Our final station in Calderdale serves the town of Todmorden, located on the very western edge of Yorkshire and in fact straddling the historic boundary between Yorkshire and Lancashire, which is formed at this point by Walsden Water, a tributary of the River Calder. The Local Government Act 1888 moved the official boundary, bringing the whole of the town into the West Riding of Yorkshire, and of course today is falls within the Metropolitan and Ceremonial County of West York

Hebden Bridge started life as a settlement based around the old bridge across Hebden Beck (also known as Hebden Water, or the River Hebden). The Hebden part of the town’s name comes from the Anglo-Saxon name “Heopa Denu”, which means bramble valley, whilst the bridge part is self-explanatory and we will cross the eponymous bridge on the walk. Like so many other towns in the West Riding, Hebden Bridge flourished during the Industrial Revolution, with water-powered mills built

Mytholmroyd is the only village in Calderdale with its own railway station, although a sign close to the station directs visitors towards the “town centre”! The village’s distinctive name means “ a clearing for settlement, where two rivers meet”, and the village has existed since at least the thirteenth century, when it was recorded as Mithomrode. Finds from the Bronze and Iron Ages have been found in the area, as has a hoard of Roman coins. The village was once home to a now

The town of Sowerby Bridge started life as a fording point over the River Calder, close to where it is joined by the River Ryburn. More so even than its neighbouring West Riding towns, it expanded during the Industrial Revolution, with water-powered textile mills erected around the bridge and the opening of the Rochdale Canal providing a route for transport by water over the Pennines. As such, most of its oldest buildings date from the nineteenth century rather than earlier.

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

Marsden is a large village in the Colne Valley and the home of the National Trust’s Marsden Moor Estate visitor centre. It grew wealthy...

The town of Slaithwaite is located in the Colne Valley, and probably has one of most mispronounced place names in Yorkshire. The town’s...

Batley is recorded in the Domesday Book as Bateleia and is an ancient settlement, although most of its many notable buildings date from...

Dewsbury is a minster and market town on the River Calder, and is mentioned in the Domesday Book as Deusberie, which translates as...

Ravensthorpe is a suburb of Dewsbury, formerly heavily industrialised and once boasting several textile mills. It is not an ancient...

The town of Mirfield forms part of the area’s Heavy Woollen District, having been a centre of the woollen industry from the fourteenth...

Deighton was originally a hamlet known as East Bradley until the Deighton family purchased the area. It lacks an historic village core,...

The market town of Huddersfield is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees and its largest settlement. It is...

Lockwood is a former township, which was originally called North Crosland and was part of the Crosland family estate. During the...

The small village of Berry Brow lies close to Huddersfield on the eastern bank of the Holme Valley. It is the last village on the line...

Honley is the next village along the Penistone Line, and is somewhat larger than Brockholes. Like that village, it is located on the...

Our next stop on the Penistone Line is the small but scenic village of Brockholes, which is located on the banks of the River Holme and...

The tiny hamlet of Stocksmoor has a pub but no church or shops, and its biggest claim to fame is as the birthplace of church minister Ben...

Shepley isn’t famous for its giant pies like neighbouring Denby Dale, but it is home to Shepley Spring, one of the largest bottled water...