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Special Feature: Anne Lister, the first modern lesbian?

nne Listers life and diaries challenge received ideas about early nineteenthcentury womanhood, family and sexual relations. To coincide with the forthcoming BBC drama and documentary, in this special feature leading historians Jill Liddington and Alison Oram introduce us to Anne, reveal the intimacies of her life, and ask how we can best understand both her and her home, Shibden Hall near Halifax.

Decoding Anne Lister:


Jill Liddington
I moved to Halifax in 1980. My interest in Anne Lister, alerted originally by the 1984 Guardian article about her, was really only sparked by Helena Whitbreads I Know My Own Heart, which I introduced into my teaching. My curiosity aroused, I decided to check the diaries wordcountonly to discover, to my horror, that they ran to a total of four million wordsabout three times longer than Samuel Pepyss diary. Of this, roughly one-sixth is written in Annes secret code, recording her relationships with other women. I wrote about the story of the diaries in Presenting the Past (1994). So, anyone working on Anne Lister has to select a few years. As Helena Whitbread had focused on the earlier period, I decided to select the 1830s. By then Anne was developing energetically Shibdens economic potential, plus searching for a life-partner with whom to share her days. I recounted this in Female Fortune (1998). Jill Liddington is an Honorary Research Fellow at Leeds University.

united in heart and purse

Jill Liddington and Alison Oram


Anne Lister portrait (Shibden Hall Museum)

Need to Know
Classic titles
Helena Whitbread (editor), I Know My Own Heart, (Virago 1988 & New York University Press 1992): selections from the Anne Lister diaries 1817-1824. Jill Liddington, Presenting the Past: Anne Lister of Halifax 1791-1840 (Pennine Pens 1994 & 2010): the diaries 1806-40, their dramatic survival, and how successive generations of editors have each presented their Anne Lister.

Visiting
Shibden Hall Museum, Halifax www.calderdale.gov.uk/leisure/museums Calderdale Archives, WYAS (in Halifax Central Library) 01422 392636 for Shibden Hall papers; the diaries are also available on microfilm. History to Herstory www.historytoherstory.org.uk for selections from the original diaries and transcripts.

Further reading: Anne Lister.


Helena Whitbread (editor), No Priest but Love, (Smith Settle 1992): selections from the diaries 1824-26.

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HerStoria magazine Spring 2010

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Alison Oram nne Lister of Shibden Hall (1791-1840) was an intelligent, socially ambitious, and entrepreneurial woman determined to promote her own status beyond the familys origins in the lower gentry. After her Uncle James died in 1826, Anne inherited Shibden, near Halifax in Yorkshire.
She was soon actively running the estate, managing her tenants, exerting influence in local politics, and travelling widely. Anne Lister preserved her position as a single woman, and from her youth enjoyed numerous same-sex relationships, eventually settling down in the 1830s with an heiress from a neighbouring estate. For almost 150 years after her death, Anne Lister was scarcely known outside her home town of Halifax. Then in 1984 a Guardian article, The two million word enigma, alerted readers to Annes extensive

diaries, and suggested she may well have been a lesbian. Four years later, Helena Whitbreads I Know My Own Heart (1988) made the diaries at last accessible to a much wider readership, establishing beyond doubt Annes lesbianism. From this sprang keen interest among transatlantic historians of gender and sexuality. Since then, fascination with Anne Lister has continued.

I was first introduced to Anne Lister through Helena Whitbreads I Know My Own Heart. Those of us researching lesbian history then were interested in how nineteenth- and twentiethcentury women, writing about their own passionate friendships, revealed any evidence of same-sex love in the past. So, most astonishingly and gratifyingly, Anne Listers diaries presented an early nineteenthcentury woman who privately pondered about her own sexual nature and actively pursued the love of other women - and then recorded her sexual encounters in detail (including number of orgasms each enjoyed). Indeed, so vivid are these descriptions that a few lesbians then thought briefly that they may have been fabricated. Partly inspired by Anne Lister and Shibden, I have since begun research on how historic houses present female (especially lesbian) sexuality. This study includes Sissinghurst and the home of the ladies of Llangollen. Alison Oram is Professor in Social and Cultural History at Leeds Metropolitan University, and author of Her Husband was a Woman! Womens gender-crossing in modern British popular culture (Routledge 2007).

