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. i I
STUDIES IN LOCAL TOPOGRAPHY - Part IV. _
The “ Houtes "an a ; Manor of Huddersfield,
No. 3—The BLACKHOUSE I I No. 4—The FIELDHOUSE No. 5—The FLASHHOUSE
and BLACK DYKE
No. 6—The HILLHOUSE
(or NANNY CROFT)
BY
_ PHILIP
PRICE - 1/6.
ee? i I [ See ee ADVERTISER Press LiMiTED,
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STUDIES IN LOCAL TOPOGRAPHY : Part IV.
The “Houses” in the ~ Manor of Huddersfield.
No. 3—The BLACKHOUSE No. 4—The FIELDHOUSE No. 5—The FLASHHOUSE
and BLACK DYKE No. 6—The HILLHOUSE (or NANNY CROFT)
BY
PHILIP AHIER.
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—
ili
CONTENTS.
PAGE Preface cis se ie ce a8 Bue ee aM Chapter VIII.—The Blackhouse. 1. Introduction ... ies a see BAS li, Derivation of “ Biackhousé® oe cis 308 iii. The Owners of the Blackhouse ... vee Bae iv. The Occupiers of the Blackhouse pie Fag v. The Robbery at the Blackhouse ... pis EST Chapter IX.—The Fieldhouse, (a) Old Fieldhouse i, Situation and:'Description’: ~~... 157 ii. The Owners and of Old Fieldhouse ... 158 (b) Fieldhouse Green 1. Description and History ... ll, Pedigree of the Blackburns of Field. house Green.. 3 162 (c) The Fieldhouse Fire Clay Works. 1. History and ee of the ee 1G2 li. Pedigree of the Brookes of hee (d) Fieldhouse Lane So ha age pu OR
Chapter X.—The Flashhouse and Black Dyke! i. Situation and Derivation of ‘ Flashhouse” 174 il. The Owners and Occupiers of the Flashhouse 176
lil. Description of the Flashhouse “vs i 2G iv, Black Dyke ©... i ni is sO Chapter XI.—The Hillhouse or Nanny Croft. 1. Former Situation and Description ... ue li. The Owners and Occupiers of the 184 ili. Stories of the Hillhouse 43 ee ioe 20g Appendices—i. The Adventures of Edward Lumb as AGE
li. The Subsidy Rolls of 1571, 1603 and 1620 ... 193 lili, The Subsidy Roll of 1588 ... a 406
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te I wow YP EF S ©
To er. SS eS
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
i cs ee
Woodhouse Hill showing part of the Blackhouse. The Blackhouse. The Tablet Stone of the Blackhouse. Johnny Steel’s Oak Chest. Old Fieldhouse. Fieldhouse Green. Mr. John Blackburn. The Fieldhouse Fire Clay Works. The Tall Chimney at the Fire Clay Works. Squire” Edward Brooke. Mr. Edward Brooke, J.P. Mr. Frederick Howard Brooke. The Flashhouse. The Barn at the Flashhouse. Black Dyke. The Hillhouse. The Hillhouse.
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PREFACE.
The Four ‘‘Houses’’ which are discussed in this book have not received very much attention at the hands of former topographers. Short accounts of each of them had previously appeared in the Borough Advertiser’? but the original articles have been considerably supplemented. It is quite possible (as was the case with Part III.) that additional information will be forwarded when once the book appears in print. The writer desires to express his best thanks to the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors of the Huddersfield Borough Council for most graciously granting him permission to quote from the I Archives of the Corporation, and, in this connection, he desires to acknowledge the most valuable help and assistance rendered by Mr. E. A. Walshaw in seatching through the records for the names of former tenants of some of these Houses.
A large number of persons have given assistance in the com— pilation of this book and to them the writer desires to express his very best thanks, viz., to Messrs. Alfred Blackburn, Abraham Graham, George Whitehead; to Mr. Horace Goulden, Public Librarian, and to Mr. Charles Bennett (Deputy Librarian) for valuable help given at the Public Library; to Mr. Charles Shaw, Mr, J. W. Scholes, Mr. F. Garside, Mr. Oates Ingham, Mr. F. Lees, Mr. F. H. Brooke, Mr. J. W. Hepworth, Mr. Walter Wood, Mr. Frank Abbey, Mr. Percy Stork for permission to quote from the Stutterd MSS., and Mr. Peter Cardno.
The writer is also indebted considerably to the unpublished MSS. of the late Mr. G. W. Tomlinson, F.S.A., which were only discovered while a search was being made for something else at the Public Library. I
Once again, the writer desires to express, of the patronage accorded to Part III., it is interesting to note that Parts I, and II. are out of print.
Part V. will deal with Geldholt Hall, Greenhead Hall (demo- lished in 1907-1908 to tiake way for , ‘the present Girls’ High School) and Hall. PHILIP AHIER. 24 Lightridge Road, Sheepridge, Huddersfield, April, 1935,
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WOODHOUSE HILL. Photo by the late Mr. Smith Carter.
THE BLACKHOUSE, — 1935.
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CHAPTER VIII.
THE BLACKHOUSE.
INTRODUCTION.
The Blackhouse, a portion of which still remains, stands at the bottom of Blackhouse Road, (to which it gave its name) and of Woodhouse Hill, Fartown. The old homestead presented a pretty picture in mid and late nineteenth century days. A photograph of Woodhouse Hill taken at the commencement of this century depicts the Blackhouse at — the bottom of the hill. A flag—staff could be seen standing at one corner of the house. In those days, there were very few houses at the bottom of either Fartown Green Road or on the right—hand side of Woodhouse Hill. Previous to the development of Wood-— house and Fartown as residental centres, the old Blackhouse stood amidst fields which in Spring was a delightful scene.
It was (previous to its restoration) one of the oldest dwelling— houses in the Manor of Huddersfield, for there is documentary record of its existence dating as far back as 1523. There is reason to believe that it was rebuilt in 1787, while in the early part of this century, between 1903 and 1905, two of the farmhouses com- prising the Blackhouse which stood nearest to the old Blackhouse Dyke were demolished in order that the space at the bottom of Woodhouse Hill, Blackhouse Road and Dewhurst Road could be widened.
The two Seale which remain have been renovated although signs of the old Tudor building are still to be seen, viz., stone floors and massive oak beams in the cellar. Two of the windows at the back of the homestead have been bricked in, it seems that this was done in the early days of the last century in order that its owner might have his window tax lessened.
The two huge stone posts which formed the entrance to the farmstead still remain although one has been removed from its original position. The Blackhouse is mentioned in the Huddersfield Enclosure © Act of 1789 when new roads were ordered to be made. Thus, we read of ‘‘Deighton Road from Hillhouse eastwards over Fartown Green to Blackhouse, thence northwards over Sheepridge to the
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west side of Deighton.’’ (First printed by Mr. G.. W.: a ne : in the ‘‘Huddersfield Parish Church. Magazine,’’ July, 1886)... part of this road:is now known as Fartown Green: Road-and ae I part Woodhouse Hill.
A plan of the Blackhouse district printed in the ‘‘Sale of Rig hold Farms in Birkby and Fartown’’ at the George Hotel on the 23rd of September, 1842, (to be seen amongst the Tomlinson MSS. at the Huddersfield Public Library), marks the old homestead then consisting of four dwelling—houses. The Blackhouse, how-—. ever, Was not included 4 in this sale.
The following statement about the Blackhouse Waris was made by the late Mr. G. W. Tomlinson :—
‘“The Rectory of the Huddersfield Parish Church was erie in 1599 to William Ramsden by which he became entitled to the tithes of Corn, Hay and all the great tithes throughout the Parish. But, by subsequent conveyance by him and his descendants, the tithes of Slaithwaite, Quarmby and Deighton were alienated, as. also the tithes of Birkby and Blackhouse Farm both within the Manor.’”’ (Tomlinson MSS., Vol.II., p. 88).
In 1787, as already stated, the old Blackhouse was either rebuilt or remodelled, and a tablet stone recording the date of alteration was placed in a prominent position on the front of the building. When half of the house was pulled down in order to widen Blackhouse Road, this tablet stone was removed by Mr. W. Fitton, of Ivy Cottage, Woodhouse Hill, and placed in his garden.
Up till Wednesday, June 13th, 1984, this tablet stone rested in the garden of No. 22 Blackhouse Road. On that date it was removed to the Blackhouse, and, at some future occasion, it will be, placed once again on the walls of the old homestead.
a. DERIVATION OF “ BLACKHOUSE.”
There seems every reason to believe that it got its name from the. fact that the first house erected on this site was of the ‘‘black and white’’ variety of which there are still two houses of this type remaining in our district, viz., old Bay Hall in Birkby and Wormall Hall in Almondbury (now the Almondbury Conservative Club). The ‘‘black’’ is the old oak while the ‘‘white’’ is the Pubes and plaster which fill the intervening spaces.
The late Dr. H. J. Morehouse, in his ‘‘History of Kirkburton,’’. (p. 121), when discussing the ‘‘Black House’’. in Thurstonland says :—‘‘The name of Black House is a corruption of ‘‘Blake,’’ the lands upon which this messuage stood no doubt had been a part of the possessions of the Marshes, of Marsh Hall, who possessed a considerable plot of land called ‘Blakeden’; a name which still
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148 exists. in that immediate vicinity.’’ It is, however, very doubtful whether any person of the surname of Blake ever lived in Wood- house in pre—Tudor and who might have given his name to the house.
Mr. Halliday Sutherland, in his book on ‘‘The Arches of the Years’’ (p. 286), defines a ‘‘black house’’ as follows :—
‘‘A black house is a low, rectangular building of flat, un- cemented drystone, thatched with turf or straw. The walls, about 7 feet high, are double, and the space of six inches between the two tiers of stones is filled with earth. The thatched roof over-— laps the inner, but not the cuter wall, and has a slight incline from the’ middle.’’
‘‘George Gibson in the Caledonian Medical Journal, August, 1924, (p. 208), regards the black house as an example of specialised development devised to meet certain positive needs.”’
The above definitions apply to ‘‘black houses’’ in Scotland, nevertheless, something of this. style in building houses in Medizval days may have obtained in Huddersfield. Mr. Armitage Goodall, in his ‘‘Place-Names of South West Yorkshire,’’ does not discuss the derivation of Blackhouse, but gives that of such place names as Blackburn, Blackshaw, Blaxton, all the prefixes of which are derived from an old English word, blac or blaec, meaning dark or black. On the other hand, he says that the prefixes in Blacker, Blackley, Blacup are derived from an old Norse word bleikkr meaning pale, (pp. 75 and 76).
a THE OWNERS OF THE BLACKHOUSE.
There seems good reason to believe that the Blackhouse was originally a part of the former Manor of Huddersfield. Confirma— tion of this is given by the extract previously quoted from Mr, G. W. Tomlinson’s MSS. (p. 142). The Manor of Huddersfield was sold by Queen Elizabeth to William Ramsden of Longley hanes in 1599 (Ch. VI., p. 66).
The Blackhouse remained in the possession of the Ramsdens till some date previous to 1684 when it become the property of John Firth of Clough House. In that year, he conveyed it to his son, Abraham Firth I. (Ch. VII., p. 103). Mr. Tomlinson, in his monograph on the ‘‘Clough House’’ (‘‘Huddersfield Parish Church Magazine,’’ Dec., 1885), did not state from whom John Firth purchased the Blackhouse but it would seem that the Ramsdens of Byram Hall began to sell portions of the old Manor of Huddersfield in early or mid—seventeenth century days. Proof of this statement is to be found in the fact that the Ramsdens owned the Clough
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House in 1549, but in 1680, it was the property of who. had purchased it from Joshua Horton (Ch. VII., p. 101, also Tomlinson MSS.). It is possible that previous to 1680, the Black— house may have belonged to Joshua Horton.
The Blackhouse and the lands in its vicinity remained in the possession of the Firths till the male line of that family died out in 1771. Then the estates ultimately became the property of Thomas Macaulay of Throxenby who married Ann Firth, the younger daughter and co—heiress of Abraham Firth II. By his wife, Thomas Macaulay had two children, Firth Macaulay and Ann Macaulay (Ch. VII., p. 106).
Ann Macaulay married Richard John Daventry Ashworth, Esq., a barrister of the Middle Temple, formerly of Strawberry Hill, Manchester, and later of Blacon, Chester. Mr. and Mrs. Ashworth had a family of three sons and four daughters, viz., the Rev. Thomas Alfred Ashworth, Percy Ashworth, also a barrister, William Ashworth, Anne Susannah Ashworth whe married the Rev. Hugh Stowell of Manchester, Sarah Maria Ashworth who married the Rev, Thomas Martindale, Emily Ashworth who married an Irish surgeon, Dr. Kerens, while the last daughter married Mr. T. Houghton. Mrs. Ashworth died in 1863 at the
age of 82 years.
The Blackhouse as well as the Clough House estates remained in the possession of the Macaulays and Ashworths until a Deed of Partition was executed in 1861 between the representatives of the two families (See Ch. VII., p. 111). The Macaulays retained the Clough House and estates (although, as we shall observe later, Mr. William Edward Macaulay sold Black Dyke to the Trustees of the late Sir J. W. Ramsden in 1849, p. 181) while Mrs. Ashworth held, among the original possessions of the Firths and Gibsons, the Blackhouse property. On the 31st of December, 1868, the heirs of Mrs. Ashworth (then deceased), viz., the Revs. Thomas Alfred Ashworth, Arthur Frederick Martindale, Messrs. William Evans Ashworth, Joseph Rice, Robert Dudley Baxter, Charles Harold Macaulay and several others, sold the Blackhouse and Fartown estates to a number of persons which included the late Mr. Henry Dewhurst, who bought the farmstead and the lands in its immediate vicinity.
