http://www.penninewaterways.co.uk/bradford/

We stopped by Gallows bridge to take on supplies before proceeding to our usual mooring spot at Saltaire. There are some great moorings here for a day visit but strangely they are limited to 6 hours so we had to move onto a spot opposite the church, this spot has just enough room for two boats as the rest of this stretch is too shallow to get into the edge. I do hope that CRT get round to sorting this out because it only requires the removal of a few large stones and a bit of dredging.

Saltaire never disappoints, with its pubs, shops and the iconic mills.

Saltaire Bridge

Saltaire Chruch

The village was opened on 20th September 1853 and was designated a world heritage site by UNESCO in 2001.

The village is named after its founder, Sir Titus Salt, he built the mills and the surrounding village for his workforce who were supplied with houses, a school, an infirmary and all the amenities required by the village. He also provided a park (Roberts Park) for his workforce to engage in outdoor activities during the free time they got.

Sir Titus was an abstainer and therefore did not include pubs in the village, also it is noted that he paid his workers in tokens and that these could only be redeemed in his shops, this could be one of the many myths that surround the industrialist so it is worth a visit to http://www.saltairevillage.info where a lot more information  is available.

I often find it difficult to decide about Sr Titus, he provided vastly improved conditions for his work force ensuring they were fit and well enough to work, he also instigated the 10 hour working day.

Were all these benefits designed to make life easier for the workers or did it ensure they were kept in good "working" order and control for the benefit of his business?

Villain or hero?