James

Jenny Twigg and her Daughter Dibb

Black And White Photography, James, Photography

High on the lonely Fountains Earth Moor in Nidderdale sits these two stones. Across the valley is a small, but prominent hill that goes by the name of Dead Mans Hill. It gets its name because two hundred years ago 3 drovers were discovered buried there in the dark peat – minus their heads.

An old coaching inn was at the side of a road at the bottom of the hill and one night the three, plus a dog stopped for refreshment and a bed for the night. They were never seen alive again, but the dog sat on the hill whimpering and wouldn’t come down. Upon investigation the bodies were found and the landlady of the coaching inn, and her daughter were convicted of the crime and hanged.

Another legend says they were witches and were turned to stone, where they remain forever on the dark moors.

The Red Cliffe Mine

Black And White Photography, James, Photography
Red Cliffe Mines

This ruined building is all that is left of the Red Cliffe Lead Mines at Grimwith in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. It was a small concern, with 6 or 7 miners working together for a few years on the remote moors. Records show that the mines closed in the 1870s and provided little yield. It was an incredibly hard life and for most the pickings were slim.

Haworth Moor

Black And White Photography, James, Photography

I live 20 minutes away from Haworth and the beautiful and wild moors made famous by the Bronte sisters’ novels. This path goes from the village to Top Withens, a ruined farmhouse and the inspiration for Emilys’ ‘Wuthering Heights’. Close your eyes and you can almost imaging the three sisters walking along this old farm track nearly 180 years ago.

The Weeping Man

Black And White Photography, James, Photography

Several years ago, before I jacked my job in and became a professional photographer, I worked in the city of Leeds for a law firm. There was a large court yard in the middle of several office blocks and one lunch time an elderly chap appeared sitting on a bench and weeping.

He was there every day for about 3 weeks, then he didn’t come anymore. I don’t now if anyone approached him and asked if he was OK (I didn’t – just felt that whatever he was grieving about was intensely personal and I would be intruding).

 

Sharp Haw with Moor Cotton

Black And White Photography, James, Photography
Sharp Haw

Sharp Haw is a small pointed hill (1171 ft.) in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. There are remains of a Iron Age Hill fort on the summit, and it is visible for many miles around. In Spring the path to the summit is through beautiful Moor Cotton.

Fairy Dell

Black And White Photography, James, Photography

Fairy Dell

This tiny copse of trees peering out of the fog is a local land mark, being visible for miles around. Known as ‘Fairy Dell’ it has a sinister side to it that most people aren’t aware of. For it is the burial place of the plague victims that killed many in our village, and those surrounding it hundreds of years ago. Few go there now and it has a ‘reputation’ of being haunted – although most folk have no idea why.

Palm Sunday Field

Black And White Photography, James, Photography

The Old London Road

This is the Old London Road near the tiny village of Towton near York. On Palm Sunday 1461, during a fierce blizzard, two massive armies fought in these fields for the Crown of England.

28 Thousand men died on the day and probably that same amount of their injuries during the following days. The Crown changed hands that day with the new King being Edward IV. The fields are pretty much as they were on that fateful day 560 years ago, nothing has changed. It is a sombre place.