Settle and its Railway Structures

On an unusually hot Sunday afternoon in September a group of NCHT walkers were surprised and amused to hear an authentic railway whistle signalling them on their way! We first stopped in the field near Anley to glance back at Settle station and its redundant signal box, now a visitor's centre. We halted on the bridge over the railway on Lodge Lane and noted that near there the first sod of the Settle and Carlisle railway was cut in late 1869. We walked the field path to above Cleatop and looked down on the site of a much earlier sod cutting ceremony, that of the North Western Railway, on 31st December 1846 when it was reported that the ground was so hard with frost that it was difficult for Lord Morpeth (dressed as a navvy!) to fill the mahogany wheelbarrow provided for the occasion. Several Lords and M Ps attended the ceremony and we looked with some amusement at a Lady's ticket which was to "Admit the Bearer to the Platform" to observe the ceremony "At half-past Twelve o'clock", thoughtfully adding p.m.!

On the way to Mere Beck from higher ground we looked back at Giggleswick station in the distance. This too had a signal box, the replacement of which in 1906 was the first to be built by the Midland Railway on a concrete base. Lastly, just below Mere Beck, we looked down on Settle Junction and its working signal box. Worthy of note was the earlier existence of a passenger station open for just 13 months during 1876/7 - a record for the Midland! We also remarked that there used to be two signal boxes controlling the junction (and its then more extensive sidings) and that the junction itself had been remodelled in recent times, doing away with a crossover.

Of the 10 structures mentioned, all but one had the name Settle at one time or another........and 5 still do!

Finally we climbed back up to and through Cleatop Park and enjoyed the best view of the whole of Settle as we walked back home.