ISBN: 0 300 09662 3
A vast area, incorporating most of present day South and West Yorkshire, the West Riding
embraces the industrial landscapes of Sheffield and Barnsley (steel and coal), Leeds, Bradford
and the Pennine valleys (engineering and wool), the beautiful sheep country of the Dales, and
rich arable acres in the east, each of them with its own strong and distinctive building tradition.
Of individual buildings, Ripon has the only English cathedral with substantial Saxon work
surviving; Fountains Abbey, set in 18th century landscaped grounds, is arguably the most
beautiful ruin in England; 12th century Conisbrough marks the climax of the development of the
keep in military architecture and the house at Wentworth Woodhouse manages, extraordinarily,
to be both Baroque and Palladian at the same time. Huddersfield has an early railway station in
the purest Corinthian, Leeds town hall embodies Victorian civic pride, while Halifax has the
unique Piece Hall, a vast 18th century cloth market.
