The Lay of the Land

What is the lay of the land? That was the question my year-long writing and photography project sought to answer with respect to the upper reaches of West Yorkshire’s Calder Valley. It has been a culmination and distillation of 15 years of exploring and learning about my 60-square-mile patch of the Pennines, more or less the catchment of the River Calder from its headwaters down to Luddenden Foot. Within this terrain I walked 1,000 miles – 800 of them with my son – on woodland paths and ancient lanes and trackless moor, and across 52 weekly posts, amounting to 55,000 words and 1,800 photographs, I surveyed the landscape, its history and its wildlife; witnessed the individuals and community groups whose lives are lived in connection with it; and chronicled its seasonal changes from one winter to the next.

The Calder Valley is, in the jargon of geographers, a ‘cultural landscape’, the embodiment of a millennia-long relationship between humans and nature. To understand its warp and weft requires attending not only to its geology, climate and ecology, but also to its social, economic and cultural history, and crucially the interplay of these two aspects: how nature conditioned the livings humans have derived here, and how these in turn shaped the ecology we encounter today. 

I try to reflect the landscape’s plurality of human and more-than-human communities, and the multifaceted relationships between them, in my writing. As a by-product of indexing the 52 posts that make up The Lay of the Land project so that I can locate particular pieces of history or photographs of certain places in the future, I found that I named as many natural features of the landscape – valleys (11), cloughs (53), woods (53), rivers and streams (19), outcrops and crags (51), moors (33) and hills (41) – as I did man-made features – reservoirs (31), quarries (13), mills (28), lanes (125), chapels and churches (30), bridges (24), farms (59), fields (44), pubs (18), houses, many of which are former farms (232), ruins, most of which are former farms (122), and villages and hamlets (33). The other features of the landscape which I wrote about and photographed that did not fall into these categories were a mixture of the two: mires, bogs, dikes, culverts and conduits; standing stones, medieval embankments, Bronze Age burial mounds; dry stone walls, gate stoops, charcoal burning platforms, packhorse causeys, village greens, graveyards and so on.

Similarly, I named as many species of wildlife and plants – birds (80), insects (65), mammals (14), plants (131) and trees (42) – as I did people, with mention of 38 farmers, 64 other individuals in the landscape, 58 groups and organisations connected with the land, and 84 historical individuals and families. And I was as concerned with seasonal, astronomical and weather-related events in my writing – the appearance of snowdrops and the ripening of holly berries; the arrival of curlews and the departure of swifts; the first frosts and final snows; spring budburst and autumn leaf fall; heatwaves and storms; cloud inversions and moorland fires; the passing of the summer solstice and the phases of the Moon – as I was with cultural events related to the landscape – local fêtes, festivals ancient and modern, rites pagan and Christian, community open garden days, citizen science nature surveys, volunteer tree planting and many more. And with the Pennines being a landscape so centrally shaped by upland livestock farming, observations of the cycles of the agricultural calendar  – the tending of the soil, with muck spreading, chain harrowing and flat rolling, mowing, tedding, rowing up and baling; and the husbanding of stock, with tupping, lambing, gathering, milking, feeding – are ubiquitous throughout.

The Lay of the Land was also an experiment in writing in the third person. After years of writing in the first person, which is the contemporary norm for ‘nature writing’, I wanted to see if I could let the landscape do the talking (or even, more fancifully, the singing, which is why I chose ‘lay’ – as in a narrative poem, ballad or song – rather than the ‘lie’ of the land, to add to its meaning as the arrangement of terrain and topography). It was an interesting exercise, trying as much as possible to remove myself from the text, while at the same time remaining tied to what I was observing on our walks. This commitment to write only of things I had actually witnessed had its consequences: as an account of a year in the life of the valley, it is necessarily incomplete, since we could not be everywhere at once and witness all its natural and cultural happenings; it revealed my blindspots (fungi, mosses and lichens especially); and it made it difficult to move away from the narrative that a walk imposes on what one observes – my pieces often start in the morning, move through the landscape and end at dusk, although I was glad to leave behind having to describe how we were moving through the landscape with descriptions of crossing stiles and heading north and climbing hillsides, which I was previously finding added little of value. Writing in the third person also regrettably meant that I could not speak directly of the pleasures of having my son (and sometimes my wife, too) as a companion. Since he appears in many of the photos, I had to let the images convey this. Lastly, writing in the impersonal voice meant keeping my opinions about the contested issues that are increasingly fought over in landscapes such as this – sheep farming and rewilding, wind farms and grouse shooting, flooding and the right to roam – as hidden as possible. Having said this, I find the polarisation into which such debates have descended unsavoury and wholly unhelpful, so respecting the plurality of values attributed to landscapes by different groups and seeking to understand the variety of visions of their potential futures is a stance with which I am entirely comfortable.

