The minster town of Halifax derives its name from the Old English halh-gefeaxe, meaning “area of coarse grass in the nook of land”, a name that bears little resemblance to the town today. Whilst not mentioned in the Domesday Book, it was probably in existence by the end of the eleventh century and rose to prominence during the fifteenth century as a centre of woollen manufacture. Of course, the Industrial Revolution only bolstered this further, and it became a mill town with

The name Brighouse is derived from Bridge House, a self-explanatory reference to a building close to on or a bridge, and what is now a town was originally a hamlet in the ancient parish of Halifax. Surrounded by Huddersfield to the south, Halifax to the west, Bradford to the north, and Dewsbury to the east, it marks the first stopping point on a journey along the Calder Valley Line that will become progressively more scenic as it heads into the Pennines. Not that Brighouse is

Calderdale is the second Metropolitan Borough in modern-day West Yorkshire not to contain a city, being administered from Halifax, its largest town. Like Kirklees, it was formed in 1974. Named after the River Calder, it includes six main towns – in addition to Halifax, these are Brighouse, Elland, Sowerby Bridge, Hebden Bridge, and Todmorden. All of these bar Elland have a railway station on the Calder Valley Line, which connects Leeds and Bradford with Lancashire and is the