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All Creatures Great and Small bridge memorial row

Olivia Richwald/BBC Peter Lefley standing by the bridge in the Yorkshire Dales, wearing a green wool coat Olivia Richwald/BBC
Peter Lefley used to visit the bridge often with his family as a child

Memorial plaques have been removed from a bridge which featured in the opening credits of the TV series All Creatures Great and Small in what one bereaved relative has called a "heartless and callous act".

Peter Lefley placed a brass plaque dedicated to his parents on the bridge near Arkengarthdale in the Yorkshire Dales last year, and was devastated to find it had gone during a recent visit.

He said the river was a "truly special place" for his mother, who fell in love with the scene after seeing it on screen and often visited for picnics.

North Yorkshire Council said several plaques were taken down during routine maintenance, and that it had returned most of them to the families.

Two men look at a glass vial as one pours it in a picture from the 1980s
Christopher Timothy (left) as James Herriot and Robert Hardy as Siegfried Farnon in the TV adaptation which ran between 1978 and 1990

The bridge, which crosses Bleaberry Gill, was made famous by its appearance in the title sequence of the original BBC adaptation of All Creatures Great and Small in the 1980s.

The programme was based on country vet Alf Wight's books, written under the pen name James Herriot.

Mr Lefley, 50, from Holmfirth, West Yorkshire, said he had been coming to the bridge since he was a small boy.

He said: "I used to build dams with my brother and sister, and my mother used to be sat on the hill with her bright red lipstick on, hair done immaculately, and she had a gramophone that she used to make my dad wind up.

"We used to have a picnic and this gramophone would be blasting out these old records and she would be singing her heart out, watching us play in the river by the stream.

"Just amazing memories. It still gets me now just thinking about it."

Mr Lefley said the plaque was very small and was placed alongside about 15 or 20 others.

"Somebody needs to explain why they’ve done it," he said.

"Every single person should have an apology, it’s a basic thing that they should do."

Olivia Richwald/BBC Mr Lefley and his brother standing on the bridge over a stream in the Yorkshire Dales Olivia Richwald/BBC
Mr Lefley used to visit the bridge with his family as a child

North Yorkshire Council’s corporate director of environment, Karl Battersby, said he understood removing the plaques was a sensitive issue.

"In this instance, we had to remove several plaques on the bridge during routine maintenance, and we returned them to the families where possible, explaining why they couldn’t remain in place," he said.

"We would encourage the family to contact us, as we will explore the options for a memorial in the area.

"As a general rule, plaques are a concern as they have the potential of covering defects which we need to be aware of to keep the public safe, and their fixings can cause the timber behind to decay."

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