Discovery Day

Food and Farming in the Calder Valley, Past, Present and Future

9.30 am to 4.00 pm

Birchcliffe Centre, Hebden Bridge

An introduction to using archive materials with a view to encouraging future research.

This day will include:-An introduction to archives held by HBLHS that have reference to land use and farming, including historic publications, maps, wills and deeds and photographs. A closer look at Local Probate Records, the 1939 Farm Survey and Farm Buildings.

A question and answer session with farmers who have a lifetime involvement in farming locally.

Lunch and refreshments included

There is a fee of £15.00; £12.00 for HBLHS members.

To book a place on the course please complete this form and send together with your fee to;-

Barbara Atack. Moorside, Old Lees Road, Hebden Bridge, HX7 8HW

Changing times, changing heroines: what happened after the suffragettes?

Amy Binns

When women gained the vote a century ago they had to learn to live with new identities. In local chapels, women organised pageants to celebrate great women. So who did they choose, and how did they stake a claim in our island's history?

Methodist Church, Market St. Hebden Bridge. 7.30. Free to members; £3 for visitors.

The Whittakers and the Holme at Cliviger

Roger Frost

This is the story of a house and the family who lived there for several generations. In its heyday it was a two-star listed building but subsequently fell on hard times and was burnt to the ground. However, this was not the end of the story of the Holme!

Methodist Church, Market St. Hebden Bridge. 7.30. Free to members; £3 for visitors.

Local History Society AGM followed by

The annual Alan Petford Memorial Lecture

Members of Halifax Probate Group

People all full of business: the people of Halifax at the end of 17th Century.

The legacy of the late Alan Petford continues with groups working on projects that he inspired, such as the transcription and publication of wills, inventories and other probate documents for the whole parish of Halifax. The township of Halifax, at the end of the 17th century, was indeed full of business, as Daniel Defoe noted, and the wills and inventories in this latest publication allow us to peer into the details of their lives.

Methodist Church, Market St. Hebden Bridge. 7.30. Free to members; £3 for visitors.

Anne Lister: the life and loves of a local lady

Christine Booth

Christine, who as a volunteer at Shibden Hall has conducted talking tours focusing on Anne Lister, promises us surprises, secrets and shocks in this talk about one of Halifax's most famous women.

Methodist Church, Market St. Hebden Bridge. 7.30. Free to members; £3 for visitors.

All our own work: the story of the fustian co-operative at Nutclough Mill

Andrew Bibby

The Nutclough Mill in Hebden Bridge achieved national and international fame during its fifty years as a worker-run co-operative. This talk will explore its origins and how it expanded and remained profitable throughout this time.

Methodist Church, Market St. Hebden Bridge. 7.30. Free to members; £3 for visitors.

Breweries and licensed trade in the upper Calder valley during the 19th and 20th centuries

Peter Robinson

Exploring the effects of urbanisation, the coming of the beerhouse and the growth of commercial breweries on the drinkers of the Calder valley.

Methodist Church, Market St. Hebden Bridge. 7.30. Free to members; £3 for visitors.

Lost houses of the South Pennines: using the archives with artistic licence

Kate Lycett

Kate's fantastic pictures of the lost houses of the South Pennines first exhibited in 2015 were inspired by research in the local archives. In this talk she shares some of the stories she learned in her quest to breathe a little life and colour into forgotten houses.

Methodist Church, Market St. Hebden Bridge. 7.30. Free to members; £3 for visitors.

Milestones and waymarkers in the South Pennines

David Garside

This illustrated talk takes us on a journey around our area visiting well-known and remote milestones and waymarkers along the rich variety of ancient roads in the South Pennines.

Methodist Church, Market St. Hebden Bridge. 7.30. Free to members; £3 for visitors.

The history of farming in the industrial Pennines

Dr. Stephen Caunce

Surprisingly few people are aware of the way the rise of industry in the Pennines opened up opportunites for commercial farming to which local families enthusiastically responded. So how was the feeding of ever larger populations achieved on land described in Tudor times as 'a great waste and moor'?

Methodist Church, Market St. Hebden Bridge. 7.30. Free to members; £3 for visitors.

Woodlands of the South Pennines - their industrial history

Hywel Lewis

The steep unpromising woodlands of our local valleys played an important part in the industrialisation of the region, a legacy which can be seen to this day. Archaeological, ecological and historical methods have started to reveal the history of their use and significance.

Methodist Church, Market St. Hebden Bridge. 7.30. Free to members; £3 for visitors.

Remembering Peterloo

Alan Fowler

A hundred years on from the deaths at the hands of the Manchester Yeomanry of 15 people attending a reform meeting, Manchester has no major monument to Peterloo. The talk explores both the event itself and Manchester's attempts to remember and also to forget Peterloo.

Methodist Church, Market St. Hebden Bridge. 7.30. Free to members; £3 for visitors.

Life and death in Hebden Bridge, 1851 – 1901

Anne Mealia

Who was living in Hebden Bridge in the second half of the 19th century? Drawing on census records, this talk will look at individual families and statistics to explore the lives of the people recorded there.

Methodist Church, Market St. Hebden Bridge. 7.30. Free to members; £3 for visitors.