Hebden Bridge, Water and Bridges November 2013

Hebden Bridge is a township in the Calder Valley made up of the townships of Erringden, Heptonstall, Stansfield and Wadsworth. The town is where the River Calder is joined by the Colden and Hebden waters, these waters helping to grow the town with the emergence of the cotton spinning industries. Originally the town was a fording point across Hebden Water, This was replaced by a packhorse bridge in 1510 and is how the town got its name. The Rochdale Canal arrived in the 1790's and the town was included in the new railway which opened in 1841.

Hebden Bridge's cotton spinning industries declined during the 1950's and 60's and the town became known as a hippy town during the 1970's when an influx of artists, writers, photographers, musicians, green, new age types moved in to the area converting many of the unused buildings in to squats. The town has in recent years become a popular tourist destination and become popular with people living there but commuting to work in the nearby cities of Leeds, Manchester and Sheffield.

The pictures below were taken on the 16 November 2013 using a Samsung Galaxy Tablet, they can also be seen on Clickasnap higher resolution and un-watermarked by clicking any image, link should open in another window.

West End Bridge.
Built in 1772 along with the new turnpike as a replacement for the old
packhorse bridge further north. The bridge was widened
in 1835.

Weir on Hebden Water.
The weir will have been used to power the nearby
Cotton Spinning mills.

Hebden Water.
Taken looking south towards West End Bridge from the top of the
Old Packhorse Bridge.

Nutclough Mills.
Built alongside Hebden Water in 1791.

The Old Packhorse Bridge.
Pictured from St George's Bridge along Hebden Water.
The fording point used to be along this stretch that the bridge was built
to replace. This bridge opened in 1510 replaced an earlier timber bridge.
That bridge was somewhere between where I was stood and the 
old Packhorse Bridge.

The Old Packhorse Bridge and White Swan,
The bridge was built in 1510, it is still accessible to pedestrians.
The White Swan opened in the 1770's and was originally known as
Bridge End.

St George's Bridge and Bridge Mill.
Bridge Mill also known as St George's Square was built as a corn mill
in the 14th Century, it is ones of Hebden Bridge's oldest buildings.
Discussions were had in the 1970's about demolishing the mill but
thankfully this came to nothing, it is now home to a number of shops and cafe's.

St George's Bridge and the Shoulder of Mutton.
St George's Bridge opened in 1893 at a cost of £1350, it is
of cast-iron construction, Grade II listed and has been modified
in 1911 and 1961.

The weir at Nutclough.
The weir was most probably built to power Nutclough Mills which
overlook Hebden Water here.

Clicking any image should open a link in another window to the un-watermarked, higher resolution version on Clickasnap.

Thanks for looking and please take a moment to share and follow me on social media via the links in the sidebar.

All the pictures remain the copyright of Colin Green.