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Stepping out to the Trains


Barwicker No.25 March1992


Looking out of my window each morning between 7.30 and 9.00am I see a procession of shining cars taking their one or two occupants to work in Leeds. Then at 8.15 a double-deck bus stops opposite my house to pick up some 40 colourfully dressed schoolchildren and whisks them away to Boston Spa.

This made me think of the reference in 'The Barwicker' No. 19 which described how Mrs Cullen went to work in Leeds by train from Scholes station and walked the couple of miles or so each way morning and evening. How many, I wonder, of today's Barwickers will realise that up to the arrival of the bus services in the mid- twenties this was the main form of transport from Barwick to Leeds and elsewhere.

Going to school in Leeds from 1919 to 1925 I was one of 60 or more people who made this daily journey to and from Scholes station. About half this number were men who were engaged in a variety of occupations. A further 15 or more were young women, mostly office and shop workers. The remainder were schoolchildren. Of these 15 or so were boys varying from 10 years old upward. Amongst them were: Bill and Dick Lumb, Arch1e Sykes, Harold Wilson, Fred Thorp, Haurice Pullan, Jack Reed, Ted and Chris Burnet, Bob and Jack Woodwark, Sam Tankard, Frank Kempton and Ronnie Eaton.

Ten boys including myself went to Leeds Central High School, four went to Leeds Boys Modern School and Archie Sykes was at the Grammar School. Going to the Central High School I was following family tradition as my brother was there from 1912 onwards and my father also attended the school which was founded in 1885. It was known then as the Higher Grade School and was I believe Leeds first venture into secondary education. My father said that he and another Barwick boy John Dockray were two of the first students to attend the then new building in Woodhouse Lane which was opened in 1889 and is now the City of Leeds School. To get there they would I think take the same route that we took 30 years later.

On the other hand there were only three or four schoolgirls, two of whom were Margery Booth and Kitty Bramley. This might suggest a certain degree of sex inequality at the time. It is perhaps worth making the point however that in those days young women could walk these footpaths in darkness without fear of attack or molestation.

The two early morning trains from Scholes were around 7.20 and 8.10am. They reached Leeds City Station in about 20 minutes with stops at Cross Gates and Marsh Lane. Return trains left Leeds City at about 4.30, 5.30 and 7.15pm. For many people working days were long and schoolchildren were often eleven hours away from home.

The main route from Barwick to the station was along what is now Rakehill Road. In those day this was known variously as Workhouse Lane, The Old Lane and The Common. This last referred to the long straight section approaching Scholes.

Workhouse Lane was then an unmade cart-track. However the footpath for the whole of the length to Scholes was in good condition and well maintained by the Council. It was generally recognised as a useful amenity and as such was respected. The situation is very different today. Now vehicles of various kinds churn up the footpath and make it impassable for walkers in the winter months. The recent spreading of hard core on the lane has not helped, indeed in places the path has been obliterated. It might be expected that the Local Authority would take steps to secure the use of this long established right of way. There appears to be no intention to do so.

With fifty or more people setting out for the 8.10 am train it was not unusual for them to be well spread out along the route. If you were a late starter you could see a line of walkers snaking ahead past the Old Workhouse and up Rakehill with some perhaps already out of sight. When you reached the final few hundred yards on The Common you might see those ahead break out into a trot. You knew then that the signal near the York Road indicated that the train had left Thorner and you had to press on even more quickly. It was not uncommon to see a group of people including perhaps a couple of middle-aged business-men and several attractive young women clutching their hats, all sprinting over the last couple of hundred yards. Fortunately, the stationmaster was a kindly man and he would hold up the train at such times.

A number of walkers came from the Lime-Kilns on Potterton Lane, amongst whom were George Brown and his daughters Nellie and Mary, Jesse Drake, Sidney Dunwell and Maurice Pullan. In good weather they would take the footpath along The Banks and Wendel Hill entering The Boyle near the top of the hill.

For two years my home was in Leeds Road. My route was along Elmwood Lane, then unmade and known as Back Lane, on to Carrfield Lane, also unmade, then onto the footpath across the old cricket field and The Chequers into 'Workhouse Lane. Later having moved to The Boyle, the journey was somewhat shorter.

