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Sunday 30th March 2025. Morning
Anne Lister's Shibden: what she inherited and what she bequeathed.
A short, morning walk round the Shibden estate nearest the Hall. Judge for yourself how Anne Lister transformed her inheritance – and how her legacy later benefited Calderdale.
Meet Jill Liddington at the front entrance to Shibden Hall (by the blue plaque) at 10.30. The circular walk ends about noon. At this point, you are offered a choice: either browse the Shibden shop, have a cup of tea and Q&A or explore inside the magnificent Hall (for which you are advised to pre-book your ticket.)
Your guide: Jill Liddington, local historian and author of Female Fortune and As Good as a Marriage.
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Tuesday 1st April 2025. Afternoon
Anne Lister Funeral Walk
Retracing the likely route of Anne Lister's funeral procession in April 1841. Strolling between Shibden Hall Gatehouse and Halifax Minster we reference the buildings and sites which she would have known and attempt to work out the path the cortege took. There will be readings about the funerals of other Lister family members, which took a similar route, several of which Anne organised.
Meet at 1.30pm by 1837 Shibden Gatehouse on Godley Lane (inside gate)
- finish at south entrance to Halifax Minster - walk should be suitable for scooters and dogs on leads.
Your guide: David Glover, President, Halifax Antiquarian Society
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Thursday 3rd April 2025. Afternoon
Ann Walker's Lightcliffe
This is a 2 hour circular walk
In 1830 Elizabeth & Ann Walker inherited much of Lightcliffe and became very wealthy. Within two years Ann had become the companion of Anne Lister. We walk round part of the estate passing where Ann lived, including Lidgate and the opportunity to walk up the drive to Cliffe Hill to look at the outside of the house where she was born and died. We finish in the churchyard where she is buried together with other members of her family, employees and tenants. The tower will be open. This is a 2 hour circular walk, mainly on pavements with just a short walk along a footpath.
Meet at 2pm at the tower, opposite to the Sun Country Inn on Wakefield Road. HX3 8TH. It is on the 255 bus from Halifax to Leeds leaving the bus station at 25 minutes past the hour and arriving about 9.45. The taxi ride is about 3 miles. There are places in Lightcliffe for a snacked lunch. This walk is £7.
Your guide: Ian Philp, local historian, Friends of St Matthew's Churchyard
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Friday 4th April 2025. Afternoon
Georgian Halifax
This is a 2 hour circular walk
Halifax has a rich architectural heritage of buildings dating from the mid-1700s until the reign of Queen Victoria. Three or four are well known, but many others are far less familiar. This walk takes us through a hundred years of history, to both the most ordinary and the grandest buildings of Georgian Halifax. What they have in common is that Anne Lister would have known them all during her lifetime - some more intimately than others! [ We will also be taking in some of the more significant Victorian public buildings along our route ].
Meet at the top of Woolshops, near the Duke of Wellington Regimental Memorial at 2pm.
Your guide: Anne Kirker, local historian, Calderdale Industrial Museum
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We are advertising the following opportunity alongside our walks. There is no need to book for this.
The Tower at St Matthew's churchyard will be open on Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th from 10.30 to 12.30.
The tower is opposite to the Sun Country Inn on Wakefield Road. HX3 8TH.
It is on the 255 bus from Halifax to Leeds leaving the bus station at 25 minutes past the hour and arriving about a quarter to the hour. The taxi ride is about three miles. There are places in Lightcliffe for a snack lunch.
The tower, all that remains of the church that Ann would have known, contains three Walker family memorials rescued when the church was demolished fifty years ago. The churchyard has Walker family graves and several people that Ann would have known and who appeared in Gentleman Jack. Your guides are Dorothy Barker and Ian Philp who help to look after the churchyard and have done a lot of research into our residents.
Donations for the maintenance of the churchyard and the tower will be gratefully received.
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