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Heptonstall contains a ruined medæval church, the octagonal and oldest continuously-used Wesleyan chapel in the world, Sylvia Plath's grave, the Arvon Foundation, a small museum, a great village shop and two pubs.



Heptonstall "new" church aligning with the well-known landmark of Stoodley Pike in the dusk.

Down the hill from the village is Hebden Bridge, a fascinating town of little shops, with excellent pubs and restaurants.



Hebden Bridge from Heptonstall Road. It takes twenty minutes to walk down and forty minutes back. Or there are buses.




Old Hebden Bridge, now a Lido in the Summer.

Nearby is the beautiful Hebden valley with many woodland walks, and the Hardcastle Crags, a National Trust-owned area of outstanding natural beauty. You may want to try the more bracing moorland atmosphere of the Colden valley.



Crimsworth valley, above Hardcastle Crags. On the way to the Packhorse Inn (the Ridge).



Old clapper bridge over the Colden Water.



This remote moorland farm, Top Withens, is said to be the inspiration for Wuthering Heights, the novel by Emily Brontë. The conservation work makes it look like a WW2 bunker. Ted Hughes has been very scathing about this in verse and otherwise.
("Wuther" -- to blow -- is an appropriate name for this spot when the wind gets up.)


A little further afield is Brontë Howarth, Halifax with Eureka, Dean Clough Galleries, the Piece Hall and Shibden Hall, and the World Heritage site at Saltaire, with the Hockney Galleries, and Bradford, Manchester, Leeds and York.


There is much more to see and learn about the district, and there are links here to local sites with many more pictures.

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