While not literary in the sense of a classic novel, the story of the Cragg Vale Coiners is a legendary piece of local history that has inspired a wealth of modern literature, most notably Benjamin Myers’ brilliant and visceral novel, The Gallows Pole. For anyone interested in the darker corners of West Yorkshire’s past, this…
If Haworth is the soul of 19th-century literature, then Heptonstall, perched precariously on the ridge above Hebden Bridge, is the haunting heart of the 20th. This ancient weaving village, with its steep, bone-rattling cobblestones and its two churches (one ruined, one standing), is the final resting place of Sylvia Plath, one of the most influential…
Just a short, dramatic drive over the tops from Hebden Bridge, where I live, lies Haworth, a village that has become synonymous with the most famous literary family in history. For a mystery writer, the Brontës represent the ultimate closed circle—three sisters and a brother, isolated in a parsonage, creating vast, tumultuous worlds from the…