Members of Hebden Bridge Local History Society gathered around computer screens for the final Zoom of the season. Jane Ellis, who is actively involved with the Industrial History Section of Yorkshire Archaeological and Historical Society, has been running the Yorkshire branch of the Railway Ramblers’ Club for over 25 years. She explained that the “golden age” of the railway poster was probably between the wars, but their history is almost as old as the railways. Read report   (27 March 2021)

In 1918, during the final months of the war, Lloyd George was already planning to fight a General Election as ‘the man who won the war.’ As Alan Fowler, former lecturer in economic and social history at Manchester Metropolitan University, explained to a Zoom meeting of Hebden Bridge Local History Society, things did not turn out quite as he planned. Read more (19 March 2020)

In a fascinating Zoom talk to Hebden Bridge Local History Society, Michael O'Grady, senior lecturer in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Huddersfield, explored the construction of local reservoirs, and the stellar career of John F Bateman, the engineer behind the planning, design and making of Hebden Bridge's earth embankment reservoirs. Read report   (27 Feb 2020)

We so often take our own neighbourhood for-granted, but Michael Peel's talk to Hebden Bridge Local History Society brought to life the history of the buildings that make up Hebden Bridge's 'Victorian Quarter' and form an important part of the character of the town. The talk focused on the area known as 'the Croft' between Commercial Street, New Road and Bridge Gate

Read report   Wednesday, 17 February 2021

Just over a hundred years after the call from David Lloyd George to build ‘Homes fit for Heroes,’ cultural historian Mary Ellen celebrated the history of the Heptonstall Council Estate. Her Zoomed talk to Hebden Bridge Local History Society was testament to the optimism and ambition to demolish  slums and house working people in decent and roomy accommodation, especially those returning from war. Read report (1 Feb 2021)

The paths that we use to explore our landscape carry the marks of those who used them over the centuries, but some were of special significance, to the living and the dead. John Billingsley, local historian and folklorist, told a capacity Zoom webinar for Hebden Bridge Local History Society about the tracks along which the bodies and souls of the dead were taken to their final resting place. Read more