Spen Fame Trail
Spen Fame Trail
A hangman with a conscience and the biggest public meeting ever held in England are two of the lesser known reasons why Spen Valley deserves to be famous. Another would be for the man who built an entire church for the price of a Ford Fiesta. From sporting achievement to the flowering of national artistic talent, from the straight laced to the weird and the whacky, men and women of the Spen Valley have managed to excel themselves in almost every field. In 2007 with funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund Spen Valley Civic Society devised a "Fame Trail" featuring 48 famous people and events. On the streets and roads of our towns and villages you can see numbered plaques fixed into the pavement. These mark the home of the named person or location of the event.
To read more about Spen's connection with The Archers and with the Harrier Jump Jet and lots more, click on each plaque or on the map to find the story behind each celebrated character. You'll be tickled pink!
Roger Hargreaves
High Lees, 703 Halifax Road, nr. Pack Horse
John Wesley
636-638 Halifax Road Hightown
Patrick Bronte
426 Halifax Road Liversedge WF15 8EE
John Greene
The Quaker Sepulchre, Hare Park Lane Liversedge WF15 8ER
Chartist Political Rally 1839
Fields between Hare Park Lane, Windybank Lane, Peep Green Lane and Roberttown
Lisa Brambini
Hartshead Lane Hartshead
The Star Inn and John Booth
The Star Inn, 223 Roberttown Lane Liversedge WF15 7LQ
Shears Inn and John Walker
The Shears Inn 254 Halifax Road Liversedge WF15 6NP
Ken Mackintosh Band Leader
By the former Liversedge Town Hall, Halifax Road Liversedge
First Ever State School Liversedge
Halifax Road Liversedge WF15 6PW
Headlands Hall - Old Yew Tree Inn
Headlands Hall, junction of Roberttown Lane and Huddersfield Road Liversedge WF15 7NX
Leslie Heward
15 Halifax Road Liversedge WF15 6LF
George Humble and The Globe Inn
Huddersfield Road Liversedge
John Fozard
Holme Street Millbridge WF15 7JF
Hammond Roberson
Leeds Road Liversedge WF15 6JA
Arthur Wood and The Archers
The Green, Westgate, Heckmondwike WF16 9QD
John Curwen
The Green, Westgate Heckmondwike WF16 9QD
Thomas Cassidy Ratcatcher
The Green, Westgate, Heckmondwike WF16 9QD
James Berry Hangman
The Green, Westgate, Heckmondwike WF16 9QD
Heckmondwike Illuminations
The Green, Westgate Heckmondwike WF16 9QD
Francis Popplewell and The Blanket Hall
The Green, Westgate, Heckmondwike WF16 9QD
Hubert Houldsworth
St James Street, Heckmondwike
Stanley Matthews' Boots
Outside 10 Brunswick Place, Brunswick Street Heckmondwike WF16 0LT
Brian Tattersfield
Kilpin Hill Lane
Joseph Pinder
39 Kilpin Hill Lane Heckmondwike WF13 4BJ
Thomas Redfearn & Samuel Wood
Heckmondwike Grammar School, High Street, Heckmondwike WF16 0AH
Fathers Brown and Roche
Holy Spirit RC Church, Bath Road, Heckmondwike WF16 9EA
Joseph Priestley
The Old Hall Pub, New North Road, Heckmondwike WF16 9DP
William Cartwright
Cartwright Street off Dewsbury Road, Rawfolds, Cleckheaton BD19 5LU
Marsh Mill Tragedy
Marsh Mills, Dewsbury Road, Cleckheaton BD19 5BQ
Plug Rioters
St. Peg Mills, St. Peg Lane, Cleckheaton BD19 3SH
Rebecca Sugden
former Ellison Clinic, 29A Brooke Street, Cleckheaton BD19 3SA
Elymas Wadsworth
Spenborough Town Hall, Bradford Road, Cleckheaton BD19 3JD
Phelon & Moore
Horncastle Street, Cleckheaton BD19 3JL
Philip Barton cabbage man
bottom of Valley Road, off Bradford Road, Cleckheaton BD19 3LJ
John Wesley Hillard
Lion Chambers, 63 Northgate Cleckheaton BD19 3HZ
Abel Blackburn
Tofts Mill Serpentine Road Cleckheaton BD19 3HY
Westgate Bridge Crash
Westgate Bridge, Westgate, Cleckheaton BD19 5EY
Edward Wadsworth
Highfield House, Off Waltroyd Road, Cleckheaton BD19 3AS
Poor Ben
Lion Confectionery Ltd, Westgate Cleckheaton BD19 3AA
Cleckheaton Conspirators
Whitcliffe Mount School, Turnsteads Avenue, Cleckheaton BD19 3AQ
Whitechapel Church
Whitechapel Church, Whitechapel Road, Cleckheaton BD19 6HR
William Fenton
Bradford Road Cleckheaton BD19 3UD
Jeff Butterfield and John Bentley
Cleckheaton Sports Club, Bradford Road, Cleckheaton BD19 3UD
Sam Pearson
BD19 6NR
Toffee Smith
Smith Court, Oxford Road, Gomersal BD19 4RA
Adam Hart-Davis
Corner of Lodge Lane and Norristhorpe Lane, Norristhorpe, Liversedge WF15 7PQ
Mary Taylor
The Red House, Oxford Road, Gomersal, Cleckheaton BD19 4JP
Charlotte Bronte in Spen Valley (1)
Hollybank School, Far Common Road Mirfield WF14 0DQ
Charlotte Bronte in Spen Valley (2) Plaque 48b
52 Lower Lane Gomersal Cleckheaton BD19 4HZ
Charlotte Bronte in Spen Valley (3)
The Rydings, Leeds Road Birstall WF17 9AY