Mr. Henry Dewhurst was the second son of Mr. Richard Dewhurst, the founder of Messrs. R. Dewhurst & Co., Printers of Woollen Fabrics at the Aspley Print Works. He first lived at Aspley House so as to be near the Works, but later he removed to Fartown Lodge. Mr. Dewhurst’s chief hobby was astronomy and he built a little observatory on the opposite side of Bradford Road to his house, where, in company with the Rev. M.A., F.R,A<S., then the Vicar of Christ Church at Woodhouse,
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he pursued his hobby. In the early nineties of the last century, he left Huddersfield to reside at Eastbourne where his wife died in August, 1892. He then returned to Fartown Lodge. During the last years of his life Mr. Dewhurst was an invalid, he died of senile decay after a short illness on the 25th of January, 1902, at the age of 73 years.
In 1889, occurred the lawsuit st v. Dewhurst. After this date the whole of Mr. H. Dewhurst’s estates were placed under the control of the Public Trustee.
Towards the end of the last century and at the commencement of this century, the Blackhouse estates were developed by Messrs. Abbey and Hanson, acting on behalf of the Public Trustee and _ gradually portions of the estates were sold to private individuals.
On the 14th of August, 1911, the late Mr. Wyndham Cooper the Blackhouse homestead from the Public Trustee while on the 19th of April, 1918, Mr. W. Cooper sold the building to its present owner, Mr. George A, Whitehead.
iv. THE OCCUPIERS OF THE BLACKHOUSE.
For over two centuries, the Blackhouse was the abode of a family of Brookes. In the Subsidy Roll compiled in the year 1525, _we read that Edward Brooke of the ‘‘Blakhouse’’ paid 1/0 tax on Goods assessed at £2 Os. Od. (Y.A.J., Vol. p. 51). This, as far as the writer has been able to ascertain, is the first documentary reference to the homestead and its first recorded spelling.
There is no reference to it in the Subsidy Roll of 1546, but, it is quite possible that the occupier of the house was mulcted for his contribution to the levy required for the carrying on of the war against France, waged by Henry VIII. in that year. The Subsidy Roll of 1571 (p. 198) informs us that Percival Brooke de Blackhouse paid 3/0 tax on Goods assessed at £3 Os. Od. In 1546, a Percival Brooke is recorded in the Subsidy Roll as having paid 3d. tax on Goods assessed at £3 Os. Od., he may have been the same Percival Brooke who was a tax payer in 1571.
It is almost certain that in 1588, Edward Brooke lived at the Blackhouse. Subsidy Roll compiled i in that year (Ch. VI., p. 68), he is recorded as having paid 5/0 tax on Goods assessed at £3 Os. Od. In 1608, his daughter, Sybil Brooke, who was baptised in October, 1580, at the Huddersfield Parish Church was married to Edward Brooke, the second son of Thomas Brooke (II.) of Newhouse. at the same church on the 12th of December of that year. (Ch. VI., p, 81). It is evident that the Brookes of the Blackhouse were on the same social scale as those of Newhouse.
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The reader will perhaps pardon a slight digression from our main theme at this point. This Lay Subsidy Roll of the year 1588 was not discussed by Mr. Taylor Dyson, M.A., in his recently published ‘‘History of Huddersfield and District’? and a word or two concerning this document may not be out of place here. The reason this levy was imposed upon the inhabitants of this district, as well as throughout the country, was, as every student of English history will know, the threatened invasion of England by King Philip IT. of Spain and his Invincible Armada. Money was required by Queen Elizabeth and her ministers to equip the fleet and man the ships which eventually destroyed the host of Spain. - This Subsidy Roll contains the names of eight members of the Brooke family, namely, Edmund Brooke of Hillhouse, Thomas Brooke of Brock- hole Bank, Edward Brooke of Deighton, and Edmund Brooke of Storth ; four members of the Hirst family, one Horsfall, one Blackburn, one Crowther, and one Stead. The other dwelling— house recorded, other than the above, is Greenhead, where the wife of John Hirst paid four shillings on 80/— of land. Only eight persons were called upon to pay this tax in Almondbury and here I John Ramsden, gent., paid £5 6s. 8d. tax on £40 of lands. All these persons and others in Dalton, Fixby, Marsden, Slaithwaite, Quarmby, contributed to the National Exchequer at a most critical time in the history of our country. (See p. 194).
The Blackhouse is neither mentioned in the Subsidy Roll compiled in 1603 nor in that of 1620 nor is the name of Edward Brooke recorded in either of them. Perhaps he escaped the vigilance of the tax—collectors in 1603 !
The Subsidy Rolls of 1571, 1663 and 1620, have not, so far as the writer as yet ascertained, been published by former local topographers and historians. The writer stumbled upon transcripts of these Rolls, quite by accident, amongst the Tomlinson MSS. in the Public Library. These Rolls, as far as they deal with the Manor of Huddersfield, are printed in the Appendix (p 193 and 194).
There are frequent references to the Brookes of the Blackhouse in the Huddersfield Parish Church Registers. The writer, through the courtesy of the Rev. Canon A. Baines, M.A., Vicar of St. Peter’s, has consulted the Registers and has found a few entries of which the following will suffice :-—
(i) Maria, daughter of Brooke de Blackhouse was baptised, Sept. 1567. (11) Anne Brooke, widow, of the Blackhouse, was buried on the 7th of Fanuary: 1715 An expert genealogist ua, no doubt, compile a complete pedigree of the Brookes of the Blackhouse by a.careful study of the Parish Church Registers. The writer, unfortunately, has not
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the time to devote to such an extensive piece of research. He leaves the problem. to some future topographer. The homestead is not mentioned in the Hearth Tax Returns for the year 1664, but there is every reason to believe, judging from the names of subsequent occupiers, that it was still inhabited by a representative of the Brooke family.
In 1721, we gather from the ‘‘Account Book of the Surveyors _ of the Highways of the Township of Fartown, 1715-1790,’’ that the occupier of the Blackhouse was George Brooke.
A word or two should be said concerning: this old MS. Account Book which is to be found in the Tomlinson MSS. in the Huddersfield Public Library. Not only does it give the items of income and expenditure on the part of the Surveyors but it records the names of prominent persons who lived in Birkby, Fartown and Sheepridge in the 18th century, e.g., Richard Scholes, William Steel, Richard Hepworth, John Hepworth, Joshua Brooke, etc., men whose names would be almost forgotten except for this old Account Book. It also gives the names of old homesteads in the Fartown district which have almost completely disappeared, e.g., Copley Stones, Stoney Delves, Green, Long Woodhouse, &c. To the student of economics, this old MS. Book is a mine of informa- tion as it states the wages paid to labourers, blacksmiths, and masons in 18th century days.
Every inhabitant in Fartown, as well as in other townships, was compelled by the existing law to maintain the roads in a good state of repair—no doubt a survival of the old feudal custom of
‘“Trinoda necessitas.’’ The work of repairs had to be done on stipulated ‘‘law days’’ and if a householder neglected his duty, he was fined for ‘‘neglects.’’ A householder or landowner could
cbtain, if he so desired, a substitute, as is shown in one account where we read that one William Aked deputised for Mr. Whitacre. Every householder also paid a road rate, the amount of which was uSually stated on the income side of the Account Book.
The office of Surveyor was usually held for one year and at the end of his term of office, his accounts were ‘‘ viewed and allowed’’ by six or seven inhabitants of Fartown who were the Auditors of his accounts. The offices of Surveyor and Auditors were interchangeable, there are instances of a Surveyor for a certain year becoming an Auditor the following: year and vice-versa. Towards the end of the 18th century, two Surveyors were appointed. The earliest record of the statements of income and expendi-— ture shows a primitive system of but the later balance sheets reveal a marked improvement in the keeping of accounts.
Through the courtesy of Mr. H. Goulden, Public Librarian, the writer is enabled to reproduce the accounts of the ore for the years 1720 and 1721 :—
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“THOS. ARMYTAG of Birkby. Survey’r A° 1720.
1 we Assessed to him ye 12 of ne: tee at 4d. p’r by Land w’ch is. cs Sc 08=00=00 He disbursed as by' his acc’ts appears ses 3 Bae oe Oe and he p’d to Josh’a Brook a p’ceding O= O= 23 = B= 9
So his disbursemts exceed his receipts by the Sum of three shills three pence w’ch he is to receive of Geo, Brooke, a Succeeding Surveyor O0= 3= 3
Md. that a Mattock was bought and delivered to Geo. Brooke. Viewed and allowed this 19th day of July, 1721, by us
JOS. BROOKE RICHARD HEPWORTH WILL: BROOKE GEORG BROOK THO. SPIVYE hs SP ee
The above deals with the accounts of Thomas Armytage of Birkby, and on the 16th day of October, 1721, he surrendered his office as Surveyor to George Brooke of the Blackhouse, whose
accounts appear on the next page of this two hundred year old Account Book :—
“GEORGE BROOKE, Blackhouse, Survey’r A°® 1721.
ee Assessed to him ye 16th day 8&’ber, 1721, at 4d. pr lk the Sum of: ...; i iS, 7=19=4 and also the Furt’r Sum of i—6 :0 lot Neniect of Lawdays bike al be a see hap b= “GEORGE BROOKE of the Blackhouse. Surveyor A® 1721. Le ee
Assessed hyd him ye 16th day of Oc’re, 1721, at 4d. p’r pound coms to ie oe oe es 7 and for Neglect of Law days ... 1 hee Disbursed as by his Acc’ts Appears seven pounds 14 shillings and 4 pence ... os 7=14=4 Witnessed and allowed this 14th day of No’r, , 1722, by us
THOMAS FEARNLEY ‘ARTHUR KAYE JOSHUA GREEN.”
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George Brooke, of the Blackhouse, was again the Surveyor in 1722,..and. his - accounts. appear lower dow n. on. the. same page of this old: Beok :—-:. . ri ; I “. “GEORGE BROOKE, Survey’r, A°, 1722.
+38. Remaind. due from him to the Town the:p’ceeding year 1=11=0 had Assessed to him 9’br 14th, 1722, the sum cf J See! In all fost a ; was a He disbursed as by his acc ‘ts the Sum of . 2= 9=1 So there is due from him to the Town the Sum of ... l= 4=8 w’ch he is to pay to Mr.. Robt. Haigh, the Surve eyor—pd, the
‘s’d sum (in a different handwriting).
Viewed and allowed this 28th day’ of August, 1723, by us ABRA : FIRTH ROBERT HAGUE JOHN HIRST JOSEPH HIRST ABRA : HORSFALL KR. BOOTH,” find that George Brooke, of the Blackhouse, continued to audit the road accounts of the township of Fartown till 1761. He had several children, his son, Richard, was baptised at the Hud- dersfield Parish Church on the 27th of October, 1726. His twin sons, George and Joseph Brooke, were baptised on the 11th of June, 1731. His daughter, Ann, married William Steel, a mem- ber of a well-known family in Huddersfield in the 18th century. After the death of George Brooke, William Steel and his wife occupied the Blackhouse. In 1767, William Steel, of the Blackhouse, became the Sur- veyor of the Highways of Fartown. His accounts are reproduc ed here, and the reader will note that there is a considerable improve-- ment in the method of keeping accounts :— _ “1767. WILLIAM STEEL, Blackhouse, Surveycr.
Mcney: Disbursed. <£ a. -d. £ oa, To Joseph Greenwood — . 15 April. Received C(artage?) for 3 then of Matt: Stones ek OP ae Noble, the pro- To Jos’h Greenwood ceeding (sic) Sur- ; for levelling Kiln veyor : By Oy OR Cliffe Mi oR ee MIC TIL. Recd. De: BoE ee Accounts pasing Os. Bi Recd. by Assessmt. 8 ,, 9). 10 jas. Brook fora And for: pegiects si. 15,5, 3 Shaft Pek pe ee a Two Baskitts (sic) ... 0,, ,, 10 3 1a: ee ‘To Labourers te: Ee ea. RCO Disburs’d ... bis Eee Assessment Making... 0,, 2,, 6
bo
Matthew Neble for Due to the Town... ,, 16 ,,
Bill writing Ce Gy ea Examin’d and allowed by John Hobson . for EDM’D HORSFALL tools menting. .... 0:,,° 6 JOSHUA BROOKE For Ale 2 JOHN MORTIMER
To Masons, 32 days I +. 9. JOSEPH ARMYTAGE ‘@ ls. 8d. per d. is 2 Pate ar eed LAW MORTIMER To Jno. Denton. ... JAMES BOOTH ga CR eee at JOHN BROOK I 48 JOHN ROWSTONE.”’.
oS te Qo
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William Steel had previously been an Auditor of the Surveyor’s accounts in 1765, and continued to act in that capacity during the years 1776, 1777 and 1784, but in 1787 and 1788, he ‘‘blotched his copybook,’’ as the local saying puts it, he ‘‘neglected to perform his Statute Duty’’ of repairing the Highways of Fartown, and was ordered. to pay a fine on the 10th of October, 1788, when he paid £1—0—0. for three days ‘‘neglect’’ in 1787 and £1—8—O for four days ‘‘neglect’’ in 1788, The rebuilding of the Blackhouse in 1787 took place during the tenancy of John Steel; he may have been so interested in the re— construction that he forgot to perform his ‘‘Statute Duty’’!
