A summery jaunt

I'm delighted to have made new friends among the other residents in my apartment block and I went with a couple of them to Hebden Bridge, on a glorious summer day (even thought it's still spring!). It was very warm and very sunny - pleasant conditions for feeling like you're on holiday somewhere in the Med but useless for taking photos! Anyway, I was too busy chatting to attempt many photos. We had lunch and a wander round the streets, explored a few shops and then sat in the sunshine and had ice cream, before coming home. Altogether a very pleasant day.  

These pictures were taken right in the centre of town. The old mill (above) has been repurposed into retail space. The old bridge (below) that gives Hebden Bridge its name was built in 1510. The original settlement was up on the hill at Heptonstall, avoiding the marshland around the rivers in the valleys. The Halifax to Burnley packhorse trading route went across the hills but had to drop down into the valley to cross the River Hebden, so there had to be a bridge here. Eventually the marshland was drained and that allowed roads to be built, and then the canal and railway. The valleys became populated as water-powered mills sprang up during the Industrial Revolution in the 18/19th centuries.