Between the months of September and March, the Society runs a fortnightly lecture programme with talks on a wide variety of aspects of local history. These take place at the Methodist Church in Hebden Bridge (opposite the Co-op) on the second and fourth Wednesday of the month at 7.30 pm. Talks are free to members. Visitors are welcome (£4).

Recordings of presentations are usually made available to members for two weeks after the lecture on Vimeo. Information on how to access these is sent to members when each one is available.

For reports of lectures during the last 12 months go to [Lecture Reports](/lecture-report). Reports of lectures from previous years are available in the relevant Spring [Newsletters](/newsletters). Events for the next season will appear around the beginning of September.

Reports of lectures from previous years are available in the relevant Spring [Newsletters](/newsletters).

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Privacy Policy

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**Membership benefits**  
- Free entry to lectures including access to recordings of those lectures for a short time afterwards (where the lecturer gives consent)
- Free access to the archive when open
- Borrowing rights for the archive (published items only)
- Reduced fees for research enquiries
- Free membership of Family History and other special interest groups
- Two newsletters a year with news, lecture information and short articles
- Regular email news on society and local history matters

Membership costs £15. The membership year runs from 1st September to 31 August each year. If you join after the end of the lecture season in April your membership will include the following subscription year. Renewal invitations to existing members are sent out at the end of August each year.

The information you supply is used by us in accordance with the Data Protection legislation to administer your membership of the Society. Our privacy policy is available [here](/pages/privacy-policy) or you can contact the [Membership Secretary](/contacts/membership-secretary). Your personal information will never be passed on to third parties without your consent. 

## Download the membership form:

[Download a membership form](https://res.cloudinary.com/hhdifljso/raw/upload/v1661940918/Email_membership_form_2022_fe8eafeb33.doc)

##  Or pay online:


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Join the Society

**International customers**  
Please note that the shipping prices quoted below are to United Kingdom addresses only. Before ordering, please [contact us](mailto:orders@hebdenbridgehistory.org.uk) for details of shipping costs to addresses outside the United Kingdom.

**UK shipping costs**  
Prices quoted below are for individual books. Shipping costs for multiple books are calculated on checkout.

**Publications Mailing List**  
If you would like to be added to our mailing list so that we can inform you of future publications, [please click here.](/contacts/join-the-mailing-list)

**Your privacy**  
The contact information you supply when buying a publication is used by us in accordance with the Data Protection legislation to administer your purchase. Our privacy policy is available [here](/pages/privacy-policy) or you can contact the [Membership Secretary](/contacts/membership-secretary). Your personal information will never be passed on to third parties without your consent.


Browse the books published by the Society

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Publications

The archive will normally be open every Wednesday and Thursday afternoon from 2-5pm. However, this is subject to volunteer availability. Any closed days are indicated below. Numbers at each session are limited and pre-booking is required by emailing the [Archivist](/contacts/archivist-1). If possible, please indicate which documents you would like to look at. Our catalogue can be searched here:  [Catalogue search](/catalogues/hblhs-archive-catalogue).  
Non-members who wish to visit the archive are very welcome to do so but must pay a visitor’s fee of £3.00.  
It may be possible to arrange alternative visiting times if you are unable to visit at the standard opening times.

## 2025

|           |  Wednesday 2 – 5pm |  Thursday 2-5pm |
|-----------|--------------------------|-----------------------------|
| January   | 8th; 15th; 22nd; 29th                   | 9th closed; 16th closed; 23rd closed     |
| February  | 5th; 12th; 19th; 26th                   | 6th closed; 13th closed; 20th closed; 27th        |
| March     | 5th;  12th; 19th; 26th                     | 6th; 13th; 20th; 27th      |
| April     | 2nd; 9th; 16th; 23rd                      | 3rd; 10th; 17th; 24th; 30th     |
| May       | 7th; 14th; 21st; 28th                     | 1st; 8th; 15th; 22nd; 29th closed      |
| June      | 4th; 11th; 18th; 25th                    | 5th closed; 12th closed; 19th closed; 26th           |
| July      | 2nd;  9th; 16th; 23rd; 30th            | 3rd; 10th; 17th; 24th; 31st                     |
| August    | 6th; 13th; 20th; 27th               | 7th; 14th; 21st; 28th                 |
| September | 3rd; 10th; 17th; 24th               | 4th; 11th; 18th; 25th                 |
| October   | 1st; 8th; 15th; 22nd; 29th           | 2nd; 9th; 16th; 23rd; 30th                    |
| November  | 5th; 12th; 19th; 26th            | 6th; 13th; 20th; 27th                   |
| December  | 3rd; 10th; 17th; 24th closed                | 4th; 11th; 18th; 25th closed; 31st closed               |


