Hebden Bridge this morning.

The river at Hebden Bridge broke its bank on Saturday evening causing flooding on the roads.
halifaxcourier

The Bronte Trail is one of a series of ‘Ure Walks Through Time’

Passing a large field of deer, we reached a farm, and entered a grassy path, with thick vegetation on either side, and opened up to open countryside. In Anne’s day this footpath was known as Bowsers Lane. It emerges at Thorp Head, close to the River Ouse. Branwell Bronte’s poem ‘Lydia Gisborne’ begins:

‘On Ouse’s grassy banks – last Whitsuntide, I sat, with fears and pleasures, in my soul commingled, as it ‘roamed without control’.’
Read all: thetelegraphandargus

At the entrance toThorpe Grange Farm the ‘ridge and furrow’ strips can be seen in the field that gave it’s name to the Stripe Houses. Demolished in 1883 they housed the poor families of the area and were the influence for the cottages visited by Agnes and the Murray girls.

 

 

Passing HolyTrinity Church and crossing over the picturesque little bridge, you’ll come to the spot from which Anne sketched the church. In those days,Ouse Gill Beck was much wider, forming a lake on both sides of the bridge. boroughbridgewalks

 

 

yorkpress/.Visiting_a_North_Yorkshire_church_attended_by_Anne_Bront__/

yorkshirewalks

Oxenhope church is to receive a £37,500

Good news for the Oxenhope Parish Church as reported in Keighley News:

An historic Oxenhope church is to receive a £37,500 Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) grant.
The money for St Mary the Virgin Church, in Hebden Bridge Road, will support a project to undertake much needed restoration to the church tower walls.
The scheme is costing £120,000 and the announcement of the latest funding will allow custodians of the Grade II listed property to complete the work. (...)
The church’s history includes a link to the world famous Brontë family.
In 1845, the Rev Patrick Brontë, father of the famous novelist sisters Charlotte, Anne and Emily, and their brother Branwell, appointed the then curate, the Rev Joseph Brett Grant, to take charge of the newly formed ecclesiastical district.
That district is now known as Oxenhope village parish.

Brontë Country . Bradford.

The Telegraph and Argus reports that Brontë Country is one of the destinations selected as part of a new national tourism campaign. Brontë Country is among destinations across the district being promoted as part of a new initiative. Visit Bradford is taking part in a national campaign showcasing the region’s heritage. The venture is part of a VisitEngland project, which will include a series of national radio adverts. Several itineraries in the district will be spotlighted, including a visit to Haworth and the chance to experience life as a Bronte sister. Councillor Susan Hinchcliffe, Bradford Council’s executive member for employment, skills and culture, said: “We are delighted to be working with VisitEngland on this campaign to promote our heritage to visitors from near and far.
“Bradford has a rich and fascinating history and this is highlighted by the variety of experiences people can enjoy across the district this spring. "There’s something for everyone, from the great Victorian grandeur to the beauty of the moors. “People who wouldn’t normally consider visiting the Bradford district are going to find out about all the wonderful experiences we have to offer.”
If you'd like to see how much tourism has changed in the area, do take a walk down memory lane with Keighley News and reminisce about the local Brontë bus firm.

Oxenhope's St Mary the Virgin Church.

Keighley News reports:

An historic Oxenhope church with links to the Brontë family will share in a £550,000 funding payout from the National Churches Trust to 30 churches and chapels in the UK
The funding from the National Churches Trust includes £15,000 for Oxenhope's St Mary the Virgin Church. Custodians of the Grade II listed building, in Hebden Road, will use the cash to help fund urgently-needed repairs to the church tower as part of a £120,000 project. (...)
We'd only asked for £10,000 because we didn't want to appear greedy, but they said they liked what we were doing and that we could have the full £15,000. It is amazing."
Reverend Wright added that the church's exposed location means it often gets a battering from harsh weather sweeping down off the moors. (...)
In 1845, Reverend Patrick Brontë, father of the famous novelist sisters Charlotte, Anne and Emily, appointed the then curate, Reverend Joseph Brett Grant, to take charge of the newly formed ecclesiastical district, now know as Oxenhope village parish.
Reverend Grant began holding services in a nearby wool combing shop. Within a year he had raised enough money to build a day school, which served as a Sunday school and church.
He was a tireless worker who collected money for a purpose-built new church. According to Charlotte Brontë he wore out 14 pairs of shoes in his quest for money.
His efforts were rewarded on February 14 1849 when the foundation stone for St Mary's was laid.
The church was built from millstone grit with stone and natural slate roofs. The square west end tower is 44-feet high and houses two levels of meeting rooms, which were added in 1991

