Hebden Bridge
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| Hebden Bridge | |
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  Hebden Bridge shown within West Yorkshire |
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| Population | approx 4,500 |
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| OS grid reference | |
| Metropolitan borough | Calderdale |
| Metropolitan county | West Yorkshire |
| Region | Yorkshire and the Humber |
| Constituent country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | HEBDEN BRIDGE |
| Postcode district | HX7 |
| Dialling code | 01422 |
| Police | West Yorkshire |
| Fire | West Yorkshire |
| Ambulance | Yorkshire |
| European Parliament | Yorkshire and the Humber |
| UK Parliament | Calder Valley |
| List of places: UK • England • Yorkshire | |
Hebden Bridge is a town within the Calderdale borough of West Yorkshire, England, eight miles (13 km) west of Halifax, at the confluence of the River Calder and Hebden Water.
A 2003 profile of the Calder Valley ward, covering Hebden Bridge, Old Town, and part of Todmorden, estimated the population at 11,549.[1] The population of the town itself is approximately 4,500.
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[edit] History
[edit] Early history
The original settlement was the hilltop village of Heptonstall. Hebden Bridge (orig Heptenbryge) started as a settlement where the Halifax to Burnley hilltop packhorse route dropped down into the valley. The route crossed the River Hebden at the spot where the old bridge (from where Hebden Bridge gets its name) stands.
[edit] Development
The steep wet hills and access to major wool markets meant that Hebden Bridge was ideal for water powered weaving mills and the town developed during the 19th and 20th centuries; at one time Hebden was so well-known for its clothing manufacture that it was known as "Trouser Town".[2] Drainage of the marshland which covered much of the Upper Calder Valley prior to the Industrial Revolution enabled construction of the road which runs through the valley. Prior to this, travel was only possible via the ancient packhorse route which ran along the hilltop, dropping into the valleys wherever necessary, as was the case with Hebden Bridge. The wool trade also brought the Rochdale Canal (running from Sowerby Bridge to Manchester) and the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (running from Leeds to Manchester and Burnley).
[edit] Developing facilities
Hebden Bridge also grew to include a cinema and substantial offices for Hebden Bridge Urban District Council. There was some controversy about this as the land was originally intended to be the site of a swimming pool. Hebden Bridge still has no swimming pool, although for some years there was a small training pool for children in the adult education centre on Pitt Street. Hebden Bridge also had its own cooperative society. However, during the 1960s, it was defrauded and went bankrupt. The old co-op building became a hotel and was later converted into flats. The Co-op returned in the 1980s with a supermarket on Market Street on the site of an old mill.
[edit] Second World War
During the Second World War Hebden Bridge was designated a "reception area" and took in evacuees from industrial cities. Two bombs fell on Calderdale during the war, but they were not targeted, they were merely the emptying of the bomb load.
[edit] Postwar period
During the 1970s and 1980s the town saw an influx of artists, writers, photographers, musicians, alternative practitioners, teachers, green and New Age activists and more recently, wealthier 'yuppie' types. This in turn saw a boom in tourism to the area. During the 1990s Hebden Bridge became a dormitory town due to its proximity to major towns and cities in West Yorkshire, Greater Manchester and Lancashire.
On the 6th of July 2003 Hebden Bridge was granted Fairtrade Zone status.
[edit] Governance
At a district level, Hebden Bridge Urban District was established in 1891. In 1937, it merged with Mytholmroyd Urban District to become Hebden Royd Urban District. At a county level, Hebden Bridge was administered as part of the West Riding of Yorkshire. These were abolished as part of the reforms introduced in the Local Government Act 1972. They were replaced with West Yorkshire Metropolitan county, Calderdale Metropolitan Borough, and Hebden Royd Town Civil Parish. From a legal point of view, the town council is a parish council. Recently, it has attracted praise for its commitment to eco-friendly policies[3], following the example of Modbury in banning all plastic shopping bags, thus becoming the largest community in Europe to do so. (there is no ban in Hebden, nor powers to impose one. There is a voluntary agreement between most of the inhabitants of this part of Calderdale not to use plastic carrier bags)
[edit] Local issues
[edit] Housing
Hebden Bridge is a popular place to live. However space is limited due to the steep valleys and lack of flat land. In the past this led to "upstairs-downstairs" houses known as over and under dwellings. These were houses built in terraces with 4 - 5 storeys. The upper storeys face uphill while the lower ones face downhill with their back wall against the hillside. The bottom 2 storeys would be one house while the upper 2 - 3 storeys would be another. This also led to unusual legal arrangements such as the "flying freehold", where the shared floor/ceiling is wholly owned by the underdwelling.
Population changes in the 1990s led to a demand for more houses. This has proved to be extremely controversial for a number of reasons. The limited availability of houses has meant that prices have risen sharply (for example, a house valued at £54,000 in 1998 was valued at nearly £150,000 in 2004). Demand for new houses is also a contentious issue as many of the sites for proposed development are areas such as fields or woodland that some local residents feel should be left as they are.
[edit] Unsolved murders
Hebden Bridge and nearby Mytholmroyd have seen two unsolved murders in recent years. The first was Agnes Ogden. She was suffocated by an intruder on the night of 18th-19th December 1991 at her home in Mytholmroyd.
The second was Lindsey Rimer. She disappeared on the night of November 7th 1994. She was last seen on CCTV at 22:30 at the Spar supermarket in Hebden Bridge. Her body was found in the Rochdale Canal at Callis Mill the following April.[4].
