Sowerby Bridge

Sowerby Bridge
Sowerby Bridge skyline
Sowerby Bridge is located in Calderdale
Sowerby Bridge
Sowerby Bridge
Sowerby Bridge is located in West Yorkshire
Sowerby Bridge
Sowerby Bridge
Location within West Yorkshire
Population11,703 (Ward 2011)
OS grid referenceSE058233
Metropolitan borough
Metropolitan county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townSowerby Bridge
Postcode districtHX6
Dialling code01422
PoliceWest Yorkshire
FireWest Yorkshire
AmbulanceYorkshire
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
Yorkshire
53°43′N 1°55′W / 53.71°N 1.91°W / 53.71; -1.91

Sowerby Bridge (/ˈsɔːrbi/ SOR-bi)[1] is a market town in the Upper Calder Valley in Calderdale in West Yorkshire, England. The Calderdale Council ward population at the 2011 census was 11,703.[2]

History

Sowerby Bridge Town Hall, which originally accommodated the offices of the local board and, later, became a branch of Lloyds Bank

The town was originally a fording point over the once much-wider River Calder where it is joined by the River Ryburn. The town takes its name from the historic bridge which spans the river in the town centre. Before the Industrial Revolution the area was divided between the parishes of Sowerby, Norland, Skircoat and Warley. The boundaries between them being the rivers Calder and Ryburn and Warley Clough, which is now largely culverted. Textiles and engineering industry grew up around the bridge. Sowerby Bridge Town Hall, which accommodated the offices of the local board, was completed in 1857.[3]

19th century

The Anglican parish church, Christ Church, situated on Wharf Street, is a Grade II listed building. It was built in 1819 by John Oates. The chancel was rebuilt in 1873–74 and the church was re-roofed 1894.[4] The church is still active and the vicar is Revd. Canon Angela Dick.[5] The church's first organ was installed in 1825 and replaced in 1865. The organ and much of the church was destroyed in a 1894 fire. A larger organ, built by Abbott and Smith, was installed, and next repaired in 1979. The current organ was installed in 1983, moved from a nearby closed church.[6]

By the mid-19th century the population had grown and the settlement became an urban district in the West Riding of Yorkshire in 1894.[7]

20th century

From 1892 to 1930 Pollit & Wigzell manufactured stationary steam engines for the cotton and woollen mills of Yorkshire, Lancashire and India. Wood Brothers, an engineering and millwright company, also produced engines from its Valley Iron Works. The Markfield Beam Engine in north London is an example of its work.[8]

21st century

In January 2019, it was announced that the council buildings on Hollins Mill Lane, which include the former offices of Sowerby Bridge Urban District Council, the old swimming pool and old fire station will be transferred to a community group, Sowerby Bridge Fire and Water, and will be renovated for community use.[9][10]

Governance

The town is part of the Sowerby Bridge ward of the Metropolitan borough of Calderdale, in West Yorkshire.[11]

Geography

Sowerby Bridge is situated about 3 miles (4.8 km) from Halifax town centre. It is at the confluence of the River Calder and River Ryburn, and the name Sowerby Bridge references its situation as a crossing point over the River Calder to the older settlement at Sowerby.

Education

There are two secondary schools in Sowerby Bridge.

Media

Local news and television programmes are provided by BBC Yorkshire and ITV Yorkshire. Television signals received from the Emley Moor[12] and one of the three local relay transmitters (Halifax,[13] Luddenden[14] and Ripponden[15]).

Local radio stations are BBC Radio Leeds on 95.3 FM, Pulse 1 on 102.5 FM, Heart Yorkshire on 107.6 FM, Capital Yorkshire on 105.1 FM , Greatest Hits Radio West Yorkshire on 96.3 FM and Phoenix Radio on 96.7 FM, which has its studios in Halifax.[16]

The town is served by the local newspaper the Halifax Courier.[17]

Transport

The town is served by Sowerby Bridge railway station, which sees a regular service to Manchester, Huddersfield (via Brighouse), Bradford and Leeds on the Caldervale Line. This station has no public toilets although there are many interesting information panels about the local area.

The town is at the junction of the Calder and Hebble Navigation and the Rochdale Canal; Tuel Lane Lock on the Rochdale Canal is the deepest lock in the United Kingdom.[18] The canal basin and warehouses where the canals meet, Sowerby Bridge Wharf, are listed buildings and house the Moorings Bar and Restaurant, 12-04 Restaurant and Temujin Mongolian Restaurant. The basin is the headquarters of the 12th Halifax Sea Scouts (M.o.D. No. 54 Royal Navy recognised) where Prince Charles opened the William Andrew Memorial Headquarters. Shire Cruisers run holiday hire canal barges, build narrow boats and provide mooring facilities.

