ARCHITECTURAL gems across Craven are taking part in an annual event showcasing the nation's heritage.

Several local sites will be among hundreds across the country opening their doors as part of Heritage Open Days next weekend.

The initiative, now in its 21st year, gives people free entry to buildings renowned for their historic importance.

"It has become England's biggest heritage festival – involving 40,000 volunteers – and celebrates our fantastic history, architecture and culture," said a spokesman.

Skipton's main focus will be a series of free walks organised by the local Civic Society.

There will be a rare opportunity to visit the engine shed, on Engine Shed Lane, as part of a walk exploring Skipton's Railway Past with expert Peter Bewes. Participants will also visit the current railway station, which was opened in 1876 at a cost of more than £15,000.

The walk will take place next Friday, September 11, from 2pm, and places need to be booked by contacting 07850 185360 or emailing contact@skiptoncivicsociety.org

Also on offer is a canals, mills and green spaces walk at 10.30am next Saturday. It will be led by Skipton Civic Society's environmental projects officer Sheila Clark, who will take participants to High Corn Mill, Victoria Mill and the famous Dewhurst's cotton mill and will explain how Skipton's plentiful water supplies influenced local industrial history. There will also be an opportunity to visit a restored waterwheel and two greenspaces.

Claire Nash will lead two walks around five of the oldest schools in Skipton, outlining the history of schooling in town, their teaching styles and some of the characters involved. They will take place next Thursday at 10am and next Saturday at 5pm, starting at the town hall.

The final walks will be staged next Sunday at 10am and 2.30pm and will celebrate 1,000 years of Skipton.

Led by conservation expert Sue Wrathmell, the walks will explore Skipton's town-centre buildings such as the Norman castle, the medieval church, the 17th-century inns, the 10th century wool and tea-merchants houses, the 19th century homes of cattle drovers, solicitors and bankers, and commercial buildings of the railway age. Meet outside the castle.

Also, in Skipton, Raikes Road Burial Ground will be open next Saturday, between 10am and 3pm.

Visitors will be able to explore the previously neglected and forgotten Victorian cemetery, which is the final resting place of Rudyard Kipling's grandparents as well as families with connections to Beatrix Potter and Charlotte Bronte. Research and work has revealed what may be the only subterranean mortuary left in the country and a wildlife survey has found water shrews, a rare sight in this part of the world.

There is also an opportunity to look at the town's Christ Church, designed by Chantrell, which opened in 1837 and had award-winning refit in 2009. Volunteers will be on hand to answer questions between 11am and 4pm next Friday and Saturday and refreshments will be available.

In South Craven, Glusburn Community and Arts Centre will open its doors from noon to 5pm next Sunday.

There will be free tours, a display of old photographs, a vintage cafe, classic cars and a quiz.

Also next Sunday, St Andrew's Church at Kildwick will be open to visitors from noon to 4.30pm, with tours taking place at 2pm and 3pm.

The 14th-century church is known locally as the Lang Kirk of Craven due to its unusual length and special features include a seven-mullion east window, Jacobean woodwork in the chancel and Norman stone segments of preaching crosses.

Its tower will be open from 2pm to 4pm for people to view the clock and bells.

Another church building to open its doors will be the copper-domed Giggleswick School Chapel.

Built between 1897 and 1901, it was funded by Walter Morrison, of Malham, to mark the diamond jubilee of Queen Victoria. Its unusual interior includes high quality mosaics, sgraffito and stained glass.

It will be open next Saturday, from 10am to 5pm, with music recitals at 11am,1pm and 3pm, and next Sunday, from noon to 4.30pm, with recitals at noon and 2pm.

Staying in North Craven, The Folly, in Settle, will stage special tours next Sunday, from 12.30pm to 4.30pm.

The grade one listed building is of outstanding architectural importance and has a permanent exhibition telling the story of North Craven's landscape and people. There is also a temporary exhibition featuring the Burton-in-Lonsdale Potteries. Young visitors will also be catered for with plenty of dressing up clothes.

Settle's Friends Meeting Hall will be open next Friday and Saturday, between 10am and 5pm and next Sunday, between 1pm and 5pm.

Built 1678, the building was restored in 2009 and there will be an exhibition showing its history, along with plans and photographs.

Across in Wharfedale, St Wilfrid's Church, Burnsall, will welcome visitors from 10am to 4pm next Saturday and 11am to 4pm next Sunday.

It can trace its history back to its foundation by St Wilfrid of Ripon before 700AD and, although most of the building has been rebuilt over the years, there are parts that go back many centuries. The font dates from Norman times and the current Lady Chapel in the South Chantry was built in the 12th century. During a refurbishment in the mid-19th century, a number of Viking stones and artefacts were discovered and some of these have been retained in the church, and form a fascinating exhibition.

Crossing the county border, Barnoldswick's Bancroft Mill will run its steam-powered textile mill engine at 1pm next Saturday and Sunday (the museum itself opens at 11am). The engine is still housed in its original hall and is one of only a few examples left of the many thousands built when the industry was at its peak.

Also, next Sunday, the museum will stage a First World War exhibition featuring an aircraft fuselage and army dispatch bikes.