Merry Christmas

We would like to wish everyone; tenants, partners, and fellow residents of Farnley Tyas, a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year.

Planning Action Committee Minutes

Following comments in the last newsletter, we are pleased to announce that it has been agreed that that we will publish the minutes of the Planning Action Committee meetings on all our respective websites.

If you have any questions please contact the Farnley Estates office on 01484 667744.

Minutes of the first meeting: October 19th 2011

Minutes of the second meeting: November 15th 2011

Minutes of the third meeting: November 29th 2011

Conservation work at Squirrel Wood

Conservation work continues on the Estate with extensive refurbishment work being undertaken to a pond and the woodland of this wood (opposite the gates to Woodsome Golf Course)

A completely silted up former mill pond, with a depth of around a foot, has been dredged and the head wall reinstated. The pond will now have a depth approaching eight feet and when it has settled in will be stocked with fish by the Hillhouse Angling Association. In a couple of years when the banking has had a chance to ‘green up’ this will be a very pleasant place to fish.

In years gone by timber was taken from this small woodland, unfortunately timber of ‘value’ rather than timber that would ‘benefit the woodland in the longer term’. What remains now is a high content of very poor stock mainly Oak, with some Sycamore and limited Ash. As a result, we have had to fell rather more trees than we would normally do, but this will allow for under planting this winter with a majority of Oak and a limited number of Wild Cherry, Crab Apple and Horse Chestnut . Hopefully, with the extra light, the trees should be out of the tops of the tree shelters by spring 2013. Within two years there will also be considerable undergrowth which will give cover and food to both mammals and birds in what was a very cold and lifeless wood. Overall the long term ecosystem and the area as a woodland will become of benefit to the Estate.

The recently removed third-quality timber will only have a value as firewood and it would be hoped that the sale of timber will at least cover the cost of the work undertaken and go someway towards the cost of refencing the boundaries of the woodland. The majority of the replanting cost will be covered by the Estate with some grant assistance from the Forestry Commission.

We would hope that people will visit this area of woodland and note the work that is ongoing. If you do visit could you please give us some feedback.

Discovery of a former road

During the work at Squirrel Wood (click for article), excavation work has brought to light an old road which looks like a packhorse route between Almondbury and Woodsome Road; possibly leading to Birks Mill.

Can you help? If you have any further information on this discovery please let us know at the Farnley Estate office on 01484 667744.

Benches

We have always been very proud of the lovely views afforded from different parts of the Estate and we were therefore particularly pleased when we were approached by the East Peak Innovation Partnership to site a number of benches on our land.

Following a tour around the Estate, the Partnership believes that we can offer so many beautiful locations that an application for ten high quality benches, including one at Farnley Mill, can be substantiated.  Up until now, these seats have been made in Shropshire but we see no reason why Farnley’s own local joinery, Roebuck and Holmes, shouldn’t be invited to quote for this business. Accordingly they have been asked to submit a competitive quotation for this work.

We are in the process of putting together a bid for funding which, if successful, will commence in February.  We would like to thank Mr Steven Robinson, lead consultant to EPIP, for all the help he has given in advancing this exciting project.

We also feel that there is an opportunity to add a little character to each of the benches; perhaps by naming the seat, the view, or producing a short verse or a couple of sentences which recall the history of Farnley Tyas and our ancestors. With this in mind, we have commissioned a competition by inviting the children at Farnley C of E School to come up with their own ideas on how to achieve this. We are looking forward to revealing the results in due course.