MMM #2: Botany
This is the 2nd of a 17-cache series which will take you on a wonderful 6km looping trail up the deep valley of Morton Beck passing historical farm and residential buildings, industrial ruins, mill ponds and weirs, rich deciduous and pine woodlands, a reservoir, waterfall, low moorland, farm fields and then back down an old track and flower-festooned path into the village.
The cache, a small camo-taped screw-capped plastic pot, is hidden along Lakeside (lane) as it heads down towards Botany and the bridge over Morton Beck.
Directions: From #1 continue up the lane to the junction @ N 53 52.784 W 1 50.810 then take the right fork down Lakeside to the cache location on your left.
As you approach the junction, looking down to the east (right) you will see an old grassed-over aqueduct crossing Morton Beck. This is part of the 51km long Nidd Aqueduct, completed in 1899, which carries water from reservoirs in upper Nidderdale to Chellow Heights in Bradford, which emerges briefly from underground to cross the beck (see here for more info and here for a map of the pipeline).
The area immediately upstream from/north of the aqueduct was the location of Botany Mill, the largest of 10 mills along the fast-flowing Morton Beck. If you look over the wall of the property opposite GZ you will see the mill lodge.
It is unknown when the mill was built, although it appeared on the first Ordnance Survey map of the area in 1851. It manufactured worsted cloth and was so named because all of the wool brought into it originated from Botany Bay, Australia. It was expanded considerably between 1852 and 1892 and eventually closed in 1938.
Looking from Botany Bridge you will see a fine terrace of stone houses. This is Providence Row, a typical example of such rows of houses built by mill owners to house mill workers and their families.
Potted History of East Morton
Morton is a moorland village clinging stubbornly to the southern edge of Rombalds Moor. Relics of early man have been found on the moor, but the earliest significant remains were those of the RR720a Ilkley to Manchester Roman road (see here) passing through Morton on its way. In 1775 a treasure chest was found which contained a large hoard of Roman coins - one of the most important such finds ever made at that time. It was reputed to have contained nearly a hundredweight of Roman denarii dating from AD 54 to AD 238 in a brass chest assumed to be of military origin.
The area is thought to have become permanently occupied during the Anglo-Saxon invasion of the 5th and 6th centuries, although, like many places in the region, the first mention of East Morton is in the Domesday survey of 1086, when the Manors of East and West Morton were held by the King.
Before the Industrial Revolution (ie. pre-1773) the homesteads of Morton were the farmhouses and homes of the yeoman farmers and the humble cottages of their workers. On these small upland estates, the families toiled over many centuries against natural handicaps like climate and terrain, although Morton was better suited than most Airedale communities to arable farming thanks to its sunny south-facing slopes.
Oats were the principal crop but most land was given over to sheep rearing, particularly on the common moorland and hill ridges. Kirkstall Abbey and Fountains Abbey had the right to rear sheep on their holdings in Morton.
East Morton contains a number of farmhouses, cottages, barns and some outbuildings originally built in the 17th and 18th centuries. These buildings and their arrangements give an insight into life in pre-industrial East Morton.
When the Industrial Revolution overtook Morton in the late 18th century, farming took second place in the occupational structure of the village as the establishment of the water-powered textile industry attracted workers from all over Britain.
The development of factory machinery to carry out textile manufacturing that was previously done by hand led to the establishment of water-powered cotton, spinning and worsted mills powered by the waters of Morton Beck between 1792 and the early-to-mid 19th century, by which time 3 the 9 mills manufactured paper. The number of people living and working in the village doubled in the first half of the 19th century.
Most of the rows of terraced cottages built as mill workers’ housing in the mid-to-late 19th century is clustered close to the mills and around the various places of worship.
After 1890 the depression in the wool industry forced many Mortonians to leave the village and seek their fortunes abroad. 70 families are said to have emigrated to the colonies before 1914.
The 20th century saw the end of the mill-based industry in the village with the closure of the three remaining factories, Freedom Mill, Holroyd Mill and Botany Mill. Following this, agriculture again became the primary activity of the village.
More recently, modern housing has been built on the sites of some of the mills to accommodate commuters who regard Morton as a desirable dormitory suburb for Bradford, Leeds and Keighley, consequently the village's population is growing once again.
Similarly the barns and farm buildings and retail and commercial premises have one by one ceased their original uses and are now dwellings.
See here for a fascinating series of illustrated web pages reporting on exploration of the 'industrial history of a moorland stream' and other historical artefacts in and around the village.
See here for a comprehensive 2005 conservation area assessment of East Morton with a detailed description and analysis of its special character and interest including its history, architecture and topography and here for a well-illustrated 2008 follow-up appraisal with maps.