Sue Perkins presents a documentary about Anne Lister on BBC2 this Spring

Jill Liddington, Female Fortune: Land, Gender and Authority: Anne Listers diaries 1833-36 (Rivers Oram 1998 & 2010). Jill Liddington, Natures Domain: Anne Lister and the Landscape of Desire, (Pennine Pens 2003): the diaries and Shibden estate, 1832.

Further reading: same-sex partnerships


Alison Oram & Annmarie Turnbull, The Lesbian History Sourcebook: Love and Sex between women in Britain 1780-1970 (Routledge 2001). Rebecca Jennings, A Lesbian History of Britain: Love and Sex between Women since 1500 (Greenwood World Publishing, 2007). Martha Vicinus, Intimate Friends: women who loved women, 1778-1928 (University of Chicago Press, 2004, 2006). Alan Bray, The Friend (University of Chicago Press, 2003, 2006).

he year that Anne Lister was outed as a lesbian to the general public coincided with Section 28 of the new Local Government Act (1988), making it unlawful for local authorities to promote homosexuality. This did not make for easy discussion of homosexuality by councils such as Calderdale, which is responsible for Shibden. However, the 1990s saw the gradual liberalising of attitudes towards lesbians and gay men, with movement towards an equal age of consent, and the Civil Partnerships Act (2004) giving same-sex couples almost identical rights as in heterosexual marriage. Anne Lister still remains little known beyond West Yorkshire and historians of lesbianism. So, lets celebrate BBC2s plans to introduce Anne to a far wider audience this spring with a drama starring Maxine Peake and a documentary presented by Sue Perkins.

Acknowledgements:
For trialling the walk, thanks to: Jim & Maura Wilson, Janina & Char March, and Chris Sutcliffe at Calderdale Countryside Service. We would also like to thank all the staff at Shibden Hall for their generous support and help and YWYAS archive staff at Calderdale, both past and present.

In this feature: Anne Lister at Shibden Hall Same-Sex partnerships Shibden Hall walk ............
HerStoria magazine Spring 2010 23

Anne Lister at Shibden Hall


Alison Oram

iaries and lettersif they surviveare an excellent means of understanding womens intimate relationships in the past, as they go right to the heart of lovers feelings. But what can we learn about Anne Lister through visiting her home? It was here she lived, worried about her finances, plotted her seductions, fretted about her social status, and eventually lived with Ann Walker. How is Anne Lister represented at Shibden Hall? Readers of HerStoria would probably like to see more women as a presence in historic houses, and in public history generally. But what do different groups of visitors want to know, and how would they like it delivered? Ever since the house was opened to the public in 1934, Anne Lister has been acknowledged as the most dynamic member of the Lister family and the person who shaped the property into what we see today. Anne redesigned Shibden and its immediate surroundings 24 HerStoria magazine Spring 2010

to construct a particular version of herself, especially from 1836 when she came into full inheritance. Following the fashionable Romantic style, she had a Wilderness garden built with waterfalls (much of which has recently been restored). She tidied up the crooked timbers of the Tudor house by installing a new Victorian faux-Tudor ceiling, fireplace and wooden panelling in the main room. By adding a gothic tower for her library and having some Lister lionsthe family symbolcarved in stone and wood, she similarly mobilised antiquity to signal the longevity of the Listers as an important local family. Anne Listers home improvements were a classic proclamation of status, establishing her significance as the estates owner, while also creating an appropriate home for herself and her new partner, Ann Walker.

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Special feature: Anne Lister