Several stories concerning William Steel of the Blackhouse have been handed down. He was one of the best farmers in Fartown; he grew apples, while his fruit and flower gardens were a source of admiration to all who went up Woodhouse Hill. He was a strong opponent of the Luddites, and also opposed the formation of a Trade Union amongst agricultural workers. The first recorded Trade Union in this locality (as far as the writer has been able to discover) was the West Riding Fancy Union, of which Amos Cowgill was the first president, and J. Swift, a journeyman shawl weaver, was vice-president. This was formed in 1825 (‘‘Huddersfield Past and Present, in its Social, Industrial and Education by Owen Balmforth), but according to a story which has been handed down, there had been attempts made to form a trade union amongst agricultural labourers before this date, but these had been quashed by the authorities.
William Steel amassed by his industry and frugality a con- siderable amount of wealth. He died at the Blackhouse on the 24th of November, 1828, while his wife died two years after.
His tombstone can be seen at the east end of the Huddersfield Parish Church Yard. The inscription reads as follows :— ‘In Memory of William Steel of Blackhouse in the Parish. of Huddersfield, who died November 24th, 1828, in the 86th year of his age. ‘Within this Grave doth lie Till God doth him restore A life of peace to live And never die no more.
Also, of Ann, the wife of the above William Steel; who departed this life December 10th, 1830, aged 76 years.
A painful cancer gave the fatal blow, The effect was certain, tho’ the stroke was slow, With lingering pain, Heaven saw her sore opprest, Envied her sighs and kindly gave her rest.”’
He was succeeded at the Blackhouse by his son, John Steel, who died at the Fieldhouse (Green) on the 31st of January, 1860, aged 80 years, I
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In 1842 occurred the famous robbery at the Blackhouse ‘when John Steel was rifled of his accumulated patrimony and savings. The story of this outragé is told in the next Section (p. 151). Atter the robbery John Steel left the Blackhouse and lived at the Field- house, where, as stated above, he died in 1860. After the depart— ure of John Steel from. the old homestead, in either 1842 or 1843, it is difficult to state who lived at the ford. The writer has been informed that a Mr. Porter, a sub-contractor who built the Bilberry Reservoir in 1838 farmed the lands at the Blackhouse in the I ‘late thirties and early forties of the last century. (4a I
As already stated, Mr. Henry Dewhurst, of Fartown purchased the Blackhouse estates (p. 144) and let the farm to his ceachman, Mr. William Dixon. Subsequent farmers (although the precise years of their tenancy are not ascertainable) were Messrs. Philip Marshall and George Mason. The last to farm the lands at the Blackhouse was Mr. Robert Clarkson, the father of Mr. F, Clarkson, of Northumberland Street. The other dwelling— houses which formed part of the 1787 homestead were occupied, so the writer has been informed, by Messrs. Hellaw ell, Anthony Palmforth and Albert Cooper.
Vv. THE ROBBERY AT THE BLACKHOUSE.
John Steel objected most strongly to investing his money in a bank, which, he said, might break at any moment. No doubt he had vivid recollections of the crash of Dobson’s Bank in 1825,
when hundreds of persons in Huddersfield were ruined. I He also refused to place his capital in the many woollen mills which were being established in all parts of the town. So he
kept his wealth, which consisted mainly of golden spade, guineas and silver crowns, in an old oak chest at the Blackhouse, which he had encircled with massive iron chains secured by huge padlocks.
John Steel had been frequeritly warned, sometimes in jest, sometimes in earnest, at what might happen to his money, but he always retorted: ‘‘I’ve a gun which I will make speak to anyone who attempts to burgle my house; besides the oak chest is too heavy for anyone to carry away, ane could never be broken for it is too well secured.”’ _
However, in 1842, a gang of desperadoes, hailing, I it is said, from Deighton, determined to rob Steel’s oak chest, and, one night, having previously disguised themselves by blackening their’ faces, they forced their way into the Blackhouse. Steel brought out his gun and used it, but with no effect, and before he could load it again, one set of thieves gagged and bound him and his house-— keeper to two chairs, while the other set with sledge-hammers and
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THE TABLET STONE OF THE BLACKHOUSE,
JOHNNY STEEL’S OLD OAK CHEST.
; Photo by A. and L. Slingsby. By kind permission of Mr, Oates Ingham, of Grange-over-Sands,
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crowbars smashed his oak chest in spite of its chains and padlocks.
Steel’s hoard turned out to be a rich booty. One of the thieves nearly filled up*his hat with gold pieces, and on carrying it out of the house, the weight of the coins forced out the crown and let the gold fall into the road. This appears to have been at some distance from the Blackhouse, and, as this occurred in the dead of night, the whole of the coins could not be collected; a good many stray pieces were picked up the next day.
The amount of gold that the thieves had abstracted from Steel’s chest was so great that they resorted to the simple expedient of sharing it out in a pewter pint pot which they had stolen from a public house in Deighton; apparently they found the task of sharing it equally amongst themselves too laborious or too arith— metical a task! The writer has heard that the thieves proceeded with their booty to a day-hole in the Huddersfield Cemetery, which, in that year, was not yet railed round, and there effected the division of their spoils. I
John Steel eventually managed to free himself, and, with the publican who had lost his pint pot, reported his loss to the police authorities of Huddersfield. Warrants were issued for the arrest of the thieves, while the newspapers of the day gave publicity to this robbery; unfortunately ‘‘Johnny’’ could not give a description of the thieves who were trying to flee the country “with their hoard.
One of them, Robert Peel, a block printer, paid off his debts with his ill-gotten gains, a shop-keeper friend got him the necessary tickets and. hid him in his house till he slipped out of Huddersfield and took the road for Liverpool, where he sailed to America.
The other members of the gang reached Hull and hoped to get to America also. They had made all the arrangements for sailing, had paid their passage money, and got their goods on board the vessel. About half-an—hour before the vessel was due to sail, they called at a public house at the quay side and decided to have one more carouse before they left dear Old England. One of the party proposed as a toast ‘‘Success to the old oak. chest.” (Another version says that they drank a health to the pewter pint pot). This aroused the suspicion of the landlord, who had read in the newspapers about the robbery at the Blackhouse. It is said that he sent his wife to fetch a police officer, while he entertained the thieves to further beer. The officer searched the men, and eventually their luggage, in which a considerable amount of John Steel’s money was found.
thieves were taken to Huddersfield, where other. arrests were made, all of them were tried at York, where on the evidence of one of them they were convicted and transported.
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One account which the writer has heard states that all the ie got to Liverpool, and that one, suspecting the landlord’s attitude, escaped by the back door, and made a get-away to Ireland, and from thence to America, ‘where he lived for over forty years: I He is said to have returned to Sheepridge and his family is’ said to have been successful business people in the town !
On the 30th of January, 1862, a man named Edwards living at Hillhouse was digging in his field at Storthes, Birkby, when he came upon a large flat stone which defied all his efforts to remove. He called the assistance of his neighbours and on raising the flag, they found underneath an iron ‘‘posnit”’ containing five hundred spade guineas. At the time of this discovery, it was thought by some persons that the guineas formed a part of the plunder taken out of Johnny Steel’s house at the Blackhouse some years
The writer has heard a story that a good deal of the money which fell near the Blackhouse was picked up by a man who was thus enabled to set up his own woollen mill! It is also said that a house in Deighton was built by a man who found some of these coins the day after the burglary. This house, for many years, was nicknamed the ‘‘Spade Guinea House’’ !
. After the burglary, John Stee! left the Blackhouse and lived at the Fieldhouse (Green). He refused to see his relations lest they should poison him and positively declined to eat the food which they brought him. He carpeted one room at the Fieldhouse with pennies ! In his will, he left the family Bible to his brother, Joseph Steel who had fought at the Battle of Waterloo, while his battered oak chest went to his niece, Caroline Steel who married Mr. John Stork, of Bay Hall Mills (Ch. VII., p. 181). It is now in the possession of her Mrs. Robert George Ingham ot Grange—over—Sands. I Through the courtesy of Mr. ‘Oates Ingham, a: photograph of the old oak “chest, which shews traces of having been battered, appears on page 152.
‘Johnny’? Steel was the subject of a doggerel poem of which sats the first four lines are remembered by aged inhabitants in Fartown. Altogether there were forty-eight lines of which the writer is only able to reproduce four :—
“Old Johnny Steel Knew very weel That Batty Clough Could drink milk enough”... .
_.. It appears that the ‘‘milk’’ was of the brownish coloured variety ! bee:
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In the latter days of his life, John Steel occasionally strolled as far as the Canal Bridge at the back of the Fieldhouse, and, ' looking in the direction of Deighton, would exclaim, ‘‘Oh! those Deighton thieves !”’
As already stated, he died at the Fieldhouse (Green) in 1860 at the age of eighty.
The adventures of Edward Lumb, one of the thieves, is told in the Apendix (p. 191).
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OLD FIELDHOUSE. Photo by Mr, Frank Micklethwaite.,
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CHAPTER IX. THE FIELDHOUSE.
Investigations into the above have proved to be most interest- ing and at the same time rather baffling. A consultation of the Huddersfield Ordnance Map of 1848-54 reveals the following places :—
(a) Old Fieldhouse. (b) Fieldhouse. I (c) Fieldhouse Colliery with Brickfield and Coke Ovens.
Each of these three sites has a history, which, with the exception of the Fire Clay Works, so far as the writer has been able to discover, has not yet been discussed by former topographers.
(a) OLD FIELDHOUSE. (i) SITUATION AND DESCRIPTION,
It stands about a field’s length away from the left—hand side of Leeds Road as one travels to Bradley by tramcar. There seems every probability that it got its name by reason of its being a solitary house built in the midst of fields.
At the moment, it consists of four dwelling—houses, two of which are comparatively modern, while the other two appear to be about two or three centuries old. On the two larger and more modern dwelling—houses is an old tablet stone which records the date, ‘‘Anno Domini 1834.’’ On the south side of these two houses are four ecclesiastical looking windows on the first floor. In one of the rooms are old oak beams, but these have been whitewashed. In one house the floor is made of stone while in the other it is wood.
The oldest part of the Fieldhouse has walls which are two feet thick. All the floors have stone flags. It is believed that these two older buildings formed part of a barn which was converted into two dwelling—houses when the modern portion was built in 1834. The upper rooms of one house contain some very thick and quaint oak beams which have been papered. These two houses have on their walls some most peculiar label moulding while a wooden beam is built in the stonework on its exterior. It is possible to walk around the chimney breadth in the upper room in one of them. During the great flood of July 24th, 1904, the lower rooms of the oldest part of the Fieldhouse were filled with water to a depth of 14 feet. Considerable inconvenience was caused to the occupiers for a few days after this flood,
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(ii) THE OWNERS AND OccuPIERS OF OLD FIELDHOUSE. The first documentary reference which the writer has been able to discover relating to the Fieldhouse occurs in the will of John Horsfall of Woodhouse dated 1575. He bequeathed ‘“‘to Alice and Isabel, the daughters of John Horsfall of Fieldhouse, two spurre rialles of gold’’ (Halifax Wills, quoted by the late J. Horsfall Turner in his ‘‘History of Brighouse, Rastrick and Hipperholme,’’ p. 225). Bias it eri seem that in 1575, John Horsfall at the Fieldhouse. He had a daughter Blizabeth who married Thomas Brooke who appears to have made his abode here.
A family of Brookes continued to live at the Old for several centuries. From the Huddersfield Parish Registers, we gather ‘that ‘‘Elizabeth, the daughter of Johannes Brooke de Fieldhouse was baptised in October, 1582.’’ At a later date, the family left the Fieldhouse, for, in 1728, we learn from the Registers that ‘‘Jeremiah, the son of David Cooper of the Fieldhouse was baptised on the 28th of August’’ of that year.
There seems every reason to believe that the Old Fieldhouse and the land on which Fieldhouse (Green) was built, were part of the original Manor of Huddersfield which was sold by Queen Elizabeth to William Ramsden’ in 1599. The late Mr. G. W. Tomlinson, in his MSS, (Vol. II., p. 88, copied from an old MS. in the Estate Offices), states that this ‘‘Manor was called the Manor of Huddersfield and Bay Hall or the Manor of Bay Hall in Huddersfield’’ in the days of Queen Elizabeth. ‘‘It was bounded by the River Colne on the East and South and by the townships of Quarmby and Fixby on the West and those of Bradley and Deighton on the North’’ (‘‘Huddersfield Parish Church Magazine”’ for April, 1885). 3 The Fieldhouse estates remained in the possession of the Ramsdens until one part was sold by the then Sir John Ramsden to Joseph Atkinson I. (the founder of the Atkinsons of Colne Bridge, Bradley Mills, Moldgreen, &c.) in the middle of the eighteenth century. Another part of these estates was exchanged by a Sir John Ramsden for lands belonging to John Whitacre III. of Woodhouse, but that part on which both the Old Fieldhouse and Fieldhouse (Green) are erected remained in the possession of the Ramsdens until they were sold as part of the Ramsden estates by Sir John Frechville Ramsden in 1920 to the Huddersfield Corpora— tion. It appears that a part of the Old Fieldhouse was at one time leased to some representative of the Atkinson family. In the 40’s of the last century, Mr. Edward Atkinson kept a pack of hounds there and converted a part of the oldest portion of the homestead into kennels. On the 21st of September, 1859, Sir John Ramsden
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leased the land on which the old homestead (together with its 1834 addition) stood to Mrs. F. Atkinson (described in the Archives of the Corporation as a widow). She,died on the 12th of April, 1886, and, in her will, bequeathed the homestead to her niece, Miss Mary Ellen Cartwright, who sold it to Mr. Henry Halstead on the 7th of April, 1891. Mr. H. Halstead sold the Fieldhouse on the 30th of January, 1894, to Mr. Thomas Netherwood, Clothier, formerly of King Street and Cross Church Street. Mr. Netherwood died on the 7th of December, 1915, and left the property to his widow. After her death, her executors sold it to its present owner, Mr. Gladstone Preston, of Waterloo, on the 25th of September, 1928. Amongst these who lived at the Old Fieldhouse in the last century were the late Mr. John Pearson, the well-known Hudders—_ field artist whose biography is written in Mr, Peter Cardno’s work on ‘‘Past Artists of Huddersfield,’? and Mr. Edward Green, a traveller of Squire Brooke’s at the Fieldhouse Fire Clay Works.
