Spen Fame Trail

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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