Heptonstall Old Church in the snow - BIM00119

Occupying a dominant hill-top site within an ancient Pennine weaving community, the parochial chapel of Heptonstall was the third ecclesiastical edifice to be erected in the medieval parish of Halifax. Today it is a charming ruin, overshadowed by its Victorian Gothic successor. It was originally built around the middle of the 13th century and dedicated to St Thomas a Becket who was murdered in Canterbury Cathedral in 1170 and canonised 3 years later. Fabric from this early period survives in the tower. The building was extended in the early 14th century and completely reconstructed towards the middle of the next century to create a church with two naves and side aisles. During the 16th and 17th centuries the north aisle was taken down and widened, and a dormer gable window was added on each side of the church to provide additional light for galleries. One of these windows has survived and draws directly on the domestic building style of the period.

The tower was severely damaged in a great storm of 1847. After finding it impossible to raise sufficient funds for the repair by levying a church rate throughout the chapelry it was finally decided to build a new church on the adjacent site and to raise the necessary capital by voluntary subscriptions. The foundation stone of the new church, designed by Mallinson and Healey, was laid in 1850.

Text from: Calderdale Architecture and History.

Bill Marsden

Bill Marsden

1990s

PHDA - Bill Marsden Collection

Pennine Horizons Digital Archive

BIM00119.tif