![Documents about local industries](https://res.cloudinary.com/hhdifljso/image/upload/v1634295082/IMG_2822_38b887248a.jpg)

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Visit our archive

The Society will do its best to answer queries about the history of the Upper Calder Valley using the expertise of members and our archive but cannot guarantee to provide a complete or satisfactory result. The Society does not accept any liability for the accuracy or completeness of information provided.

There is a nominal charge for queries of £2 for members of the Society and £5 for non members. These sums go towards helping to maintain the Archive. Your request may be submitted using the form below which will take you to our shop for payment. Unfortunately we are unable to answer any queries for which payment has not been received.

It may be possible to supply copies of documents by email or post subject to the completion of a copyright declaration form. Basic digital copies are free. Photocopies are charged at 10p per page and £1 for postage. These charges are additional to the query charge


## Information request

Please follow the links below. When you click to submit the form you will be then asked to make a payment of £5 for non-members or £2 for members.

The information you supply is used by us in accordance with the Data Protection legislation to administer your enquiry. Our privacy policy is available [here](/pages/privacy-policy) or you can contact the [Membership Secretary](/contacts/membership-secretary). Your personal information will never be passed on to third parties without your consent. We would like to keep your information on file to keep you updated on this query and to let you know about other information that may be of interest. Please select Yes in the cart summary if you consent.

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Research service

The Family History Group is a sub-group of the Hebden Bridge Local History Society and meets regularly at the Birchcliffe Centre to further our knowledge of the people who live and have lived in the Upper Calder Valley. We also are happy to help local people who are researching their own families in different parts of the country.

The aim of the group is to promote and assist the study of genealogy and family history, the prime interest being the study of people and where they lived. We do this by:
- offering members an opportunity to meet like-minded people locally and to share their interests, resources and experience
- helping people with online research sources and we welcome visitors to our drop in sessions for this purpose. We have access to genealogy and other resources. More experienced members are always needed to help at these sessions.
- building up a database of local families and welcome any contributions to this. There are a number of surnames local to the Upper Calder valley such as Greenwood and Sutcliffe.
- welcoming visitors from other parts of the country and from abroad, who are researching families that originated in this area. 


**Meetings**

Meetings are usually held on Tuesday mornings between 10am and 1pm at the Birchcliffe centre. There is a visitor's charge of £3. Numbers at each session are limited and booking is essential to ensure that there is a volunteer available to help with your enquiry.  If you are not able to visit on a Tuesday please let us know and we may be able to arrange for you to visit on another day.

You can book by using the [contact form](/contacts/family-history-session-bookings). Please also use this contact form for further information about the Family History Group.

**Research enquiries**

We try to answer research enquiries from people who are unable to visit us. Enquiries can be submitted via our [Research Service](research-service) for a small fee.

**Monumental inscriptions**

We have now completed transcribing the gravestones in the Heptonstall Old Churchyard which has taken several years. It was an enormous task, especially when working on the older graves. The results can be accessed on the [Monumental inscriptions](monumental-inscriptions) page. Another team has transcribed the graves in the ‘new’ churchyard and these are also accessible on the same page. All these transcriptions can also be found on the [Calderdale Family History Society](https://www.cfhsweb.com/index/select/). We hope to continue the task in other local graveyards.


Family history articles from HBLHS Newsletters

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Family history

For some years now a small group of friends has been exploring the evidence for prehistoric activity in the South Pennines, roughly from the M62 up to the Stanbury-Colne road and from the main Pennine watershed in the west across to the urban fringe in the east. There is no particular prehistoric or archaeological significance in these boundaries, this is simply the present extent of our fieldwork.

The images below illustrate some of the features we have examined. Below the images are articles and updates that provide summaries of our work over the years.

![Arrowhead](https://res.cloudinary.com/hhdifljso/image/upload/v1648910930/Arrowhead_a416f2f455.jpg#medium)

Arrowhead: a typical barbed and tanged arrow-tip from the early bronze age. It would have been fixed to the shaft using wool twine and birch bark glue. This one seems to be made from grey Wolds flint – flint does not occur naturally in the South Pennines and was traded across country. These arrowheads are often found damaged from use. This undamaged one, from Midgley Moor, may be a hunting loss or a ritual deposition.

