One of the most intriguing questions to explore in the Shipley area, in relation to the river and canal, is the question of public rights of way. Over hundreds of years, certain riverside tracks have developed a status as public footpaths which is now legally enforcible. “Once a highway, always a highway,” is the old adage – according to Bradford Council’s rights of way manager Danny Jackson. Except of course, as Danny’s the first to acknowledge, there are exceptions to that rule. In the 19th Century, after buying a huge swathe of land to the north of the river, all the way from Milner Field to the west, down to Lower Holme in the east, Sir Titus Salt succeeded in having pedestrian access rights moved away from the riverside and onto his new Coach Road. Originally, Coach Road was a private road for vehicles, but a public one for pedestrians. The same went for the Victoria Road bridge at Saltaire: pedestrian access rights were moved to this bridge, and Salt took away the ancient river crossing consisting of stepping stones! In the 1960s, when the road bridge had to be demolished as unfit for vehicular traffic, a new footbridge had to be built by law, in order to restore the public right of way!

Anyway, Sir Titus’s legal footwork explains why, today, there is no official riverside path on the north of the river betwen Baildon Bridge and Hirst Wood. Once you get to Hirst Wood, it reappears: there’s a lovely walk up to Dowley Gap and beyond. But the path running east from Baildon Bridge towards Charlestown (featured in my recent “Lower Holme – picture story” posting), is in a much more precarious state. Though utterly neglected, it’s still there – having survived all the mill demolitions going on around it. But in places the path is very narrow and even treacherous underfoot. Riverside rights have clearly not been at the top of the planning agenda in that area…

Recently, I took a walk with Danny Jackson along a stretch of river path that Bradford Council are paying particular attention to at present. This stretch, also ancient right of way, runs along the South side of the river, between Salt’s Mill and Baildon Bridge. With us on this stroll was my 7-year old daughter Eleanor (seen here outside Saltaire’s gorgeous URC church), who was entrusted withthe task of photographing whatever she thought was worthy of note along the route. The images below are a child’s eye view of the path and its various delights…

Danny and his colleagues have been charged with opening up and improving access along this stretch of path, because it links Saltaire to the recent residential conversion at Victoria Mills. In order to secure planning permission, the Victoria Mills development had to agree, under Section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act of 1990, to commit funds for these ‘highway’ improvements (it’s all detailed online here). The irony, though, is that there is currently no demand from the residents of Victoria Mills to use this riverside path – and the gate that would provide access to it is normally padlocked for security reasons. Instead, the residents tend to use the nearby canal towpath for walking. So what would really encourage use of this rather run-down path?

We began on the canal towpath outside Salts’ New Mill, since the mill itself prevents any direct access along the riverside at this point. It’s tempting to blame Titus for this too, but in all likelihood the path would always have bent around the water mill (Dixon’s) that was on this site before Salts. Eleanor’s picture highlights the rather unkempt, overgrown state of the path even in this World Heritage Site section.

When you cut down towards the river though, things rapidly become much less inviting…

The river path is slippery with moss in numerous spots…

… and decorated with charming touches (though Eleanor felt this could be a place to hang art work!)

Time to let Eleanor’s eye do the talking…

Eleanor liked these thistles a lot… They’re wild flowers, of course – ‘weeds’. As I discussed with her, letting things grow, or ‘letting things go’ isn’t always a bad idea. The thing she liked most on this walk were the little blue flowers on this plant (and others like it) growing unbidden out of the perimeter wall at Victoria Mills… It’s a cliche to say it, perhaps, but nature will find its own right of way….