Wensleydale Railway has announced that its contribution to the Heritage Open Days festival this year will be an exhibition exploring the history of Leeming Bar, the North Yorkshire village where it is based.
‘Looking Back at Leeming Bar' will celebrate the village and its history, using the Railway's collection of photographs, research and their team of living history volunteers. Displays will be on show throughout the railway's Station Building and Station Master's house, both of which have been restored.
The exhibition will offer an opportunity for visitors to learn about life in a rural village with an exciting past. Historically, Leeming Bar was a hamlet in the wapentake (a subdivision of a shire) of Hallikeld and a township in the ecclesiastical parish of Gatenby. It lies on the original Roman Great North Road (Dere Street), and a bypass road was built around it in 1961. Leeming Bar's name derives from a Toll House with a barrier at which travellers had to pay to travel further.
Heritage Open Days is the largest community-led festival of history and culture in England. Every year, it brings people together to celebrate heritage, community and history, telling stories, exploring traditions and bringing histories to life. All Heritage Open Days events are free of charge.
The Looking Back at Leeming Bar exhibition will be held at Leeming Bar Station on Saturday 16 and Sunday 17 September. Although the exhibition will be free to access, usual prices will apply to travelling on the trains.
More information about the Heritage Open Days event can be found here.
Saturday's train times can be viewed here. Trains will run from Leeming Bar, Bedale, Finghall Lane and Leyburn. The railway will not run its scheduled Leeming Bar to Scruton shuttle service.
Sunday train times can be viewed here.
Connor Lagus, Community Engagement Officer at the Wensleydale Railway said: “In 2022, we completed an incredible project to restore Leeming Bar Station to its 1920s appearance and function, and throughout this project we learned a great deal about the interesting history of Leeming Bar village. For Heritage Open Days 2023, we'd love to show off some of the information, photos and objects that we've acquired along the way.”
Dad and I had a wonderful hour and a half at the exhibition today (Sunday 17th september 2023.) The photos were amazing and the work to restore to the railway station masters house back to its full glory is outstanding. We really enjoyed the nostalgia and the memories. It’s a brilliant example of living history and Connor who put the exhibition and the photos/slides together was really interesting, very engaging and knowledgeable and brought the whole exhibition to life. When they do something like this again please go. We are leeming bar residents of more than 60 years and we learnt loads!! Great job Connor and all the people who’ve invested their time and energy in bringing this place back to life. Brilliant.