Even as this kind of acknowledgement of the tensions and conflicts and the concession that there will be no easy answers becomes more important, it will become more difficult to maintain in the face of the change that is undoubtedly coming to the uplands of Britain, and the vociferous campaigns that are arising to protect or advance what different groups see as the right course for their future. With the massive incoming changes to farm payments, the demand for renewable energy to meet net zero commitments, a corporate ‘greenrush’ for carbon offsets and biodiversity net gain credits, growing calls for greater public access and more ambitious protection and restoration of biodiversity, and the evolution, both gradual and violently sudden, that can be expected as the climate continues to warm, it is likely that the landscape we know today will undergo significant transformation in the decades to come. It is for this reason that I wanted, in the way Ronald Blythe did in his 1969 classic of rural history, Akenfield, to ‘quest for the voice’ of this place as it sounded at a particular time on the cusp of change, to take a view of the lay of the land, before it shifts beneath our feet.

Finally, the former academic in me wants to acknowledge the sources from which I have learnt about this landscape. While my favourite way to read the lay of the land is to be out in it, tramping over a moorland or leaning on a gate and attending closely to the scene, I of course glean much from texts of all kinds, from online resources, and most of all from the hundreds of conversations I have with people who share a love of this remarkable place, all of whom I thank.  

Books, chapters, journal articles, reports, theses, surveys, databases

1. Survey of Northern Hairy Wood Ant at Hardcastle Crags – August to October 2023, Anthony Arak
2. Hallin Hall SRE, Hebden Bridge: Historic Building Recording, ARCUS Assessment Report no. 1275.1(1), 2009
3. Celebrating Our Woodland Heritage: The history and archeology of woodlands in the South Pennines, compiled by Christopher Atkinson and Hywel Lewis, Pennine Prospects, 2020
4. Pennine Respectives: Aspects of the History of Midgely, edited by Ian Bailey, David Cant, Alan Petford and Nigel Smith, 2007 
5. Field and Yard, Bernard Barnes, Pennine Heritage, 1983
6. ‘Beneath Our Feet’, a history of the Castle Carr Tunnel, Steven W. Beasley
7. The Backbone of England: Landscape and Life on the Pennine Watershed, Andrew Bibby, 2008
8. Northern Earth, a quarterly magazine of earth mysteries and neo-antiquarianism, founded in 1979, edited by Hebden Bridge librarian and local folklore expert John Billingsley
9. Todmorden People: A celebration of local folk 1973–1996, Roger Birch, edited by his son Daniel Birch (many of the photographs which make up the ‘Farmers’ section of the book are viewable at Top Brink Inn)
10. Traditional Food in the South Pennines, Peter Brears, 2022
11. Hebden Bridge Conservation Area: Appraisal and Management Plan, 2011, Calderdale Council
12. Heptonstall Conservation Area, Calderdale Council
13. Lumbutts & Mankinholes Conservation Area: Character Appraisal, 2008, Calderdale Council
14. Luddenden Conservation Area, 2013, Calderdale Council
15. Mytholmroyd Conservation Area Appraisal, Calderdale Council
16. ‘Dated Buildings’ database, David Cant
17. On the Moor: Science, History and Nature on a Country Walk, Richard Carter, 2017
18. ‘Revealing a New Northern England: Crossing the Rubicon with Daniel Defoe’, published in the journal Prose Studies: History Theory, Criticism, Stephen Caunce, 2007
19. Landscape Character Supplementary Planning Document, Volume 3: Pennine Upland, City of Bradford MDC, 2008