Paganini in Halifax

In the early 1800s at the time of the Brontes, Holdsworth House was owned by the Wadsworth Family. Our diaries of their daughter Elizabeth tell of her having been to see concert violinist Paganini in Halifax – as do the chronicles of the Brontes. holdsworthhouse

This event took place the following day, Thursday, February 9, at the New Assembly Rooms in Harrison Road. The star of the show was Niccolo Paganini, often regarded as the most famous violinist of all time, as well as a great composer.

On February 11 the Halifax and Huddersfield Express reported the assembly rooms "exhibited a brilliant and numerous assemblage of the leading gentry and fashion of the town and neighbourhood" and said the musician was "as singular in his personal appearance as he is wondrous and unrivalled in the musical world".

Of his virtuoso perform-ance, the newspaper was full of enthusiasm. "We have no language that can adequately describe the unearthly melody of Paganini" it stated and added that it was "at a loss, too, for language to express the powerful emotions produced by his performance".Traffic in 1832 was horse-drawn and the streets were not nearly as wide as today. The gentlemen and ladies turning up for the concert arrived, of course, by coach, and the narrow streets became blocked by horses and carriages, each with a coachmen or grooms in attendance. The surrounding streets became gridlocked and in the confusion many of the horses became frantic and carriage wheels became entangled. One collision required the summons of a coach builder to release two carriages, which had become firmly interlocked. The private coachmen of the local gentry, in their colourful dress livery, were privileged to hear Paganini for themselves, being allowed admission after the half-time interval, free of charge. Read all: halifaxcourier

Oxenhope and the Brontes

 

Until the 1840's Oxenhope was part of Haworth parish and Anglicans who wished to attend church had to take the long walk up to Haworth for services. As the population grew it was decided that Oxenhope needed its own church and the then vicar of Haworth, Patrick Brontë, sent his curate Joseph Brett Grant to establish the new parish. Initially services were held in other buildings but Grant was an effective fundraiser and by February 1849 the foundation stone for a parish church was laid and the building finished just eight months later. Brett was a popular and respected vicar who served the parish for over 30 years. The stained glass windows in the choir are dedicated to his memory. visitbradford

Photo: The original vicarage built for Joseph Brett Grant, Patrick Brontë’s former curate

Until 1845 anyone in Oxenhope who wished to attend an Anglican church had to walk to Haworth and back to do so. Otherwise the only churches available were Methodist and Baptist. Then an Act of Parliament said that anywhere needing a church could build one. As the population had increased because of the mills, the Rev. Patrick Bronte of Haworth sent his curate, the Rev. Joseph Brett Grant to start the church in Oxenhope. He had to hold services in a house at the top of the catsteps, although nobody now knows which one it was. He was allowed to perform baptisms, but marriages and funerals could only take place in a church. As a school and vicarage were needed as well as a church, it was decided to build the school first. This was completed in 1846, and services were held there. The Rev. Brett Grant raised money by approaching people, telling them he needed money to build a church, holding out his hand and asking them how much they would give him. Charlotte Bronte described him in her novel 'Shirley' under the name of the Rev. Don, adding that
he had walked so far he had worn out 14 pairs of shoes! She quite rightly described him as 'the champion beggar'. As a result of his persistence, the foundation stone was laid on 14 February 1849 and the finished building was consecrated by the Bishop of Ripon on 11 October 1849. The total cost was £1308. thesunflowertrust

