It is always customary after a ride to write about the route and point out points of interests, fast descents, steep ascents, turn left at the tufted mound etc etc. As you may have noticed the write ups have turned into a history programme, which are a little different from the norm. Today’s ride is no exception. We all set off to ride the Bingley Bash (the chuckle brothers, Des, Craig, Dazza, Paul and Darryl) from the Sun Inn at Cottingley.
The Sun Inn was built in the early 1900s as a replacement for Nancy's, the old court house, coach inn and poacher's meeting place. After closing for a recent refurbishment, the doors are open once more to patrons who have been flowing through for over 300 years. We all ended up in the Sun Inn to have our lunch…..double rack of ribs or the all day breakfast, just what you want after a ride. Back to the history script.
Cottingley or Cottingelaia was named after the Cota or Cotta family and means meadows of the sons of Cota but long before the naming of the land, it was the site of a proud and ancient beginnings.The geological composition of Cottingley consists of mainly of millstone grit, boulder clay and some alluvial deposits. The "Bingley Bypass" has been the centre of controversy for many years and will certainly have an environmental impact especially as Bingley Bog carries near complete vegetation history from the Ice Age to the medieval period. In 1753, one of the most notable events in Cottingley history, the passing of a road and waterway toll act , gave rise to the first toll bar at Cottingley Bridge which was later relocated at Cottingley Bar in 1823. The old Cottingley Bar toll building was demolished about 90 years ago but the name survives the test of time.
As this ride is the Bingley Bash it will be rude not to mention Bingley itself. Bingley was probably founded about the time of the Saxons; certainly its name is Saxon in origin, meaning “Bing's clearing”, though this would not be the original spelling or pronunciation of Bing. Bingley is thought to have been founded around a ford on the River Aire. This crossing gave access to the villages of Harden, Cullingworth and Wilsden on the south side of the river. Bingley's entry in the Domesday Book. 1086 AD is listed as "Bingheleia", with the following entry:
m In Bingheleia hb. Gospatric iiij car' tra e' ad gld. tra ad ii car' Ernegis de burun h't. & Wast' e'. T.R.E. val, iiij lib'. Silva past' ii leu' lg' & i lat'. Tot' m' e iiij leu' lg' & ii lat'
Which roughly translated reads:
In Bingheleia, Gospatric has a manor of four carucate of land to be taxed, land for two ploughs. Ernegis de Burun has it and it is waste. In the time of King Edward the Confessor it was valued at four pounds. Woodland pasture two leagues long and one broad. All the manor is four long and two broad.
During the ride we had to pass through a busy farm, all the farm hands were busy shearing their sheep for the summer. The process of removing the wool from a sheep is known as sheep shearing. The wool is clipped by skilled shearers once a year from the sheep. Raising and shearing sheep is one of the world's oldest industries, thriving for thousands of years. The many uses of wool are the reason for the huge success of the sheep shearing business. The fleece removed from sheep is spun and woven for carpets, clothing, yarns, insulation, blankets, felt and crafting. Sheep were first domesticated over 10,000 years ago and raised as a food source in Central Asia. Shearing sheep did not begin until 3500 B.C. when man learned to spin the sheep's wool. The production of wool is the oldest trade commodity known to man. The wool industry is mentioned in the Old Testament of the Bible and was the first widespread international trade throughout ancient civilizations. Most of the explorations organized by Queen Isabella of Spain were financed through her wool trading business. In the 1400's, she paid for the voyages of Columbus and the conquistadors with profits from sheep shearing. The sheep were also used as a food source for Columbus and he left sheep in the New World when he sailed to Santo Domingo and Cuba. These sheep, known as Churras, became the ancestors of American sheep and were bred by the Navajo tribe for food and wool.
