Hardcastle Crags is a wooded Pennine valley in

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, owned by the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

Historically History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

part of the

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county County of York, West Riding (the area under the control of West Riding County Council), abbreviated County ...

, it lies approximately north of the town of

Hebden Bridge Hebden Bridge is a market town in the Upper Calder Valley in West Yorkshire, England. It is west of Halifax and 14 miles (21 km) north-east of Rochdale, at the confluence of the River Calder and the Hebden Water. The town is the largest ...

and west of the town of Halifax.

Gibson Mill

Approximately half a mile along the valley there is a 19th-century

cotton mill A cotton mill is a building that houses spinning (textiles), spinning or weaving machinery for the production of yarn or cloth from cotton, an important product during the Industrial Revolution in the development of the factory system. Althou ...

called Gibson Mill. The mill was water powered and has been renovated to demonstrate renewable energy sources and a

sustainability Specific definitions of sustainability are difficult to agree on and have varied in the literature and over time. The concept of sustainability can be used to guide decisions at the global, national, and individual levels (e.g. sustainable livi ...

strategy. It is surrounded by of unspoilt woodland and crossed by of footpaths. The former cotton mill was one of the first powered mills built at the start of the

Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...

. Water powered turbines, photo voltaic panels, composting toilets, a wood-burning boiler, a wood-burning

cocklestove A masonry heater (also called a masonry stove) is a device for warming an interior space through radiant heating, by capturing the heat from periodic burning of fuel (usually wood), and then radiating the heat at a fairly constant temperature ...

and locally sourced reclaimed interior materials have gone into making the venture sustainable. The mill, a grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

, reopened to the public on Saturday, 24 September 2005, and there are exhibits about the mill and its workers.HebdenBridge.co.uk 26 September 2005
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Gallery

Image:Hardcastle_Crags_1.jpg, Woodland at Hardcastle Crags Image:Hardcastle Crags 2.jpg, Hardcastle Crags signpost Image:Hebden Water near Hardcastle Crags - geograph.org.uk - 269736.jpg, River Hebden Image:Hardcastle Crags - geograph.org.uk - 835064.jpg, Foliage Image:Gibson Mill, Hardcastle Crags - geograph.org.uk - 835051.jpg, Gibson Mill Image:Gateway and Lodge, Hardcastle Crags, Wadsworth - geograph.org.uk - 1391281.jpg, Entrance to the

land

References

External links

Hardcastle Crags on the National Trust WebsiteNorthern hairy wood ant at Hardcastle Crags - BBC
{{coord, 53.7650, -2.0424, scale:30000_region:GB, display=title National Trust properties in West Yorkshire Nature reserves in West Yorkshire Tourist attractions in Calderdale