Ted Hughes' birthplace
1 Aspinall Street, Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire, HX7 5NL
The Elmet Trust invite you to come and explore the home of a key figure in our literary heritage, Ted Hughes. Ted’s House is where Ted Hughes was born in 1930 and lived until he was eight. The house has been lovingly restored in 1930s style to capture the ambience of the era when Hughes lived there. The surrounding countryside is rich in wildlife, and many of Hughes' memories and experiences in the environs of Aspinall Street and the wider Calder Valley are captured in his collections of poems, Remains of Elmet (1979) and Elmet (1994). Hughes described the experience of looking out of the window of his bedroom onto the Zion Chapel in the poem 'Mount Zion'. The Chapel is long gone, but Zion Terrace remains, its name a reminder of more God-fearing times. In ‘The Rock’, an autobiographical piece about his early childhood, Hughes writes about Scout Rock, whose cliff face provided ‘both the curtain and back-drop to existence‘. The area continued to be a powerful source of inspiration in his poetry long after he had left Yorkshire. Come along on Sunday 21st September and experience a rare opportunity to learn how the spaces and memories in the house connect with several Hughes poems set there.
Timings & Tours
- Sunday 21 September:
- 1000-1500
Location & directions
1 Aspinall Street, Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire, HX7 5NL
- Directions:
- Public Transport: Maximum 5 minute walk from the main bus stop on the A646 in the centre of Mytholmroyd, on the 590, 591, 592, 597, 900 and 901 bus routes.
- Contact on day:
- The Elmet Trust
- Telephone number:
- +447789811528
Booking information
- Pre-booking requirement:
- Pre-booking not required
Accessibility details
Access: The ground floor is wheelchair accessible. The second and third floors are only accessible on foot. The stairs up to the attic room are very steep and narrow. Parking: There is very limited on-street parking. Please arrive by public transport or on foot if at all possible.
Additional information
The house is very small with narrow staircases. Experts will be stationed on each floor to provide context/information about the poems relating to the different rooms.
- Est. tour duration:
- 1 hour(s)