As is quite common in historic houses, there are no labels or signs to guide the visitor as she walks through Shibden Hallnothing to say who the pictures depict, for example. Each room is arranged to reflect an evident type of usedining room, kitchen, bedroomsand the visitor can buy a brief Welcome Guide to the layout, providing further explanation of the contents. The expressed aim of the curators is for the Hall to be understood as a family home: our wish is that the visitor should feel like a private caller who has arrived while the family is out! While many of the rooms are organised as they were in Anne Listers lifetime, the Hall is also used to showcase other furniture and objects from different periods. The room that Anne used as a bedroom is set out as an Edwardian bedroom, and another upstairs room is furnished as The Childrens Room. Taken as a whole, the house reflects a familiar layout as a family homekitchens, dining room, parlour, study, bedrooms, dressing rooms, nurserysuggesting a bustling, multi-generation family. The concept of Shibden Hall as a family home makes it approachable to visitors today, including the school parties which it often hosts. Yet the idea of the family should make warning bells chime. Do we automatically assume heterosexual marriage, followed by the birth of children? Whats interesting about the Lister family is that over many generations it did not fit into any idealised version of the family or the family homeespecially when this model includes a nursery. As Jill Liddington notes, the Lister family was dynastically fragile. It wasnt only Anne who pursued an atypical sexual and emotional life. The generations above and below her also avoided marriage or had few children. While singleness may have been particularly marked in the Lister family, historians now remind us how varied family living arrangements were in the past, and how bachelorhood as well as spinsterhood was commonplace. Over the 200 years from 1729, when the Rev John Lister inherited Shibden Hall, to 1933 when the last Lister died and the property passed into public ownership, we can make some intriguing observations. There are only two periods (totalling a mere thirtytwo years out of 200) when children under eighteen lived in the house. The second burst of conventional nuclear family occurred in the mid-nineteenth century, after a distant Lister cousin inherited the house from Ann Walker. Indeed one hundred years saw pairs of unmarried brothers and sisters living together, including Annes uncle and aunt, plus the final owner of Shibden Hall, John Lister and his sister. So the interpretation of Shibden Hall today, as a rather imposing yet still cosy family home, is much more conventionalised than the history of the Lister family warrants. What family meant for the Listers was sibling-based households rather than marital partnerships, celibacy and same-sex relationships rather than heterosexuality, and a dearth of children rather than a secure succession.

Interior wooden Lister lion Approaching the house, the contemporary visitor can appreciate its charm and its attractive gardens, set against the view of parkland beyond. But Shibden Hall doesnt immediately reveal the Lister family secrets. How much of Anne Listers personal life is presented in various layers of information to the visitor, including display boards and guidebooks? One of the strongest immediate narratives in the interpretation of the house is the theme of family. As soon as you arrive at the car park, you are met by an information board with a warm greeting: Welcome to Shibdena family home from 1420 to 1933 and still a place for the whole family to enjoy today.

Anne Lister exhibition panel At the same time, the curators of Shibden Hall fully represent Anne Listers sexuality, sometimes at one layer below the surface of this historic house. If the visitor starts at the bottom of the Estate, at the lakeside caf, she can view an exhibition on the history of the Hall which includes an illustrated account of Anne Listers life. This tells us that: During her life, HerStoria magazine Spring 2010 25

Anne had a number of love affairs with women. In 1832, she developed a relationship with the wealthy heiress, Ann Walker. Two years later, they entered into a form of marriage and set up home together at Shibden. Up the hill at Shibden Hall itself, we may have to dig a little deeper. While the short Welcome Guide contains nothing on Annes personal life, the comprehensive guidebook, Shibden Hall Halifax: A Visitors Guide (1998), has an excellent seven-page discussion of her life, acknowledging the continuing work of historians writing on her business and political interests, her travels and her relationships with women. It explains how Annes sexual relationships developed in the context of her ambitions and self-improvement, and how we know about them from her diaries. The Guide comments: there were several women in her life. The diary entries are extraordinarily honest, suggesting that it was not unusual for women to enjoy sexual relationships [with other women]. Information about Anne Listers same-sex relationships is not confined to the guidebook. The friendly and highly knowledgeable museum staff are happy to develop with visitors the theme of Annes same-sex relationships and her marriage to Ann Walker. And among the public talks given at the house are some on Annes lesbian relationships. I attended one in 2008 by Helena Whitbread which discussed the various strategies Anne used to seduce so many respectable women among the Yorkshire gentry. Anne Listers lesbianism is now referred to frequently in the wider promotion of Shibden Hall through local tourist literature. In 2008, for example, you could pick up a Calderdale Council leisure and museums pamphlet which advertised a month-long display at Shibden on Anne Listers Diary. This informed the reader, not once but twice, that: In a time when women were expected to marry and raise a family, Anne chose to educate herself, travel widely and manage the estate she inherited. The diaries that she kept, parts of them encoded, reveal much about [her], including her intimate relationships with other women. Historic sites dont speak for themselves. They reflect the kinds of histories which are politically and 26 HerStoria magazine Spring 2010

