Great Bride Stones

Nearest town:
Todmorden (3km S)
OS reference:
SD932268
OS sheet:
103
Latitude:
53° 44' 14.02 N
Longitude:
2° 6' 11.16 W
Added to TMA by

Images

Image of Great Bride Stones (Natural Rock Feature) by Mothy

Great Bride Stones – view of the back of the main rocky outcrop from the road – this the direction you are aiming for as you walk from the pub across Bride Stones Moor

Image credit: Mothy - Spring 1999
Mothy
Mothy Oct 24, 2005
Image of Great Bride Stones (Natural Rock Feature) by Mothy

Great Bride Stones – lower edge of the crag, phallic weathering (en route to main stone)

Image credit: Mothy - Spring 1999
Mothy
Mothy Oct 24, 2005
Image of Great Bride Stones (Natural Rock Feature) by Mothy

Great Bride Stones – main face of the crag (on way to main stone): note the appearance of a face of woman which appears to be turning to her left protruding from the rock in the middle section of the central stack (far more obvious in the flesh – or rock!)

Image credit: Mothy - Spring 1999
Mothy
Mothy Oct 24, 2005
Image of Great Bride Stones (Natural Rock Feature) by Mothy

Great Bride Stones – top of the crag with the triangulation point ahead, looking East (Blackshaw Head village in distance)

Image credit: Mothy - Spring 1999
Mothy
Mothy Oct 24, 2005
Image of Great Bride Stones (Natural Rock Feature) by Big Block 454

General shot of the Great Bride Stones with the Bride Stone in the centre, 20th Feb 2005.

Image credit: Colin Robinson
Big Block 454
Big Block 454 Feb 20, 2005
Image of Great Bride Stones (Natural Rock Feature) by Big Block 454

The Bride Stone from the other side to David Raven’s photo.
Taken 20th Feb 2005.

Image credit: Colin Robinson
Big Block 454
Big Block 454 Feb 20, 2005
Image of Great Bride Stones (Natural Rock Feature) by David Raven

The ‘Bride’ – 14 feet tall, 9 feet wide at the top narrowing to 2 feet at the base. The now-fallen ‘Groom’ to her side.

Image credit: David Raven
David Raven
David Raven Jan 19, 2004

Articles

Great Bride Stones

S
Saban-of-Stonehenge Jan 5, 2012

I headed up to the bride stones today. It is easy to find and is just off the A road to the north of the stones. I would not recommend heading to the stones without a good pair of boots or wellies as it is very muddy and there is no clear path to the stones so it is a short yet treacherous journey in poor conditions.

Once there, it is a special place. Quiet and serene with decent views all around. There is definitely something special about the stones and its quiet location which only makes one reflect on all that the stones must have seen in this lonely yet special place.

Great Bride Stones

Mothy
Mothy Oct 24, 2005

To get there: It can be pretty bleak and wet up here, so make sure you’re well wrapped up and if its wet, suggest good boots as it’s quite squishy. Park outside the pub and head across the road, due South. Make your way through the fence and follow the dry stone wall on the moor side avoiding the sheep poo. When the wall runs out, make across country towards the right hand side of rocky outcrops as shown in photo above.

Following round the right hand (West) corner of the outcrop, you come to the slightly surreal mushroom (or phallic) weathered escarpment shown above. The main stones are further down.

Also worth a look is the main face of the crag, that in my opinion has what looks like a remarkably human face protruding from it – I tried to capture it in the photo above but it doesn’t really do it three dimensional justice. Maybe it was a trick of the light and wet rock – curiously the rain enhancing the appearance of the stone.

Really quite special and feels very isolated.

Miscellaneous

Great Bride Stones
Natural Rock Feature
fitzcoraldo
fitzcoraldo Aug 21, 2006

Bridestones

Scorched-looking, unhewn – a hill-top chapel.
Actually a crown of outcrop rock -
Earth’s heart bone laid bare.

Crowding, congregation of skies.
Tense congregation of hills.
You do nothing casual here.

The wedding stones
Are electrified with wispers.

And marriage is nailed down
By this slender necked, heavy headed
Black exclamaition mark
of rock.

And you go
With the wreath of weather
The wreath of horizons
The wreath of constellations
Over your shoulders.

And from now on
The sun
Can always touch you
With the shadow of this finger.

From now on
The moon can always lift your skull
On to this perch, to clean it.

Ted Hughes
Remains of Elmet
1979

Miscellaneous

Great Bride Stones
Natural Rock Feature
Kozmik_Ken
Kozmik_Ken Jan 16, 2004

Situated between Hebden Bridge and Todmorden is an outcrop of huge and precariously weathered stones.

The name obviously derives from that of the Brigantian Goddess of the same name. There was also rumoured to be a Groom Stone once, now gone.

Folklore tells of marriages taking place here in the past.

Topics

Calling Kozmik Ken 2
Chris Collyer
Chris Collyer
Jan 2004

Sites within 20km of Great Bride Stones

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