In popular culture

Sowerby Bridge features in George Gissing's 1890 novel The Emancipated as the hometown of the protagonist Ross Mallard.[19]

The canal basin was used as a filming location for the ITV comedy-drama Stay Lucky, and the ITV drama Dead Clever was set in the town. The 2014 BBC One drama Happy Valley was set in Sowerby Bridge and parts of the series were filmed in and around the town.[20][21] Catherine's workplace is a former police station. The series writer and director Sally Wainwright grew up in Sowerby Bridge.[22]

Notable residents

Traditions

Rushbearing, the annual ceremony of (now nominally) taking rushes to churches for covering the floors throughout winter, still takes place in Sowerby Bridge over the first weekend of September.

The Fire & Water Festival is an annual festival to raise awareness for the Fire & Water Buildings in Sowerby Bridge. It showcases all the events that Fire & Water put on throughout the year and the Music Festival showcases local artists on an open and accessible stage.

Boxing Day floods 2015

Local river monitoring stations recorded a level of 11 feet 8 inches (3.55 m)[23] between 12 pm and 6 pm, surpassing previous recorded highs of 8 feet 0 inches (2.43 m) (23 June 2012). Known flood plains, such as Dixie Woods and Sowerby Bridge Cricket Club, were submerged to an estimated depth of 2 feet (61 cm). The floods were reported as the worst in the area since 1968.[24] The town was flooded again on 9 February 2020 by Storm Ciara, causing a similar amount of damage to the 2015 floods.[25]

See also

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011). Roach, Peter; Setter, Jane; Esling, John (eds.). Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary (18th ed.). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-15255-6.
  2. ^ "Calderdale Council Ward population 2011". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National statistics. Retrieved 22 February 2016.
  3. ^ "Sowerby Bridge Town Hall". Sowerby Bridge High Street Heritage Action Zone. Retrieved 7 May 2022.
  4. ^ Good Stuff (15 November 1966). "Christ Church – Sowerby Bridge – Calderdale – England". British Listed Buildings. Retrieved 30 June 2015.
  5. ^ "Christ Church, Sowerby Bridge". Christchurchsb.org.uk. Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 30 June 2015.
  6. ^ Nigel Castledine (2015). "The Organ at Christ Church Sowerby Bridge". The Parochial Church Council of Christ Church, Sowerby Bridge. Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 2 July 2015.
  7. ^ "Sowerby Bridge UD". Vision of Britain. Retrieved 7 May 2022.
  8. ^ Brereton, Ken (2013). Tottenham Sewage Works and the Wood Bros. Beam Engine. Markfield Beam Engine and Museum. p. 7.
  9. ^ "Information". Archived from the original on 14 January 2019. Retrieved 7 September 2019.
  10. ^ "Revitalising Sowerby Bridge Fire and Water". Sowerby Bridge High Street Heritage Action Zone. Retrieved 7 May 2022.
  11. ^ "Sowerby Bridge". 2010. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  12. ^ "Emley Moor (Kirklees, England) Full Freeview transmitter". UK Free TV. 1 May 2004. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
  13. ^ "Freeview Light on the Halifax (Calderdale, England) transmitter". UK Free TV. 1 May 2004. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
  14. ^ "Freeview Light on the Luddenden (Calderdale, England) transmitter". UK Free TV. 1 May 2004. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
  15. ^ "Freeview Light on the Ripponden (Calderdale, England) transmitter". UK Free TV. 1 May 2004. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
  16. ^ "Phoenix Radio". Retrieved 1 November 2023.
  17. ^ "Halifax Courier". British Papers. 13 April 2014. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
  18. ^ "Deepest Canal Locks". Pennine Waterways.
  19. ^ Coustillas, Pierre; Partridge, Colin, eds. (1972). Gissing, the critical heritage;. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. pp. 432–434. ISBN 9780710073679.
  20. ^ "Creative England provides filming location and crew support to new BBC drama Happy Valley when filming in Yorkshire". Creative England. 29 April 2014. Retrieved 12 June 2014.
  21. ^ Gildea, Samantha (19 May 2014). "20 facts about the police drama set in Sowerby Bridge". Examiner Examiner. Huddersfield. Retrieved 10 February 2017.
  22. ^ Calkin, Jessamy (9 February 2016). "Behind the scenes of Bafta-winning drama Happy Valley". Telegraph. London. Retrieved 10 February 2017.
  23. ^ "gov.uk flood information service". gov.uk. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  24. ^ "Worst floods to hit Sowerby Bridge since 1968 | Calendar". ITV News. ITV. 23 December 2015. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
  25. ^ "Sowerby Bridge in Calderdale hit by Storm Ciara floods | BBC News". BBC News. BBC News. 9 February 2020. Retrieved 5 July 2020.

External links

  • Partial archive of Sowerby Bridge Chronicle newspaper, 1896 to 1907
Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article "Sowerby Bridge".
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