Shibden waterfall Exterior stone Lister lion culturally dominant and the choices made by the professionals who run them. In 2010, historic houses such as Shibden Hall face different tensions. On the one hand, the increasing citizenship rights of minorities, and the policy movements towards diversity and against discrimination, mean a growing acceptance of lesbianism. On the other hand, this process is far from complete, and sometimes sits uneasily with what is thought to be appropriate for school parties and family outingsdespite the fact that many of those children and families are themselves decidedly queer. How do we wish Anne Listers sexualityalong with all her other qualities and achievements to be recognised in public history?

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Special feature: Anne Lister

same-sex partnership ceremonies 1834


Jill Liddington

In token of our union:

rom the very beginning, Anne Listers diaries make clear how firmly she set her face against conventional marriage. There were no flirtations with men: she valued only those who possessed ancient gentry credentials or whose experienced brains she could pick. One by one, her women friends married. Some had been mere flirtations. More tragically, there were a fewnotably Mariana Belcombe of Yorkfor whom Anne had planned romantically a permanent union. In her refusal to compromise, Anne was not completely alone: there were one or two other like-minded women in her York circle. But in certain striking ways Anne was exceptional. First, she had the intelligence and drive to pursue her ambitious dreams fearlesslywithout a male protector. And second of course, she recorded it all with startling candour and vivid detail in her diaries. In 1816 in York, Mariana Belcombe had married an older wealthy landowner. In Annes eyes, worldly Mariana had sold her person to another for a carriage and a jointure [ie a wifes marriage settlement], and she even told Mariana that she considered your marriage legal prostitution.

Then in April 1832, Anne had again been bitterly betrayedby another womans marriage plans. Anne and well-connected Vere Hobart had taken lodgings together in Hastings. Anne now fled north, devastated. She retreated dejectedly back to Shibdeneven though she would have to share her home with her aunt, elderly father and inconvenient sister. During May, Anne kept melancholy at bay by immersing herself in Shibdens rich library, plus planning ambitious travel and improvements to the estate. As always, she derived comfort from her diary, confiding: Here I am, at forty-one, with a heart to seek. What will be the end of it? Heaven protect and guide me! Continuing her search for a lifepartner, Anne thought of Miss Freeman & Miss Walker of Lidgate as people here Surely I shall get some companion byand-by. Then in July, the Walker family paid an unexpected visit to Shibden. Ann Walker was a neighbouring heiress: the ancient Lister estate and newer Walker lands adjoined. What union could be more appropriate? Charismatically persuasive, Anne Lister determined to woo this lonely twenty-nine-year-old womanwhile appearing effortlessly casual. In August, she called en passant

on Miss Walker of Lidgateand sat with her tete-a-tete from 10 to 1! ... Thought I, she little dreams what is in my mindto make up to hershe has money and this might make up for rank. To enhance Shibdens elegance, Anne built a chaumiere (a small moss-thatched hut) in the grounds. It was conveniently secluded, and naturally she wished Ann Walker to view it. By September, Miss W- and I very cozy & confidential she sat & sat in the moss house, hardly liking to move Well, said I to myself as I left her, She is more in for it than she thinksshe likes me certainly. We laughed at the idea of the talk of our going abroad together would [stir]. She said it would be as good as marriage. Yes, said [I], quite as good or better. How little my aunt or anyone suspects what I am about! The next day, Anne added: Bordering on love-making in the hut Our liaison is now established. She did now tell her aunt my real sentiments about Miss Walker & my expectations My aunt...seemed very well pleased

Full page and detail from Anne Listers Diary, Sunday (Easter) 1834, showing her use of a personal cipher HerStoria magazine Spring 2010 27

at my choice & prospects. I said she had three thousand a year She thought my father would be pleased if he knew it, & so would both my uncles.

further hesitation, Ann Walker took the gold wedding ring I woreand then put it on my third left finger in token of our unionwhich is now understood to be confirmed for ever, tho little or nothing was said. Ann Walkers half-hearted response made Anne Lister ponder: does this seem as if she really thought us united in heart and purse? However, on Easter Sunday 1834, the two women attended church. Annes diary, as so often, moves seamlessly from the privacy of bed out to public spaces.

