Bronte Country: Hardcastle Crags

In all that I’ve read and heard about the Bronte’s I expected Haworth to be more moor like, more barren and harsh but it was absolutely green and lovely. The bus ride to Hebden Bridge gave me a little more of an idea of the whole area though. We wound through the valley and through a few neighboring villages before going up and over a huge moor that was more what I had in mind. Then we descended into another green woodland valley. I managed to pick out the correct stop at the street that heads into Hardcastle Crags. The entrance was about a mile up the road. A bus was due to pass that way shortly but I thought that I would start walking.

It came along when I was about halfway there and I decided to just keep walking. It was really lovely. It was a narrow road and at first there were some houses on the left which overlooked a gorge and on the right a steep wooded hill heading up.

By the time I had made it to the National Trust car park I was a little disappointed to find out that the mill was another mile in. Well, here we go. There were a few wooded trails here and there but I decided to take the gravel road straight to the mill and then perhaps pick another trail from there. There was a group in front and behind me but far enough that there were times when I felt like I was along in the woods, which was fine to me. 

Unbeknownst to me it was an English Heritage open day and so there was no admission charge to the mill. 

It was a functioning cotton mill in the 19th century and then became a dance hall. As it is now the mail floor was the dance hall and there was a tea room upstairs. 

Water from the mill pond still drives two turbines and produces all the electricity used in the visitors centre and cafe. My interested was of course cinematic. Gibson Mill was Dotheboys Hall in Nicholas Nickleby.

After the walk through I went out behind the mill to get a clean shot of the pond from the back side.

 There was a long trail that continued into the woods along the river which I followed for a little while but wanted to head back to catch the 5pm bus into town.

I had a great time taking pictures. From the mill back to the car park I followed the trail along the river which was rocky and rather muddy in places.

There was one set of stairs heading down that was really deep mud and unavoidable. I got back to the car park at 4:40 and decided that instead of waiting for the bus I could start walking in and meet up with it later. When I met up with the main road I just barely missed one of the buses and decided to just keep walking. In the visitor’s centre it said something about in the turn of the century when Hardcastle Crags was a bit holiday destination that people would walk the two miles from town for dances and then like. I had already walked a mile so town couldn’t be too much further. It was a long but lovely walk down into town with a great early evening view of this mass of stone buildings perched along the hills of this little valley.

The rail station wasn’t directly in the town centre so that took a little more wandering and my feet were about to give out as I had racked up nearly 10 miles.