Luddendenfoot or Luddenden Foot is a community in

Calderdale Calderdale is a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, England, whose population in 2020 was 211,439. It takes its name from the River Calder, and dale, a word for valley. The name Calderdale usually refers to the borough through which the up ...

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 exis ...

, England. The population of Luddendenfoot is 2,547, with the wider Calderdale Ward (of the same name) at the 2011 Census as 10,653. It lies along the Upper Calder Valley below the village of Luddenden, between

Sowerby Bridge Sowerby Bridge ( ) is a market town in the Upper Calder Valley in Calderdale in West Yorkshire, England. The Calderdale Council ward population at the 2011 census was 11,703. History The town was originally a fording point over the once muc ...

and

Mytholmroyd Mytholmroyd (pronounced ) is a large village in the Upper Calder Valley in West Yorkshire, England, east of Hebden Bridge. It lies east of Burnley and west of Halifax. The village, which has a population of approximately 4,000 is in the ...

History

The settlement grew up around the confluence of Luddenden Brook and the River Calder and the existence of the woollen textile industry. The industrial growth facilitated by the opening of the

Rochdale Canal The Rochdale Canal is in Northern England, between Manchester and Sowerby Bridge, part of the connected system of the canals of Great Britain. Its name refers to the town of Rochdale through which it passes. The Rochdale is a broad canal be ...

in 1804 and the opening of the

Manchester and Leeds Railway The Manchester and Leeds Railway was a British railway company that built a line from Manchester to Normanton, West Yorkshire, Normanton where it made a junction with the North Midland Railway, over which it relied on running powers to access Le ...

in 1840. There were several mills including Boy Mill, Luddendenfoot Mill, Delph Mill and Denholme Mill. None of these mills remain in their original use. Between 1840 and 1962 the village was served by Luddendenfoot railway station. Luddendenfoot grew up around the industry along the river and brook, then later the canal; then the railway and then the A646 Burnley Road. In the late part of the 20th Century; many houses along Burnley Road were cleared and a new housing estate at Kershaw was developed. In the early 21st Century; housing has been built on a cleared mill site in the centre of the village.

Governance

Luddendenfoot had a

Local Board of Health Local boards or local boards of health were local authorities in urban areas of England and Wales from 1848 to 1894. They were formed in response to cholera epidemics and were given powers to control sewers, clean the streets, regulate environment ...

from 1868 until 1894, in 1894 an Urban District Council was established. Luddendenfoot was absorbed into Sowerby Bridge in 1937 and remained part of Sowerby Bridge Urban District until the formation of the

metropolitan borough A metropolitan borough (or metropolitan district) is a type of local government district in England. Created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972, metropolitan boroughs are defined in English law as metropolitan districts within metropoli ...

in 1974, which is administered from Halifax. The settlement is part of the Luddendenfoot

ward Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a priso ...

of the part of the

metropolitan county The metropolitan counties are a type of county-level administrative division of England. There are six metropolitan counties, which each cover large urban areas, with populations between 1 and 3 million. They were created in 1974 and are each di ...

. The Luddendenfoot ward covers a wider area and includes the villages of Mytholmroyd, Luddenden, Midgley, Booth, Wainstalls, Cragg Vale and

Boulderclough Boulderclough is a small village in the Borough of Calderdale in West Yorkshire, England. The village is situated between Sowerby at the south and Mytholmroyd at the north, and is approximately west from the centre of the town of Halifax. ...

. The ward has, over the years, elected councillors from all of the three main parties. However, as of May 2019, all three seats are held by Labour councillors and this is the first time this has happened since 1973. The current councillors by date elected are Jane Scullion (Deputy Leader of Calderdale), Scott Patient and Roisin Cavanagh.

Education

There are two primary schools in Luddendenfoot; Luddendenfoot Academy, formerly Luddendenfoot Junior and Infant School and Luddenden CE School.

Cultural reference and notable people

* Luddendenfoot is the subject of a poem by

Simon Armitage Simon Robert Armitage (born 26 May 1963) is an English poet, playwright, musician and novelist. He was appointed Poet Laureate on 10 May 2019. He is professor of poetry at the University of Leeds. He has published over 20 collections of poetr ...

, in which he comments on the rumoured pagan practices of the town. * The actor Peter Alexander, who starred in

Emmerdale Farm ''Emmerdale'' (known as ''Emmerdale Farm'' until 1989) is a British soap opera that is broadcast on ITV1. The show is set in Emmerdale (known as Beckindale until 1994), a fictional village in the Yorkshire Dales. Created by Kevin Laffan, ...

and numerous pantomimes in Yorkshire, lives here. *Luddenden was also used as the exterior funeral parlour for the then

Yorkshire Television ITV Yorkshire, previously known as Yorkshire Television and commonly referred to as just YTV, is the British television service provided by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV network. Until 1974, this was prima ...

's '' In Loving Memory''. *The

in the village was used as a filming location in Happy Valley * *Luddendenfoot Rugby League Club appeared in the first round of the Rugby League Challenge Cup in

1899 Events January 1899 * January 1 ** Spanish rule ends in Cuba, concluding 400 years of the Spanish Empire in the Americas. ** Queens and Staten Island become administratively part of New York City. * January 2 – **Bolivia sets up a ...

as an amateur side, losing 63–3 away at

Salford Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county afte ...

. *

Branwell Brontë Patrick Branwell Brontë (, commonly ; 26 June 1817 – 24 September 1848) was an English painter and writer. He was the only son of the Brontë family, and brother of the writers Charlotte, Emily, and Anne. Brontë was rigorously tutored at ...

worked at Luddendenfoot Railway Station in 1841

Gallery

File:Rochdale Canal near Luddenden Foot - geograph.org.uk - 985276.jpg,

File:Fender, by Joss Smith, at Luddendenfoot (11937295596).jpg, alt=Public Art by the Rochdale Canal, Public Art by the Rochdale Canal File:Division of Luddendenfoot and Warley (3306510677).jpg, alt=Former boundary marker denoting Luddendenfoot and Warley districts., Former boundary marker denoting Luddendenfoot and Warley districts. File:Luddendenfoot .jpg, alt=Luddendenfoot viewed from the south east., Luddendenfoot in the summer File:Winter Luddendenfoot.jpg, alt=Luddendenfoot in the winter, Luddendenfoot in the winter File:Luddendenfoot in the autumn.jpg, alt=Luddendenfoot in the Autumn, Luddendenfoot in the Autumn

References

External links

Luddendenfoot Junior & Infant School websiteSowerby Bridge Chronicle newspaper website
{{authority control Villages in West Yorkshire Geography of Calderdale Wards of Calderdale