Hammond Roberson Plaque 15

Hammond Roberson Plaque 15

Arriving in Spen Valley in 1795, this irascible vicar bought Healds Hall, Leeds Road Liversedge, where he lived until his death in 1841. He used the building to set up a boys' boarding school. The Hall (pictured below) was later owned by Samuel Cooke, owner of Spen Valley's biggest textile mill. It is now Healds Hall Hotel, a Grade II Listed building. Hammond Roberson built Christ Church Liversedge in 1812. It cost him  £7,474.11shillings, 10 pence & 3 farthings. He also funded the first National School, in Liversedge (see plaque 10). A pillar of the establishment, Hammond Roberson supported mill owners during the Luddite uprisings (see plaque 7) and is said to have inspired the character of Reverend Matthew Helstone in Charlotte Bronte's novel Shirley.