96 RIVERS. 



Penda (A.D. 642), and is the saint of the church. Pontefract 

 Castle, of gloomy memories, is well worth a morning's visit. 

 At Castleford, Calder joins the Aire. 



THE CALDER. 



Calder, a common name of northern rivers, seems to have 

 Celtic roots, and to signify ' woodland water.' The Yorkshire 

 river is composed of many branching streams, which originate in 

 the rough gritstone hills on the south-western side of the county. 

 These branches frequently descend through rude and craggy 

 fissures, to which the name of 'Clough,' replacing 'Dale/ is 

 applied. Flat marshy parts traversed by rivulets are called 

 ' slacks.' The prominent hills are called ' edges ' (' pikes ' 

 were surmounted by obelisks or heaps of stones), ' stones,' 

 ' crags,' and ' mosses,' according to their individual characters. 



The main stream of Calder rises in a narrow dell between 

 Rochdale and Todmorden, in close proximity to one of the 

 sources of the Roch. This summit of drainage afforded the 

 easiest passage from Yorkshire to Lancashire for the Rochdale 

 Canal. At a later time it has been traversed by the Leeds and 

 Manchester Railway. 



From this point the stream descends amid scenery charac- 

 terized by rocks of millstone grit, to Todmorden, receiving there 

 a branch rivulet from Maiden Cross and Stiperden, in the direc- 

 tion of Burnley; then running almost under Studley Pike to 

 Hebden Bridge, it is augmented by the water from the rough 

 and wild slopes of Heptenstall. At Mytholm a small stream, 

 and at Sowerby Bridge a larger feeder, enter Calder from 

 Blackstone Edge. Halifax sends an auxiliary from the north, 

 and at Cooper Bridge the Colne arrives from Huddersfield, 

 bringing water from Marsden, Pule Hill, and Stanedge, and 

 from Holmfirth and the elevated ground about Holme Moss, 

 1859 feet high. Under Pule Hill the long tunnels of the Hud- 

 dersfield Canal and Railway pass (3| miles). 



