Sylvia Plath remembered

On the wall of the Shoulder of Mutton inn, in the centre of Hebden Bridge, is this stencilled mural, now rather defaced by graffiti. It is of the poet and writer Sylvia Plath (1932-1963) and was painted by the street artist Stewy, as one of a series of famous people with a Yorkshire connection that he made at the time of the Opening Stage of the Tour de France, held in Yorkshire in 2014. 

You may wonder what the American born writer and poet has to do with Hebden Bridge and the answer is rather poignant. Sylvia was married to the poet Ted Hughes, who was born in nearby Mytholmroyd. I'm not sure they ever lived in Calderdale but they certainly visited. They had a turbulent relationship and finally separated when he had an affair. Sylvia eventually and sadly took her own life. Hughes had her buried in the churchyard of the village of Heptonstall, up above Hebden Bridge, where you can still see her grave. Over the years it has become a place of pilgrimage for some and people have repeatedly tried to obliterate her married name Hughes from the gravestone, in the belief that Hughes mistreated his wife and caused her suicide. Her grave is, however, cared for by local residents and there are often pens and pencils, as well as flowers, left as offerings on the grave.