The Archive is housed at the Birchcliffe Centre in Hebden Bridge. We have an extensive and ever-expanding collection of books, documents, images, audio recordings, and other artefacts relevant to the history of Hebden Bridge and the surrounding area. The latest edition of our catalogue is available here in searchable pdf format: Catalogue and downloads
Please note that recent acquisitions may not be reflected in these files.
The archive is open on the second Wednesday and fourth Saturday of the month. Non-members who wish to visit the archive are very welcome to do so but must pay a visitor’s fee of £3.00. Only members may borrow items. Requests by non-members for information or access to particular documents may also be made via the Query page.
Numbers at each session are limited and pre-booking is required by emailing librarian@hebdenbridgehistory.org.uk. Masks and hand sanitisation will also be required. Our opening times can be found in the attached schedule
Archive Collection Policy
The archive is a living collection. Its role is just as much to collect material about what is happening now in Hebden Bridge and the Upper Calder Valley as it is to preserve records of the past. What we collect today will be the records of research by future generations. If any member would like to suggest, provide or donate material that they think suitable for collection please contact the librarian.
The Society's collection policy is as follows:
- The Society collects everything published about the Hebden Bridge area that helps inform the history of the area. The Hebden Bridge area includes the townships of Heptonstall, Stansfield, Wadsworth, Erringden, Langfield, Midgley, Warley and Sowerby.
- The Society may also acquire other pertinent published material, particularly about Calderdale and West Yorkshire that helps inform the history of the Hebden Bridge area.
The group runs a popular programme of workshops and drop-in sessions at the Birchcliffe Centre
Upper Calderdale's suitability for the preservation of local cultural tradition is nowhere shown as strongly as in its wealth of folk tales about places, many of which are still being passed on by word of mouth.
For some years now a small group of friends has been exploring the evidence for prehistoric activity in the South Pennines.