A stone commemorating a nagging wife can be found to the left of the new church's porch. However, it is the gravestone of a more famous and very different wife that brings many visitors to Heptonstall. It is here that the American poet Sylvia Plath is buried. Her grave is in the newest part of the Churchyard across the Back Lane.

Sylvia Plath's grave

Plath was the first wife of the late Poet Laureate Ted Hughes who spent his early years in nearby Mytholmroyd. She committed suicide in 1963 - she had made previous attempts - and her gravestone was attacked on several occasions by feminists trying to remove her married name. Her grave bears the inscription: "Even amidst fierce flames the golden lotus can be planted."

Hughes said his poetry continued to be inspired by the countryside of the Calder Valley. Just up the road from Heptonstall village is Lumb Bank, a house he once owned, which is now a centre for a foundation, providing residential writing and poetry courses.

Some of his poetry set around Heptonstall appears in the book Remains of Elmet accompanied by very atmospheric black and white photographs of the area by Fay Godwin.

Lumb Bank, once owned by Ted Hughes, now provides residential writing courses

Another photographer to spend time in the area is Martin Parr. In the early 1970s he spent five years in Hebden Bridge, regularly visiting chapels with a dwindling congregation. When they realised he wasn't a convert they politely showed him the door. 2002 saw a major exhibition of Parr's work both in London and Bradford.

While still in the churchyard look out for the Chantry House. This house is said to be haunted which is, perhaps, not surprising as part of it was used as a charnel house where bodies were stored. It is said that pieces of bones and gravestones have been found in the fabric of the building.

The last handloom weaver died in this terrace in Silver Street in 1903

Heptonstall Museum in the old Grammar School, founded in 1642, contains displays on local industries, including the interior of a weaver's cottage and could be a good place to start your trip. It became a bank when the school closed in 1898 but some of the original school furniture can still be seen today.

If you leave the churchyard and go up the hill you will reach Top of the Town - the village extends a little further today. Look out on the left for Silver Street. It was here at number seven that the last handloom weaver died in 1902.

Heptonstall still has its dungeon

And when you have gone past the village school and reached the end of the houses there is still plenty left to explore. It is only a short walk up to Colden Clough and further on is Hardcastle Crags, a well-known West Yorkshire beauty spot where there is spectacular walking and you can pick up the Pennine Way.

Returning to the car park you will pass the old stone stocks and your last memory of the village could be what remains of the old town dungeon.