The Alan Petford Memorial Lecture 2018 Township boundaries and commons disputes in the South Pennines. To the eye of the average walker, the moorland hills around Hebden Bridge might seem miles away from dispute and confrontation, but research carried out by Dr Nigel Smith, tells how disagreements over the location of township boundaries reached a peak of litigation in the 16th and early 17th centuries.
Read report Thursday, 5 April 2018
Dr Paul Dalton spoke about the resistance to Norman rule in Yorkshire in the years that followed the Battle of Hastings. In Yorkshire, William was seen not to have kept his promises, and the imposition of heavy taxes was resented. York itself was described by a contemporary chronicler as being peopled by ‘wild men… seething with discontent’.
Read more Tuesday, 20 March 2018
Thirty people struggled through snow and blizzards to attend a talk on the subject of floods. Nick Wilding, local filmmaker, spoke about ‘Seven Centuries of Floods in the Calder Valley’ at a meeting of the Hebden Bridge Local History Society.
Read more Tuesday, 6 March 2018
John Billingsley told the History Society how the 'Halifax houses', farm and clothiers' houses of 17th Century Calder Valley, often have decorative architectural details resembling the 'evil eye' - to ward off bad luck.
Read more (19 February 2018)
is at risk of not being performed this year. Rodney Collinge, who directed the play for almost 20 years when he was teaching at Calder High, proposes to direct the performance again, but needs players to perform in it. 
This is no ordinary local history book. It is the first publication for many years to cover aspects of the history of various localities across the South Pennines, rather than focusing on the history of a specific area. Produced by the South Pennine History Group as a memorial volume for the late Alan Petford, a gifted local history lecturer, it presents the results of new research by some of the many people that he inspired. See Publications section for more info and short YouTube video.
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Autumn 2017
How to use this site
Use these pages to find information on the Society's own activities, links to local and other historical organisations' sites, and links to useful resources for local history researchers.
What do we do?
We have a programme of fortnightly talks on Wednesday evenings in Hebden Bridge Methodist Church Hall. The 2017-2018 programme starts in September. Our Archive is open to members
History Society Archive and Family History Opening Times.
Come and join us!
There are lots of activities to get involved in as well as the Society's regular programme of events.
Trestle Bridge, Blake Dean c1904
West End Bridge, 1960s
The group runs a popular programme of workshops and drop-in sessions at the Birchcliffe Centre
A major role of folklore is to express the 'common sense' of a community - in other words, the shared rhythms and beliefs and ways of doing things that are accepted and largely followed locally.
For some years now a small group of friends has been exploring the evidence for prehistoric activity in the South Pennines.
What you find in this section are the results of about ten years work - visiting archives, interviewing local residents and digging up new photos.