![Millers Grave](https://res.cloudinary.com/hhdifljso/image/upload/v1648911057/Millers_Grave_d11ae23650.jpg#medium)

Miller's Grave: a singular feature. The name is modern but the thing itself is prehistoric. 
The central element, either two slabs of rock close together or one that has split, has been surrounded and concealed from view by a substantial bank of earth and stones. Robin Hood’s Penny Stone – another modern name for a much older feature – can be seen on the skyline.

![Letterstones](https://res.cloudinary.com/hhdifljso/image/upload/v1648911126/Letterstones_53d1b9f460.jpg#medium)

Letterstones: Prominent stone overlooking Green Withens valley and oriented toward where the sun rises in November and again in February marking the pre-Christian festivals of Samain and Imbolc (which were later adopted and adapted as All Souls and Candlemas), essentially straddling winter and denoting the end of the harvest season and the coming of spring.

![Linear feature, Widdop](https://res.cloudinary.com/hhdifljso/image/upload/v1648911192/Linear_feature_Widdop_5927d5b8eb.jpg#medium)

Linear feature, Widdop: a curious wall of erect slabs curving down the valley side edging a one-time re-entrant. The reservoir water here, as elsewhere, has stripped off the peat and soil to leave the prehistoric land surface exposed. Where erosion has continued the slabs have fallen over. This linear feature may have been a ritual boundary or the basis for a stock-proof barrier to keep animals away from the stream people were using.

![The Gorple Dagger](https://res.cloudinary.com/hhdifljso/image/upload/v1648911298/The_Gorple_Dagger_286beb338c.jpg#medium)

The Gorple Dagger: a high status, prestige item which would have been worn for show. The flint dagger is a copy of early bronze forms and would have had a handle of decorated bone, horn or wood. This is one of the best examples in the country and is similar to north European forms. It was found adjacent to a washed-out burial on the shore of Upper Gorple Reservoir. The acid soils of the South Pennine uplands have destroyed many traces of prehistoric people; bone, wood, leather, horn, textile and ceramic are very unlikely to survive.

![Recording rock art](https://res.cloudinary.com/hhdifljso/image/upload/v1648911387/Recording_rock_art_2_55880f2956.jpg#medium)

Recording rock art: a camera-on-a-stick is being used to take a vertical photo (as an alternative to making a scale drawing in the field)

![Standing stone, Heptonstall](https://res.cloudinary.com/hhdifljso/image/upload/v1648911478/Standing_stone_Heptonstall_aecbb9e0c9.jpg#medium)

Standing stone, Heptonstall: sited just above the break of slope, and now incorporated into a wall, this stone may well have a stellar reference. There are several stones that appear to point to a position on the horizon too far south of east for the sun or moon. In fact they all indicate a place where the constellation Capricornus rose in 1500BC.

![Cupmarks, Higher Moor](https://res.cloudinary.com/hhdifljso/image/upload/v1648911643/Cupmarks_Higher_Moor_d56f5cfba2.jpg#medium)

Cupmarks, Higher Moor: just south of Stoodley Pike. The cup-marks - the circular depressions – are a common form of prehistoric rock art. These cups seem to have been placed in a particular configuration.

![Midwinter sunrise](https://res.cloudinary.com/hhdifljso/image/upload/v1648911748/Midwinter_sunrise_ac53012722.jpg#medium)

Midwinter sunrise: From Robin Hood’s Penny Stone the midwinter sun appears to rise out of the Miller’s Grave. This kind of alignment to significant solar and lunar events is quite common in prehistoric features and is unlikely to have occurred by chance here.

![Robin Hood's Penny Stone](https://res.cloudinary.com/hhdifljso/image/upload/v1648911839/Robin_Hood_s_Penny_Stone_9104094c9d.jpg#medium)

Robin Hood's Penny Stone: a large block of a gritstone called Huddersfield White Rock. HWR outcrops further down the moor and this stone may have been moved some 300m to its present position

![Barrow, Ridge](https://res.cloudinary.com/hhdifljso/image/upload/v1648910930/Barrow_Ridge_5f9741d9f4.jpg#medium)

Barrow, Ridge: a turf-covered mound of stones with a ditch around it. Another form of prehistoric burial.


