Latest news on events and other points of interest for the village.
The Annual and Moonthly meeting of the Parish Council will be held REMOTELY and ON-LINE (via Zoom) on Monday 3 May 2021
The Anual Meeting will take place at 7:00pm, and the monthly meeting will commence at 7.30 pm.
The agendas for the meetings and how to take part on-line can be seen here and here.
Minutes from the April virtual meeting can be seen here.
At this sad time our thoughts and prayers are with Her Majesty the Queen and members of the royal family with the passing of His Royal Highness Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.
The monthly meeting of the Parish Council will be held REMOTELY (via Zoom) on Monday 5 October 2020 commencing at 7.30 p.m.
The agenda for the meeting and how to take part on-line can be seen here.
Hi,
I’m a writer from Sowerby Bridge, who has previously made a film about Branwell Bronte’s Calder Valley years, and who is now developing an idea for writing a book about the disused church of St Thomas a Becket in Heptonstall.
The basic premise is for a local history book, but with plenty of scope for creative interpretation, and I am hoping to interview knowledgable local people who may be able to help me fill in some of the gaps in what I know about the building’s history.
It struck me that there may be people in Heptonstall who might be interested in being interviewed, and if so I wondered if you would care to email me on zonenblick_95@hotmail.co.uk?
Simon Zonenblick
In order to comply with Governmental advice in respect of Coronavirus, all meetings of Heptonstall Parish Council are suspended with immediate effect.
If you have any vital issue you wish to put to the Council, please use my contact details below.
Normal business will resume as soon as possible.
MEANWHILE KEEP SAFE
Roger M Greenwood
Clerk to Heptonstall Parish Council
The Mallards
Underbank
HEBDEN BRIDGE
HX7 6PP
heptonstallpc@aol.co.uk
01422 844283
John Mainwaring, currently residing in Fareham, is looking for one or more images of the Pace Egg play painted by his father George Mainwaring of Rochdale during or around 1976.
He is keen to be able to see the painting(s) and produce high quality scans for a website he is developing.
It is believed that main painting of interest was sold to a Mrs Higson who lived at the time in or around Todmorden – a low res image of the painting concerned, along with a pencil drawing of the doctor are shown below.
Copyright in these images rests with John Mainwaring.
If anyone has any information on the current whereabouts of Pace Egg Play images created by George Mainwwaring, please post a comment so we may put you in contact with John Mainwaring.
Click on the following link to see the agenda for the March Monthly Meeting of the Parish Council to be held in The School Hall, Heptonstall J I & N School on Monday 2 March 2020 commencing at 7.30 pm.
Minutes arising from the February 2020 meeting can be seen here.
Click here to the see the Agenda for the Annual Assembly of the Parish Meeting, to be held at 7.00pm on the same day, , and here to see the Parish Council’s Annual Report for 2020.
Young people living in the Parish may be eligible for a contribution to the costs of university or college education, or training or employment, from the Heptonstall Exhibitions / Richard Naylor Charities.
They have provided support to people within the parish for over 125 years. This is the area bounded by Pudsey Rd in Todmorden, Midgley Rd in Mytholmroyd and Turvin Rd in Cragg Vale. It includes, Hebden Bridge, Heptonstall, Blackshaw, Wadsworth, Stansfield, Erringden and Langfield.
The Heptonstall Exhibitions Charity was begun on June 26th 1893 as the result of the death of Albert Law of Green Leas, Midgehole, Hebden Bridge. The Charity of Richard Naylor was begun on 14th May 1897
“For the purpose of the assistance of persons, whose parents are bona fide residents in the Ancient Chapelry of Heptonstall, who are under the age of 21 years by means of Exhibitions consisting of either a payment of the tuition fees at the school or a yearly payment by way of a maintenance allowance tenable at any public secondary school or exhibition tenable at any university, university college or other like institutions of higher education (including professional or technical),and for the training for persons intending to enter any profession within the scope of the Charities.
The Heptonstall Exhibitions and Richard Naylor Charities are two entirely separate Charities which for the purpose of administration are administered together by the same group of Governors and Trustees.
Applications must be made by 12:00 noon on the second Saturday of September.