Holy Trinity Church, Goodramgate, quietly tucked away near York Minster

Halifax Parish Church, like Shibden Hall, dated back to the fifteen century. Here earlier Lister ancestors lay, and here Anne herself would be buried in 1841

This is startling: both uncles had been dead for about a decade. But in Annes traditionalist world, her aunts backward glance made sense. Such a serious union was highly appropriate for ancient gentry families. It might be recognised neither in law nor by the Churchbut it was in the eyes of God. So, by December 1832: Talking & pressing & love-making till after three this morning [I] insinuated, first time, that our present intercourse, without any tie between us, must be as wrong as any other transient connection Miss W- told me in the [moss] hut if she said Yes again, it should be bindingit should be the same as marriage that is, her declaring it on the Bible & taking the sacrament with me at Shibden or Lightcliffe church. This was however scarcely straightforward. A reluctant Ann Walker hesitated: her relatives, knowing Anne Lister of old, were highly suspicious. Eventually, in February 1834, Ann Walker agreed it was understood that she was to consider herself as having nobody to please, & being under no authority, but mine. To make her will right directlyand to add a codicil leaving me a life estate in all she could and I would do the same to her. Well, then, is it really settled or not? And, Anne Lister added, she is to give me a ring & I her one in token of our union. Two weeks later, after 28 HerStoria magazine Spring 2010

Three kissesbetter to her than to me At Goodramgate church at 10 35/; Miss W- and I and Thomas [servant] staid [for] the sacrament The first time I ever joined Miss W- in my prayersI had prayed that our union might be happyshe had not thought of doing as much for me. Why Anne Lister had selected this particular church for the ceremonial moment is unclear. Certainly, it lacked painful associations with Marianas marriage, and, with its high box-pews, was secluded from prying eyes. Anne probably also appreciated the unusual semi-circular communion rail. Here the minister could stand, a kneeling couple facing each other when celebrating their weddingor the sacrament.

grasp the extent of her life-partners inherited wealth. But Ann Walker, having behaved languidly over the ring ceremony and Easter sacrament, still delayed redrafting her will to benefit Anne Listeruntil 1836.

Communion rail (1715), Goodramgate By summer, Anne Lister had gained access to Ann Walkers income. Improvements could now be made to Shibden and the yellow carriage repaired. The two women travelled in style, across France to Mont Blanc. On their return, despite chiding from her relatives, Ann Walker did indeed move into Shibden, the bedroom refurbished. By autumn, like any other propertied newly-weds, serious will-reading provided the natural language of love on their long winters evenings together; and Anne Lister began to

t is scarcely surprising that Anne Lister continues to fascinate writers on homosexuality. In Intimate Friends: women who loved women (2004), American historian Martha Vicinus depicts Anne Lister as a charming female rake, while also recognising the seriousness of their union (even suggesting that Ann Walker made a better marriage bargain than her sister, bound to a suspicious, greedy husband). Alan Brays erudite The Friend (2003) goes further, arguing that such life-long unions were rooted in ancient Christian traditions, stretching right back to the fifteenth century of Shibden, Halifax Parish Church and Goodramgate. He evokes a world that recognised samesex friendships and which honoured kinship and neighbour obligations. These had survived in Anne Listers traditionalist world. Indeed, Bray concludes it is as if one had found the fifteenth century, alive and well, and living in the large and prosperous parish of Halifaxin the 1830s. Anne Lister envisioned private ceremonies in token of our union: an exchange of rings, taking the sacrament together, redrafting their wills. Same-sex couples celebrating twenty-first century civil partnerships may enjoy a backward glance to Annes own ceremoniesof 1834. Thanks to Helena Whitbread & Dawn Lancaster for discussion of Yorks churches. Goodramgate photographs are courtesy of the Churches Conservation Trust which cares for Holy Trinity. www.herstoria.com

