South Pennine Archives
South Pennine Archives is a partnership between Pennine Heritage and Hebden Bridge Local History Society. The partnership collaborates on collecting, preserving and making available documents, images, recordings and artefacts relating to the history and heritage of the South Pennines, focusing on the Upper Calder Valley.
The South Pennine region can be loosely defined as the upland area located between the Yorkshire Dales National Park and the Peak District National Park. The partnership is a not-for-profit association, based at the Birchcliffe Centre in Hebden Bridge.
Uncover the visual history of the South Pennines
The Pennine Horizons Digital Archive contains over 45,000 digitized images, with 25,000 available to view online. Each image is fascinating, and together they tell the story of the South Pennines from rural economy, through industrialisation and decline, to the present revitalisation of the area.
Explore Pennine Horizons
Learn about the unique stories and history of Hebden bridge
Hebden Bridge Local History Society bring history to life with talks and events for the public, and groups for those interested in further research. Their archive is kept at the Birchcliffe Centre as part of the South Pennine Archives, and visits can be arranged through their website.
Hebden Bridge History
Alice Longstaff Collection - a community legacy
Alice Longstaff (née Speak) (1907-1992) became an apprentice photographer at the Westerman Studio in Hebden Bridge at the age of just 14. Thus began a 70 year career docmenting life in her community, producing striking, affectionate, and often humerous images which can be explored in the Pennine Horizons Digital Archive.
Explore the collection
Legacy Collections
Wild Rose Arts
The Wild Rose oral history project ran from 2007 to 2015, collecting the memories of elderly people around Hebden Bridge to create a first-person record of life in the town. The Wild Rose archive of oral histories is now kept by Pennine Heritage, and you can explore these stories on the Wild Rose website.
Pennine Way Assoc
The Pennine Way Association was a volunteer-run organisation which aimed to protect and promote the Pennine Way, Britain’s oldest long-distance footpath. While the association disbanded in 2015, their website remains a valuable source of information.
Milltown Memories
Milltown Memories was a magazine dedicated to the history of the Upper Calder Valley, which was in print until 2006, and subsequently published several books on local history. Their back catalogue of magazines can be explored on their website.