For further details of eligibility and how to apply visit the website https://heptonstallexhibitions.wordpress.com/
Click on the following link to see the agenda for the January Monthly Meeting of the Parish Council to be held in The School Hall, Heptonstall J I & N School on Monday 6 January 2020 commencing at 7.30 pm.Minutes arising from the December 2019 meeting can be seen here.
Click on the following link to see the agenda for the November Monthly Meeting of the Parish Council to be held in The School Hall, Heptonstall J I & N School on Monday 4 November 2019 commencing at 7.30 pm.
Minutes arising from the October 2019 meeting can be seen here.
As most residents will be aware, St Thomas’ church possesses a fine ring of 8 bells, which were originally installed in 1912 and were fully refurbished in 2012. They are rung regularly for Sunday service (at least once a month), for practice/training of new ringers (most Tuesday evenings), full peals (once a month) and by visiting ringers from various parts of the country (occasional).
We are always looking for new ringers and currently rely on help from ringers from other churches in the area. As many will be aware, our oldest ringer and tower captain for over 50 years, Colin Ashworth, passed away in October 2013 and we have in recent years also lost two other longstanding members, Nick Helliwell and Geoff Cheetham. To ensure that the bells continue to ring out into the future, we do now need more local people to come forward and join us. Anyone who would like to learn more about bell-ringing and may be interested in becoming a member of our team, please feel free to contact George Campling for further information (details below).
We are also very keen to keep residents informed about our ringing activities and we recognise that people would appreciate advance notice of any prolonged periods of ringing, such as the monthly peals, which last for approx. 3 hours at a time. These are already posted on the weekly notice of church services and activities in the church porch, but in an attempt to reach a wider audience the details are also published on this website.
Ringing planned over the next few months is as follows:
Sunday mornings (10.30-11.30): 1 September, 22 September, 17 November, 1 December
Tuesday practices (19.45-21.00): most Tuesdays (generally not the first Tuesday in the month)
Peals (approx. 3 hours’ continuous ringing):
Friday 20 September 15.00-18.15 approx
Friday 4 October 14.30-17.45 approx
Saturday 19 October 14.30-17.45
Please note that all timings are approximate, owing to the fact that generally ringers are travelling to the church from outside the area. There is however regular liaison with the local Environmental Health Department, to ensure that the overall level of ringing is kept within agreed guidelines.
A further update will be provided in November
Many thanks for your support……and look forward to hearing from you!
George Campling
Ringing Master, St Thomas’ church
01200-429344
Click on the following link to see the agenda for the April Monthly Meeting of the Parish Council to be held in The School Hall, Heptonstall J I & N School on Monday 1 April 2019 commencing at 7.30 pm.
Minutes arising from the March 2019 meeting can be seen here.
I wonder if you can help me or indicate who might be able to help further?
Over a number of years I have been interested in my “Walton” family history. The family lived in Heptonstall for many years. Leaving for Cornholme sometime after 1851 and before 1864. I have now traced the family back to my 4 X Great Grandfather, Moses.
He was born around 1740 and died 12th July 1801. It would appear that he was married to Mary Greenwood on 16th March 1758, they had at least 3 children, William, Henry and Jimmey. Mary died and he remarried Annah Greenwood a widow at Heptonstall St Thomas on 8th February 1781. They had at least 3 children, Tommy, William and Joseph, b. 6th April 1788. Joseph being my 3 X Great Grandfather.
Joseph appears in the 1841 census with his family living at Broadstone.
My 2 X Great Grandfather John married Betty (nee Pickles) at Heptonstall Parish Church on 30th December 1841. They lived next door to each other in Broadstone in the 1841 census.
I am interested in any further information about Moses. Is it possible to trace his family any further back?
There is a family rhyme indicating that Moses father is Harry and Grandfather Fred.
I wonder if you can help me or point me in the right direction to discover further information?
Many thanks…
Howard Walton
Please respond to Howard’s enquiry by way of a Comment below. Any such responses will be forwarded to Howard by email.
Hebden Bridge Disability Access Forum, which covers the surrounding hill top parishes as well as Hebden Royd, has produced a leaflet offering consultation to applicants and potential applicants for planning permission/builiding regulations/listed building consent. Calderdale Council planning department are now giving this out to applicants for projects in our area.