Evidence of prehistoric activity in the South Pennines

Articles and updates

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Prehistory Group

From generation to generation, people pass on their own ways of doing things to families, friends, colleagues and anyone they spend time with. These fragments of their culture can include all sorts of information - how to dress, games and rhymes, customs to keep around the house or community, what seasonal festivals to observe and how, sayings and expressions and much more.

This body of acquired knowledge can be thought of as cultural tradition, and varies from place to place, helping to foster a sense of identity from family to village to school or larger unit, such as a country. It is more widely known under the name of folklore.

John Billingsley collates the folklore side of local history for the society. The Folklore Section covers the everyday customs and expressions of local people as well as the stories they tell and the customs they observe. We would invite anyone to share folkloric memories or documentary material on the folklore of our area, either for publication here or for inclusion in our expanding database. Please contact John through the [Society Secretary](/contacts/secretary).
 
John has been involved with local folklore for thirty years, as a speaker and writer, and as a tutor for Bradford University’s Lifelong Learning Department. He also leads guided walks with strong folkloric content for Calderdale Heritage Walks and is the author and editor of several books, as well as the ‘new antiquarian’ magazine, Northern Earth (www.northernearth.co.uk). Readers wishing to follow up local folklore may find the titles below of interest:
- A Stony Gaze: Investigating Celtic and other stone heads. Capall Bann 1998
- Charming Calderdale. Signs and customs used to protect the home folk-magically. Northern Earth 2020
- Folk Tales from Calderdale. Place legends and their context. Northern Earth, 2007
- Hood, Head & Hag: Further folk tales from Calderdale. Special focus on Robin Hood, the severed head motif and witchcraft. Northern Earth, 2011
- West Yorkshire Folk Tales. History Press, 2010
- The Mixenden Treasure: A true tale of magic in 16th-century W Yorkshire. Northern Earth, 2009

Below are articles, including photographs, that offer a flavour of the stories that are still told in Calderdale communities in the surrounding areas.




Articles

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Folklore

THIS PAGE IS HERE JUST FOR THE INFO TO PLACE ON THE HOMEPAGE. DO NOT ADD TO OR AMEND

Our Newsletters are usually published in September and April, at the start and the end of the lecture season

Newsletter Archive

Through our lecture programme, archive collections, special interest groups and publications, we offer a variety of ways to enhance your knowledge of the history of the Upper Calder Valley.

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Welcome to Hebden Bridge Local History Society

The Hebden Bridge Trades Club, a much loved institution which celebrates its Centenary this year, stands also as a memorial of a time of political change, as for the first time Britain elected a Labour Government. Alan Fowler, a longstanding member of the Hebden Bridge Local History Society, and with encyclopaedic knowledge of local Labour and Trades Union history, delivered the third in a trilogy of lectures introducing some of the remarkable local men who were steering the Labour Movement.

The building of the Trades Club was planned at a time when trades unionism and the Labour party were growing in influence. A move from rented accommodation to a purpose-built centre for meetings and social events was seen as crucial in establishing Labour as a contender for power. Most of the funding for the venture came from three trades unions which epitomised the industry of the upper Calder Valley: cotton weavers, woolworkers, and garment makers. Land was purchased from the Co-op and when the foundation stones were laid in May 1924, Tom Shaw, the minister of Labour in the first Labour Government, gave a rousing speech to the crowd which gathered in the shelter of the brass band room.

The idea of working men forming a government aroused some snobbish incredulity: George V after meeting with his first Labour prime minister asked ‘ what would grandma have thought of this?’ (grandma of course was Queen Victoria). 

Tom Shaw was one of those working men with intelligence and commitment to self-improvement. As a Union official he had to reach a good level of mathematics to keep stock of the complicated piece-work rates. And working at his looms in Colne, he taught himself French and German with a level of proficiency such that when he joined a delegation to the Soviet Union in 1920, he was able to speak directly to the Russians who spoke at least one of his languages. In his speech in Hebden Bridge, Shaw described solid and dependable local men such as Philip Snowden from Keighley who had Yorkshire seriousness on his side as Chancellor of the Exchequer.

These years in the early 1920s were difficult times. There were a million unemployed and the scheme for unemployment benefit was being overwhelmed, even with an extension of the benefits paid in a form of ‘dole’. There was a fear of social consequences if people were forced into workhouses. The unstable minority Labour government failed. By the time the Trades Club officially opened on February 14th 1925, Labour was in opposition. 