Another occupier of the Old Fieldhouse was Thomas Black— burn who lived there about 1840. He was related in some way to the Blackburns of Fieldhouse Green (p, 162) but the writer has not yet ascertained the link in the two pedigrees. He married Betty, the daughter of John Cockin who was a silk manufacturer in Silk Street. By his wife, Thomas Blackburn had: seven sons and six daughters. One of. his grand—daughters was Mrs. Collins Chambers, the mother of the Rev. F..H. Chambers, O.B.E., of Westcliffe-on—Sea.
FIELDHOUSE GREEN.
A walk up Fieldhouse Lane at the back of the Old Fieldhouse leads us to.a group of houses divided by the road which goes over the Canal. These buildings, as already stated, are marked on the Huddersfield Ordnance Map of 1848-54, and are known as Field— house Green.
The first four on the right-hand side of Fieldhouse Lane were originally built by Mr. William Blackburn in the year 1796. Nos. 10 and 8 were formerly one house; numbers 6 and 4 originally formed the barn attached to the other two houses. No. 2 Field- house was built later by Mr. John Blackburn on the site of a former cow+house and he also converted the barn into two dw elling—houses and made two houses out of the original dwel- ling—house.. These houses have remained in the possession of the Blackburn family for nearly one hundred and forty years,
Through the courtesy of Mr, Alfred Blackburn, the great-— grandson of the builder of the first four houses, the writer was privileged to see the ‘‘Articles of Agreement’’ dated the 10th of February, 1797, between Sir John Ramsden of Byram and William
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FIELDHOUSE (GREEN). Photo by the late Mr, A. Wigglesworth,
Mr. JOHN BLACKBURN, 1817——I900,
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Blackburn, his executors and administrators, which recites that — Mr. William Blackburn had built ‘‘all that new—erected Dwelling House situated at [Tieldhouse Green and mentions ‘‘those several closes or parcels of land situate lying at the same place called or known by the name of the Intack or Allotments, parts of Upper Crofts and occupied by Mr. Atkinson, and the Reynold Car.”’ 3 Mr. William Blackburn, the first builder, was born in 1738 and died on the 28th of May, 1805. His will was proved at York on the 15th of June, 1805, and contains this most interesting extract “T give and bequeath in the following manner my Will and Mind, first is (by the leave of Sir John Kamsden, Bart.) that as soon as my decease my beloved Wife Martha and my son Samuel Blackburn shall enter into the House and all appurtenances thereto belonging which I at present occupy under the said Sir John Ramsden, Bart., to hold as follows, viz., my wife Martha and my son Samuel afore mentioned shall remain upon the premises so long as my Wife remains my Widow but if she alter her con— dition by being married then my Will is that she quit the premises as soon as possible after said marriage.’’( !) His widow Martha observed these contents of the will, she outlived her husband by eleven years and died at the age of 75 years, The tombstone of William Blackburn could be seen at one time in the Huddersfield Parish Churchyard. The following inscription was written on it:— _ “William Blackburn, of Ficldhouse, died 28th May, 1805, aged 67 years. Martha, his widow, died Ist August, 1816, aged 7) years. William Blackburn, son of the above, died 2nd May, 1837, aged 67 years.’’ (Quoted by Mr. G.. W. Tomlinson in the ‘“Huddersfield Parish Church Magazine’’ for June, 1891). According to the terms of Mr, William Blackburn’s will, as above quoted, the property at the Fieldhouse Green was left to his third surviving son, Mr. Samuel Blackburn. He married Hannah Durrans and died on the 26th of December, 1852. Both husband and wife are interred in Woodhouse Cemetery. The property then devolved upon his second son, Mr. John Blackburn, who was born on February lith, 1817, and died on the 4th of February, 1900. Mr. John Blackburn, as stated above, added the last house on Fieldhouse Green. In September 1868, Mr. John Blackburn lost several cows which had been bitten by a mad dog in the previous July. There were several such cases in that year. After his death in 1900, the property fell to his only son, Mr. Alfred Blackburn, who now resides in the last addition to the homestead.
Some of the upper rooms of the original Fieldhouse Green contained handlooms in the days of the home weaving woollen
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THE PEDIGREE OF THE BLACKBURNS OF THE FIELDHOUSE (GREEN).
William Blackburn = Martha....-. tes b. 1741, d. 1 Aug., 1816
b. 1738, d. 28 May, 1805 The builder of the Fieldhouse I I I Ly Joseph William Samuel Blackburn — Hannah Durrans Betty b. 1768 d. 26 Dec., 1852 Hannah d. 2 May, 1837 interred at Woodhouse, : Sarah Will dated 26 Oct., 1852, proved at York, 30 Sept., 1853 I
I I I Joseph Samuel Marth Ann
t William John Blackburn = Eliza Birkinshaw b. 11 Feb., 1817 dau. of Peter d. 4 Feb., 1900 Birkinshaw, interred at Woodhouse b. 1819, d. 14 Nov., 1881
162
Mary Elizabeth Blackburn
Alfred Blackburn = Anne Maria Marshall, 2nd dau. of b. 15 July, 1856 Joseph Bycroft, of Lincoln, and m. 22 Aug., 1878 I of Charlotte Marshall, his wife, b. 8 April, 1859
I John Alfred Blackburn Emily Francis Arthur Blackburn Joseph Bycroft Blackburn Harry Blackburn b. 2 Sept., 1879 died young b. 22 Feb., 1887 b. 4 June, 1890 b. 4 Aug., 1893 Sa — Hill —= Sarah Pollitt — Edith eae I = Mary Jackson Emily Blackburn I ae — AlHred James Hardman : Harold Blackburn Alice Blackburn ee: b. 12 Mar., 1921 2.
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industry. Mr, Samuel Blackburn built a dyehouse at the back of the original dwelling—houses. It still remains to this day. The fields in the front of the house were formerly used as Tenters.
A few stories concerning Fieldhouse Green have been handed down. They deal mostly with a former eccentric and miserly tenant named John Steel; he carpeted one room with pennies— woe betided to those who disturbed them! He had previously lived at the old Blackhouse Farm where he had been robbed of his money. The story of the burglary is told in Chapter VIII. (page 151). ag
(c) THE FIELDHOUSE FIRE CLAY WORKS.
The Ordnance Map also the site of a colliery in the immediate vicinity. . 7
In 1850, the Fieldhouse Fire Clay Works» were com- menced by Mr, Edward Brooke (or Squire Brooke), the ‘‘earnest, energetic, erratic’? Wesleyan Local Preacher. He was the third son of Mr. William Brooke, of Northgate House, Honley, by his. wife, Hannah Clapham, of Leeds. He was born on the 20th of March, 1799, and died at Woodlands, Leeds Road, on the 30th of January, 1871. He married twice; his first wife was Martha, the daughter of Eli Smith, of Greetland, by whom he had six sons and three daughters. Mrs. Brooke died on the 9th of February, 1862, and on the 27th of June, 1867, he married Martha Elizabeth, the daughter of Edward Phillips; she had formerly been the wife of a Mr. Bellshaw. Squire Brooke’s second son, Mr. Edward Brooke, J.P., lived at Oakley House, and was the first President of the Huddersfield Liberal Club. He married Anne, the daughter of Mr, Isaac Burkhill, by whom he had four sons and three daughters. Two of Mr. Edward Brooke’s sons, Messrs. Arthur Ly ell Brooke and Frederick Howard Brooke, played Rugby Football, the former being in the 1890 Cup Team. Mr. F. H. Brooke is the of the Leeds Fireclay Company.
Squire Brooke’s biography was written by the Rev. J. H. Lord in 1872 under the title of ‘‘Squire Brooke, Memorials of Edward Brooke.’’ The reverend gentleman dealt mainly with Squire Brooke’s life’s work in connection with Wesleyan Method— ism but one chapter deals almost exclusively with the Fire Clay Works. The house where Squire Brooke lived was called W oodlands and was situated off Leeds Road not far from the present Wood- lands Terrace. During the early days of the Great War it was used as an office by the British Dyestuffs Corporation. It was pulled down in 1917-18 to make way for more extensive premises. The house which Squire Brooke adapted for religious meeting's and which was used as a Sunday School till 1862 was pulled down
in 1988.
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THE FIELDHOUSE’ “FIRE: CLAY WORKS, SHEWING THE TALL CHIMNEY. Photo by the late Mr. W. H. Stkes. By kind permission of Mr. C. Shaw.
THE FIELDHOUSE FIRE CLAY WORKS,
Photo by the tate Mr. W. H. Sikes. By kind permission of Mr. C. Shaw.
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A good many stories are told of Squire Brooke, the reader wut find a number related by the Rev. J. H. Lord in his ‘‘Memoirs.”’ It appears that the land on which the works were erected belonged to Mr. John Whitacre of Wocdhouse Hall, and during his absence from Huddersfield, it was sold by his brother-in-law, the Rev. Wyndham Madden, M.A., the first Vicar of Christ Church at W oodhouse, to Squire Brooke.
The following extracts from the Rev. J. H. Lord’s book (p. 939) deal with the erection of the Fire Clay Works :— ‘‘An estate was offered for sale in the neighbourhood of Hud- dersfield which Mr. Brooke, after due consideration and prayer, was encouraged to purchase.’’
‘‘Returning from Leeds by train one day, the impression came clear and strong upon him as though a voice had spoken in his ear, ‘they have found coal.’ Stepping on the platform, as the train drew up at Huddersfield, the first men he met with were his borers, who greeted him with the welcome intelligence, ‘we have found coal.’ ”’ . ‘“The seam of coal to which Mr. Brooke always believed him— self providentially directed, lay in close proximity to a bed of _ fire-clay, to which it gave heightened value, and the discovery was soon turned to practical account in the establishment of extensive works for the manufacture of sanitary tubes, fire clay bricks, &c., which for years past have been profitably conducted by members of the family.”? ‘Influenced partly by business considerations, and partly by the impression that a change of residence might promote the health of his family, Mr, Brooke enlarged the farmhouse which stood on his newly—acquired estate to meet the requirements of his household, and removed from Thornton Lodge to Fieldhouse. He also adapted a house which stood close by the entrance gates of his new home for Christian worship.’’ ‘Business involves care, and the development of the Field— house works in their earlier stage occasioned Mr. Brooke no small anxicty. Springs of water were tapped as the mines proceeded with their work, and constant pumping became necessary to prevent the mine being flooded. Wishful, if possible, to avoid all Sabbath labour, Mr. Brooke expended a large sum of money in making sufficiently capacious water levels. to hold twenty-four tours’ flow of water, so that pumping might be suspended on the Sabbath, without damaging the interests of master or men.”’
“Explosive gas was generated in the coal-mine, requiring the continuous use of an underground furnace, to ensure. adequate _ventilation and safety. Not realising the greatness of the risk, Mr Brooke released the firemen from their posts upon the Sabbath,
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‘he résult’ was ‘a’ Serious explosion, which greatly distressed and compelled ‘him, ‘however reluctantly, “to -rescind his regulation forbidding all w york “upon the Sabbath in favour of one less rigorous which distinctly recognises’ the lawfulness of necessary labour.’’ “Ti he colliers also were explosive. Great consideration i As due t6 men who earn their bread uhder conditions involving physical discomfort and risk of life, and all miners . . deserve generous treatment... . Presenting demands, ach: being deemed ‘un— reasonable aaa unjust,” were resisted, Mr. Brooke’s colliers once and again turned out, to the embarrassment. of their .employer.. Enumerating various promises given to him whilst the colliers were on strike, Mr. Brooke wrote, ‘all fulfilled, the men have returned and begged on again, we have got rid of a ‘few. cae
pi ae ie branch of industry. in which Mr. Brooke had was in its infancy, and its details were not to be mastered, without trouble. . In some; instances, valuable knowledge; had to be gained by a process of failure and disaster involving no:small harassment. ‘Trial upon trial,’ writes Mr. Brooke, ‘pots cracking, ete., etc., but verily there is a God, and we shail rally and prosper.’ ”’
4
after, when his son had made, a trip to America and ‘opened foreign business and. taken extensive the Fieldhouse wares: were ‘coming into high repute and. wie. demand, Mr. Brooke writes in his ‘I.see the good, hand of God upon us for good.’ ”’
‘‘The Fieldhouse works, established in prayerful! upon God, now take their place amongst the’ recognised industries of, ‘Huddersfield... The lofty chimney, towering like a great giant amid pigmies, a wonder in chimney architecture, attracts universal observation, and busy workmen and large store of material both raw and manufactur ed, with railway trucks and canal boats, trans- porting their heavy: freights to. various destinations, fat and near, testify to a large and thriving trade, exceeding the most expectations of its venturesome projector.’