20. The Light in the Dark: A Winter Journal, Horatio Clare, 2017
21. Welcome to Cragg Vale, Cragg Vale Community Association
22. Erringden, Stansfield and Langfield Probate Records 1688–1700, edited by Mike Crawford and Stella Richardson, 2015
23. ‘Place Names in the Parish of Halifax’, Charles Crossland, published in the journal Transactions of the Yorkshire Dialect Society, 1902
24. Flora of the Parish of Halifax, W.B. Crump and Charles Crossland, 1904
25. Ancient Highways of the Parish of Halifax, W.B. Crump, 1929
26. The Little Hill Farm, W.B. Crump, 1951 (republished by the Hebden Bridge Local History Society in 2023)
27. The Diaries of Cornelius Ashworth 1782–1816, Richard Davies, Alan Petford and Janet Senior, 2011
28. Walshaw Moor Estate Catchment Restoration Plan, 2017-2042, prepared by Davis & Bowring on behalf of Walshaw Moor Estate Limited with Natural England, 2017
29. The Vale of Caldene, or The Past and the Present: a poem in six books, William Dearden, 1844
30. High Hirst Woodmeadow: ‘a Field Full of Flowers’, Neil Diment, 2022
31. Knott Wood Fungi, Lichens and Slime Moulds, Colin P. Duke and Charles Flynn, 2009
32. Industrial Landscapes, David Ellis, Pennine Heritage, 1983
33. ‘A Pennine Worsted Community in the Mid-Nineteenth Century’, published in the journal Textile History, G.A. Feather, 1972
34. Eden Summer, Liz Flanagan, 2017
35. Setting the Scene: An Introductory Outline to the Man-made Landscape of the South Pennines, David Fletcher, Pennine Heritage, 1982
36. Colden Clough Wildlife Survey, Charles Flynn, 2004
37. Knott Wood Flora, Charles Flynn, 2009
38. Jumble Hole Clough Flora, Fungi & Fauna Survey, Charles Flynn and Colin Duke, 2006
39. Knott Wood Wildlife Survey, Charles Flynn, Colin Duke and Brian Leecy, 2009
40. Knott Wood Fauna Lists, Charles Flynn, Brian Leecy and Colin Duke, 2010
41. A Hilltop Community and the Changes in a Lifetime (early unfinished draft), Mary Gibson
42. Flock books of the Pennine Sheepkeepers Association, summarised for me by Mary Gibson
43. The West Yorkshire Moors: a hand-drawn guide to walking and exploring the county’s open access moorland, Christopher Goddard, 2013
44. The West Yorkshire Woods, Part I: The Calder Valley: a hand-drawn guide to walking and exploring the woodlands in the borough of Calderdale, Christopher Goddard, 2016
45. Enclosing the Moors: Shaping the Calder Valley Landscape Through Parliamentary Enclosure, Sheila Graham, 2014
46. Early Trackways in the South Pennines, Margaret and David Drake, Pennine Heritage, 1983
47. Memories, Harry Greenwood, 1977
48. Crimsworth Dean, Pecket Well and Hebden Bridge: A Bit of Local History, W. Stanley Greenwood, 1987
49. A New Glossary of the Dialect of the Huddersfield District, Walter Edward Haigh, 1928
50. Transactions of the Halifax Antiquarian Society, the journal of the HAS, founded in 1901
51. Fustianopolis, Hebden Bridge Alternative Technology Centre, 2011
52. ‘Hebden Bridge Mill History’, https://innovationhebdenbridge.co.uk/hebden-bridge-mill-history/ (also boards in mill cafe)
53. These Lonely Mountains: Biography of the Brontë Moors, Peggy Hewitt, 1985
54. ‘Todmorden, West Riding of Yorkshire (originally Lancashire), Peter Higginbotham, https://www.workhouses.org.uk/Todmorden/ 
55. Botanical Survey, condition report and management advice for grasslands at High Hirst, Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire, July 2020, prepared by Steve Hindle for Hebden Royd Town Council, 2021
56. Oxenhope: The Making of a Pennine Community, Reg Hindley, 2005 (particularly chapter 6, ‘Farms and Farming Since 1800’)
57. Millstone Grit, Glyn Hughes, 1975
