Luddenden
| Luddenden | |
| Yorkshire West Riding | |
|---|---|
 Aerial view of Luddenden | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SE045265 |
| Location: | 53°44’6"N, 1°55’60"W |
| Data | |
| Post town: | Halifax |
| Postcode: | HX2 |
| Dialling code: | 01422 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Calderdale |
Luddenden is a village three miles west of Halifax in the West Riding of Yorkshire. It stands beside the Luddenden Brook.
The parish church, St Mary's, is a Grade II listed building.[1]
There is one pub in the village, a very old one, "The Lord Nelson", which is also Grade II listed.[2] This pub is where Branwell Brontë once drank and the pub itself is asserted to have established the first public library in one of the upstairs rooms.
Name
The name 'Luddenden' means 'Ludd valley, or 'valley of the loud stream' and refers to the Luddenden Brook.[3] An alternative derivaton that has been suggested links it to the Celtic water god, Lud, who is said to have given a name to many water-related features.
The spellings Ludingdene, Luddington and Luddyngden are found.
History
The community is first mentioned in 1274 when a manorial roll in Wakefield described a corn mill operating in Luddenden to grind corn from the east side of the valley.[4] In 1375, a corn mill was moved from Warley Town to exploit the Luddenden Brook. With the introduction of water power, many textile mills were established in the district.[4]
The cobbled packhorse trail which runs through the village, down Old Lane from Midgley, crossing the river and on up Halifax Lane to Warley, was once the equivalent of the modern day M62, providing a major goods route through the Pennines when the main mode of transport was packhorses. This started to change from 1760 as the government approved a Turnpike road to be constructed through the Calder Valley.[5] In the 17th century the village, along with the other locations in the Luddenden Brook valley, became prosperous through the worsted industry.[6] To enable water to be supplied to the 11 mills in the valley, the Cold Edge Dam Company was formed to build the reservoirs at the head of the valley.[5]
In May 1989, extreme rainfall burst over the hills hereabouts, recorded at 7½ inches of rain over the course of two hours at the Walshaw Dean rainfall gauge. The resultant flood, one of the worst seen in the area, drove a huge amount of water through the village which damaged roads, houses and industrial premises. It took over six months for the village to recover.
On television
The area, alongside the nearby village of Bramham, was used for filming external scenes in the 1980s ITV Yorkshire Television situation comedy series In Loving Memory, starring Thora Hird and Christopher Beeny. In recent years scenes from Happy Valley starring Sarah Lancashire and Gentleman Jack starring Suranne Jones have been filmed in and around the village [7]
Community
In recent years the village has reestablished the position of Village Mayor, as a role primarily to raising funds for local charitable causes and investment in the village.[8]
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Luddenden) |
References
- ↑ National Heritage List 1134509: Church of St Mary the Blessed Virgin (Grade II listing)
- ↑ National Heritage List 1134506: Lord Nelson Inn (Grade II listing)
- ↑ Smith, A H (1962). The place names of the West Riding of Yorkshire part VII (1 ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 92.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 LCA 2013, p. 5.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 LCA 2013, p. 6.
- ↑ "Weekend Walk: The Luddenden Valley". The Yorkshire Post. 23 January 2016. http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/lifestyle/walks-and-cycling/weekend-walk-the-luddenden-valley-1-7690410. Retrieved 30 May 2017.
- ↑ Ledger, John (26 January 2016). "Dad's Army and 25 other glorious Yorkshire screen gems". The Yorkshire Post. http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/what-s-on/cinema/dad-s-army-and-25-other-glorious-yorkshire-screen-gems-1-7697534. Retrieved 30 May 2017.
- ↑ Thomas, Peter (2005). Yorkshire's historic pubs (1 ed.). Stroud: Sutton Publishing. p. 79. ISBN 0-7509-3983-4. https://archive.org/details/yorkshireshistor0000thom/page/79.
- Egerton, Vikki: 'Luddenden Saga: A Brief History of a Yorkshire Village'
- Lewisohn, Mark: 'The Radio Times Guide to Television Comedy'
- 'A History of The Lord Nelson, Luddenden' (Burning Book Press, 1992) ISBN 978-0952788805