_ The explosion at:the Fieldhouse Fire Clay Works by the Rev. J. H. Lord took place on the 14th of June, 18538, when John Haigh, ‘‘hurrier,’ aged. eleven years, lost his life. ‘There were three seams worked in the pit, and all were presumably free from gas—the one in. which the explosion occurred being considered especially so, therefore there was not an. inspection in this seam every morning... The fire which sustained the ventilation during the week was allowed to br<n out on the Sunday, as Mr. Brooke would ,not allow his:-men to work, on the Sabbath. After all the evidence had been heard at the Inquiry, the Government Inspector advised. Mr. Brooke to have a thorough inspection every morning and to proceed with the ventilation of the pit by means of a fire on Sunday as well as on week-—days, or otherwise keep the pit
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closed on (“Chronology of Huddersfield, ’’ compiled by the late Mr. Allan Parkin).
Another serious accident at the Colliery at Ora is recorded by Mr. Allan Parkin :-—
“Oct. 28, 1850. Charles Ellam, a collier employed by Mr. Ed. Brooke, Fieldhouse, was killed by an explosion of gas in the workings on Monday, Oct. 28. Deceased had taken a naked candle into the pit contrary to the orders of the Manager.”’
The following account of ‘‘The Completion of Brooke’s Chimney, Fieldhouse,’’ is taken from the Archives of the Leeds Fireclay Company by kind permission of Mr,°C. Shaw ;—
“This high chimney, considered to: be the highest in Yorkshire at this time, was completed on the 12th of November, 1857.’’
“It was erected on the estate of Mr. Edward Brooke’s Field- house Fire Clay Works, between Huddersfield and’ Bradley Station and is a conspicuous object from the London and North Western Railway line.’ : Be) oe
‘‘The foundation is a bed of concrete, 40 feet and 3 feet in thickness. . The mass of hydraulic lime, ashes, broken stone and bricks was placed together in 9 in. layers, ‘until the whole substance became as solid and-hard as adamant. On the surface of this bed rests two courses of ragstone footings, each 12 in. in thickness, on the top of which is built a solid mass of brickwork, 3 ft. thick. From this point a 14 ft. circular flue commences, the opening at the top being 9 ft. 7 ins., and the outside of the summit measuring 11 ft. 1 in. The chimney proper is octangular, and rests on a base of the same plane, being deeply panelled and surmounted by a noble cornicerof masonry. From the foundation to this cornice is 70 feet, and from this point the chimney is raised to an altitude of 248 feet, and surmounted by massive projective mouldings, on which, at the time of its completion, a band played music in commemoration of the event.’’
‘‘The concrete footing was commenced on the 2nd of May, 1856, and the last brick was laid on the 12th of November, 201 and no accident happened during the erection.’
‘At the time this chimney was being erected a similar pile was in course of building at Dean Clough Mills, Halifax, at the works of Messrs. John Crossley & Co., and it was stated that their intention was to ‘top’ Mr. Brooke’s chimney by some ten yards; but from some fault discovered in the work, when towering too high, a considerable portion had to be pulled down, and it now holds its diminished head below the structure at Fieldhouse some two or three yards. It is somewhat singular that the chimney at Dean Clough and the one at Fieldhouse were built simultaneously and although the Fixby and other hills and some seven miles inter— vene, the work people engaged at the top of each on a clear day
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“SQUIRE” EDWARD BROOKE, 1799—1871. The ‘‘ Earnest, Energetic and Erratic”? Wesleyan Local Preacher.
Mr. EDWARD: BROOKE, J.P. First President of the Huddersfield Liberal Club,
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could distinctly see the progress of the other’s work. The chimney. at Fieldhouse was carried out under the designs and supervision of Messrs. R. Morgan & Horn, formerly of Huddersfield, but afterwards connected with the Government Board of Works. The contractor for the work was Mr. John Stocks, of Hillhouse Lane.”’ The ‘‘Contract Journal” of April 30th, 1884, gave the follow- ing particulars of the big chimney at the Fieldhouse Fire Clay Works :— I “The shaft is built entirely of fireclay and is 330 feet high from the foundation to top, and 315 feet high from ground to top.”’
‘It has a concrete foundation and ragstone footings 36 feet square at its base and 31 feet square at the ground.”’
“The shaft is brick and has an outside diameter of 27 feet at the ground, and an inside diameter of 15 feet. At the top, the outside diameter is 12 feet and inside 9 feet.’’
It contains the following weight of materials :— 144 cubic yards of concrete, 2,542 cubic feet of ragstone footings, 3,343 cubic feet of ashlar, 2,227 cubic yards of brickwork (over 300 tons in weight).’’ “The cap was very large and overhanging and cost the firm at least £700. In the first instance part of the covering blew down. It was entirely removed and covered flat with lead. This also blew off, and all had to be removed.’’
“Then the action of the acids emitted from the chimney decayed part of the stone, and one of the overlapping stones fell off. Messrs. Edward Brooke and Sons then removed all the top down to a certain distance and rebuilt it to its original height.’’ “Some years after, the top was again taken off, leaving the present height 301 feet from the ground.’’. Mr. Alfred Blackburn, of Fieldhouse Green, remembers the falling down of the overlapping stone. Fortunately, it fell on a site where no one stood and where nothing was damaged.
The late Mr. Friend Hepworth, in his ‘‘Memoirs’’ gives an interesting account of the completion of the tall chimney at Field- house. Through the courtesy of Mr. J. W. Hepworth, of ‘‘Engelberg,’’ Sheepridge, the writer is privileged to quote from these ‘‘Memoirs”’ :— “One of the most important pieces of work which Messrs. John and Ben Stocks undertook was the building of the chimney known as the Long Chimney at Fieldhouse Fire Clay Works (Messrs. Edward Brooke & Sons). The erection of this chimney was looked upon at that time as something most remarkable and almost one of the wonders of the age, Ben and his father not
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only..worked as masons. during its erection but had .the ‘sole management of its building. After the chimney was completed and before the crane was removed which had been used for the purpose of raising the workmen and materials to the top and also the scaffolding taken down, the Deighton and Sheepridge Brass Band was engaged to play a selection of music on the top. A number of individuals were also granted permission to go to the top out of curiosity, personally I had no desire, but I heard the music from the top of the steep field along with a good many others who were very much interested in this event. This would be about 1857.”’ I
“After celebrating the completion in this manner came the difficulty of removing the machinery and scaffolding and one which could only be done or undertaken by someone who had a thorough knowledge of everything in connection with it. This duty fell to the lot of Mr. Ben Stocks and great praise was due to him for the manner in which he carried out this work. When he had finished everything and landed safely on mother earth, a cheer went up from those who were: watching with intense anxiety for his safety. He was congratulated by those in authority ie the splendid way in which he had accomplished the final task.’
Previous to this high chimney being built, the country cas Woodhouse Mills to Bradley Mills and from the Canal to the River Colne was more like an agricultural district at harvest time than what it is at the present time in of the large quantity of corn which was grown in that district.’
‘‘A: great deal of this corn was damaged or spoiled every year by the smoke from the Potteries while the salt which was used in the manufacturing of clay pipes and bricks was most injurious to the grain with the result that the damage to crops was a most serious matter, so much so, that the compensation which had to be. paid tothe farmers by Messrs. Edward Brooke & Sons became a serious item every year—hence the decision to build this high’ chimney. Needless to say, there was never any claim when the’ chimney was completed.’’ 3
the chimney was completed it was about 108 yards. high but some fifteen or twenty years ago it was lowered some six Or seven yards in consequence of some defects through. the great storms to which it was subjected. The firm has also placed. strong’ iron girders round the chimney every two or _ three: yards. from the base i jn order to strengthen it.’’ ?
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The present offices at the Fieldhouse Fire Clay Works are . those which were used by both Squire Edward: Brooke and his secdnd son, the late Mr. Edward Brooke, J.P.
The Fieldhouse Fire Clay Works became a’ branch of the Leeds Fireclay Company in 1898; since that date, the works at Fieldhouse have specialised in the manufacture. of refractory material for use in iron or steel furnaces and in glass works. On April Ist, 1914, a fire hroke out and destroyed part of the foundry and steam plant, while on the 12th of November, 1930, another outbreak of fire took place when one shed had its roof burned “out.
Mr. Ben Stocks, who effected the removal of the scaffolding from the top of the tall chimney at the Fieldhouse Fire Clay Werks,
was the eldest son of Mr. John Stocks, contractor, of. Hillhouse Lane. He was born in 18388 and was: educated I at the Fartown Grammar. School (now defunct) and later at “the Mechanics’ Institute in New Street, where, under: the headmastership of: Mr. G. D. Tomlinson, (the father of the late Mr. G. W. Tomlingon), he made rapid strides in Geometrical Drawing: and: Building I (Con- struction, so much so, that at the age of seventeen, he w as. ap- pointed on the staff of this Institute. He also assisted his father in the works at Hillhouse. 1868, he joined’ the firm of Méssrs. James Kirk & Sons, but in 1868 he commenced the business of architect on his own account in Bankfield Road but later removed to Union Bank Chambers, New Street. Afterwards he went into. partnership with Mr. (now Alderman) Arthur Sykes at the top of ‘St. Peter’s Street. In 1885, he was elected a Counciller for the Central Ward and was elevated to the Aldermanic Bench in.1892 from which he retired in 1901. Mr, Stocks was keenly interested i in the musical activities of Huddersfield, he was the Choirmaster of Brunswick Street Free Wesleyan Church for many years ‘a member of the Huddersfield: Choral Society of which he ‘was President on three occasions. He was also one of the founders of the Huddersfield Glee and Madrigal Society. He died on the 27th of February, 1911, and left one: son, Mr. Herbert Stocks and three daughters, one of whom is Mrs. Walker Ty Priest, Mayoress of Huddersfield from 1929 to 1931. 7 eee hae
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I THE PEDIGREE OF THE BROOKES OF FIELDHOUSE.
Edward Brooke,
b. 20 Mar., 1799, d.30Jan., 1871 = (Squire Brooke) I : I
m. 27 June, .1867
(i) Mar ha, dau. of Eli Smith of Greetland, d.9 Feb., 1862, m. 3 May, 1828 (ii) Martha Elizabeth, dau. of Edward Phillips,
I John Brooke, b. 25 Dec., 1829 . d. 6 Sept., 1888 = (i) Elizabeth Hannah, dau. of William Greenwood, m. 24 Mar., 1859 > = (ii) Jane, dau. of Thos. Mallinson, m. 28 Mar., 1878
I Edward Brooke, J.P. of Oakley House, - b.27 Oct., 1830 m. 6 May, 1858 — Anne, dau. of Isaac Burkhill
I Charles Brooke b. 6 Mar., 1836 d. 1839
I William, of York, b. 20 Jan., 1839 m. 28 May, 1867 —= Jane, dau. of Henry Wood
I I I Harold John Edgar Hubert b. 25 Dec., William Edward 1861 19 Dec., b. 20 Oct., — Caroline 1862 1868
Margery Brooke
Gwendolen Margaret
I
Ethel Marion Edith Evelyn
Edward Brooke b. 18 July, 1869 b. 2 Aug.,
I
1878
Henry
PEt 3
Fanny
Kate Martha
I
Henry,
of Warrenfield, b. 7 June, 1844 b. 26 Sept., 1842 d. 17 June, 1881
m. 25 July, 1872 = Alice Maude,
I Alfred Brooke
(unm.)
dau. of John Bottomley
(i) Hilda ~.. (ii) Marion
(iii) Marjory
Amy Elizabeth
I Jane Brooke = Joseph Brooke Turner
Edward Burkill Brooke of Thorpe, b. 28 July, 1859, m. 21 Aug., 1886
d, 11 Nov., 1893
ea Gertrude. dau. of Richard Barker
I Edward Brooke Violet Gertrude b. 25 Aug., 1885
I Hazel
Henry Norman Brooke b. 30 Sept., 1864
Francis Norman
I Mollie
ef 3 sons
I
Barbara
Frederick Howard Brooke
b. 27 April, 1866
Arthur Lyell Brooke b. 27 April, 1869
Muriel
Edward
I
anny » Elizabeth
Annie Maud Martha Ellen Winifred Mary
Enid
I Phyllis
Joy
Stanley Brooke
Pamela
I
Lilian
I Frederick William
172.
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173 (d) FIELDHOUSE ROAD AND REYNOLD CAR. Fieldhouse Road was one of the new occupation roads pro- vided under the terms of the Huddersfield Enclosure Act of 1789. The following extract from this Act gives details of its situation :— ‘Fieldhouse Road, 21 ft. wide, out of Deighton Road and leading east over a small part of Sheepridge, and on the north side of the Fieldhouse Road to the Fieldhouse Lock and Fieldhouse Gate, and from thence to the west end of a lane leading to Reynold Car.’’ (‘‘Huddersfield Parish Church Magazine,’’? August 1886). Reynold Car is one of the oldest place names in Huddersfield. Its first mention is in a deed dated about 1285 when John de Batonia gave to John del Tone ‘‘that bovate of land with the messuages and all other appurtenances within the boundaries of Huddersfield which Robert, son of Maud, sometime held in the same town, etc.’’
The full text of this deed is to be found in a MS. to be found in the Archives of the Yorkshire Archeological Society (Y.A.]., Vol. II., p. 274). Mr, Armitage Goodall, in his ‘‘Place Names of South-West Yorkshire’? (p. 140) says that the word ‘‘Field’’ is derived from an old English word ‘‘feld.’’ ‘‘In its original sense, it denoted a plain, land naturally open, unenclosed country as opposed to wood-— land or land cleared of forest, to-day however, it is used to signify an enclosure.’’ :
Mr, Ff. H.’ BROOKE, Vice-Chairman of the Leeds Fireclay Company,
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CHAPTER X.