58. Pennine Valley: A History of Upper Calderdale, edited by Bernard Jennings, 1992 (particularly chapters 4, ‘Farming and the Medieval Landscape’; 6, ‘Land and Society in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries’; 8, ‘The Age of the Yeoman Clothier’; and the subsection on agriculture in chapter 13, ‘Economic Life Between 1836 and 1914)
59. Turnpikes and Canals, Mary Johnston, Pennine Heritage, 1983
60. Interactions between Human Industry and Woodland Ecology in the South Pennines, PhD thesis, Hwyel Lewis, 2019
61. Calderdale District Landscape Character Assessment and Review of Special Landscape Area Designation, prepared by LUC for Calderdale Council, 2016
62. Born to be a Farmer, Edgar Lumb, 2000
63. Mount Tabor Farmer, Edward Lumb, 2010
64. City in the Hills: Dawson City and the Building of the Walshaw Reservoirs, Corrine McDonald and Ann Kilbey, 2012
65. Nab Hill Delphs, Oxenhope Moor: A Geological and Historical Assessment, C.E. Mace, 2012
66. Milltown Memories, a magazine devoted to the history of the Upper Calder Valley which ran for 15 issues from 2002 to 2006
67. Riches of the Earth: Over and Under the South Pennines, Minerva Heritage Ltd, 2013
68. A Century of Change: 100 Years of Hebden Bridge and District, edited by Diana Monaghan, text by Colin Spencer, 1999
69. Calderdale Blanket Bog Condition Assessment and Wildfire Severity Assessment Report, prepared by Moors for the Future Partnership for Calderdale Council and the Environment Agency, 2022
70. Under the Rock: The Poetry of a Place, Benjamin Myers, 2018
71. Landscapes for Water, Yorkshire Water, National Trust, Woodland Trust, White Rose Forest
72. Southern Pennines: National Character Area profile, 36, Natural England
73. Site Improvement Plan: South Pennine Moors, Natural England, 2014
74. A Hillside View of Industrial History: A Study of Industrial Evolution in the Pennine Highlands with some local records, Abraham Newell, 1925
75. 650 Years on the South Pennine Moors, David Nortcliffe, 2016
76. Yorkshire’s River of Industry: The Story of the River Calder, John Ogden, 1972
77. Coppy Farm: A case study of just one of the 73 derelict old farmhouses in the Upper Calder Valley, John Page, 2021
78. The Non-conformists, Martin Parr, 2013
79. Mytholm Mills 1789-2022 (draft 14.09.22), David Pearce, 2022
80. Ancient Township of Midgley, and Luddenden, Pennine Horizons’ e-trail booklet and audio tour
81. A Walk Around Todmorden with the Fieldens, Pennine Horizons’ e-trail booklet and audio tour
82. Blackshaw Head Packhorse Trail, Pennine Horizons’ e-trail booklet and audio tour
83. Charlestown and Jumble Hole, Pennine Horizons’ e-trail booklet and audio tour
84. Cragg Vale: Mills & Dynasties, Wilderness & Traditions, Pennine Horizons’ e-trail booklet and audio tour
85. Colden Clough: Power in the Landscape, Pennine Horizons’ e-trail booklet and audio tour
86. Cooperatives and Visions: Radical History around Hebden Bridge, Pennine Horizons’ e-trail booklet and audio tour
87. Hebden Bridge Centre, Pennine Horizons’ e-trail booklet and audio tour
88. Hebden Bridge’s Woodland Heritage, Pennine Horizons’ e-trail booklet and audio tour
89. Hills and Mills of Cornholme, Pennine Horizons’ e-trail booklet and audio tour
90. Riots and Protests: Radical History around Todmorden, Pennine Horizons’ e-trail booklet and audio tour
91. Sam Hill Story: Fortunes, Feuds and Scandals, Pennine Horizons’ e-trail booklet and audio tour
92. The Heptonstall Trail: An Ancient Village Explored, Pennine Horizons’ e-trail booklet and audio tour
93. Todmorden Tops: Forged by the Fielden Dynasty, Pennine Horizons’ e-trail booklet and audio tour
94. Spotters Guide: Enjoying Upland Archaeology, Pennine Prospects 
95. The Making of the Central Pennines, John Porter, 1980
