Hebden Bridge

Hebden Bridge & Ogden Water

Today we packed a picnic lunch and headed off for some serious walking and exploring. It was a beautiful day.

View of Hebden Bridge

Hebden Bridge was our first destination. It was here that the notorious Cragg Vale Coiners, led by "King" David Hartley who is buried in Heptonstall churchyard, supplemented their meagre incomes from cloth-making and farming by making new coins from "old". Their lives were laced with intrigue and murder and their legend lives on in the town to this day.

Hebden Bridge and Heptonstall thrived during the Industrial Revolution when the mills and their familiar chimneys became the symbols of prosperity, specialising in the production of corduroy and worsted. Bridge Mill became known as the site where Royalist forces camped during their fight against the Roundheads in the battle of Heptonstall. We walked around the town perusing the various different shops and even attended a flea market.

It was around this time that one of the town's most famous landmarks developed - the double decker houses clinging to the hillside which once housed mill workers. Were these precursers to apartments?

We then returned to the car in search for a place to have some lunch. We drove for awhile without seeing anywhere appropriate.

The bridge in Hebden

View of Ogden Water

It was an unexpected find but we turned into a small road that had a sign for Ogden Water. It was there that we had lunch. We parked up on the hill and while sitting on a bench, enjoyed some stunning views of the water and the surrounding land.

Ogden Water is in Calderdale. It covers 174 acres of mixed woodland with a good view over Halifax.

In the distance, on the hill are modern windmills. These generate electricity and controversy. Some people welcome the environmentally friendly alternative while others think they are an eyesore and find that they are noisy if you live close by them. I'm sure it will be a debate that will continue.

Electricity windmills

Travel Diary II

Golden Acre Park