Some of the people starting from other parts of the village were:- Peggy and Betsy Lumb, Mary Barker, Marion and Susan Helm, Nellie and Annie Stead, Douglas Eaton, Fred Baxter, Dick Murray, J.P.Sowry, Maurice Lumb, Roly Lovett, Joe Simpson, Dick Wood, Les Collett, Wilf Booth and Fred Topham.

In the past this walk to Scholes was much more attractive, more pleasantly rural, than it is today. Over the years a number of factors including changing farming methods have brought about a general deterioration in the quality of the landscape. The result is that much of the character of this once delightful walk has been lost. In the early twenties the lane for most of its length was bounded by high hawthorn hedges which in turn were fronted by dense thickets of hazel, blackthorn, dog-oak, wild roses, bramble and other bushes.

In the spring and early summer meadows bordering the lane were alive with a profusion of wild flowers making a colourful natural carpet of great beauty. Where have the meadows gone? Where are all the lovely marguerites, cowslips, vetches, campions, wild orchids, cranesbills and the delicate trembling grasses which quivered so gently in the breeze? Regrettably like many other forms of wild life they have disappeared in the path of so-called progressive farming.

Probably the most picturesque part of the route was the secluded little valley at the second bridge over the Rake Beck. Here sheltered by tall trees and high hedges was an air of tranquil peace. Here were bursting thickets, a grassy glade, an old bridge over a winding stream with a little waterfall chattering away nearby. It was almost out of this world.

In this little valley on a calm frosty morning you would occasionally catch the scent of a fox; he had probably just crossed the path on his way from his earth a short distance upstream into the Sugarhills below.

On other wintry mornings when westerly gales meant a continual struggle against the buffeting wind here in the protection of this quiet valley you had a few minutes' peace and respite. Then you pushed on upwards from the bridge round the bends in the path out into the wind and rain; not at all pleasant for schoolboys with short trousers and bare knees.

At other times however the route could be a delight. In the early months you saw nature coming to life again. First the hazel and willow catkins, then the pure white blossom of the blackthorn, the countless bursting buds, the may blossom and the blossom of wild cherry, crab-apple, wild rose, honeysuckle and brambles. In amongst them were the lovely shades of bluebell and foxglove. In the autumn their fruits provided food for a large and varied bird population which I recall included a sizeable flock of yellowhammers.

Looking east from the high part of The Common and again from the top of Rake Hill were some of the finest views of Barwick with the woods of Potterton, Becca and Parlington in the background. These were perhaps best seen on a late afternoon in summer with the sun in the west highlighting the church tower, the maypole, The Hall Tower, Wendel Hill and the curving route of The Boyle, all features linked with Barwick's long history. Looking eastwards down the Rake Beck valley you could see the hilly terrain to the north of the Village which historians tell us played an important part in Barwick's role as a hill-top fortress. Also from here, providing me with a reminder of my background, was a clear view of my birthplace on Wendel Hill.

On warm summer afternoons we boys with the urgency of the morning's rush forgotten, usually made our way home at a leisurely pace. I remember we had many earnest discussions on the important topics of the day. A t the time the country was going through a period of readjustment following the upheaval of the First World War. Great changes were on the way. We discussed such things as the marvel of radio, the brief era of the crystal set was coming in. We debated the future role of the motor car and the aeroplane and whether trans-Atlantic air services would ever be feasible. Of course we also discussed slightly less weighty subjects such as Yorkshire cricket and other sporting activities, the latest silent films and so on.

Like every generation we thought that ours was the great new world. We weren't to know that over the horizon was another terrible war or that such wonders as television, computers and space travel would become part of everyday life.

It is perhaps being a little naive but I like to think that these daily walks in contact with nature might have had some beneficial influence on our attitude to life, If nothing else they certainly provided us with useful exercise although I doubt whether we appreciated it at the time.

Who knows it might be that some day in some other place we boys will meet again and will continue our discussions on our vision of the world and will perhaps remember those walks we had together along that very pleasant path from Barwick to Scholes.
GEOFF HARTLEY


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