The Spen Valley

Cleckheaton, Heckmondwike, Liversedge and Gomersal, plus a number of villages, make up an area known as the Spen Valley. This book, with over 200 illustrations, mostly from the author's collection of postcards, covers part of the region's history. In the early 1900s, the region was fortunate in having several expert photographers who recorded everyday scenes. Much of their output appeard on postcards. Using glass plates a darkroom and sheets of photographic paper with the word 'postcard' on the back, their handiwork was purchased either for a means of communication of placing in an album. The work of local Edwardian photographers, including J. Hodgson of Cleckheaton, features strongly in the book. The images over an area whose woollen-related industries can be traced back to domestic sheep rearing on the green and wooded hillsides. The towns and townships of the Spen Valley reached a heyday in the first decades of the twentieth century. With photographs of mills, mines, railways, busy streets and special events, the contents of this volume are a valuable social comment on a relatively recent period of history. The pictures are accompanied by the authors' well-researched text.