Here is time . . .

. . .  measured in steps.

I loved the Ian Beesley photographs at Salts Mill yesterday and decided to splash out and buy his big book (as i would) so we could look at them properly at home. 

The Snicket
I am not sure whether snicket is a Yorkshire word but I have always known it, we used to have to go through a snicket to get to school - a long, narrow path between houses. In Ian’s photograph there are steps and this is what attracted me to this photo. The worn steps, the history of footsteps. The book has many poems by Ian McMillan. This one accompanied this photo - perfect:

Snicket as Clock and Calendar

Here is time 
Measured in steps
Worn by time
And footsteps.

Each step 
Of a clog
The ticking
Of a clock.

Each step
Of a boot
The marking 
Of a route.

Here are steps 
Taking time
Footstep by footstep
Time after time.

Ian McMillan


One of the reasons I like Salts Mill is the way the stone floors and stone stairs are still there, holding the history of so many people’s footsteps. Many of my ancestors worked in Bradford Mills in one capacity or another and I remember walking past mills as a child. So I feel a kind of affinity with my past every time I go into the Mill. I am glad now to have these photos.