But there was momentum and the building in Hebden Bridge with its excellent billiard room and sprung dance floor was a statement that Labour was firmly part of the community. The key figure at the formal opening was J W Tout, Secretary of the Todmorden Weavers Association, who had been MP for Oldham, and was to become the Calder Valley’s first Labour MP in the General Election of 1929, which Labour won nationally. 

The Trades Club had played a significant role in organising and winning locally.




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The opening of Hebden Bridge Trades Club and the first Labour Government

How did the sport of ‘Socker’ arrive in the Upper Calder Valley and why does the area have no notable teams today? Derek Kettlewell, an enthusiastic researcher into local grassroots sports, spoke to Hebden Bridge Local History Society about the challenges faced and highlights enjoyed by teams such as Hebden Bridge, Portsmouth Rovers and Luddendenfoot. 

Sport is something of a Cinderella in the world of local history research and few teams have retained an archive. Using on-line data throws up challenges too – it’s not so simple as typing in the name of a football club. In the early days ‘football’ meant ‘rugby’ and ‘socker’ (not soccer) was the new kid on the block. 

Derek explained how the sport is organised into a pyramid of different leagues, with ‘the rest’ occupying levels from the 11th  downward. In theory it seems that movement up and down the pyramid is possible, but in reality clubs from these levels rarely climb up. The current highest placed local team is Ryburn, in the 11th tier. 

From the middle of the 19th century football gradually became more organized, but it was still a mostly middle class sport, with public schools providing most of the (amateur) players. Only after 1885 was it possible to have professional players, opening the sport to working class men and in 1888 the Football League was formed.

Many social changes contributed to the growth in the popularity of football. Population movement to work in the towns provided players and spectators, and the Factory Act that set up the norm of a five and a half day week freed up Saturday afternoons for sport. (In Sheffield the half day was on Wednesday – still marked in the name of the modern team.) Benevolent factory owners set up football teams, an act of enlightened self-interest to promote the loyalty and fitness of the workforce. Churches and chapels also saw football as a way of keeping youth on a clear moral path, setting up their own teams and competitions. Football teams were everywhere. Melbourne Street in Hebden Bridge had a football team and when Portsmouth Rovers were set up in 1887 there were already three teams in the little village near Todmorden. 

Compared to the nearby towns of east Lancashire football grew slowly in the Calder Valley. One reason was geography: in this area of deep narrow valleys flat ground was at a premium. Suitable areas tended to have been occupied earlier by sports like cricket and rugby. Portsmouth Rovers were a successful club but lacked the money to step up to a higher level. One reporter sarcastically described how the ground was a ‘fine receptacle’ for the rain with excellent mud baths. The dressing room was kept warm, he said, ‘at a constant 4 cow pressure.’

The little teams of the Calder Valley did nurture some famous players, notably via Stoke City, whose scout lived in Hebden Bridge. One of Stoke’s all time greats was Billy Spencer from Hebden Bridge. He was one of those local football heroes who were immortalised on collectible football cards. Another heroine was Issy Pollard from Old Town, initially unable to find a local team to play for, but capped three times for England in the 1990s. 

Derek had no optimism about the future of local football, but his enthusiasm was infectious and left a strong impression of how community and belonging finds expression in sport.

Picture of Portsmouth Rovers c1910 PHDA










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The growth, development and decline of football in the Upper Calder Valley


Who would have thought that a book of accounts could open up the day to day reality of life during the civil war? But as  Murray Seccombe told Hebden Bridge Local History Society, the rare survival of the accounts of the Constable of Sowerby during this period proved an unrivalled source of information. Those years of crisis in the middle of the 17th century were deeply felt. There were arguments, fights and exorbitant taxes alongside challenging new religious ideas.

The position of Constable was one of the most important roles in the governance of a township; he had the responsibility to raise a local militia to contribute to security, and as the conflict developed, to support the Military. He also had to collect the taxes to pay for such support. The brief entries detailing expenditure are the bones on which the bigger picture can be built. There is undoubtedly a frisson of excitement when you read “Item paid: James Dobson for quartering Cromwell Horses 2 days and 2 nights.”

