A Short Walk From Midgehole Up To Heptonstall

Distance: 3.5 miles

Ascent: 600 ft

Walking: Andrew

Weather: Sunny

OS Map: OL21 - South Pennines

Starting point: National trust car park on Midgehole Road, Hebden Bridge.

Photography: Andrew using Nikon D750 / Nikon 24-70 mm f2.8

A long steep climb at the start, some beautiful historic buildings in Heptonstall and the spectacular views across Hell Hole Quarry.

The Lodge at Midgehole is a quaint Victorian cottage, now run as a B&B

New Bridge

The path up through the wood to Heptonstall is long and pretty steep in places 

This must have been a well used path at one time, presumably by residents of Heptonstall going to work in the mills along Hebden Water, because someone went to a lot of trouble to lay these stone setts

Caycroft House appears as you emerge from the wood

Rose Bay Willow Herb

Northgate, Heptonstall

Whitehall Arch. Is it a ginnel or a snicket? Either way, it runs off Northgate. Although the inscription appears to be IB, I'd imagine it's actually JB. I wonder if this was originally the door lintel from a grand house.

Towngate

Towngate

Looking up Towngate from the same spot

The 17th century Cloth Hall

The Old Vicarage. Plenty of potential for double entendres here

Church Street

Attractively wonky gravestones. The church yard is unique in that it contains two churches.

The Church of St Thomas á Becket was suit in around 1260 with some later additions. In 1847, it was severely damaged in a storm and part of the tower collapsed. The building was patched up but it was decided that a new church should be built right next to the ruined one. Today the ruins are carefully maintained to prevent further deterioration.

 

The new Church of St Thomas the Apostle was completed in 1854

The floor of the ruin and part of the curchyard is made up of some very old gravestones

West Laithe

The Church of St Thomas The Apostle

The spectacular view across Hell Hole Quarry to Stoodley Pike

Unfortunately, it's not really possible to get across just how high this place is in a photograph

Stoodley Pike

Mytholm

They're not kidding

This pinnacle fell from the top of the tower when it was struck by lightning in 1875

Towngate

Towngate

The old Grammar School on Church Street

Church Street

Church Street

They're not kidding

Towngate

Weaver's Square

The ruins of St Thomas á Becket Church from Weaver's Square

Weaver's Square

Off Townfield Lane

Must be Yorkshire

Townfield Lane

A few sunny days forecast so it's time for the second cut of hay

Before

After

Pecket Well

The colourful one is a small tortoiseshell. I'm not sure what the other one is but it could be a meadow brown.

These thistles were absolutely alive with butterflies, moths, bees - all kinds of insects

A meadow brown butterfly - no, it's not a moth.

Hogweed

On my way back down to the car, which can just be seen in the light patch to the left of the picture. This gives you an idea of how high up this is

Back in Midgehole

I stopped in Pecket Well to take this classic view over Heptonstall to Stoodley Pike on the way home