July Walk 2014

Our July walk was led by Alan Cull and David Goodwin started by St Mary’s Church in Bolsterstone.

Bolsterstone is 1,000 feet above sea level so this 6.5 mile walk gave us some spectacular views particularly as we walked down from the village into the Ewden Valley. En route we passed an interesting sculpture of the Wantley Dragon and took a little time to read the storyboard about the folklore surrounding this beast.

Our walk took us round Broomhead and More Hall Reservoirs, both owned and managed by Yorkshire Water. Work apparently started on both of these reservoirs in 1913 but completion was delayed because of WWI so they were not officially opened until 1929 although it took another 4 years before the leaks in Broomhead were eventually sealed.

Much of our walk back up to Bolsterstone was in shady woodland which was very welcome because of the very hot day but the local hostelry in Bolsterstone is currently closed so we had to make do with water at the end of our climb!

Bolsterstone is an interesting village with records showing it dating back to the mid 16th century (at least) and St Mary’s Church sitting in the heart of the village itself dates back to the 19th century although again records show two previous places of worship on the same site. One very intriguing thing about this church is the very large churchyard with the rows and rows of headstones it has. We were unable to find out why it should be so large so if there are any historians out there who can help us solve this mystery please get in touch.