THE FLASHHOUSE AND BLACK DYKE, SITUATION AND DERIVATION OF THE WORD FLASHHOUSE. ‘
The Flashhouse a on the raion ana. side of Fartown Green Road as one.-leaves - the Honley—Sheepridge. tramcar at Fartown he second turning on Fartown Green. Road brings one to the back entrance of the old building.
The name Flashhouse is interesting and indicates that the homestead was originally built on marshy or swampy ground. Mr. Armitage Goodall, in his ‘‘Place Names of ¥ orkshire,”’ (p. 140), states that in the “New English Dictionary’”’ the words Flash and’ Flask are explained as ‘‘a pool, a, marshy place,’’ while the word ‘‘Flash’’ is said to be of onomatopeceic origin. (Onomatopeeia is the formation of a word so as to resemble the sound of the thing of which it is the name, e.g., cuckoo). Strange to relate the name of the house has long been popularly known as Swamps Farm or Swamps House. Before the days of modern drainage, the water from the swamp in the immediate vicinity of the Flashhouse drained itself into a dyke situated on the opposite side of the present Fartown Green Road while the dyke gave its name to the old homestead still standing but rebuilt by the date Sit John William Ramsden in 1900. A short description of the Black Dyke will be found at the conclusion of this chapter. —
It is not known who built the Finahhouse or when it was built. Judging from some of its internal features which have been preserved, notwithstanding several renovations and additions, it seems quite likely to have been built in Tudor days. There are no references to it in the Subsidy Rolls of 1523, 1546, 1571, 1588, 1603 and 1620, but, as has already been stated in connection with other ‘Houses’? in the Manor of Huddersfield, it is quite possible that the compilers of these Rolls recorded the names of ‘the owners at the time of compilation of these Rolls but omitted to state their place of abode. —
There 1s also a Sy chhouses in Caw a short I account of which is given by the Rey. Charles T, Pratt, M.A., in his ‘‘History of Cawthorne’”’ P
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THE FLASHHOUSE.: Photo by Mr. H. Swift.
THE BARN. AT. THE FLASHHOUSE. Photo by Mr. H. Swift.
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176 11, THE OWNERS AND OCCUPIERS OF THE FLASHHOUSE.
The Flashhouse like the Fieldhouse was originally part of the former Manor of Huddersfield and as such was included in the sale of 1599 when Queen Elizabeth sold it to William Ramsden of Longley Hall for £975 Os. 9d. (Ch. VI., pp. 65 and 66). The Flashhouse remained in the possession of the Ramsdens of Hud— dersfield till September 1920, when, along with the other possessions of the Ramsdens, it was sold by Sir John Frechville Ramsden, Bart., to the Huddersfield Corporation, The first documentary mention of the name of the house which the writer has discovered occurs in the Registers of the Hudders— field Parish Church. Under the year 1588 is found the following entry :— 3 “15 Nov., 1588, Jacobus Brook de Flosh House was buried.’’ For nearly two hundred and fifty years it was associated with a family of Brooks. The late Mr. G. W. Tomlinson in his ‘*Account of the Founders of the Huddersfield Subscription Library, 1807,’’ says that ‘‘the entries of the Brooks of the Flashhouse are continued in the Parish Registers till the death of Mr. John Brook in 1820.’’ The following example, taken by the present writer from the Huddersfield Parish Church Registers, will illustrate the statement made by Mr, Tomlinson :—
“Wm. f (filius = son) Wm, Brook, Flashhouse, bur. 21 March, 1713,”’ In his MSS. Book, (Vol. II., p. 15) Mr. Tomlinson gives the following extracts from the Parish Church Registers :— Nov., 1627, Elizabeth, dau. of Christopher Brook. 16 May, 1675, William, son of Joshua Brook. 13 May, 1682, William, son of William Brook. 15 Feb., 1702, Eliza, daughter of Joshua Brook. : 2 April, 1714, John, son of William Brook. _12 Nov., 1783, John Brook and Helen Gunson were married.”’
As in the case of the other old ‘‘Houses,’’ it is quite possible that an expert genealogist could compile a pedigree of the Brooks of the Flashhouse by a careful study of the Huddersfield Parish Church Registers,
The Archives of the various branches of the Brooke and Brook family, compiled by the late Colonel C. E, Freeman, now in the custody of Messrs. Brook, Freeman, Booth & Fisher, Soli- citors, New Street, contain a small pedigree of the Brooks of the for the year 1637,
Therein we find that James Brook, either the son of the James Brook of 1588, or his grandson, was married to one Hester
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whose surname is not mentioned and had a family of three sons, : James, Joshua and John and one daughter, Elizabeth.
The Flashhouse is not mentioned in the Hearth Tax Returns of 1664, but there can be no doubt that its occupier in that year was compelled to pay tax on one hearth. A large number of Brookes and Brooks are recorded as paying this tax in that year, but in a few instances their’ place of abode is not stated. <A perusal of this Roll (printed by D. F. E. Sykes in his ‘‘History of Huddersfield and District,’’ pp. 182-183, and extracts quoted in Ch. VI., p. 66), gives the name of Joshua Brooke. There is every reason to believe that this Joshua Brooke lived at the Flashhouse as in the Parish Church Registers we find the name of Joshua Brook as the father of William and Eliza born in the years 1676 and 1702 respectively. The spelling of the surname varied accord— ing to the whims of the writer or owners! Mr. John Brook, the last of that family to live at the Flashhouse, was one of the first eighteen members who founded Highfield Congregational Church on the 14th of February, 1772. His name appears as the fifteenth in ‘fa catalogue of the Members admitted into Church Fellowship, by an invariable method of relating their experience before the Church either in writing or by word’’ (‘‘Highfield Centenary Memorial,’’ by the Rev. Robert Bruce, M.A., p. 31). He also contributed £10 10s, Od. towards the erection of Highfield Church in-i771. Mr. J. Brook was very friendly with the Whitacres of Long— wood House. He was successful in enlisting the sympathy of Mr. William Whitacre (who was an Anglican) in the building of Highfield Church for the latter contributed £50 towards the Build— ing Fund (‘‘Highfield Centenary Memorial,’’? p. 24). Mr. John Whitacre, the brother of the above William Whitacre and the father of Mr. John Whitacre who built Christ Church at Wood-— house in 1824, invited Mr. John Brook of the Flashhouse to his home one evening in 1792 to meet Mr. John Stutterd, the brother of one of his employees, Mr. Thomas Stutterd, who was collecting money for the erection of a Baptist Chapel at Colne in Lancashire. The result of this appeal was that Mr. John Whitacre contributed Two Guineas and Mr. John Brook, One Guinea (Stutterd MSS. in the possession of Mr. Percy Stock, the author of ‘‘Foundations’’ which deals with the early history of Salendine Nook Baptist Church).
Mr. John Brook was born in 1745 and died at the Flashhouse. on the 29th of March, 1820, at the age of 75. From the record on his tombstone he appears to have married twice. This tombstone is to be found in the cemetery of Highfield reg Snare Church and contains the following inscription :— _
‘John Brook of Flash House, died 29 March, 1820, aged 75. Ann, relict of John died 5 June, 1834, aged €8, Hannah, his first wife, died 29 Oct., 1807, aged 71.”
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The ‘‘Memorials-of the Houghton Family,” printed in London in 1846, give -us the following ao conicernirig Mr. John Brook :—
““He was one of the founders af the Church at Highfield of which he was. a Deacon and a liberal supporter for forty years. My grandfather also took an active’ part in the first Sunday School established in the neighbourhood, that at Hillhouse, which he on his way to chapel. His house was open for the reception of ministers and for the holding of prayer meet— ines for the benefit of the villagers around Flashhouse.’
These ‘‘Memorials’’ reveal the curious fact that Dr. Rowland Houghton proposed twice to Sarah Brook, the daughter of the above John Brook before he was successful in obtaining her hand in marriage. She declined ‘‘at the first proposal on account of her own (as well as her father’s). disapproval of his erroneous religious principles.’ (!) Dr. Rowland Houghton, whose biography is given by Mr. G. W. Tomlinson, in the work previously quoted, first married a widow, a Mrs. Broadley, the daughter of Mr. Brooke of. Cleckheaton. On her death in 1794, Dr. Houghton again made a proposal of marr lage to Sarah Brook: and, on this occasion, he was. accepted, the religious — principles,’’ which had previously proved on obstacle were now apparently waived on one side !
The first occupant of the Flashhcuse after the death of Mr. John Brook was Mr. George Netherwood, who, however, remained there only for a short w hile, In May 1821, Mr. Benjamin Shires leased the farmstead and continued there till 1829. In 1830, Mr. Jchn Sugden took up his residence at the old homestead and remained there till 1875. Mr. G. W. Tomlinson stated that he was ‘so long churchwarden for Fartown.’’ From the 2nd of February, 1875, till the 2nd of February, 1877, Mr. George Horsfall farmed the lands at the Flashhouse. On ‘that tier date, Mr. Walter France took possession and remained till the 2nd of February, 1886, He also carried on a coal business and carting establish— ment. During his tenancy he held the contract for carting coals from the coal shoots at Hillhouse to the Huddersfield Gas Works; for this purpose he kept twenty horses i in the stables of the Flash- I house. .
Mr. France I was succeeded in 1886 by: Mr. Henry Hinchliffe who had previously kept a Grocery business in Upper— head Row. Mr. Hinchliffe held the contract for conveying mails between Huddersfield and Leeds for the General Post Office. He gave up the tenancy in the early part of 1897. On the 2nd of February of that year, Mr. Thomas Clegg tonk over. the farmstead and continued there till 1909. On the Ist of August, 1910, Mr. Joseph Hinchliffe leased the house and lands and remand there till the early part of 19138.
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The Huddersfield Industrial Society took possession of the: old farmstead on the 2nd of February, 1913. . Mr. F. Garside, the Manager of the Butchering Department of the Huddersfield Industrial Society communicates the following particulars con— cerning the present day activities of the Society at the old Flash- house :—
“Al that is left of the above farm are the farmhouse and: out buildings, we have no land whatever except the garden. © The last two patches of land were acquired for building in May, 1934. The Flashhouse itself is occupied by cne of. our farm hands, Mr. George Potter; about half of the farm ‘buildings is used as pig—styes and the remainder is used as a lairage for re=~ _ ceiving fat stock on its arrival from the feeders to await require— ments at our abattoirs. We keep about 100 pigs for fattening’, all the other live stock keeps coming and going nearly eee ey: we
ili. DESCRIPTION OF THE FLASHHOUSE,
The original Elizabethan has been rebuilt and modernised almost beyond all recognition. Its prominent features are massive oak beams, now lime-washed, which support the ceilings of the rooms downstairs and also the roof of the house; one, in particular, is 1} feet square and traverses the whole length of the room which is 16 feet long. The conversion of the Flash= house into a farm dwelling has necessitated the alteration of many of its original features. It is interesting to note that some of the rooms on the first floor go by the names of the Milk Room, the Harness Room, the Still Room. Traces of the former open fire- place remain even though a modern one has been inserted. — All the rooms on the ground floor are paved in: stone slabs. The . original cellar goes down a good distance into the ground, no doubt on account of the former swampy nature of the soil. Its frontage! like the majority of Elizabethan dwelling-houses, faced south and one side of the house still retains two gables. Originally there was but one entrance to the F! lashhouse but’ when alterations were effected some years ago, a second one was made to separate the dwelling—house proper from the rooms used for dairy purposes. : The fields attached to the Flashhouse farm originally extended to the Canal and appear to have been adjacent to those of the former Woodhouse Hall. They were cut through, first, when the L. & Y. and L.N.W. Railway lines were built, and, secondly, when the Midland Railway line from Huddersfield to London was projected.: Two wells were in existence by the side of the house. ©The existence of water was a most important factor in one a! Site for building a house in Tudor days, es I I
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_: The Flashhouse is supposed to, be haunted. The writer was told that there was a ghost which kept coming’-to the front door of we building but was never caught !
The barn adjacent to the Flashhouse is a very although it has been rebuilt at various periods. Originally it consisted of three parts, a mistai, a barn proper and a stable with stalls for six horses. The mistal was originally a farm cottage occupied by one of the farm hands. The portion of the barn below the gable and which can be seen from the tram route is now the stable. -The barn is about 70 feet long, 30 feet wide and ‘between 40 and 50 feet high. The central portion has been raised from its original height as is shown by the old stone tiles emerging from the boundary walls which still contain some old oak beams and rafters. The other buildings adjacent to the barn are used as mistals, pig— styes, stores, &c. At one time there were over twenty horses kept here and were used by the Huddersfield Corporation Sanitary Department.
be BLACK DYKE.
Black Dyke is a very old homestead situated in its own grounds on the left-hand side of Fartown Green Road.
The origin of its name is interesting. We have already stated that the land on which the Flashhouse was built was swampy. The water from this marsh (before the days of modern drainage, drained itself into a dyke situated at the back of Black Dyke and which ran alongside the present plantation of trees. The appella— tion ‘‘black’’ arose either from the dirty appearance of the water in this dyke, or else from the fact that coal was afterwards dis- covered under the house. Probably the former theory 1s correct.
