500 J. W. Davis— The Valley of the Calder. 



III. — The Physical Forces which have caused the Present 

 Configuration of the Valley of the Calder in Yorkshire.^ 

 By James W. Davis, P.L.S., F.G.S., 

 Hon. Secretary of the Yorkshire Geological and Polytechnic Society. 



BY way of introduction to the subject of this paper, I will very 

 briefly describe the physical features of the country drained by 

 the Eiver Calder. We shall thereby gain a clear idea of the present 

 configuration of the Calder valley and better understand how the 

 forces have operated which have produced the grand diversity of hill 

 and valley, of moorlands bleak and wild, of precipitous crag, and 

 steep, wooded slopes, and of the lower lands, rich and fertile, which 

 extend along their base. To know clearly wliat has been done, is 

 more than half to understand Jiow it has been done. 



The Eiver Calder is, roughly speaking, about forty miles in 

 length, and drains about 400 square miles of land. It has its source 

 in several small streams which rise far up in hills around Tod- 

 morden. The principal feeder has its origin in Lancashire, and 

 passes through a break in the chain of hills separating that county 

 from our own. Pursuing an easterly course, the united streamlets 

 wend their way from Todmorden to Hebden Bridge, and are there 

 joined by a large tributary from the Wadsworth and Widdop 

 moors. It is the stream from the latter that is intercepted and 

 collected into large reservoirs by the corporation of Halifax. The 

 water is conducted thence in a large conduit, which passes at a 

 depth of 500 feet or more, under Wadsworth moor, and so on to 

 Halifax. A short distance below Hebden Bridge is another very 

 pretty village called Cragg, and passing through this is a small 

 river which descends from the moorlands of Langfield. No doubt 

 many of my readers have been either to Hebden Bridge or in 

 Cragg valley, and will have a vivid recollection of those really 

 delightful places. They will remember the precipices of sandstone, 

 which rise from the level of the bed of the stream, in some 

 instances, as at Hebden Bridge ; succeeded by gentler slopes, which 

 are either covered with trees or grassland. Originally they were all 

 wooded, the trees having been cut down during late years by the 

 farmers and others, who thought they could make some profit out of 

 the land if they could use it for grazing cattle or growing corn, 

 whilst if the trees remained they would probably not be able to 

 do so. The result of this utilitarianism has been to render many 

 parts of the valley far less pretty than they would have been had 

 the trees been left standing. 



The grassland generally extends high up the hills, to the verge of 

 the moorland, which everywhere covers the tops of the hills, stretching 

 away mile after mile, in long monotonous undulations; occasionally a 

 stream cuts deep into the surface, otherwise there is little to break 

 the sameness which exists on all sides. The moors are covered with 

 furze and heather, with occasional small patches of short green 

 grass. They are wholly given up to grouse and a few sheep. The 



1 Read at the Orphanage, Halifax. 