A copy of the leaflet can be seen here.
Please can you pass it on to anyone you think it may interest, especially anyone who approaches you about planning issues. It is designed in A5 size to print out, but of course it can also be distributed electronically.
Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any queries.
Best wishes,
June Eaton
for Hebden Bridge Disability Access Forum
01422 844914
Click on the following link to see the agenda for the Annual Assembly of the Parish Meeting to be held in The School Hall, Heptonstall J I & N School on Monday 4 March 2019 commencing at 7.00 pm.
Click on the following link to see the agenda for the March Monthly Meeting of the Parish Council to be held in The School Hall, Heptonstall J I & N School on Monday 4 March 2019 commencing at 7.30 pm.
Minutes arising from the 2108 Assembly Meeting can be seen here and for the February 2019 Parish Council meeting can be seen here.
The Brutish Multitude are a voluntary group that was formed in early 2018 in the ancient village of Heptonstall West Yorkshire, to research and produce a community play based upon the 1643 English Civil War battle, the Battle of Heptonstall.
The Battle of Heptonstall is a fast moving community play with a cast of sixteen local actors. It tells the story of the 1643 battle of the same name through a family of clothiers, the Cockcrofts as they struggle to keep the Civil War at a distance, to carry on making cloth, surviving without taking one side or another.
Accompanying the narrative there is both period and original music by arranger and composer Katie Chatburn, all performed in the majestic setting of St Thomas the Apostle Church Heptonstall.
The play is written and directed by playwright Michael Crowley and funded by Sky Arts as part of their Art 50 programme. The show is the culmination of a year long process of research, writing, composing and rehearsal and produced by The Brutish Multitude, a company established specifically for the project.
In November 1643 a royalist army travelled the upland road from Halifax through the night and gathered at the river’s edge in Hebden Bridge. In Heptonstall taking up siege positions, were around 750 roundheads led by Colonel Bradshaw. Bradshaw and the roundheads knew the local terrain. As the royalist soldiers and cavalry began the 500ft climb to Heptonstall at dawn, they were met with a cascade of falling rocks followed by the roundheads. Men were trampled underfoot by panic stricken horses running back down the buttress. The army beat their retreat over the narrow bridge some plunging into the river to escape, only to be swept away by a raging torrent following heavy rain.
There will be a public lecture on the project in Hebden Bridge at 7:00pm on 4 February 2019, in Hebden Bridge Town Hall.
Secretary of Hebden Bridge Historical Society Murray Seccombe will set the scene with an introduction: Dangerous times: life in Halifax parish before the Civil War, followed by historian John Spencer who will talk about the local battle in detail. After the break playwright Michael Crowley will talk about the English Civil War’s place in drama and the forthcoming community play The Battle of Heptonstall which will be produced in St Thomas the Apostle Church Heptonstall at the end of February. A few scenes from the play will be performed as part of the lecture.
There will be bar available and time for a Q and A.
More details and opportunity to purchase tickets are available on the Eventbrite website.
The play itself will be performed at 7:30pm on 28 February 2019 in St Thomas the Apostle Church in Heptonstall – (please use bowling club car park – Heptonstall HX7 7LJ), with additional performances at the same venue each night on Friday 1 March and Saturday 2 March 2019.
More detail and tickets for these performances of the play on the Eventbrite website.
A final performance is planned for 7:30pm on 9 March 2019, this time at Halifax Minster, Causeway, Halifax HX1 1QL. Once again, more details and tickets are available on the Eventbrite website.
Additional information about The Brutish Multitude and the development of the play, including a short film, can be found on the groups own website.
Click on the following link to see the agenda for the February Monthly Meeting of the Parish Council to be held in The School Hall, Heptonstall J I & N School on Monday 4 February 2019 commencing at 7.30 pm.
Minutes arising from the January 2019 meeting can be seen here.
Click on the following link to see the agenda for the November Monthly Meeting of the Parish Council to be held in The School Hall, Heptonstall J I & N School on Monday 29 October 2018 commencing at 7.30 p.m.
Minutes arising from the October 2018 meeting can be seen here.
Heptonstall Parish Website 