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Stubbing Wharf History
The following is taken from a History written by an unknown author that hangs in the bar area of the pub. The pool room mentioned no longer exists.
“There has been a settlement at Stubbing, originally in the parish of Sowerby, in Calderdale, for over a thousand years; the name is an Anglo-Saxon word for a clearing where the tree stumps have been left. The hamlet remained unimportant until the upper Calder valley became a major cloth manufacturing centre with the birth of the industrial revolution in the latter half of the eighteenth century.
The Rochdale canal was built to serve the many mills in the valley, the section passing through Hebden Bridge was opened in 1789. Very soon afterwards, the influential Foster family of Erringden built the Stubbing Wharf Hotel and by 1810 it was serving the needs of travellers on the both the canal and the turnpike road (now the A646).
The Hotel remained in the hands of the Fosters throughout the nineteenth century; several of the more important family members are commemorated in the stained glass windows of the parish church of St Thomas in Heptonstall. In about 1900 , the Hotel was enlarged and the adjacent barn built as part of a cattle market which was held twice a month in the area of the present car park – some of the market fixtures can still be seen. At this time, the clientel of the Stubbing Wharf must have been a mixed crowd, because the tenancy agreement of the new landlord in 1918, Mr John Greenwood, specifies that he will not allow any thieves or rogues to gather in or around the Hotel. Indeed, John Greenwood seems to have taken this injunction seriously, because during redecoration, the following sign was found painted in large copperplate lettering on the all of the present pool room: “Swearing, improper language or other misconduct will not be permitted in this House.
In 1923, the owner, Captain William Foster Greenwood, sold the Hotel and cattle market to Whittaker’s Brewery of Halifax, which eventually became part of the Whitbread Brewery Group. Nowadays, although the market no longer operates, the Stubbing Wharf Hotel still provides a warm welcome, friendly atmosphere and excellent refreshments both for residents and travellers, as it has done throughout the last two centuries. “
