page_title: Ella Pontefract
section_title: Early days
hierarchical_section_title: Ella Pontefract / Early days
caption_attribution_description: English: Dibbles Bridge The stream appears to change its name hereabouts. Above the bridge it is called the River Dibb and some way below it seems to become Barben Beck. Despite this there are names downstream which suggest "Dibb" may be the true moniker (Dib Side and Dib Well). Stephen Craven adds: "A shoemaker who made shoes for the monks of Fountains Abbey was returning one night from the abbey with a sackful to be repaired, and fell asleep by the ford here. When he awoke he found a stranger by him who asked the way. The shoemaker told him, and the stranger asked what he would like in return. 'A bridge over this river so that I could cross it dry in flood times.' said the shoemaker. 'Come here next Sabbath morning', said the stranger, 'and it will be there'. The neighbours laughed when the shoemaker told his tale in Thorpe, and during the week one or two went to look, and laughed still more. They went in crowds on the Sunday morning, and the bridge was there. Ever after that it was called 'the Devil's bridge'." Source, local historians Marie Hartley &amp; Ella Pontefract in their 1938 book on Wharfedale (Marie only died in 2006, aged 100!).
context_page_description: Ella Pontefract was the author of six books on the social history of the Yorkshire Dales related to disappearing rural traditions. Though thin and slightly built she was spirited and lively minded. Her character was charming and modest.
  "She loved people and was the best listener I have ever met" Joan Ingilby.
  The recording of reminiscences, oral history, is a very noticeable feature of the work of Ella Pontefract. Women were among the first to interrogate local inhabitants for history based on personal reminiscences. Ella and her partner Marie Hartley developed a rigorous transcription method for recording Yorkshire dialect, and vocabulary including the subtle distinctions between adjacent valleys.
  They showed great enthusiasm for and interest in the skills, crafts and ways the Dales made its living.
  She had "great strength of mind and independence of thought. In the villages she was deeply loved for her infinite kindness and abiding affection for the stone villages." David Brooks, The Yorkshire Post 1945.
context_section_description: Ella Pontefract was born in the textile valleys of Yorkshire into prosperous families of Huddersfield and Penistone district. Her father's people had been manufacturers and yeomen farmers, her mother's grandfather the founder of Haig textile machinery manufacturers. The family upheld liberal politics and the high standards of conduct of the nonconformist Chapel. Ella attended Wheelwright Grammar School in Dewsbury, then Highfield Private School in Harrogate. In 1912 the parents moved the family moved up to Lindley Moor between Huddersfield and Halifax, but the postwar slump of 1925 necessitated they move again, and they chose Wetherby. Also at that time Ella had her first breakdown due to high blood pressure and spent a year or two in forced inactivity. Her neighbour's daughter Marie Hartley, although nine years younger, became her inseparable lifelong friend. In 1927 they started walking tours, with friends, of the Yorkshire Dales. Ella kept journals whist Marie painted and drew landscapes.
caption: Ella recorded the oral history of places like Dibbles Bridge in Wharfedale.
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