No records exist (so far as the writer has been able to discover) which can give a clue to the date of its erection but its internal features suggest late Elizabethan or early Jacobean days. Its earliest mention in documentary records (apart from the Hudders— field Parish Church Registers) is in the Hearth Tax Returns for the year 1664 wherein we read that John Brooke of Black Dyke paid tax on two hearths. The late Mr. D. F. E. Sykes,..in his annotations to these Returns (‘‘History of Huddersfield and its District,’’? p. 182) was not apparently aware of the existence of Black Dyke at Fartown for he wrote, ‘‘There is still or was in my youth, a Dyke End Lane, off Fitzwilliam Street,’’ thereby assum— ing that the house was situated in the vicinity of this latter—n amed strect. - These two: hearths were apparently placed in ie middle of the house and were ‘‘back to back.’’ In the recent restoration of the house in 1900, this scheme was preserved, Previous to 1913,
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an old open fire—place some four feet wide and four feet six inches high stood in the present dining room but in that year a fire—place was inserted. The antiquities of the homestead are revealed in its thick walls and in the oak beams which are still to be seen in some of the rooms. These beams are longitudinal in the rooms downstairs but those in the upper rooms are latitudinal. The internal decorations and renovations effected in 1913 have been done with considerable taste so much so that the interior of the homestead retains a good deal of its Jacobean quaintness midst modern comforts and requirements. Tne three rooms on the ground floor have the characteristics of an early Jacobean dwelling— house, viz., a large kitchen, an entrance hall or banqueting room and a “withdrawing room. These last two rooms are now used as the Drawing Room and the Dining Room respectively. The exterior of the house calls for comment. On its south— west side is the gable which contains the tablet stone with the inscription, J.W.R. 1900, recording the fact that the homestead was restored by the late Sir John William Ramsden; on the south side is another gable, while on the north—westerly side are the three gables which were considerably restored in 1900, Adjacent to the house is a barn in which four of the original oak rafters remain. The later history of the Black Dyke is derived from the Archives of the Huddersfield Corporation. The homestead was purchased by the Trustees of the late Sir John William Ramsden in 1849 from Mr. William Edward Macaulay, the second son of Abraham Firth Macaulay of. the Clough House, 1775-1823, . (Ch. VII., p. 114). There is every reason to believe that Black Dyke was a part of the Blackhouse estates which descended, as we have already stated, to the’ Macaulays when Ann Firth, ‘the granddaughter of Abraham Firth II., married Thomas Macaulay who died in 1801. (See the Pedigree, Ch. VII., p. 114).
The last three tenants of the Black Dyke tay the Macaulay ownership were Messrs, William Wilcock, ee Naylor oe in 1849, Mr. Thomas Robinson. — The following i is a list of the tenants of ni Black Dyke. since 1862 :— 1862-1869 Mr. William Thwaite. 1869-1879 Mr. Walter Love. 1879-1883 Mr. John Thornton. 1883-1885 Mr. Ephraim Dyson. 1885-1889 Mr. William Dixon. 1889-1893 Mr. Arthur Birkinshaw. 1893-1900 Mrs. Emma Birkinshaw (widow of the previous). 1900-1913 Mr. Benjamin Graham. 1918- Mr, Abraham Graham (the present tenant).
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Previous to 1900, the homestead was the headquarters of a farm, the lands of which extended to those of the Blackhouse. It appears that at one time in the 19th century, the Black Dyke was a public house and bore the sign of the Brown Cow. The writer has been informed that the wooden sign of the Brown Cow was discovered many years ago either in the attic or in the under— drawings of the old homestead. There is, however, no document in the Archives of the Corporation to prove that the building was used as an inn, although, previous to the restoration of the home- stead in 1900, it is possible that some of the rooms on the ground floor might have been used for that purpose. It has been suggested to the writer that the wooden sign was brought here by Mr. A. Birkinshaw, who, at one time, had been the landlord of the old Cherry Tree Inn.
BLACK DYKE.
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CHAPTER XI. THE HILLHOUSE. i SITUATION AND DESCRIPTION.
The old Elizabethan (if not early Tudor) homestead whieh no longer remains standing, was to be seen in King Cliffe, Birkby, up to the time of its demolition in 1871 in order that a row of houses in Beacon Street (opposite the Hillhouse Methodist Church) could be built. It has given its name to the district, e.g., to Hillhouse Lane, to Hillhouse Sidings, &c. The Hillhouse described itself—it was a house built on the top of a hill. It stood on the westerly side of Ark—Hill Mound which is situated behind Messrs. Heywood’s Glazing Works in the locality now known as King: Cliffe. Its other name, Nanny Croft, arose from its association with an old woman called Nanny whose surname the writer has not yet been able to ascertain, and who kept a donkey (some say a. goat) ina field near the Mound. This Mound was later termed Nanny Croft, apparently after her Christian name, and this sobriquet seems to have been transferred to the adjacent farmhouse.
It is quite possible that the Hillhouse is the one referred to by Hobkirk in his description of Ark Hill Mound given in his ‘‘History of Huddersfield,’’ written in 1859 (First Edition, p. 45). “You see yon farmhouse°on the top of the footpath and just
seems to us to present every appearance of being a tumulus, etc.”’
A photograph of a painting of the old homestead. by the late Mr, George Alexander of Leeds, gives us a few details concerning the building. It was a combination : of a dwelling—house and a farmstead. Perhaps the farm buildings may have been a later phase in its history. The house proper contained a gabled portion two storeys high. Each storey possessed four windows enclosed in stout stone frames, and, in common with all Elizabethan houses, all the windows contained diamond shaped leaded lights—at least, the artist depicted them as such. The part of the building shown on the right of the photograph was used as stables and outhouses. Behind the house, so the writer has been informed, stood a barn containing two doors through which a hay cart could drive. The cottage on the extreme right of the photograph was not directly
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connected with the old house. It.is quite possible that in former days it may have been the abode of the servants of the occupier. There was also a yard at the back of Nanny Croft which went by the name of Dicky Peaker’s Fold. Here in the sixties of the last century was a smithy.
The footpath shown in the photograph led to Nanny Croft Lane, which, in 1902, was diverted to the present steps behind Messrs. Heywood’s Glazing Works. The writer is inclined to think that the representation of the cows drinking from the water of the Hebble stream is a stretch of imagination on the part of the artist. We have no documentary evidence as to when it was erected, but, as previously stated, it dated to Tudor or possibly Elizabethan days. A second pictorial of the old Hillhouse is to be found in the Rev. Mark Richardson’s booklet, ‘‘St. John’ s Church, Bay Hall, 1858-1905.’’ On page six of this handbook is a very pretty sketch of the gable of Nanny Croft drawn by the late Miss Annie Wood. The eight mullioned windows containing the diamond-— shaped leaded panes of glass are depicted in this sketch. Through the courtesy of Mr. Walter Wood, of Whitby Avenue, the present writer is enabled to give a reproduction of this sketch.
It is marked on the Huddersfield Ordnance Map of 1848-1854 and is shown near. ‘‘The Mount” now known as Ark Hill Mound on the Estate Map.
1, THE OWNERS AND OCCUPIERS OF THE HILLHOUSE.
‘There is every reason to believe that the Hillhouse or Nanny Croft originally belonged to the Brookes of Newhouse and their successors, the Townleys, the Wilkinsons, the Whites and the Chamberlaines (Ch. VI., pp. 69-80), and, that along with the other Deighton and Newhouse estates, it was sold by Mr. Richard Chamberlaine, the nephew of Major Richard White, to Mr. Thomas ‘Thornhill, Lord of the Manor of Fixby, in 1751.
The Hillhouse remained in the possession of the Thornhills of Fixby until 1854, when, in the October of that year, it was sold as part of the Deighton, Newhouse and Fartown estates by the Trustees of Miss Clara Thornhill (daughter of Mr. Thomas Thorn-— hill, by his second wife, Clara Pierse) to the late Sir John William Ramsden; Bart.
In the Huddersfield Estate Offices is a plan of the Deighton, Newhouse and Fartown estates which were sold in 1854. On this plan are the signatures of Honoria Hungerford and Sir John William Ramsden and the date of the transaction, viz., 17th
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THE HILLHOUSE. A Photograph from the Painting by the late Mr. G. Alexander, of Leeds. By kind permission of Mr. P. Cardno.
He =. =
iirc a ait yaa fh 4 = = eae iz Me 5 3 i _ <= jars “Se.
THE HILLHOUSE (or NANNY CROFT).
Sketch by the late Miss Annie Wood. By kind permission of Mr. Walter Wood, of Whitby Avenue,
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of March, 1855. Honoria Hungerford, neé. Honoria Forester, was the-third wife of the above Thomas Thornhill, 1780~1844 (Oastler’ S employer), and by him had one daughter, Honoria Thornhill. After his death in 1844, she married Mr. Henry Hungerford Holdich Hungerford and was one of the Trustees of the Thornhill estates in 1852 and 1855, when Acts of Parliament were passed authorising the sale and leasing, &c., of the Thornhill Estates.
The Hillhouse was occupied for nearly two centuries by a family of Brookes, who may have been related to the Brookes of Newhouse, and, who, as we shall note later, lived here in 1588.
It is not. mentioned in the Subsidy Roll of 1523 nor in those of 1546, 1571, but, as we shall note shortly, it is quite possible that its owner was called upon to pay the tax imposed upon the inhabitants of this district when Henry VIII. waged war with France in 1546. The first documentary reference to the dwelling—house occurs in the Lay Subsidy Roll compiled-in the year 1588 wherein we read that Edmondus Broke de “ Hillhowse” paid 5/0 tax on Goods assessed at £3 Os. Od. (Thoresby Society Publications, Vol. XV., p- 138 and quoted in Ch. VI., p. 65, see p. 194). Now an Edmund Brooke paid 3d. tax on Goods assessed at £3 Os. Od. in 1546 (Ch. VI., p. 64), and it is possible that he may have been the same person who was mulcted in 1546; or, the Edmund Brooke men- tioned in the Roll of 1588 may have been the son of the one men- tioned in that of 1546, for there was a tendency for the same Christian name to be transmitted from father to son for several generations. (Compare the Thomas Brookes of Newhouse, Ch. VI., p. 81). This is partly confirmed by an entry in the Hudders— field Parish Church Registers :—‘‘Sept, 17, 1609, Edmund, son of Edmund Brooke of Hillhouse, was
The Hillhouse is mentioned in the Subsidy Roll of 1608, when, in the first year of the reign of James I., another tax was levied upon the inhabitants of this district. A perusal of this Roll (printed in the Appendix, p. 193) reveals the fact that Edward Brooke of Hillhouse paid 6/8 tax on lands assessed at £4 Os. Od,
In 1620, a further levy was made upon the inhabitants and from the Roll compiled in that year, we read that Edward Brooke de Hillhouse paid the same amount on Lands assessed at the same value. It is interesting to note that the Assessors of this tax in 1620 did not deem it advisable to increase the assessment of Edmund Brooke’s lands at the Hillhouse after an interval of seventeen years !
A fourth mention of the Hillhouse occurs in the ‘‘Schedule containing the names of 150 footmen of the Regiment of Sir Henry Savill delivered to Sir John Ramsden, Kt., for his company in the West Riding of the County of York, on the 6th of April, 1626,”’
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(Reproduced by. D. F. his ‘‘History of Huddersfield - and pp. ‘Therein. we find that: Ed:. -(Edmund - or Edward) Brooke and William. Brooke of Hillhouse were privates in the Huddersfield Company of that Regiment. . The late Mr. Sykes was inclined to think . that they were in charge of a “culverin’’? which was an ‘‘earlier form of: cannon of great length generally an 18—-pounder weighing 50 cwt.,’’. but it is more likely
they used a ‘‘caliver,’’ a light but clumsy gun.
The. Hillhouse is not mentioned in the Hearth Tax Returns for 1664, but the name of Edward Brooke appears as one amongst a number of other Brookes who paid this tax. He may have been the same Edward Brooke who carried a ‘‘caliver’’ in 1626, or his son. ie ae As previously staged, a complete pedigree of the Brookes of Hillhouse could be compiled by a study of the entries in the Hud- dersfield Parish Church Registers.
During the mid-eighteenth century, the various ménibers of the Brooke family, who, for nearly three centuries had been the predominant families in the Manor of Huddersfield began. to. migrate, some went to London, others crossed the Atlantic and. settled in the New England Colonies, and, although we cannot be positive on this point, it would seem that the Brookes of Hillhouse left the old homestead and settled elsewhere.
From the ‘‘Account Book of the Surveyors of the Highways of the Township of Fartown, (previously mentioned, p. 147) we gather that Matthew Noble was the Surveyor of the Highways and apparently lived at the Hillhouse. The Accounts of Matthew Noble of Hillhouse are reproduced here :—
1766 MATTHEW NOBLE, OF HILLHOUSE.
SURVEYOR. “Money Disbursed
wn Qu
mB OL -
To Joseph, & Co. for 496. 4 Jie ca 4d ae To Seperate Persons for 42 Loads ... For Ale at Several times es For Labourers During the time . ... To Mr. Firth for 82 yards of Cawseway stones and 2 Bridgstones ; To James Tattersfield for 2 days at Is. 8d. To Francis Kay for 11} re. Is. 8d. To Thos. Cliffe 1 Day i : Two Baskets 9d., a Spade 3s. .. To John Hobson ‘for a New mall 2s, 3d. ‘and g a ‘Spade mending .9d. To Richd. Horsfall for the coat to. get. gravel . To James Booth for Do. FExpences for going about the road and agreeing wih sm (same?) for it as ne i eve
aie ae 5 ek os fond feed fed H NNW Sanam! ; _
pen oS
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To Wm. Wilcock for, Tool shafting ... At the Account giving in and Assessment making ‘Spent when the “road was cut thro. the Snow in Jany 1767 ; To Wm. Wilcock on Thos, Kay Acct, nds To Labour 1 Day ls. a Pick Shafting 3d. ...