Special feature: Anne Lister

Anne Lister walk around Halifax and Shibden


Jill Liddington

n 1826 Anne Lister inherited the Shibden Hall estate, just over the brow of the steep hill above Halifax. During Annes lifetime, the town was busily industrialising, becoming a commercial centre with lawyers and banks serving local textile mills. Almost two centuries later, we can still walk Anne Listers streets and even enjoy some of the Halifax buildings she knew so well.
The further we climb up above the town towards Shibden, the more Anne herself would instantly recognise the landscape. We enter an older, rural world of small farms, sunken lanes and tiny coal pits. This walk explores the boundary between the urban new and the ancient countryside so familiar to Anne Lister as she moved between these two worlds. Starting at the north entrance to the Piece Hall, it is a circular route of 3 miles. Exterior of Piece Hall, north gateway Walking: from the north entrance, walk down Hatters Fold, cross the busy ring road and continue downhill to the Parish Church.

Old Bank

Looking up Old Bank Built in 1741, this was a more direct and accessible route down into Halifax than ancient Magna Via, which curves off half-way up. Anne Lister knew Old Bank well, often walking down from Shibden into town. For instance, in January 1835, during Halifaxs window-breaking election, she reached the bottom of Old Bank, where she encountered a yellow mob of women and boys they looked capable of pelting me. A diehard Blue, Anne held her ground, berating them for all the damage done during the election. They let her pass. Walking: when Old Bank reaches Beacon Hill Road, cross and climb stone steps ahead. At the top of steps, continue up steep track opposite. At the top, bearing right, continue ahead, along Shibden Hall Road.

Halifax Parish Church

Halifax Piece Hall

Inside the Piece Hall (1779), looking north Opened in 1779, Halifax Piece Hall originally provided a market place for selling woollen cloth. Anne Lister looked with disdain on her familys earlier links with the textile industry. But although she tried to distance herself from the taint of trade, she certainly knew the Piece Hall welland it still remains a major Halifax landmark.

The imposing Parish Church, much of it dating from the fifteenth century, played a central role in Anne Listers life. If the Piece Hall was too new to be of great interest, the Church signified all that was ancient, traditional and therefore important. It was the Listers burial place, the church where her family owned pews and received small pew rents. As an observant Anglican, Anne would even consider the powerful Vicar of Halifax, a keen Blue (Tory) like herself, as her social equal. Walking: keeping to left of the churchyard, descend the stone steps & cross the road where safe. Walk along Bank Bottom opposite and over the small Hebble stream (keeping Matalan on your right). Cross the road carefully at the corner, and walk straight up steep and cobbled Old Bank ahead.

HerStoria magazine Spring 2010

29

View back across Halifax from above Old Bank

In Token of Our Union p. x). It is difficult to identify exactly where this was situated, but it probably stood in the right-hand corner of Lower Brook Ing.

The bridge over Godley Road (to your left) gives a panoramic view across the town. Much of it is new of course, but Anne Lister would certainly recognise the Piece Hall and Parish Church

Along Shibden Hall Road, you soon see beautiful Shibden Valley on your left. The rural landscape, pocked with smallscale stone-quarrying, has changed little. Walking: turn left into the carparkand then down the path towards Shibden. Bear right to reach the upper terrace above the Hall, descending the far steps to the garden.

Map of Shibden Hall Estate belonging to Mr James Lister, 1791. West Yorkshire Archive Service, Calderdale

Shibden Hall

just sixteen acres and was leased to Charles Howarth. He was a joiner by trade and also did odd jobs around the estate, helping build Annes chaumiere.

Shibden Park, from the boating lake

Walking: at the lake, bear right. Just below the childrens playground, find the track passing underneath the railway viaduct.
Shibden Hall from the upper terrace

Shibden Hall, originally built in the early fifteenth century, can still take your breath away. It was acquired by the Lister family through marriage in 1619. Before you step inside her home, please turn to Anne Lister at Shibden Hall (p XX). Walking: stroll down the grassy slope behind the Hall to the lake and caf.

Ireland, occupied by Anne Listers tenant, Charles Howarth

Shibden Park grounds

Tunnel under the Halifax-Bradford railway line, looking back towards Shibden

In 1791, the year she was born, Annes Uncle James had Shibden mapped. When she was young, the estate still remained a patchwork of archaically-named small fields. Once Anne inherited the estate from Uncle James, she determined to landscape the grounds more fashionably, and in 1832 built a chaumiere or a moss-thatched hut (see 30 HerStoria magazine Spring 2010

Walking: follow stone-flagged footpath through the fields, back up to Shibden Hall Road, then turn left downhill.

