Recently the Upper Calder Valley has been under the spotlight. The moody landscape with its windswept moorland and green valleys has served as the backdrop for the BBC TV series Happy Valley, which became cult Sunday night viewing earlier this year.
It’s not the first time this gorgeous West Yorkshire landscape has featured on our TV screens, as scenes for the BBC drama Gentleman Jack, starring Suranne Jones, were also filmed in the area. Whether or not you’ve seen it on screen, it’s a beautiful part of the world to visit and only a short distance away from Greater Manchester, making it perfect for a day trip.
Luddenden is one of the charming villages nestled in the Upper Calder Valley. Smaller than its neighbours Hebden Bridge and Mytholmroyd, the village is nevertheless picturesque, with clusters of stone cottages rising up the side of the valley.
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Historically centred around farming, the village evolved from the valley bottom up and by the 18th century it had become a centre for handloom weaving, with houses and mills being built higher up on the hillside.
Although today the village appears to be rather sleepy, with no shops and just one pub, it once had the equivalent of a major motorway passing through it. A cobbled packhorse trail runs through the village from Midgley, crossing the river over to Warley.
It served as a major route for transporting goods through the Pennines, but this changed in the late 1700s when a turnpike road through the Calder Valley was approved by the government. You can still see the cobblestone road - Old Lane - today.
The only pub in Luddenden, The Lord Nelson Inn, is reputedly the oldest building in the village. Above the door of the pub is a 1634 datestone, although it didn’t actually become an alehouse until the middle of the 18th century.
The Grade II-listed coaching inn is dog friendly and has a beer garden in the summer. It was actually used as an exterior of a tavern seen in the first ever episode of Gentleman Jack. Branwell Bronte, the only brother of the literary Bronte sisters, was said to be a regular.
Luddenden is surrounded by beautiful countryside and there are lots of walks to do in the surrounding area. Just under a mile from the centre of the village is the Rochdale Canal, which you can follow to the nearby village of Mytholmroyd. The tiny village of Midgley sits up on the hillside, around a mile northwest of Luddenden.
The village is around an hour's drive from Greater Manchester. Alternatively you can take the train from Manchester Victoria to one of the nearby stations and catch a bus to Luddenden, which takes around 90 minutes.
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