Hebden Bridge

The sketch and description are from The Calderdale Sketch Book by JL Berbiers, published in 1973 by The Halifax Courier Ltd. Architect Ian Nairn described the famous top-and –bottom houses at Hebden Bridge as ‘a crazy collision of terraces ‘when he first saw them from Heptonstall Road. Seemingly the blocks tumble over one another down the hillsides but all are carefully and solidly built; one house with its back to the earth and front entrance on to a street, another house built on top with its entrance on to quite a different street. Sometimes two houses are built back to back on the top level, one with a street entrance and another reached by an apparently precariously balanced balcony looping round the building between the second and third storeys. For the past few years, emphasis has been placed on conserving and improving these houses and with the advent of the Hebden Bridge Conservation area this policy should continue in order to preserve a style of architecture unique in such quantity. PH/25.