96. The Fabric of the Hills: The Interwoven Story of Textiles and the Landscape of the South Pennines, Elizabeth Jane Pridmore, 1989
97. Pennine Walls, Arthur Raistrick, 1981
98. Stoodley Pike, E.M. Savage, 1974
99. The Place-Names of the West Riding of Yorkshire, Part III, Morley Wapentake, A.H. Smith, 1961
100. The Revitalisation of the Hebden Bridge District: Gentrified Pennine Rurality, PhD thesis, Darren Paul Smith, 1998
101. A History of Crimsworth Dean, J.D. Smith, 1972
102. ‘Farming Before the Nineteenth Century’, Nigel Smith, published in Pennine Perspectives: Aspects of the History of Midgley, edited by Ian Bailey, David Cant, Alan Petford and Nigel Smith, 2007 
103. ‘The Location and Operation of Demesne Cattle Farms in Sowerby Graveship circa 1300’, Transactions of the Halifax Antiquarian Society, Nigel Smith, 2007
104. ‘Cruttonstall Vaccary: the Extent in 1309’, Transactions of the Halifax Antiquarian Society, Nigel Smith, 2008
105. ‘The Medieval Park of Erringden: Creation and Extent in the Fourteenth Century’, Transactions of the Halifax Antiquarian Society, Nigel Smith, 2009
106. Settlement and Field Patterns in the South Pennines: A Critique of Morphological Approaches to Landscape History in Upland Environments (PhD thesis), Nigel Smith, 2013
107. ‘Township Boundaries and Commons Disputes in the South Pennines – Langfield and the case of of the Mandike’, Nigel Smith, published in History in the South Pennines: The Legacy of Alan Petford, edited by Nigel Smith, 2017 
108. History in the South Pennines: The Legacy of Alan Petford, edited by Nigel Smith, 2017 
109. Understanding the Hebden Water Catchment, SOURCE Partnership, 2013
110. The Cliviger Gorge Historic Trails Circuit, South Pennine Packhorse Trails Trust, 1994
111. A Heritage Strategy for the South Pennines, South Pennines Park, 2021
112. ‘Heptonstall and Blackshaw Farms 1911’ database, Keith Stansfield
113. ‘Rate book 1939–40 Blackshawhead B Rate book May 1939 Heptonstall H’ database, Keith Stansfield
114. ‘Haymaking in Colden’, published in the Hebden Bridge Local History Society Spring 2020 newsletter, Keith Stansfield
115. Vernacular Architecture in a Pennine Community (MA thesis), Christopher Stell, 1960
116. ‘Pennine Houses: An Introduction’, Christopher Stell, published in the journal Folk Life, 1965 
117. High Hirst Woodmeadow Moth Report, 01/07/2023, Charlie Streets and Anthony Arak, 2023
118. Hardcastle Crags Woodland Management Plan 2017-2027, prepared by Matt Taylor of Forest and Land on behalf of the National Trust
119. Seen on the Packhorse Tracks, Titus Thornber, 2003
120. Springtime Saunter: Round and About Brontë Land, Whiteley Turner, 1913
121. Luddenden – The Development of a Pennine Village, unknown author and date
122. The Colden Valley, with reference to the early textile industry, Jack Uttley, 1997
123. Jumble Hole Clough Bryophytes, Colin Wall, Gordon Haycock and Charles Flynn, 2006
124. Ways to the Stone House, Simon Warner, 2012
125. History and Antiquities of the Parish of Halifax, in Yorkshire, John Watson, 1775
126. The Laithe House of Upland West Yorkshire: Its Social and Economic Significance (PhD thesis), Christine Westwood, 1986
127. Calderdale Historic Landscape Classification Final Report, West Yorkshire Joint Services, West Yorkshire Archaeological Service and Historic England, 2017
128. Grassland Survey Report of Land at Bell House Farm Mytholmroyd, Barry White of Dryad Ecology, 2022
129. The Real Wuthering Heights: The Story of the Withins Farms, Steven Wood and Peter Brears, 2016
130. Knott Wood Ancient Woodland Restoration Assessment, Woodland Trust, 2023
131. Power in the Landscape: Water-powered Mills in the Upper Calder Valley, Justine Wyatt, 2007

