We are walking the Dales Way, starting in Ilkley and heading for Windermere. So far we have walked up Wharfedale, mostly close to the river itself, with a few miles today up into the hills under and over some limestone crags, and past an enormous lime kiln from the 19th century where the stone was burnt.
There are a few other glimpses into the economy of previous centuries. Not far out of Ilkley in the village of Addingham is a settlement named Low Mlll, which was built as a working mill in the late 18th century, as mechanisation came to the textile industry. Its fortunes waxed and waned in the 19th century, and in the 1826, it was subjected to an attack from Luddite hand textile workers from Lancashire who were opposed to the new machines. The mills survived this and other problems and remained important until after World War 1.
These days, the mill has been converted into apartments, and the workers’ cottages are attractive residences, many with very smart cars outside. Employment is much more weighted towards the hospitality sector, but a constant refrain from the hoteliers and café owners we’ve spoken to is that they can’t get staff. This part of Yorkshire is very busy this summer, for obvious reasons, and that’s reflected in the difficulty in finding a pub for dinner, as well as hotel booking. And it’s often not so much physical constraints in terms of numbers of tables or whatever as the people needed to cook and serve the meal.
We happened to catch the local news on Tuesday, reporting that unemployment had actually risen in Yorkshire and Humberside in the three months to June. Somehow that’s not helping the Wharfedale hospitality industry. The labour market has adjusted to changes in the economy down the centuries: it looks like another change is coming, if current trends persist.