LITERARY PUBS: THE STUBBING WHARF, HEBDEN BRIDGE

 

The poet Ted Hughes was born in Mytholmroyd in Calderdale (last seen in my post about Happy Valley), and he married the American poet Sylvia Plath.  In Hughes’ collection ‘Birthday Letters’ he recalls the day he and Sylvia sat in the bar of The Stubbing Wharf by the Rochdale Canal on the outskirts of the nearby Hebden Bridge.  They were arguing about where they would live, and Hughes paints a gloomy picture of the pub, describing “the gummy dark bar”, and its rainsodden surrounding with “the fallen-in grave of its history”, “a gorge of ruined mills and abandanoned chapels” and “the fouled nest of the Industrial Revolution that had flown”.  They ended up living in London.

Stubbing Wharf (3617762016). Photo by Tim Green, via Wikimedia Commons.

 

The Stubbing Wharf, established as a pub in 1810, is still going strong today, offering real ales and good pub food in an appealing canaside environment, just a short walk along the canal towpath from Hebden Bridge.  A short distance from the pub towards Hebden Bridge there are boat trips available on traditional canal barges.

Map of the area.

A MAJOR POET CELEBRATES A MINOR RIVER: RIVER DUDDON, CUMBRIA/WORDSWORTH

When a river forms the subject of a work of poetry, more often than not it is a major river.  The Thames, the Wye and other famous British rivers have been the subject of famous poems over the years.  So it is slightly puzzling that Wordsworth chose the obscure River Duddon as the subject of a series of sonnets.  It appears he may have found encouragement in a letter written by Robert Burns to a fellow poet, which Wordsworth read and quoted from frequently.  In the letter Burns asserted that the likes of the Thames, Seine et al had already been done to death in poetry, so better to seek inspiration “adown some trottin burn’s meander”. 

Be that as it may, an obvious reason for choosing the River Duddon is that it is close to where Wordsworth was living, in his beloved Lake District.  The birth of the river is described thus: “Child of the clouds ! remote from every taint//Of sordid industry thy lot is cast”.  The verse goes on for page after page, with sections headed ‘Flowers’, ‘The Stepping-Stones’, ‘The Fairy Chasm’, right up to the ‘Conclusion’ numbered XXXIII.  In short, no-one can accuse Wordsworth of short-changing the River Duddon.

Stepping Stone near Crosby Bridge, River Duddon - geograph.org.uk - 2452540. Photo by Tom Richardson, via Wikimedia Commons.

The River Duddon flows through the south-western part of the Lake District, passing the villages of Seathwaite and Duddon Bridge before widening out to an estuary, joining the sea between Haverigg and Barrow-in-Furness.

Map of the area.