Arthur Bell Nicholls’s predecessor as Patrick’s curate at Haworth, taking up the position in late 1844, and performing his last duties in May 1845. He became curate and later perpetual curate in nearby Oxenhope, and was a close ally of Nicholls during his dispute with Patrick over his suit for Charlotte’s hand; when they finally married he and his wife were asked “to the breakfast – not the ceremony” as Charlotte told Ellen Nussey firmly (letter of 16 June 1854). He was a pall-bearer at Patrick’s funeral. Judging by Charlotte’s portrait of him as Mr Donne in Shirley she disliked him intensely, finding him conceited, intrusive, and insensitive. She acknowledged the portrait was of him, and remarked wonderingly that “It is a curious fact that since he read ‘Shirley’ he has come to the house oftener than ever and been remarkably meek and assiduous to please” (to WSW, 3 Apr 1850). He married Sarah Anne Turner, of Woodford in Essex, and if Shirley and Mr Donne are any guide she was “a most sensible, quiet, lady-like little woman” and “the making of him” (ch. 37). The man had much to endure, including Mr Brontë sometimes addressing him as Mr Donne (W & S, v. 4, p. 258), but it seems likely his self-esteem pulled him through. One would certainly not have wished to be among the audience at the Haworth Mechanics’ Institute being addressed by him “on the advantages of knowledge” ... blackwellreference


southpenninessacredtrails

 

The Brontes and Keighley

 

From 1753 the Union stage coach departed on the Keighley and Kendal Turnpike from what was the Devonshire Arms coaching inn on the corner of Church Street and High Street. Rebuilt about 1788 this public house sports a classical style pedimented doorcase with engaged Tuscan columns in the high fashion of that age. The original route towards Skipton was Spring Gardens Lane – Hollins Lane – Hollins Bank Lane.^[5] Keighley was to become an intersection with other turnpikes including the Two-Laws to Keighley branch of the Toller Lane - Blue Bell turnpike (1755) from Bradford to Colne; the Bradford to Keighley turnpike (1814); and the Keighley—Halifax turnpike.

On the outskirts of town is Cliffe Hall, also known as Cliffe Castle, now Keighley Museum.^[18] Keighley is the location of the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway, a heritage railway that passes through Haworth (part of the Brontë Country, home of Anne, Charlotte and Emily Brontë) and terminates at Oxenhope. At Ingrow is the Museum of Rail Travel. Top Withens and the Brontë Waterfall are within walking distance of Stanbury, a mile and a half from Haworth.

The town's industries have typically been in textiles, particularly wool and cotton processing. In addition to the manufacture of textiles there were several large factories making textile machinery. These included Dean, Smith & Grace, George Hattersley & Son and Prince, Smith & Stell. The former operated as a manufacturer of CNC machine tools, particularly precision lathes, until 2008.

Keighley has a parish church (St. Andrew's Shared Church) and is home to many Christian denominations. It has churches and places of worship for Anglicans, Methodists, United Reformed, Mormons, Quakers, Salvation Army and Jehovah's Witnesses. Keighley has a significant Roman Catholic minority re-established following the repeal of the penal laws. The Catholic population was boosted in the mid-19th century with the arrival of Irish immigrants escaping the 1840s potato famine who came to work in the textile and weaving industries. Keighley has three Roman Catholic churches (St Anne's - 1840, St Joseph's - 1934 and Our Lady of Victories - 1939) and four Roman Catholic schools (St Anne's - 1857, St Joseph's - 1922, Our Lady of Victories - 1960 and Holy Family - 1964).

Built in 1791 as a cotton spinning mill and we know it was spinning in 1795, and there was a corn mill next door. The chimney was added when the mill was converted from water to steam power.
Robert Heaton of Ponden Hall. Ponden Band was around in 1854. They played at the celebrations in Haworth at the end of the Crimean war. A Directory of the Halifax Manufacturers' Hall published in 1787 tells us Robert Heaton, of Ponden,  Stanbury, had Room No. 120 in the Rustic.

