Welcome to Wadsworth
Wadsworth is the second largest parish by area in England, and is a beautiful part of the South Pennines. It includes the high uplands of Widdop and Wadsworth Moors to the north, Midgley Moor to the east, the lovely little valley of Crimsworth Dean, and the fine woodland of the National Trust property at Hardcastle Crags to the west of Hebden Water.
Calderdale Council has recognised the most important landscapes of the district by designating them as a Special Landscape Area (SLA), Wadsworth lies within the SLA. Old Town has a fine cricket club, a bowling club which celebrated its centenary in 2004, a Women’s Institute and an active Community Centre; as well as an Environment group and Gardening group. There are two churches, Baptist and Methodist, but no Parish Church; the parish of Wadsworth came under the ecclesiastical parish of Heptonstall – perhaps the distance involved was contributory to the ‘wild and uncouth’ description of some of the parish. The village also has an excellent primary school, which is just over 100 years old, and an amazing village shop and post office which disproves the adage that ‘you can’t get a quart into a pint pot!’ The whole village is bordered from the north by miles of high moorland, offering fresh air and space in abundance. To the south lies Hebden Bridge, and the main modern routes out of the Calder Valley, east to Yorkshire and west to Lancashire.