|
Hebden Bridge has many titles, "Pennine Centre", "The Town for Great Little Shops" and "one of the world's funkiest towns". The town is renowned for its creative culture, with a fascinating history and a mission for sustainability.
Unique double decker houses hang on the hillsides above the town, whose 18th century core and Victorian streets spread from the 16th century packhorse bridge over the Hebden Water that gives the town its name. Dating from 1510, this bridge celebrates its 500th anniversary this year!
|
 |
|
From the Visitor and Canal Centre, follow the Rochdale Canal, or try one of the Walkers are Welcome routes up to the National Trust Hardcastle Crags, and the sustainable Gibson Mill. Sample the vast array of independent shops or the pavement cafe's, a result of the award winning pedestrianisation scheme completed in 2007.
One of the most historic villages in the Pennines, Heptonstall beguiles the visitor with its charm. Visit the local Heptonstall Museum, housed in the old school house and now with free entry, to find out more. Set atop a hillside hundreds of feet above Hebden Bridge, Heptonstall's origins date from Anglo Saxon times.
|
 |
Uniquely, Heptonstall has two churches within one graveyard. At the centre of the village are the ruins of the Church of St Thomas a' Becket, founded between 1256 and 1260 and severely damaged in a great storm of 1847. The present day parish church was built in 1854. The graveyard is the final resting place of both the poet Sylvia Plath, wife of the late Ted Hughes and of David Hartley, leader of the notorious Cragg Vale Coiners, who was executed in York in 1770.
|