History of tmills in Keighley valendale/mills

Highlights:

• The Parish and Methodist Churches
• The Devonshire Arms
• The Mechanics’ Institute helensheritagewalks

 

More historical information about Keighley

 

workhouses/Keighley

valendale/families
 

 

Keighley Mechanics Institute

The founders were: A joiner John Haigh, a tailor William Dixon, a painter John Bradley, and a reed-maker John Farrish valendale/mechanics

 

The prominent building in the right foreground, next door to the County Court, was the original Keighley Mechanics’ Institute of 1834, a pioneering educational initiative offering its members classes, lectures and the use of the library and scientific apparatus. The stone globe above its entrance symbolised knowledge. Demolished in 1970, older readers may remember these premises in their later role as Yorkshire Penny Bank. The photograph has been supplied by Mr Kevin Seaton, of Shann Lane, Keighley. keighleynews/featuresmemorylane/

Devonshire Arms (Hotel), Church Street.


 

Landlords Samuel Morgan.  T. Ecroyd was proprietor 1884 (post chaise) : To Kendal, the Union - To Leeds, the Union - Invincible (from Preston) Possibly on the site of the old Roebuck Inn) (Red Buck) Free Bought by Corporation ex Duke of Devonshire 6 Jul 1897. The Devonshire seems to have been very much the center of activity, not only was it a coaching Inn, it is mentioned time and time again in news papers, meetings held, auctions of property and the like. valendale/pubs

The Brontes and Keighley

Suspicion grew that Currer, Ellis and Acton were really one man writing under different names, Charlotte decided to come clean to her London publisher and, with Anne accompanying her, walked through a rainstorm to Keighley to catch a night train (with a change at Leeds) to London, where she made her dramatic revelation next morning: "We are three sisters."

The sisters, and sometimes Branwell, would go far on the moors; sometimes four miles to Keighley in the hollow over the ridge, unseen from the heights, but brooded over always by a dim film of smoke, seemingly the steam rising from some fiery lake. The sisters now subscribed to a circulating library at Keighley, and would gladly undertake the rough walk of eight miles for the sake of bringing back with them a novel by Scott, or a poem by Southey. At Keighley, too, they bought their paper. The stationer used to wonder how they could get through so much.  readbookonline

The children also learned to draw and paint, taking occasional lessons from John Bradley, founder member of the Keighley Mechanics' Institute, and possibly from Thomas Plummer, son of the master of the Keighley Free Grammar School. oxforddnb

Hebden Bridge in the time of the Brontes

 

Photo: hebdenbridge/photos

Steep hills with fast-flowing streams 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 amount of clothing manufacturing.^[2] Drainage of the marshland, which covered much of the Upper Calder Valley before the Industrial Revolution, enabled construction of the road which runs through the valley. Before it was built, travel was only possible via the ancient packhorse route which ran along the hilltop, dropping into the valleys wherever necessary. The wool trade was served 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).

The first Hebden Bridge Railway station opened in 1840, with a small booking office and separate waiting rooms for the first class ladies and gentlemen. hebdenbridge  hbstationfriends

wiki/Hebden_Bridge 

Sutcliffe and George Sowden

 

Sutcliffe Sowden was a graduate of St Mary Magdalene College, Cambridge.  In 1839 he became curate of Cross Stone under the Revd Joseph Fennel. His appointment to Hebden Bridge two years later seems to have been due to a sermon that he preached at Cross Stone. Revd Sutcliffe Sowden was the intimate friend to the Revd Arthur Bell Nicholls, who was ordained along with Sutcliffes younger brother George at Ripon Minster in October 1846 A.B.Nicholls became curate of Howarth in 1845. Out of this friendship came Revd Sowdens aquaintance with the Bronte family. the-bronte-connection

 

Archdeacon Musgrave ensured that Sutcliffe's brother, George, suceeded him as vicar at Hebden Bridge. Whilst staying with his brother at Cross-Stone in 1840, George first saw the Brontë family. Here is an extract from his description of Patrick Brontë on that occasion: "... his quaint old fashioned look and his stupendous necktie: how it was constructed, I never could imagine." 

Unlike Sutcliffe, George did not know Charlotte personally before her marriage, but when invited to stay at Haworth in 1854, soon after Charlotte's marriage to Arthur Bell Nicholls, he got to know her quite well. In 1894 he described Charlotte as being "... a thoroughly ladylike woman, and very self-possessed..." and days that her conversation was quite 'unaffected'.

