Blubberhouses...

...I've passed this little Church many times, and walked round the reservoir too. The name Blubberhouses has to make you smile, no idea if it has any meaning or relates to something.

St Andrew's Church at Blubberhouses dates from the 1850s and is one of the Washburn Valley and Mid-Wharfe Churches. Decided I ought to find out a little more about its' history. The Church was closed, but I think it does have a service there every so often.

Blubberhouses is a few miles west of Harrogate on the road to Skipton. Blubberhouses Hall dates from the 17th century, once home of the Frankland family. Apparently Lady Frankland Russell decided to build a church so that her estate workers could worship without having to walk to Fewston, a village a few miles away. The Hall was modernised a few years ago and was on the market for £1.5 million.

The church looks over a reservoir which was built in the late 1800s. The reservoir navvies attended the church and started a Sunday School there. The men who worked on the reservoir lived with their families in temporary houses on the site of the reservoir.