Heptonstall, to look at, is probably as near to being an unspoilt old village as is possible. Inevitably it has become a place of ridiculous house prices.
It is based on the Yorkshire textile industry as it was prior to the industrial revolution, largely machineless production at home [domestic industry]. The 16th C Clloth Hall, where domestic producers brought their ‘pieces’ for display, is now a house.
There are some particularly interesting features here. The Wesleyan Chapel goes back right to 1764 and John Wesley himself preached here.
The main churchyard is very rare in the UK in possessing two churches. The older one [12th C?] dedicated to Thomas a Becket was badly damaged by lightning in the 19th C and was left as a monument beside the new one. Alongside the newer church is a building that was the Grammar School and then the Yorkshire Penny Bank before becoming the Heptonstall Museum [weekends only].
Among the tombs is that of David Hartley, hanged at York for clipping gold [edit text][editors]
