Go east young professional and grow up with a town half as old as time

So yes, Go east young professional and grow up with a town half as old as time mangles an injunction often attributed to Horace Greeley about westward expansion and the Manifest Destiny of the United States with that poem about Petra in Jordan.*

Looking down on Hebden Bridge, 2026

Hebden Bridge from Nutclough Road, 2026

To which Eric of Todmorden will mutter "self-indulgent nonsense, and I guess he would be right".  

But all stories need an introduction and in a sense this one hits the button because for ages young professionals have been heading east from Manchester to this small community in West Yorkshire.

My Wikipedia tells me that “during the 1970s and 1980s the town saw an influx of artists, writers, photographers, musicians, alternative practitioners, teachers, Green and New Age activists and more recently, wealthier 'yuppie' types. 

The town centre, 2026

This in turn saw a boom in tourism to the area. During the 1990s Hebden Bridge became a commuter town, because of its proximity to major towns and cities both sides of the Pennines and its rail links to Manchester, Bradford and Leeds”**

I will leave residents to correct or agree with the description but that does seem to be the perspective of outsiders some of whom I count as friends.

That said having visited the place over the years I can see how it is an attractive place to settle down in despite the ever-rising house prices, risk of flooding and unpopular development plans.

Houses that climb the valley, 2026

But who wouldn’t be drawn to what the British Airways flight magazine in 2025 named as the fourth quirkiest place in the world and described as ‘modern and stylish in an unconventional and stylish way’".**

At which point I could launch into a full description of its old English origins, its rise to prominence during the Industrial Revolution and its place today as a cultural, and retail centre, but then I would only be lifting the account from other people’s research all of which is easily available.

So instead, I will content myself with these   paintings by my artist pal Peter Topping.

Crossing the water, 2026

He ventured east from Chorlton recently to reacquaint himself with the place and meet up with one of his sons who now lives there.

And that pretty much is it.

Location; Hebden Bridge

Paintings; Hebden Bridge, @ Peter Topping, 2026, https://paintingsfrompictures.co.uk/

*"Go West,  young man go West and grow up with the country” Horace Greeley, 1854 and “a rose red city half as old as time” John William Burgon, 1845

**Hebden Bridge, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebden_Bridge

Nutclough Road, 2026