Hebble Brook

Hebble Brook is a river passing south from Ogden Reservoir, at Ogden, through Halifax and empties into the River Calder at Salterhebble.

Hebble Brook
Hebble Brook at Dean Clough, Halifax
Location
Country	England
State	West Yorkshire
Region	Calderdale
Physical characteristics
Source	Ogden Water
• coordinates	53°46′19.7″N 1°54′06.6″W
• elevation	250 m (820 ft)
Mouth
• location	Salterhebble
• coordinates	53°41′47.2″N 1°51′24.5″W
• elevation	60 m (200 ft)
Basin size	34.76 km2 (13.42 sq mi)[1]
Basin features
River system	River Calder, West Yorkshire

Toponymy

The name Hebble is a back formation from the local dialect word for a narrow, short planked bridge.^[2]

Ogden Water

The reservoir itself (known as Ogden Water) is sourced from water draining off Skirden Edge, through Skirden Clough, to the west and from the north the reservoir takes in water from Deep Gulf and Spa Flat, above the now disused Fly Delph Quarry, through the Great Scar and Ogden Clough.^[3] The reservoir is 62 feet (19 m) deep, holds 35,000,000 cubic feet (1,000,000 m³) of water and was completed in 1858 to supply fresh water to Halifax.^[4] The water is surrounded by 24 hectares (60 acres) of mixed conifer and broad leafed nature reserve^[5] that attracts 300,000 visitors a year.^[6] The construction of the reservoir was started in 1854. The scheme employed 500 men. It was finished in 1858. It can supply Halifax with water by gravity alone.^[7]

Course

The Middle Grain Beck and Carrs Beck flow into Hebble Brook, from the land around Halifax golf course, at Brookhouse, just south of Ogden Reservoir; it then continues south past Mixenden, where various small springs and old quarry workings add to the water volume. The brook heads south past Ovenden and Wheatley and flows underground in Brackenbed Sports Park. Thereafter it flows under and above ground intermittently (picking up Ovenden Brook in the Lee Bridge area)^[1] until it reaches Sedburgh Road in Halifax. It then flows in the open parallel to the Halifax Branch of the Calder and Hebble Navigation before flowing into the River Calder.^[8]

The Hebble gives its name to nearby village Salterhebble, where the river flows through. There was a pub located in Salterhebble named the Calder and Hebble, after the two local rivers.^[9]

Geology

Mapping indicates that the watercourse starts at the outflow point of Ogden Water. The Environment Agency list the brook as starting at the Ogden wind farm on Nab Hill some 2.5 kilometres (1.6 mi) west of Ogden Water.^[1] The water is shown as flowing through Ogden Clough, a narrow valley of mudstones and sandstones with many small waterfalls as it easily erodes the mudstone, but not the sandstone.^[10]

See also

• Rivers of the United Kingdom

References

1. "Hebble Brook from source to Calder". environmentdata.org. Environment Agency. Retrieved 22 November 2016.
2. Ekwall, Eilert (1968). English River Names. Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. 194. ISBN 9780198691198.
3. "OL21" (Map). South Pennines (A2 ed.). 1:25,000. Explorer. Ordnance Survey. 2008. ISBN 978-0-319-24012-0.
4. Moore, Lindsey (21 January 2016). "A scenic walk around 19th century reservoir". Craven Herald & Pioneer. Retrieved 22 November 2016.
5. "Nature reserves Ogden Water". calderdale.gov.uk. Calderdale Council. Archived from the original on 23 November 2016. Retrieved 22 November 2016.
6. "Best foot forward: Ogden Reservoir". Hebden Bridge Times. 9 October 2015. Retrieved 22 November 2016.
7. "History and background information". Ogden Water Staff. Retrieved 17 March 2018.
8. "104" (Map). Leeds & Bradford (C1 ed.). 1:50,000. Landranger. Ordnance Survey. 2002. ISBN 0-319-22704-9.
9. Dictionary of pub names. Hertfordshire: Wordsworth. 2006. p. 69. ISBN 1-84022-266-2.
10. Tymon, Alison (2013). "Rocks and landscapes of Ogden Clough, Halifax" (PDF). wyorksgeologytrust.org. West Yorkshire Geology Trust. pp. 1–7. Retrieved 22 November 2016.