A group of sixteen Stramblers met at Yarrow Valley Country Park Visitor Centre on 27th July looking forward to a pleasant walk around the area. The weather forecast indicated that after some initial rain it would brighten up. The walk started from the car park where we noticed an interesting face carved on one of the nearby trees.
Anne outlined a little of the history of the valley, which was a large, industrialised area in the 18th century and beyond. It was a centre for bleaching, dyeing, calico printing and mining. Richard Arkwright developed the water spinning frame later named after him and formed part of the start of the Industrial Revolution. Arkwright’s frame made many of the local workers redundant and he eventually had to move away because of local hostility. Continue reading →