St Thomas à Becket Church Ruins Heptonstall,Hebden Bridge

Paul Bilbo

Heptonstall has two churches within one graveyard. Towards the centre of the village are the ruins of the Church of St Thomas a’ Becket built between 1256 and 1260.

Following a fierce storm in 1847 the west face of the tower fell away. Some measure of repair took place and the church remained in use up to 1854 when the present church, St Thomas the Apostle, was completed at a cost of £7,000. A decision was taken to dismantle parts of the old church to make it safe and preserve its shell. It became a listed building in 1980.

It served the spiritual needs of that part of the South Pennines as Heptonstall became an important centre in the cottage industry of hand-loom weaving.In the graveyard, between the ruin and the new church, is the grave of David “King” Hartley (1729-1770), leader of the notorious Cragg Vale Coiners, whose counterfeiting racket saw him being hunted down and eventually facing the gallows at York, hanged for counterfeiting in 1770. The story was told in last year’s BBC drama series The Gallows Pole.

Paul.

Depp

Always great that they let it stand. Here they mostly raze the old and build new. Great place to fly. Lovely colors. Nice job.

Paul Bilbo

Depp Posted at 1-15 22:53
Always great that they let it stand. Here they mostly raze the old and build new. Great place to fly. Lovely colors. Nice job.

Thanks Depp, you can't beat a good ruin...

Paul.

DAFlys

Excellent reveals Paul, I love the backwards scenes.

Codgerzh2

Great job on that video it looks good - nice one

Paul Bilbo

DAFlys Posted at 1-16 00:11
Excellent reveals Paul, I love the backwards scenes.

Thank you David - ssometimes a reverse makes a nice bit of difference.

Paul.

Paul Bilbo

Codgerzh2 Posted at 1-16 08:33
Great job on that video it looks good - nice one

Much appreciated Codger, thank you.

Paul.

Montfrooij

Very nice job!

Paul Bilbo

Montfrooij Posted at 1-16 11:15
Very nice job!

Thank you again Peter

Paul.

Montfrooij

Paul Bilbo Posted at 1-16 11:23
Thank you again Peter

Paul.

As always, you're welcome!

DowntownRDB

Really interesting ruins. Very impressive job on this video Paul.

Paul Bilbo

DowntownRDB Posted at 1-16 16:08
Really interesting ruins. Very impressive job on this video Paul.

Thanks DT.

What was interesting too, was that almost the whole walkable ground consisted of gravestones, even the "pathways" were gravestones.

Paul.

DowntownRDB

Paul Bilbo Posted at 1-16 16:12
Thanks DT.

What was interesting too, was that almost the whole walkable ground consisted of gravestones, even the "pathways" were gravestones.

I did notice some of the pathway looked like gravestones. I'm betting those graves go back several hundred years. Very intriguing place for sure. I hope you are having a great week Paul.

Paul Bilbo

DowntownRDB Posted at 1-16 16:30
I did notice some of the pathway looked like gravestones. I'm betting those graves go back several hundred years. Very intriguing place for sure. I hope you are having a great week Paul.

There were some from the 1700's and 1800's I looked at. No doubt there are older ones.

The week is OK for the most part, lol, thanks for asking, though every now and then I get a bit vexxed at other folk!!!

DowntownRDB

Paul Bilbo Posted at 1-16 16:33
There were some from the 1700's and 1800's I looked at. No doubt there are older ones.

The week is OK for the most part, lol, thanks for asking, though every now and then I get a bit vexxed at other folk!!!

Thanks for the dates you saw. Yeah, those are very old.

Good to hear your week is going OK for the most part. Don't worry as we all get irritated, annoyed, or distressed at one time or another. Some of us more than others.

DAFlys

Paul Bilbo Posted at 1-16 10:44
Thank you David - ssometimes a reverse makes a nice bit of difference.

Paul.

It certainly does, I should probably use it more often.