England had no standing army at this time, but during the reign of Charles I there was an attempt to better equip the conscripts. The Sowerby militia consisted of 8 pikemen and 8 musketeers, who would be required to gather for an annual muster, and paid for two days.  This increased to 40 muster days as the threats became a reality, and the accounts record that there was an unwillingness to muster and train. There was also an ongoing objection to the expenses incurred: soldiers passing through or billeted in Halifax had to be quartered and the costs borne by the township. In one case four troopers were billeted for 69 days at a cost of £27. Unsurprisingly, the townspeople objected to the tax burden and the disruption, and on one occasion the Constable was arrested and held for not making payments.
Money was also spent on gatherings of soldiers and townspeople as the army became more radicalised. When Royalists took over Pontefract Castle, increased taxes were needed to support the siege and pay the wages of the soldiers and provide provisions for Cromwell’s horses. After the execution of the king and the end of the siege,  the accounts suggest that the Constable spent 1s 6d on some kind of celebration by the townsmen and the soldiers before they marched away.

Taxation remained high during the years that followed, and may have contributed to a weakening of support for the Parliamentary regime. Sowerby seemed not to have seen many direct casualties as a result of the war, though there were more deaths from plague epidemics, doubtless more easily spread with movements of armies. For a manufacturing town like Sowerby the slump in trade would have a longer lasting effect. The area remained strongly non-conformist and puritan even after the restoration of the monarchy. Prominent Sowerby men joined the chapel founded by the preacher Oliver Heywood in Northowram. Another legacy of this period was the growth in the strength of township governance especially in the raising and spending of taxes.







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The experience of civil conflict: Sowerby, 1638-1660

As Calderdale celebrates its 50th anniversary, David Cant spoke to Hebden Bridge Local History Society about how the government of the area was organised in the past. The townships were very long-lasting administrative areas, pre-dating the Norman conquest and still in operation in the 19th century. We might think our ancestors lived in simpler times, but their lives were governed by a hierarchy of different institutions such as the Manor, the County, the Wapentake and the Parish. But the everyday exercise of rules to promote order filtered down to the townships. 

The ancient parish of Halifax was very large, and was subdivided into about 23 townships. There was a degree of democracy and accountability, as the principal landowners of a township would meet regularly and selected the Constable, the Churchwarden, the Overseer of the Poor and the Surveyor of Highways. 

The work of the township was financed by a local rate collected at so much in the pound of the assessed annual value of the property. A percentage went out of the township to the Church, and the Constable’s rate went towards the administration of justice. Within the township the Highway rate funded the roads, but the Poor Rate was by far the largest demand on the township’s finances. Each township was responsible for providing for any poor person who could prove that they had settled status there.

Having survived for so long, why did the townships lose their significance? One reason is that when towns like Hebden Bridge and Todmorden expanded in the nineteenth century the old geographical boundaries of rivers, valleys and hills were no longer relevant. Also the evolution from township to council was accelerated by the crisis of poverty. In 1834 the national attempt to deal with this through new Poor Laws created larger Unions, encompassing several townships, to administer relief to the poor. The provision of ‘outdoor’ relief was prohibited, and all who claimed relief were to be admitted into a workhouse built for the purpose. The new Unions were run by an elected Board of Guardians, and eventually these were joined by Boards of Health and School Boards as the provision of wider services to the population were needed. Responsibility for enforcing the law also moved away from the township Constable to the County level, with national standards. By the end of the 19th century a new system of Borough, Urban and Rural District Councils swept away the townships completely.

But there is still physical evidence. In Midgley there is a township pinfold where straying sheep and cattle could be held, and township lock-ups to deal with miscreants are still visible in Luddenden. There are the finger posts and milestones that marked the major routes, and bridges maintained by the townships. For historians one of the bonuses of a bureaucratic system is that it generates paper work: accounts, reports, public notices and court records. Where township records have survived they can provide fascinating insights into people's lives.







Lecture reports

The opening of Hebden Bridge Trades Club and the first Labour Government

The growth, development and decline of football in the Upper Calder Valley

The experience of civil conflict: Sowerby, 1638-1660

Whatever happened to the townships? The part they played in our local history

Then and Now: photographs of vernacular buildings by Ralph Cross (1893-1978) and Kevin Illingworth

A Tale of Two Carnivals: films from the Yorkshire Film Archive

Todmorden Town Hall - 150 years old

Where there's a will & Neighbours and a neighbourhood

The dual economy of textiles and agriculture: a case study at Hartley Royd

Fifty years of local democracy in Calderdale: an awkward birth, a tough upbringing and a place well worth celebrating.

August 1842 - the people versus the establishment