Picture Post: Green and gold of Pecket Well Clough in autumn

You can follow a trail through a secluded wooded valley, rich in plant, bird and animal life, with hints of the area’s industrial 
past.

There are huge beech trees, originally planted in the 1870s, and you may see numerous species of fungi, growing on the ground, on trees or deadwood.

Among the many different bird species are dippers, herons, woodpeckers and jays.

Pecket Well is a small village up on ‘the tops’ above Hebden Bridge on the road over to Haworth. In summer, after a steep two-mile climb up through the woods, you emerge in lush green hay meadows.

Approximately half a mile along the valley in Hardcastle Crags, there is a 19th century cotton mill called Gibson Mill. The water-powered mill was one of the first mills of the Industrial Revolution.

It has been renovated to demonstrate renewable energy sources and a sustainability strategy.

Water-powered turbines, photovoltaic panels, composting toilets, a wood-burning boiler, a wood-burning cocklestove, and locally sourced reclaimed interior materials have gone into making the venture sustainable.

The mill, a Grade II-listed building, reopened to the public on September 24, 2005, and there are exhibits about the mill and its workers.

It is surrounded by 400 acres of unspoilt woodland 
and crossed by 30 miles of footpaths.

Clough is a frequent term in the south Pennines where it referred to a steep-sided ravine and gave rise to numerous place-names.

It can be compared with ‘gill’ which was characteristic of the northern Pennines.

Otherwise, references to its use in everyday vocabulary are scarce.

The final ‘gh’ was not always pronounced. In the Huddersfield area, Close Gate, in Marsden, was earlier Cloughs Gate, and Close Hill, in Newsome, was Cloughs Hill.

Technical details: Nikon D6 camera, 12-35mm lens, 1/2 second at f11, ISO 100.