The Yorkshire of When We Were Divided

Submitted: 10th April 2026

Yorkshire with Liz Flanagan

Set in Yorkshire in 1643, When We Were Divided explores how three people’s lives are transformed by the civil war in unexpected ways.

Book map for When We Were Divided

When We Were Divided Liz Flanagan

Book map for When We Were Divided

Sisters Jane and Isabel live in Heptonstall, a Puritan Yorkshire clothing town. Already nursing old grievances after a devastating plague outbreak years earlier, the sisters are now further divided by the war. When Jane’s last surviving son goes to fight for the King, and Isabel is drawn into the local rebel uprising, their reconciliation looks impossible. But at their lowest ebb, each will hold the life and love of the other in her hands – what will she choose to do? The story is informed by years of research, including parish records, local family memoirs and the author’s walks in the area over the course of her life.

Liz Flanagan (c) Sarah Mason

Heptonstall’s now ruined Thomas A Becket Church.

Book map for When We Were Divided

The story begins here in January 1643, as the rebel muster is read aloud from the pulpit, calling all able-bodied men to fight for Parliament. This horrifies Jane, who can’t believe how fast her country appears to be changing beyond recognition, and she rushes from the church, unable to listen. Later, when Jane’s son Ned is gravely injured in the royalist attack on Heptonstall in November, Jane and Isabel meet at the church to find Ned among the other prisoners and wounded soldiers. In this moment of shock and desperation, they manage to put their rift aside and work together to try to save his life. This photograph shows the church as it is today, its remains sitting alongside the newer Victorian church built next to it.

Lumb Bank, Heptonstall

Lumb Bank Heptonstall (c) Liz Flanagan

Book map for When We Were Divided

I used to work here, in the atmospheric Arvon writing centre, a former mill-owner’s home which was once owned by Ted Hughes. When the buildings were extensively renovated recently, I was honoured to be able to view the excavated site. I’m very grateful to Gayle Appleyard of Gagarin Architects who showed me the evidence of a much older building below the Victorian exterior. It was exciting to be able to see the ancient cellars with their stone steps and shelves, before they were sealed away below the new kitchen floor for good.

Book map for When We Were Divided

I’d imagined an old house here – in the story, this is Jane’s home – so I was delighted to be shown my guesswork wasn’t incorrect! Its position outside the main town, with its own springwater supply – still in use when I started working there in 2008! – meant that Jane and her family were protected when the plague came to Heptonstall.

The Buttress, linking Heptonstall and Hebden Bridge

Buttress and dog (c) Liz Flanagan

Book map for When We Were Divided

This ancient cobbled track goes from the old packhorse bridge in Hebden Bridge, leading steeply up the hillside towards Heptonstall. This is a path I use most days as I take my dogs up into the woods, and it is a battle even on an ordinary day, leaving you breathless and wobbly-legged. When I was searching for a new project, back in 2020, I remembered one day that an actual battle had taken place right here on this track. I began to wonder what it must have felt like, both for the townspeople at the top, fiercely defending their home with all they had; and for the attacking force who would know they’d been seen coming, and whose gunpowder would have been rendered useless by the heavy rain.

Book map for When We Were Divided

I thought about the women of the town, and how they might have either been tempted to join in the defence, or been waiting in terrible fear, knowing whichever side won, it meant disaster for someone they loved.

Heptonstall church (c) Liz Flanagan

Book map for When We Were Divided

In my story, Isabel is posted as a lookout on the day of the battle, while Jane’s son and his friend Kit are both in the attacking force. The events of that day begin to reunite the family – suddenly politics falls away, less important than the lives of these young people. Knowing this landscape well definitely helped me think my way into the story, and I hope readers will enjoy their time here.