Strenuous Leader : Mal Distance : 10.5 miles
We start our walk along the canal before turning northwest to climb through Eaves Wood below Heptonstall. After leaving the woods we are into flatter countryside, but a bit muddy, as we head west to join the Pennine Way at Lower Pilling. We stay on the Pennine Way until the more open moorland at Green Hill, where we head across to the sheltered valley of Hebden Dale. We follow the path through the vale past Gibson Mill to New Bridge and a final small climb through the woods on the way back to Hebden Bridge for refreshments.
Moderate Leader: Pam Distance : 7 miles
Today’s walk takes us up to Edge End Moor via tracks and the Pennine Way and round the hill to Higham before dropping down to Holmcoat Bridge and Eastwood before returning mostly on the canal towpath back to town. There is overall ascent of 900ft on this walk.
Easy Leader: Jackie Distance: Approx. 5 miles
Hebden Bridge – Hebble End – Horsehold – Bents – Buckley Stone – Wood Top – Park – Mytholmroyd – Rochdale Canal – Hebden Bridge.
From Hebden Bridge we walk along the canal to Hebble End where we start a steep climb up New Road/Horsehold Road to reach Horsehold Farm. This stretch is very steep, but we will rest and admire the view at frequent intervals (you know I won’t rush you!). We are rewarded with wide views from high up the side of the valley, gradually descending on lanes and tracks to reach Mytholmroyd. Here we join the Rochdale Canal, then cross the River Calder to walk a pleasant path between the river and railway to reach Hebden Bridge once again.
Good going underfoot all the way.
NOTES ON THE AREA
The original settlement was the hilltop village of Heptonstall. Hebden Bridge (Heptenbryge) started as a settlement where the Halifax to Burnley packhorse route dropped into the valley and crossed the River Hebden and where the old bridge (from which it gets its name) stands. The name Hebden comes from the Anglo-Saxon Heopa Denu, ‘Bramble (or possibly Wild Rose) Valley’.
Steep hills with fast-flowing streams 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 known as “Trouser Town” because of the large amount of clothing manufacturing. Drainage of the marshland, which covered much of the Upper Calder Valley before the Industrial Revolution, enabled construction of the road which runs through the valley. Before it was built, travel was only possible via the ancient packhorse route which ran along the hilltop, dropping into the valleys wherever necessary. The Rochdale Canal served the wool trade, running from Sowerby Bridge to Manchester, and the Manchester and Leeds Railway (later the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway and running from Leeds to Manchester and Burnley). The location being in a narrow valley makes the town vulnerable to flooding and the town was quite severely affected by the heavy rains at Christmas 2015.
Hebden Bridge Town Hall and adjoining fire station is a Grade II listed building, built in 1897. Following local government reorganisation, it became underused. These days it is used as a café and exhibition centre.
The Stubbing Wharf is an 18th-century inn located alongside the Rochdale Canal, in which the poet Ted Hughes set his poem “Stubbing Wharfe”. Hughes was born in neighbouring Mytholmroyd, and his former home Lumb Bank on the outskirts of Hebden Bridge is run as a creative writing centre by the Arvon Trust.
The band The Dream Academy filmed the first video for their hit single “Life in a Northern Town” in Hebden Bridge in 1984.