Before the lean forefinger of winter could burst the autumn bubble, my wife and I returned to Martons Both, which straddles the A59 between Skipton and Gisburn and are within hailing distance of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal.

We strolled along the towpath, under the double-arch bridge and beside boats as colourful as butterflies. A footpath took us to Marton Church, an ancient building that has associations with the Heber family. The old-time landowners entered by a special door and sat in a special pew.

Among them were Sir Amos and Lady Nelson. Recalling them brought to mind Sir Edwin Lutyens, the architect, who in the 1920s was a distinguished visitor to West Marton. It was Sir Edwin who designed the Cenotaph in London at which - a short time ago - the Queen led the nation's tribute to the dead of two World Wars.

A recently-published book about some of the late-lamented buildings of the West Riding included the mansion of the Roundell family, which stood on a breezy ridge near Marton. It was demolished when Sir Amos, a textile magnate, was persuaded by Sir Edwin to let him design a new hall.

My wife was born and reared at a farm overlooking the site of that old hall. Her father kept haytime machinery in the otherwise deserted stable block, a most impressive building with a circular courtyard which is now the stately home of David Nelson.

He told me of the circumstances leading up to the appearance of a modern mansion in Marton's green and pleasant landscape. The incomparable Gertrude Jekyll designed the gardens.

Sir Amos bought the Gledstone estate of the Roundells in 1919 and in November of the following year he and his wife went by steamship to India. During the voyage, they were introduced to Lutyens who was interested in their plans for old Gledstone Hall which the Nelsons proposed to modernise.

Mr Jaques, an architect retained by Sir Amos, supplied his plans to Lutyens who modified them. The cost of alterations proved to be so high it was decided to build a new hall and to limit the expenditure to £40,000.

Sir Edwin was extremely good at spending other people's money. Sir Amos insisted that Mr Jaques should keep an eye on costs. The original plan showed very big rooms which had to be reduced in size to be affordable.

The work of building the new Gledstone was put in hand in 1925. Within a year or so, as industry became depressed, affecting Sir Amos's mills, the landowner found himself short of cash. He managed to keep to himself the financial strain of meeting invoices for Gledstone Hall with its four lodges.

Those who knew Sir Amos and Sir Edwin in the 1920s were impressed by similarities between their physical resemblance and bustling manner. Lutyens, a southerner born in 1869, had no formal education.

His delight as a boy was to cycle in rural areas, stopping now and again to sketch buildings. At the age of 16 he began a two-year course in architecture at the Royal College of Art. Three years later he had executed his first work - the conversion of a shop and two cottages into a house.

He had achieved international fame when Sir Amos met him. At Marton, during the construction years, the estate agent Robert Bushby had the joy of escorting Lutyens and Jekyll to where the work was in hand.

The agent's daughter remembers Lutyens as a fussy little man, who had a light voice. He wore patent leather shoes with pointed toes. In contrast, Gertrude Jekyll was dumpy, with an old-fashioned appearance. She wore gold-rimmed spectacles.

The workmen were transported by lorry from Barnoldswick and other handy places. A canteen was erected. In charge, as cook, was a homely woman who was chaperoned by her husband.

When I first knew West Marton, half a century ago, Lady Nelson presided over Gledstone Hall and people spoke in hushed tones of some of its features, notably the grand staircase with alternating black and white marble steps.

For a time it was a nursing home. It is now in private hands and in the course of being restored. Though it is well screened from the nearby road, its big, deep-roofed form and two of its lodges are visible to anyone who approaches from Gargrave, heading for Marton.

The time to drive along the roads around West Marton is in spring, when the environs of Gledstone, old and new, are given a carnival atmosphere by blobs of colour from flowering rhododendrons.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.