HEBDEN BRIDGE, WEST YORKSHIRE
Ride we find ourselves in Hebden Bridge, a town nestled in the Upper Calder Valley of West Yorkshire. The 500-year-old packhorse bridge that gives the place its name provided a place to cross the river and access the major wool markets. With the steep hills resulting in fast-flowing streams, it was the ideal location for water-powered weaving mills and hence grew as an industrial textile town. The original settlement here was actually Heptonstall, just up the hillside from Hebden. It’s an amazing place – a village lost in time with old buildings, churches and stone-sett streets lined with cast-iron gas lamps. Sadly, the excellent ‘Blue Pig’ descent from the town becomes a footpath at the bottom, so we haven’t included it in this route. The valley still has mills with
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