Records, maps, archives, websites

132. 1841–1921 Censuses
133. Britain from Above, https://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/ 
134. British Newspaper Archive, through which I have accessed newspaper articles from, among others, the Halifax Evening Courier, Todmorden & District News, Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer, Leeds Mercury, Yorkshire Evening Post, Todmorden Advertiser and Hebden Bridge Newsletter, Halifax Guardian
135. Calderdale Birds, https://calderbirds.blogspot.com 
136. Calderdale Council Planning Portal, https://portal.calderdale.gov.uk/online-applications/spatialDisplay.do?action=display&searchType=Application
137. ‘Calderdale maps’, https://new.calderdale.gov.uk/maps, for maps of the conservation areas, nature reserves, mineral sites, natural flood management opportunities, biodiversity and geodiversity sites, ancient monuments, rights of way, local plan, greenbelt and tree preservation orders, as well as historic maps
138. Calderdale Moths, Butterflies and Dragonflies, https://calderdalemoths.blogspot.com 
139. Calderdale NFM (Natural Flood Management), https://prezi.com/view/hFJcn22i7Kb9VXm8zxaQ/ 
140. Commissioners Decisions, https://acraew.org.uk/commissioners-decisions/west-yorkshire, Association of Commons Registration Authorities
141. Eye on Calderdale, https://eyeoncalderdale.com/, for details, maps and newsletters about the various flood alleviation schemes in the Calder Valley
142. From Weaver to Web: Online Visual Archive of Calderdale History, https://www.calderdale.gov.uk/wtw/ 
143. Hebden Bridge Local History Society archive catalogue, https://www.hebdenbridgehistory.org.uk/catalogues/hblhs-archive-catalogue
144. Hebden Bridge Web (HebWeb), https://www.hebdenbridge.co.uk/history/index.html 
145. ‘Heptonstall Chapelry’, map, Ollie Robertshaw
146. History of Widdop, https://www.widdop.info/, John Shackleton
147. HM Land Registry, https://search-property-information.service.gov.uk/search/map-search/find-by-address 
148. Huddersfield Exposed, https://huddersfield.exposed/ 
149. Jack Uttley Photo Library, www.fieldhead.net
150. Land Valuation Survey, 1910–15 
151. MAGIC Map Application, https://magic.defra.gov.uk/MagicMap.aspx, Defra
152. Malcolm Bull’s Calderdale Companion, http://www.calderdalecompanion.co.uk/
153. National Farm Survey 1941–43
154. Ordnance Survey Maps, viewable at the National Library of Scotland map images site, Six-inch maps 1842–1952 (https://maps.nls.uk/os/6inch-england-and-wales/), 25-inch maps 1841–1952 (https://maps.nls.uk/os/25inch-england-and-wales/)
155. Pennine Horizons Digital Archive, https://penninehorizons.org/
156. Power in the Landscape, powerinthelandscape.co.uk
157. ‘Settlement history of the Upper Calder Valley’, http://southpenninehistorygroup.org.uk/settlements/ 
158. South Pennine Probate Archive, https://probate.southpenninehistorygroup.org.uk/ 
159. Survey of English Place Names, http://epns.nottingham.ac.uk/browse/West+Riding+of+Yorkshire/53288217b47fc40c81005fa8-Halifax, The English Place Name Society
160. The Historic England National Heritage List for England, https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/map-search/ 
161. The Megalithic Portal, https://www.megalithic.co.uk/ 
162. Todmorden Album, https://www.todmordenalbum.co.uk/
163. Todmorden and Walsen, https://sites.rootsweb.com/~todmordenandwalsden/ 
164. Valley of a Hundred Chapels: Yorkshire Non-conformists’ Lives and Legacies, http://chapelvalley.weebly.com/ 
165. West Yorkshire Archive Service archive catalogue, https://www.catalogue.wyjs.org.uk/ 
166. Wild Rose Heritage and Arts, https://www.wildrosearts.net/ 
167. Yorkshire Industrial Heritage, https://yorkshire.u08.eu/list/ 

