Direct descendent of Cragg Vale Coiners coming to Halifax to share new book

A man whose great-great-great-great-great-grandfather led a gang of Calderdale weavers and land-workers to carry out the biggest fraud in British history is coming to Halifax.
By Sarah Fitton
Published 18th Apr 2023, 17:25 BST

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Steve Hartley, a direct descendant of David Hartley, will be speaking about his book The Yorkshire Coiners: The True Story of the Cragg Vale Gang at Grayston Unity at 7pm on May 31.

Tickets for the event, organised in association with The Book Corner in The Piece Hall, are £4 and available from the See Tickets website.

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Meantime, Benjamin Myers’ book about the Coiners – The Gallows Pole – has been turned into a BBC drama due on our screens this year.

Grayston Unity in HalifaxGrayston Unity in Halifax
Grayston Unity in Halifax

The show will be This is England creator Shane Meadows’ first period television drama.

It will star Michael Socha (This Is England, Papillon), Thomas Turgoose (This Is England, Looted), George MacKay (1917, Captain Fantastic), Tom Burke (Mank, The Souvenir), Sophie McShera (Cinderella, Downton Abbey), Cara Theobold (Downton Abbey, Crazyhead), Yusra Warsama (Castle Rock) and Eve Burley (Secret State).

Related topics:HalifaxCragg Vale CoinersCalderdaleShane Meadows