Waste ground near the Canal at Aldcliffe Road: photo by Don Burnett
Gates near the Canal on Alcliffe Road: photo by Paul Hutchence
Eight members met at Penny Street Bridge Hotel and were later joined by two others, making a nice number for this walk on a mild, slightly drizzly, morning. With Roger Frankland’s guidance, we noticed how damaged the hotel’s stone walls were by the nail holes for signs that had been put up and taken down by a succession of owners. Here, as in several places on the walk, Roger noted the absence of a necessary street sign.
However, all was by no means negative on the route which took us along the south, then the north, towpaths to just past bridge 95, back along to Cromwell Road, then the area of Brook Street, Carr House Lane, Regent Street, Lindow Square, and Portland Street.
Repeated problems were Rediffusion wires; BT wires slung across roads; unkempt front gardens, some with multiple recycling bins or rubbish; cases of piles of dumped rubbish; poor maintenance of house fronts and lack of sympathy for the prevailing traditional style; some derelict sites; some stone walls apparently in immediate need of repair.
En route there was only a small amount of litter and dog excrement (of course there should be none, but this was a big improvement over what one would have anticipated 10 years ago); some beautifully kept properties; the new footpath leading from Cromwell Road to Abraham Heights; nice cobbled lanes off Portland Street; lovely features such as old chimney pots, decorative eaves and lintels; the beautifully carved ‘chamfered’ end of the house at the bottom of Portland Street which was perhaps once a pub; some well-placed public benches. We had an opportunity to view the site that is projected for development around Basin Bridge, and it seems a sound proposal, though there was some concern about access.
Along a cobbled lane from Portland Street, is a gas street light in need of preserving and painting, one of the jewels one would only see on a walk such as this.
Thanks are due once again to Roger for organizing the walk, and for the follow up work he undertakes.
Report by Sheila Jones