Groups, organisations, societies, councils, campaigns

168. South Pennine Farmer Group
169. Pennine Cropshare
170. Grow+Graze
171. Great Rock Co-op (now ended)
172. Rooted
173. Incredible Edible
174. West Yorkshire Archaeological Advisory
175. West Yorkshire Ecological Services
176. Wainsgate Graveyard Project
177. Hebden Bridge Local History Society
178. Mytholmroyd Historical Society
179. Todmorden Antiquarian Society
180. Cragg Vale History Group
181. Halifax Antiquarian Society
182. Pennine Horizons Digital Archive
183. Pennine Heritage
184. Yorkshire Vernacular Buildings Group
185. Environment Agency
186. Calder Rivers Trust
187. Calderdale Countryside Services
188. West Yorkshire Ecological Services
189. National Trust Hardcastle Crags
190. Yorkshire Wildlife Trust
191. Yorkshire Rewilding Network
192. Hebden Royd Town Council
193. Wadsworth Parish Council
194. Heptonstall Parish Council
195. Blackshaw Parish Council
196. Erringden Parish Council
197. South Pennines Park
198. Moors for the Future
199. Landscapes for Water
200. Wilder Calderdale
201. CPRE West Yorkshire (Campaign for the Protection of Rural England)
202. Wilder Calderdale
203. Ban the Burn
204. North of England Raptor Forum
205. Calderdale Bird Conservation Group
206. Upper Calder Valley Wildlife Network
207. Forus Tree
208. Treesponsibility
209. Slow the Flow
210. BEAT (Blackshaw Environment Action Team)
211. Halifax Scientific Society
212. HebNat (Hebden Bridge Natural History Society)
213. Moorland Monitors
214. Calderdale Badgers
215. Sand In Your Eye
216. Hebden Bridge Arts
217. Gritstone Publishing
218. Hebden Bridge Camera Club
219. Picture This! Photography
220. Live Wild
221. Tinderwood Trust
222. Oak Apples
223. CROWS (Community Rights of Way Service)
224. Hebden Bridge Walkers Action
225. Calderdale Ramblers Association
226. Calderdale Heritage Walks
227. Calder Valley Search and Rescue Team
228. Centre for Folklore, Myth and Magic
229. Hebden Bridge Facebook group
230. Blackshaw Head Community Facebook group
231. Old Town Wadsworth Facebook group
232. Cragg Vale Community Facebook group
233. Heptonstall Community Facebook group
234. Widdop Road & Slack Facebook group
235. Hebden Bridge and Calderdale Photographs Facebook group
236. After Alice Facebook group
237. Mytholmroyd and Cragg Vale Local History Page Facebook group
238. Hebden Bridge History and Memories Facebook group
239. Heptonstall, Colden & Blackshaw memories Facebook group
240. Todmorden Past and Present Facebook group
241. Calderdale History and Memories Facebook group
242. Old Photos of Hebden Bridge Pre 2000 Facebook group
243. Calderbirds-SIGHTINGS WhatsApp group
244. Calderbirds-FORUM WhatsApp group
245. CALDERDALE WILDLIFE WhatsApp group

Conversations with local artists, filmmakers, musicians, photographers, writers, farmers, foresters, anglers, landowners, forest school practitioners, historians, archeologists, folklorists, ecologists, conservationists, birders, gardeners, environmental campaigners, walkers, cyclists, fell runners and anyone else with knowledge of and a connection to this landscape