@ 2 ou bo
re bo RO ao S}
£16 1s £ d, Receiv’d by Assessment ... is ey ue is Dee By Neglects aa oy bike a car OS Se ED 7 oe Disbursed... eke ae oe be ee oe Due to the Town vs ia as tins sxe
Examined and allowed by us, EDMD HORSFALL, JOHN DENTON, 'OSH ARMYTAGE, WILLM HOUGHTON, WILLIAM WHITACRE, LAW MORTIMER, JOHN MORTIMER. From this date 1766, to 1850, the writer has not been able to get any definite information concerning its occupiers, although the writer has been told that the Nobles continued to live at the Hill- house for nearly a century,
In 1854-5, when Sir John William Ramsden purchased the Deighton and Fartown Estates {rom the Trustees of Miss Clara Thornhill, Lady of the Manor of Fixby, the tenancies at the old Hillhouse were as follows :—
Ir. John Edwards leased the house and some land in the vicinity including the Ark Hill Mound; Miss Ann Noble, a descendant of the above Matthew Noble, tenanted a cottage and some land while Mr. Henry Hepworth leased a garden.
Mr. Edwin Giggle, the landlord of the Commercial Inn at the corner of Halifax Old Road and Lea Street, kept a smithy at the back of the old homestead.
In 1871, Mr. John Edwards later took a lease of land at King Cliffe on which he built several houses and demolished the old Hillhouse (or Nanny Croft) in order to extend his building sites. (Archives of the Huddersfield Corporation). It also appears that in the early fifties the farm around Hill- house which extended from the present Hillhouse Methodist Church to Jack Hill was tenanted by Mr. wis Hawkyard and later by Mr. A, Wigglesworth,
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189 iii. STORIES OF THE HILLHOUSE, (a)
The Hillhouse or ‘‘Nanny Croft’’ is associated with the begin—_ nings of St. John’s Church, Bay Hall, Birkby, previous to its erection in 1852-53. The members of the Anglican” community who eventually formed the nucleus of this church first assembled at Mr. Richard Hartley’s house in Halifax Old Road’ about the year 1840, and later, on his removal, to a house known as ‘“The. One—Deckers”’ at the corner of Miln Road, but owing I to the growing congregations, it was necessary for services to be held elsewhere. ,
‘‘These were obtained by another to Hillhouse at the top of Nanny Croft about 1850. There were no organs in those days at St. John’s, the singing was led by a double bass and fiddle, which when not in use, were hung upon a nail behind the cellar door. At this place a Sunday School was commenced and carried on by Mr. Hartley, who was also assisted by teachers from the Huddersfield Parish Church. From this time to 1853, Sunday School was held in the morning and also for about half an hour in the afternoon after which the scholars went out until the room was prepared for service’? (The Rev. Mark Richardson, in ‘his booklet, ‘‘St. John’s Church, Bay Hall, I
(b) After St. John’s Church had been built and consecrated, the old homestead was once again used for the holding of religious services, and on this occasion, by the members of the Baptist community. Nanny Croft was their first place of worship in Birkby. The Rev. C. E. Shipley, in his «History of the Baptists in Yorkshire,’’ (p. 245), evidently quoting from some previous writer whose name he did not mention, says, that for some years, a congregation was gathered at Hillhouse in “an open-timbered— raftered building,’ a phrase which we may regard as a euphemistic description of a barn.’’ But there are persons still living who remember religious services conducted in the upper room of the gabled portion of Nanny Croft. It is possible that the rafters of the roof were covered with stone tiles which may have become loose with age, but unless sickness occurred in the house, the services were always held upstairs.
This iitthe band of adherents was held together under the lay pastorate of Mr. Joseph Goodyear. A friend of the writer, who, as a boy, attended the Sunday School held there, remembers a fragment of a sermon preached on one occasion by Mr. Goodyear;
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it ran thus :—‘‘My friends, it’s hard wark to keep right strite.’’ (straight). This same friend relates that in the lower part of the building could be seen some old-fashioned four—poster beds with sliding curtains.
A lady who also attended this Sunday School in her girlhood days informs the writer that the upper room, commonly known as the ‘‘chapel,’’ used to be lit with candles, placed on small wooden brackets around the walls. The pulpit resembled a bed while in the centre of the room was a small charcoal stove which provided heat during the winter months. She remembers that the stairs leading from the ground floor of the house to the ‘‘chapel’’ upstairs ccreaked badly and somewhat terrified her,
Eventually Nanny Croft became too small for the members of the Baptist community; they erected a small two-storied build— ing in Blacker Road in 1859, which later became Martindale’s Bakery, opposite the Palladium Picture House in Birkby. The tablet stone of the first Baptist Chutch in Birkby can be seen on the outside wall of the shop. On it are the words: :-—'Partletilar Baptists; 1859.’’ In 1906-1907, the present Baptist Church in Wheathouse Road was built (The Rev. C. E. Shipley, loc; cit. p. 245). The writer has been informed that when the Hillhouse was used as a meeting place of the Baptists, the occupants in the lower part of the house were Mr. and Mrs. J. Milnes.
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I APPENDICES. Le. I THE ADVENTURES OF EDWARD LUMB.
This seems the proper place to tell the story of one of the thieves of Johnny Steel’s old oak chest at the Blackhouse. Edward Lumb escaped from the scene of his deportation and an account of his adventures was told in the ‘‘Huddersfield Weekly of March 2nd, 1912, and is reprinted here :-—
‘One of the gang was Edward Lumb, who being duly trans— ported to one of the penal settlements, worked I in the chain-gangs and was otherwise subjected to the rigour of a penal life. He escaped ten years after. The manner of Lamb’ s escape is in keeping with his strange and eventful history.”’
“While working as a convict, he, with others, formed a plan of escape, and patiently waited for months before an opportunity offered for putting it into execution. The design was to board and seize the first vessel that might visit the settlement which should, from its size, appear likely to be manned by the number who were parties to the conspiracy.”’ ‘“At length an opportunity offered. <A light vessel came to anchor for a time near the shore, and, when the crew were mainly absent from their vessel, the conspiracy convicts, to the number of seven, to board the vessel, to cut the cable and sail away.’
‘‘Chase was made. after the runaways, but the lightness of the vessel and her sailing qualities enabled them to distance their pursuers and escape. What became of that portion of the crew found in the vessel when boarded the narrative from which this is written does not’ state ; but, no doubt, by some means or they were overcome.’
‘‘After sailing for some time, the vessel was overtaken a storm, and wrecked near the of what at first sight appeared to them to be an uninhabited island. Three of the seven reached the shore, the others meeting a watery grave.’’
‘‘Their position on the island seems to have been a horrible one, without food or other necessaries, they remained until one of them died of sheer starvation, and a same fate to the others was only prevented by their eating the dead body of their comrade.”’
‘‘During the time they were thus unnaturally subsisting, they were discovered by some of the natives, at first only one or two were seen, when communication, by sign, and not of the most friendly character, passed; and the alarm of Lumb and his comrade
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at a subsequent appearance of a large party of the natives, was so great that they took to the small boat which had been washed ashore from the wreck and sailed out to sea.’
‘‘After a time they were picked up by an East Indiaman when in the last stage of exhaustion from want of food and water. In the Indiaman, they were taken to Calcutta having first given a plausible reason for being found in the plight they were.’’
“From Calcutta, Lumb worked as a sailor to London, on reaching which port the captain was so pleased with his services that he gave him £2. With this money he made his way to Huddersfield, where his mother and half-brother resided, the latter keeping a public—house.’’ surprise of the family at the unexpected visit of one they deemed lost to them for ever may be conceived. He was hurried into the upper portion. of the building, to be away from observation ; but an old companion, who happened to be in the house on the ‘spree,’ saw him enter and followed him upstairs, where he accosted the runaway convict. The danger of his appearance on the scene of his haunts was ‘pointed out to him by his family and the necessity for his getting away to a safe distance urgently pressed. But no, he felt no fear, he had risked his life often enough to get home again; he was now at’ home; he had come to see his friends and companions and he would see ‘them before he went away again.”’
length he was induced to go to Scotland, but in a week he returned, and entering the cottage of a neighbour, found only the wife of his friend within. As soon as he entered, he desired the woman to lock the door. ‘Lock the door?’ replied she. ‘Why should I lock the door for you?’ Looking steadfastly at her for a few moments, he said, ‘Don’t you know Ned?’ She then recog— nised him: and subsequently fetched to him some portion of her family.”’
“During his stay in Huddersfield he was seen and met by seyen of his old cronies to whom he related, in amplified detail, the story told above of his escape and remarkable adventures. Three weeks afterwards’ he set sail from Liverpool to America, his accompanying him to the point of departure.’’ ultimate fate of this extraordinary man is shrouded in mystery.”’ Mr. Allan Parkin in his ‘‘Chronology of Huddersfield’? (1884 Almanac) said that Edward Lumb ‘‘set sail for America, where,
we believe, he has since prospered and rendered himself a worthy citizen,”’
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H.
THE SUBSIDY ROLLS OF 1570-71, 1603, 1620. (Copied from the late Mr. G. W. Tomlinson’s MSS.). Vol, IT.,. pp. 110—112.
(i.) Supsrpy 13 EnizaBetTu 1570-1.
Huddersfield. 7 Goods Edmund Brooke de Bay Hall £10 Tax 10/- Goods Umfrey Brooke ... sie in et OD RS Goods John Hirste de Greenhead ... £5 Tax 5/- Lands Edw. Cowper de Egerton... £3 Tax 4/- Goods John Armitage ... sé a ee OTe ee Lands William Blakebourn _.. vn Sl eG fax. Lands W. Brooke ial pes who Me ee ee ae Lands Thomas Brooke de Newhouse.. £1 © Geax i276 Goods John Brooke de Newhouse ... £3 Tax. 3/0 Goods Robert Gybson ... ‘ we C38 Tee Re Goods Thos, Hirst de £3 Tax 3/0 Goods Percival Brooke de £9 4
Tax 3/0 (ii.) Supsipy Leviep 1 Jas. I., 16038, I
Huddersfield. Lands Thos. Brooke de Newhouse ... £410 Tax 12/0 ,, Thos. Brooke de Brockholebank £3 Tax 8/0 » Wm Brooke de Ray hal... £3 °0 6 Fax 870 », Arthur Hirste de Gleadholt.... £110 Tax 4/0 » Edmund Brooke de Stotth .. 21 6° 8 Tax a7? i. John: Cowper de Egerton.’ 2b G8 fam 3/7 yy WAG. Tagger ue ia ee ee «3 ... a ve ee Oe ee are i eee Ee Seo 2 eee are a ss. pORn Eastwoad ©... re in aa a ee ae +» Barat de Greenchead :... 22.0 Jan Om : , (Bdw, teehee e , » John Armitage ... iw Pax SA: J »» Brooke de ee Se €1oods Roger Brooke de Greenhouse... £3 Tax 5/0 Geo. Brooke de Bay hall... 23 .0°0 Tax 6/0 (ree. ws dee. OD. Tax ore de Croithead ©... (23. 0:.0 fat. oe », Lhomas Armitage ee gee OO Tae ere
Total ..0 8 2
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(iii.) Supsrpy 18 James I., 1620.
Huddersfield. Lands Thos. Brooke de Newhouse ... £410 Tax 12/0 ;, Thos. Brooke de Brockhole bank £3 > Oe » Wm. Brooke de Bay hall .,. £3 90 ‘yc ee 4. seaward Brooke de. Storth.. 21.6.2 ie EE 43 ~jonn Cowper de Egerton ..;... 6 8 sg ME Fiurst: -:.. Gye ee ae ae cane i are ‘6 Edw. Brooke de Hillhouse ... £4 » ets jet ant eee ee » ae » thomas Armitage, guardian of the heirs of John oe of Lee Head ... £3.80 40 » «re is, gon. side se iy rr a << mic. :.. in re a Goods Geo. Brooke de Bay hall Cc. Se a ae », John Middlewood ‘ey a Ue Oe 4: aA Mirat. a a ee Oe os ere
Note.—These last three Subsidy Rolls (extracts from which were copied by the late Mr. G, W. Tomlinson) have not been previously printed.
If.
THE SUBSIDY ROLL OF 1588.
The following extracts relating to the Manor of Huddersfield, are reprinted from the Subsidy Roll of 1588, the whole transcripts of which originally appeared in the Thoresby Society’s Publica— tions, Vol. XV., pp. 182-151.
HUDDERSFEELDE. Thomas Brooke _... bis Coeds 40/- Tax 5/8 Thomas Broke de brokehole bank as Ss 40 /- 9. ee Arthur Hurste i igs 30/- 3s a , The heirs of William Highsborae eee Be 30/- co ae The wife of John Hurste de ee 30/- ‘as age Edward Brooke de Dighton ... a6 20/- ‘a ee George Horsfold ... das sis sb 20/- > ae Edmund Brooke de Storth ne nl i 20/- ae John Crowder et a cae os 20/- we ere Richard Hurst ‘ue sais Si cs 20/- » 2/4 John Armytage ... er Jee &6°0.0 58 William Brooke ... ee sad +3 oy: 38 Edmund Broke de Hillhowse me a 5 i eS eee Roger Brooke im chs sas ee 8:8: ae John Hurst ... i bi oa te ‘i AG 2) Ce Thomas Steade- ... 2. ae is a. 8. 8 Edmund Brooke ... oat as sat Ke 6.9 DB John Hurste wh ee Aas ass is fa 5
Total... 4°34
ii — ———