 ------------------------------------

 

Coming downstairs to breakfast one morning at Haworth Parsonage, George found Charlotte "ascending the steps from the cellar... with a teacake in her hand, which she took into the kitchen to toast for our breakfast, perfectly unconcerned and natural, never dreaming of an apology for being caught in a domestic employment."

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Yesterday morning the whole of Hebden Bridge and it's district was thrown into a state of great excitment and sorrow by the news spreading rapidly that their incumbent the Rev. S Sowden had met with his death by drowning. The sad news proved but to be true.His remains were removed to the Neptune Inn, and afterwards to his home.  The funeral obsequies were performed by Mr Sowdens most intimate friend,  the Rev. A. B. Nicholls of Howarth

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Halifax antiquary Francis Leyland recorded that Charlotte Brontë, in the lonely days before her marriage, would sometimes walk, or occasionally drive, to Hangingroyd, Hebden Bridge, the residence of Sutcliffe Sowden.  visitcalderdale/brontelinks

 

St_James_the_Great

stjameshebdenbridge

The Lane Ends Burial Society responsible for building Old Town Clubhouses met at the Hare and Hounds and built the cottages in 1823. They were originally designed as weavers’ cottages, at a time when hand loom weaving was still a profitable trade, with a shared weaving room across the top floor, and connecting doors between the houses to enable workers to get access to the shared room. The census returns showed that most of the residents were engaged in worsted weaving until the trade began to fail later in the century. Many of the small cottages housed families of six or seven adults: impossible to imagine now. hebdenbridge

 

 

Photo's of Hebden Bridge

photos/hebden-bridge

dmartinhb.zenfolio 

stjameshebdenbridge 
 

Blog of Hebden Bridge

hebdenbridge
 
More

wiki/Hebden_Bridge 

St_James_the_Great

stjameshebdenbridge

A search on th internet. The connections between the Brontes and Saltaire.

On Facebook I found this information. facebook.com/pages/Bronte-Parsonage-Museum

Visit Saltaire World Heritage Site and explore the Bronte connection with Saltaire owner, James Roberts. It made me curious. I wanted to know more about the connection between the Brontes and Saltaire. I found this:

 

Martha Brown started as a servant to the Bronte family as an eleven year old in 1839 and remained with the family until 1862.  In 1868 she came to stay with her sister Anne Binns in Saltaire where she stopped for 9 years.  Does anyone know where Anne Binns lived.

16/17 Victoria Road.
saltairevillage

Martha took on domestic work in the village, including a stint with Dr Amos Ingham (lately the Brontë family physician) at the Manor House in Cookgate. Martha's mother died in 1866, and in 1868 Martha, who increasingly by then was in poor health, went to live with her sister Ann Binns and her family at Saltaire. She stayed there for nine years, until domestic tensions between her sister and her husband Ben became intolerable for her, and she returned to Haworth
bronte.org.uk/martha-brown

Helen's  Bronte walks are unique in that they focus on Charlotte, Emily and Anne’s fictional and poetic writing. On these Bronte Country walks you will hear the extracts from their novels and some of their poetry as you discover more about the people and places that inspired them to write their famous novels:helensheritagewalks

An interesting sale of Bronte relies has just taken place at Saltaire, in the course of the disposal of the effects of the late Mr. Benjamin Binns, tailor, of Saltaire, into whose possession they had come through his wife, the sister of that Martha Brown who was such a faithful domestic of the Brontes, and to whom they had been committed by the Rev. P. Bronte as mementoes of his famous daughter.
http://query.nytimes/binns

Bronte relies
77 Housewife used by Charlotte Bronte, afterwards given to Martha Brown
24 Deed of Gift from Eev. P. Bronte to Martha Brown of some of the drawings in this collection
43 Charlotte Bronte's portfolio, which formerly contained the drawings given to Martha Brown
46 Fourth portion of a Shawl worn by C. Bronte, given to Martha Brown
56 A copy of " Jane Eyre," given to Martha Brown by Charlotte
76 Snuff Box used by the Rev. P. Bronte, from Binns' sale, Saltaire
80 Lock of Charlotte Bronte's Hair, taken after death by Mr. Nicholls and given to Martha Brown
archive.org

saltairevillage