246. Alex Harwood
247. Hannah Nunn
248. Jamie and Clare Wardley
249. Laurie Park
250. Laurie Sansom
251. Nicolette Lafonseca-Hargreaves
252. Rachel Hawthorn
253. Rebekah Fozard
254. Sue Walpole
255. Angie Rogers
256. Dorothy Ann Simister
257. Julia Ogden
258. Kate Lycett
259. Ben Davis
260. Geoff Brockate
261. Delia Stevens
262. Mark Williamson
263. Andrew Smith 
264. Bruce Cutts
265. Linda Hodges 
266. Mick Ryan
267. Ron Pengelly
268. Sarah Mason
269. Will Lake
270. David McFarlane
271. Amy Liptrot
272. Emily Oldfield
273. Horatio Clare
274. Liz Flanagan
275. Maria-Anna 
276. Sarah Corbett
277. Simon Zonenblick
278. Tara Guha
279. Zaffar Kunial
280. Clare Shaw
281. Anne Caldwell
282. Bascia
283. Bob of Bob’s Tearoom and Gardens
284. Chris Greaves 
285. David Templeman
286. David Duff 
287. Ed Sutcliffe
288. Geoff Tansey
289. Jane Rowling
290. Jayne Barbour
291. Jenny Slaughter
292. Keith Lomax
293. Allan Midgely
294. Ann Jones
295. Bruce and Jan Kenworthy 
296. Carl Warburton and Sandra Evans
297. Chris and Kath Miller
298. David Ingram
299. David Pratt
300. Rachel and Ian Pratt
301. Bernard Pratt
302. Sharon Akerboom and Alison Eason
303. Dick Baldwin
304. Elena Logg
305. Fiona and Andy Gibbon
306. Gordon and Miriam Whittaker
307. Rosemary Butterworth, and her son Jack
308. Joanne Redman
309. Julie Greenwood
310. Luke Westall
311. Spiros Spyrou
312. Tim Riley
313. Trevor and Anne Shackleton 
314. Andy and Jan Lobley
315. Margaret and Tony Dyson
316. Mark Whitaker
317. Mary and Margaret Gibson
318. May Stocks
319. Rose Greenwood 
320. Danielle Lovett
321. Kaomi Murty
322. Leona Johnson
323. Leonie Morris
324. Alan Hardwick
325. Angus Winchester
326. Ann Kilbey
327. Chris Barnett 
328. Chris Goddard
329. Christine Butterworth 
330. Dave Smalley
331. David Cant
332. David Pearce 
333. Diana Monaghan
334. Ed Web (Karl)
335. Francesca Elliot
336. Gareth Parry
337. Heather Morris
338. Hwyel Lewis
339. John Billingsley 
340. John Stell
341. John and Angela Sutcliffe
342. Justine Wyatt
343. Keith Stansfield
344. Kevin James Illingworth
345. Leah Coneron
346. Mary Twentyman
347. Matt Parker
348. Michael O’Grady
349. Nigel Lloyd
350. Nigel Smith
351. Norman Edmonson
352. Peter Thornborrow 
353. Sheila Graham
354. Stephen Marsden
355. Andy Bray
356. Anthony Arak
357. Bob of the Savile Bowling Club
358. Cath Baker
359. Charlie Streets
360. Christoph Kratz
361. Ed Beale
362. Ffion Atkinson
363. Finn Jensen 
364. Georgina Valentine 
365. Isy Anderson
366. Jack Wallington
367. Jenny Shepherd
368. Jon Kedwards
369. Lottie Timmins
370. Mark Simmonds
371. Matt Taylor
372. Miranda Cowan
373. Mischa Warnecke
374. Portia Fincham
375. Richard Brewster 
376. Richard Rainbow
377. Robin Gray
378. Ros Berrington
379. Sarah Bambridge
380. Stella King 
381. Steve Hindle
382. Suzy Knight
383. Toby Needs
384. Tom Deacon
385. Lucy Gilbert
386. Matt Bell
387. Steve Downing
388. Jo Kennedy
389. Adrian Horton
390. Andrew and Angie Mossman
391. Andrew Wood
392. Anthony Rae
393. Avril O’Grady
394. Barbara Miskin
395. Bede Mullen
396. Beryl Riley
397. Billie Klinger
398. Chris Ratcliffe
399. Chris Standley
400. Christian Merriman
401. Colin Robinson
402. Dan Stansfield
403. Dave Himelfield
404. David Burnop
405. Derek Pollard
406. Duncan Watson
407. Ed Whiting
408. Elizabeth Alker
409. Faye Blackburn
410. Holly Elsdon
411. Fyfe Sainsbury
412. Ginny
413. Graham Mynott
414. Greg Elwell
415. Helen Knight
416. Helen Lacy
417. Huw Nicholls
418. Ian Clarkson
419. Ian Whitehead
420. John Kerrane
421. John Jowett
422. John Page
423. Julie Noble
424. Julie Stearn
425. Mick Chatham
426. Kasher
427. Kate Pahl
428. Kay
429. Kelly Elliot
430. Jim Kenworthy
431. Laura Macdonald 
432. Lee Foster
433. Lesley Jackson
434. Margaret
435. Marie-Clare Kidd
436. Mark
437. Matt
438. Moya O’Donnell
439. Neil Diment
440. Nikki Harvey
441. Paddy McClave
442. Penny Bennett
443. Peter Tillotson
444. Phillip Lane
445. Rachel
446. Rachel Lightbird
447. Rachel Lucie
448. Richard Carter
449. Richard Peters
450. Romily Meredith
451. Sara Steele-Yates
452. Sara Tomkins
453. Sian Rogers
454. Stella Peterson
455. Stephen Rossi
456. Sue Mellis
457. Tim Cole
458. Toby Cotterill
459. Phillip
460. …and a few dozen other local folk whose work I know of but I have never had the pleasure of speaking to.