Bent Head Farm, Widdop Road, Heptonstall

In the housebody of Bent Head is preserved possibly the finest inglenook fireplace in Calderdale. A door is set against a stud partition which is fixed into an upright post that rises through the ceiling and is morticed into the tie-beam of the king-post truss directly above. Running across the room and fixed at one end into the wall is the great fire-beam called a ‘bressumer’. This supports the spine beams which carry the floor joists, and above which would have been a smoke-hood. Set in the angle of the post and bressumer was found a pointed wooden needle coiled about with human hair as a charm against witchcraft, hence the term ‘witch-post’. Inside the inglenook we see the fire-window and a later stone fireplace.