Place:Hebden Bridge, West Riding of Yorkshire, England

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source: Family History Library Catalog

source: Family History Library Catalog

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Hebden Bridge is a market town in the Upper Calder Valley in West Yorkshire, England. It is west of Halifax and 14 miles (21 km) north-east of Rochdale, at the confluence of the River Calder and the Hebden Water. The town is the largest settlement in the civil parish of Hebden Royd.

In 2015, the Calder ward, covering Hebden Bridge, Old Town, and part of Todmorden, had a population of 12,167. The town itself has a population of approximately 4,500. It is known for being an LGBT-friendly town, and has been called "the lesbian capital of the UK".

History

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The original settlement of Hebden Bridge was the hilltop village of Heptonstall. Hebden Bridge (originally Heptenbryge) started as a settlement where the Halifax to Burnley packhorse route dropped into the valley and crossed the River Hebden. The old bridge still stands. Hebden comes from the Anglo-Saxon "Heopa Denu", 'Bramble (or possibly Wild Rose) Valley'.

The steep 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 known as "Trouser Town" because of the large industry of clothing manufacturing. Drainage of the marshland, which covered much of the Upper Calder Valley before the wikipedia:Industrial Revolution: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 Manchester and Leeds Railway (later the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway) (running from Leeds to Manchester and Burnley).

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Hebden Bridge Urban District was formed in 1894 and continued until 1937 when it was absorbed into the new urban district of Hebden Royd (which also contained Mytholmroyd). Heptonstall became a separate place in 1894. The whole area was in the ecclesiastical parish of Halifax and the registration district of Todmorden.

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