[edit] Acre Mill
Acre Mill was an asbestos mill in the hilltop settlement of Old Town owned by Cape Insulation Ltd.[5] It was open from 1939 to the 1970s and manufactured filters for gas masks. Many people who worked at Acre Mill contracted diseases such as asbestosis, mesothelioma, and lung cancer. The local newspaper still carries stories about people dying from these conditions.
Another legacy of Acre Mill was the disposal of asbestos waste. The main dumping grounds were at Pecket Well, Scout Road and Heptonstall. The issue of how to make these dumps safe is still a current problem and the Pecket Well dump has only just been sealed.
[edit] Floods
Because Hebden Bridge is in a valley, it has always had problems with flooding. These tend to affect the area between Hebden Water and the cinema on New Road, Brearley Fields in Mytholmroyd, and further up the valley at Callis Bridge by the sewage works and the old Aquaspersions factory. Flooding at Callis Bridge is so frequent that the level of the River Calder has been lowered and special perforated kerbstones fitted so that water can drain back into the river. Brearley is a flood plain but it is also the playing fields for Calder High School and a number of local football, rugby league and cricket teams.
[edit] 1995 drought
Although Hebden Bridge frequently gets flooded, it also has occasional water shortages. Particularly during the 1990s it had a number of hosepipe bans over summer designed to cut the amount of water used. In 1995 the shortage was particularly severe and the water supply to Hebden Bridge, Halifax and the rest of Calderdale failed completely.
Yorkshire Water, the local water supply company, tried a number of methods to manage the situation. They applied for drought orders to cut the amount of water flowing into rivers, particularly Hebden Water. Emergency supplies of mineral water in bottles and bowsers were provided to public buildings such as schools and hospitals. They also attempted to introduce standpipes to Hebden Bridge and Mytholmroyd but this was abandoned after threats of civil disturbance.
Another method used was to ship water in from other areas such as Kielder Water in Northumberland. The water was shipped in using tanker lorries and was dumped straight into Scammonden Dam via a specially built holding centre just off the M62 motorway. This was controversial due to the large number of tankers travelling along the busy M62 and A629 Elland bypass, and also because some of the tankers had previously been used for transporting liquid fertiliser.
Yorkshire Water also built a number of emergency pipelines, including one running underneath the Rochdale Canal.
During the drought Yorkshire Water was heavily criticised for having one of the worst rates of water lost due to leaks in their pipes. The amount of water lost was around 30%. Yorkshire Water was privatised in 1991 and a number of people felt that this drought was caused in part by them failing to maintain their network since privatisation.
[edit] Attractions
Hebden Bridge lies close to the Pennine Way and the well conserved region of Hardcastle Crags and is popular for outdoor pursuits such as walking, climbing and cycling.
For boaters (typically, people holidaying on narrowboats), Hebden Bridge's many shops and pubs make it a popular overnight or lunchtime stop, between Todmorden and Sowerby Bridge, on the Rochdale Canal - a through route across the Pennines.
The Arts Festival takes place every year in the late spring, the traditional Pace Egg plays are an annual Easter event. Hebden Bridge attracts artists and admirers alike from many miles around.
Walkley's Clog Mill was the only clog factory in the world and has recently moved from its original home at Fallingroyd, to a site on Midgley Road in Mytholmroyd.[6]
Hebden Bridge also has one of the few moorland golf courses left in the area.[7]
[edit] Other features
Hebden Bridge is noted for having significant numbers of alternative New Age types and a gay and (especially) lesbian community. In the 1980s and 1990s a lot of lesbians moved there, and to neighbouring Todmorden, to raise their children in a place of mutual support.[8] As of 2004 Hebden Bridge had the highest number of lesbians per head in the UK.[9]
In April 2005 Hebden Bridge was declared the 4th funkiest place in the world by highlife (the British Airways flight magazine) and was described as "modern and stylish in an unconventional and stylish way".[10]
Hebden Bridge railway station features the original Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway colours, rather than the red and cream colours of Metro, the West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive. The station roof was replaced a few years ago during a major overhaul and a cafe was opened in the old Red Star parcel office.
[edit] Notable people
- Jane Cox actress who plays Lisa Dingle in Emmerdale
- John Duttine an actor (Sgt Miller, Heartbeat 2004-present) and his actress wife Mel Martin live in the town
- John Fawcett theologian and founder of Hope Baptist Church
- Stuart Fielden Great Britain rugby league player
- Ursula Holden-Gill (born 1974) TV actress (Emmerdale, Holby City, Teachers The Bill)
- Ted Hughes was born in Mytholmroyd
- Bernard Ingham Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's press secretary
- Harry Mortimer composer and conductor
- Alice Nutter from the band Chumbawamba
- Sylvia Plath is buried in nearby Heptonstall
- Jane Lumb, 1960s fashion model
[edit] References
- ^ Calderdale government information
- ^ Town Teams - Hebden Bridge - "Reinforcing the Heart of the Town".
- ^ Sunday Telegraph 22nd July 2007 2, 406 pC12
- ^ Police report on murders
- ^ Acre Mill
- ^ Walkley's Clog Mill
- ^ Welcome to the Hebden Bridge Golf Club website
- ^ The Observer - Lesbians the toast of the Two Ferrets (2001-07-29)
- ^ The Guardian - Location, location, orientation (2004-03-27)
- ^ Hebden Bridge: 4th funkiest town in the World (2005-05-01)
