Jubilation as home of Dales champions is saved

A PATCHWORK of tumbledown grass verges, wild flowers and unruly plants clambering their way up ramshackle stone walls – it is a garden worthy of any great artist.

And this small patch of greenery high up in the Dales provided solace and inspiration to two of Yorkshire's most famous daughters as they compiled an extraordinary archive of books, paintings and photographs of the region over 75 years.

Coles House, its garden and adjoining stone studio in the Wensleydale village of Askrigg, was home for Marie Hartley from the 1930s until her death in 2006, and the base from which she and friend Joan Ingilby spent their lives chronicling the customs of Yorkshire folk.

Both women were awarded MBEs for their remarkable work.

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But despite its rich history as one of the most cherished houses in the Dales, its garden and the studio where both women used to write could be facing a very different future were it not for the intervention of a group of former friends and artists in the area.

Last month an application was submitted to the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority planning committee to build a three-bedroom house in the garden, incorporating the studio and demolishing part of a stone wall bordering the property in the process.

Despite fierce opposition to the plans in the village, the application was recommended for approval by planning officers.

But this week, to the relief of many, it was rejected by members of the planning committee by nine votes to five. And now there are calls for it to be protected for future generations.

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Piers Browne, a Wensleydale landscape artist and a former friend of Ms Hartley, said: "I feel if the application had gone through she would have been turning in her grave.

"We all think it would have been a great shame if the committee had accepted the plans.

"I am delighted that they have now been finally put to bed.

"She loved that house and the studio and the view from its garden is very beautiful and one of the finest in the area – I have painted it a few times.

"Definitely the majority of the village were against it.

"Marie still has many friends here and a lot of us who protested against the plans still have old paintings and etchings from her."

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Following the decision Coun John Blackie, a member of North Yorkshire County Council who led the move to reject the application on this week's planning committee, says measures should be taken to ensure the cultural heritage of Coles House and its adjoining studio now remain forever.

"While not listed, the house and garden have a tremendous connection with Yorkshire heritage and should be designated an important open space area to prevent any future development," he said.

"The studio was where both women used to write and paint.

"I hope they can be preserved for future generations.

"I was amazed that despite the reaction of residents to the application and damage it could have done to the cultural heritage of the Dales that the planning officers recommended this for approval.

"I am absolutely delighted that this proposal has been refused and hope that puts an end to the matter once and for all.

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"Marie Hartley and Joan Ingilby were just remarkable women who did so much for the Dales and Yorkshire as a whole.

"Our memories of them will long be cherished."

Marie Hartley, who lived to be 100, was born in Morley to a family of wool merchants and became an accomplished wood engraver early on in life.

In the early 1930s she teamed up with Ella Pontefract, a friend with similar writing and artistic talent, to visit the Dales and began illustrating and writing books on Yorkshire life from mid 19th century to modern times.

In 1945, following the death of Ella Pontefract, she was joined at Coles House by Joan Ingilby. Over the ensuing decades the women contributed to 33 books, thousands of paintings and photographs and an extraordinary collection of odds and ends picked up from their tours across the region.

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In 1979 the pair opened the Upper Dales Folk Museum in Hawes, later renamed the Dales Countryside Museum, and filled it with their vast collection of Yorkshire memorabilia, a collection now deemed of national importance.

In 1993 both women received the Medal of the Yorkshire Archaeological Society for their contribution to Yorkshire History and in 1997, were awarded MBEs for services to the culture and history of Yorkshire.

Ms Ingilby died in 2000 aged 89, and Ms Hartley passed away at Coles House six years later.

LITERARY LINKS IN YORKSHIRE

There are many former homes of celebrated artists preserved across Yorkshire.

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Haworth Parsonage, which was built around 1778, was lived in by Patrick Bronte, his wife Maria and their six children.

It provided the inspiration for much of Charlotte, Emily and Anne's work and was where Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights and Agnes Grey were all written.

1 Aspinall Street, Mytholmroyd, Calderdale, was the birthplace of former poet laureate and author of The Iron Man Ted Hughes.

Following his death in 1998 the house has been converted into a writer's refuge.

The Grade-II listed 54 Bootham is also famous in York as the birthplace of the poet W.H Auden.

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