The 1832 Reform Act gave the vote to more men. But Charless 46 annual rent did not reach the 50 minimum for enfranchising tenant farmers. Anne Lister, though she of course had no vote herself, was always on the look out for extra voting tenants to support Blue [Tory] candidates. She apparently promised Charles she would pay the additional 4 a year, if he would vote in the Blue interest.

Denmark

Ireland

At Shibden Hall Road, the first house is Ireland, one of Anne Listers tenancies. In the 1830s, it comprised

Further down the road on your left is Denmark, another of Anne Listers tenancies. In the 1830s, it comprised fifteen acres and was occupied by Thomas Pearson. This rental entitled Thomas to a vote. With the Secret Ballot www.herstoria.com

Map of Anne Lister Walk


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Railway Line Junction of Green Lane and Beacon Hill Road is off map

Rough track Shibden Hall roads

Special feature: Anne Lister


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Green Lane

Act still a generation away, we know how such enfranchised men voted. And in the 1835 election Thomas Pearson duly voted for Anne Listers Blue candidate.

Travel Suggestions 10
Walker Pit
Rail: Halifax has a good train service from both Leeds-Bradford and Manchester. The Piece Hall is three minutes walk up from the station, Car: the town is only four miles from the M62 (junction 24). Parking is available at Woolshops (at start of walk) or by the station, though both are expensive. Walking: the route involves two steep climbs and, unless it is a dry summer, boots are strongly advisable. Shorter option: From the bottom of Shibden Hall Road, take a steep left turn, leading up to the main Leeds Road (A58), for buses from Hipperholme back to Halifax. Jill Liddington will lead a guided walk following this route, on Sunday 16th May, meeting at 11 am at the Piece Hall north entrance. Book (essential) by calling Julie Swift on 01422 393273 or email Julie.Swift@calderdale.gov.uk

Denmark, occupied by Annes tenant Thomas Pearson Walking: from Denmark, retrace your steps back up the roadand at new-build houses, turn left up into Shibden Hall Croft. Immediately turn right, then immediately left. This path leads into Pump Lane; climb up this steep sunken lane right to the top. Turn right into Barrowclough Lane.

Walker Pit from Barrowclough Lane Anne Lister developed Walker Pit in 1834, shortly after her union with Ann Walker was agreed. Anne now had access to Ann Walkers income, so it became possible to finance her ambitious schemes. On 17 October 1834 Anne noted in her diary the intense mining rivalry with the coal-owning Rawsons, writing about her own coal: mine to be pulled at this new pit (to be called Walker pit in compliment to A-) will make (at 8d a load) a great deal more than Rawsons [coal] Walking: further down the path there is a choice of five routes. Bearing left, take the new gravel path, skirting right round the steep hillside high above the town. This eventually drops down onto Beacon Hill Road by bus-stop.

Pump Lane

West Yorkshire Archive Service, Calderdale

Map of Listerwick Colliery, showing Denmark (right) and Pump (centre).

11

Halifax from Beacon hillside

Shibden estate had always included a few tiny coal mines. But it was only in the late-1830s that Anne Lister was able to develop mining on a profitable scale, and only after her death in 1840 that Listerwick Colliery really grew. However, as you walk from Denmark up to Pump Lane, there seem few remaining signs of Shibdens old mining history. Walking: at the very end of Barrowclough Lane, carry straight onthrough the wide green barrier. The path begins to slope down, until you are right above Walker Pit.

Walking: turn right, down Beacon Hill Road, keeping to pavement. Walk right the way down, until opposite Aquaspersions Ltd; turn right and snake down Magna Via until it rejoins Old Bank. On Bank Bottom again, ahead of you is the Parish Church, and to the left are old staithes. After Anne Listers death, once the railway reached Halifax, coal was brought in by train and tipped into wagons waiting below.

Photo BBC

The BBC2 Drama The Secret Life of Anne Lister, starring Maxine Peake, will be screened Spring 2010

Halifax Parish Church, with coal staithes


32 HerStoria magazine Spring 2010 www.herstoria.com

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