Studies in Local Topography II: Newhouse Hall and its Associations (1934) by Philip Ahier

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STUDIES IN.LOCAL TOPOGRAPHY Part If.

The ‘Houses ” ‘inthe Manor of Huddersfield.

NEWHOUSE HA LL

and its Associations,

BY

PHILIP AHIER.

(COPY RIGHT)

PRICE - t/6&.

HODDERSPIELD :‘

ADVERTISER Press

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STUDIES IN LOCAL TOPOGRAPHY . Part Il.

The “Houses” in the I Manor of Hudderstield. —

mos: 4.

NEWHOUSE HALL

and its Associations,

eT

PHILIP AHIER.

HupDERSFIELD! ADVERTISER PrEsS LIMITED,

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ut CONTENTS.

ee eT

PAGE

Preface. Chapter V.—A _ short description Of tHe

‘‘Houses’’ in the Manor of Huddersfield.

Chapter VI.—Newuouse HaALv:

ae SSS

et ot a bo me O

_ =

i. History and Description. ii. Legends of the Hall.

iii. The Brookes of Hudders-

iv. The Brookes of Newhouse Hall.

vil o Pedigree or ithe Brookes of Newhouse.

vi. The Tenants at Newhouse Hall.

OF TLLUSTRATIONS: Newhouse Hall before 1865.

The Right Wing of Newhouse Hall before 1865. ~ Newhouse Hall.

The Dole Rail. The Fireplace, Entrance Hall. The Entrance Hall. The Dining Room. The Carved Mantelpiece in the Dining Room. The Ceiling Panelling over Staircase. The ‘Haunted Room” at Newhouse. The Twisted Oak-railed Staircase. The Coat of Arms of the Brookes of Newhouse.

The Tombstone of Elizabeth Brooke in the Hudd-

ersfield Parish Churchyard.

Thomas Brooke’s Gift to the Huddersfield Parish Church, 1638.

1V. Al

44 54

69 Sl

83

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PREFACE.

The patronage accorded to the writer by lovers of antiquities in Huddersfield and in the Colne Valley has more than warranted the publication of Part Il. which deals with Newhouse Hall and its Associations.

The writer desires to express his best thanks ir; ae A. Walshaw for his kindness in permitting him to view the Archives of the Huddersfield Corporation; to Mr, Horace Goulden and his Assistants for help obtained at the Public Library; to Mr. A. H. J. Fletcher, M.A., for the use of his MSS.; to Mr. G. Fox, Mr. G. West and Miss M. Haywood for their narration of the Legends in Section ii.; to Mr. J. E. Stork for the loan of his. Press—cutting Book; to Mr. J. W. Scholes for the loan of his MSS., and to any others who have contributed information relating to Newhouse

Hall.

Beth the late Mr. T. P. Crosland, J.P., and Mr. W. Hepworth have given the writer every facility in the compilation of this

book; to the latter, the writer expresses his cordial thanks,

The additions and corrections to Part I. have, unfortunately ) we through lack of space, to be deferred till Part III., which will deal with ‘‘The Clough House and its Associations. ’”’

PHILIP: AHIER,

24 Lightridge Road, Huddersfield, March, 19384.

4

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Vi.

NEWHOUSE HALL BEFORE 1865.

Photcgraph by the late Mr. G. W. Tomlinson, by kind permission of the Committee of the Huddersfield Public Library.

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CHAPTER I VW: THE ‘“‘HOUSES” IN THE MANOR OF HUDDERSFIELD.

was formerly dotted with isolated homesteads which terminated in the word ‘‘house.’’ I The following is a list of those which stood in the above- mentioned localities: Barkhouse, Blackhouse, Cloughhouse, Fieldhouse, Flashhouse, Greenhouse, MHillhouse, Newhouse, Wheathouse, and Yathouse. Other ‘‘houses’’ in the immediate vicinity were Birkhouse, Carr House, and Fleming House. Some of these have completely disappeared and the only traces of their former existence are the roads which have been named after them, e.g., Blackhouse Road, Hillhouse Lane; others have been pulled down and rebuilt, e.g., Woodhouse; others have been modernised,: e.g., Greenhouse and Flashhouse, while we are ignorant as to the precise site on which the Barkhouse and the Yathouse stood. Of those which remain, all except Newhouse Halil, have fallen from their high estate aid have either been converted into farmsteads or divided into two or more dwelling houses.

It is interesting to note that all these homesteads with the possible exception of the Wheathouse have formerly been the abode of Brookes which is a typical Huddersfield surname.

As Newhouse Hall and its association with the Brookes of Huddersfield is the principal subject matter of this book, yet it may be advisable to say a few words about some of these ‘‘houses,’’ although a complete description and history of the most important of the remainder will be reserved for a subsequent. chapter,

(i) The Barkhouse, wherever it was situated, has long since disappeared. It is mentioned in the Subsidy Roll of 1523; therein. we read that John Brooke of the Barkhouse paid 1/0 tax on Goods assessed at £2 Os. Od.

(ii) The Blackhouse stood at the bottom of Black- house Road; it was demolished some years ago to make way for Street improvements,

(iii) The Clough House formerly stood in Halifax Old Road and was a beautiful specimen of an Elizabethan mansion although additions were made to it in 1697. It was pulled down in 1899 in order to widen Halifax Old Road. I (iv.) The Fieldhouse (Old) stands about a field’s length away from the left-hand side of Leeds Road as one travels to Bradley

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by tramcar. It seems probable that it derived its name from the fact that it was then a solitary house situated in the midst of fields. Part of the original homestead remains but a rebuilding or an extension was effected in 1834.

(v.) The Flashhouse can be seen on the right-hand side of Fartown Green Road as one leaves the Honley-Sheepridge tramcar at Fartown Bar. It is now a farm to which is attached a very large barn whose original height has been increased.

(vi.) The Greenhouse stands at the corner of Spaines Road and Greenhouse Lane. Part of the farmhouse still remains although it has been modernised.

(vi.) The Hillhouse formerly stood on the slopes of Ark Hill Mound which is situated behind Messrs. Heywood’s Glazing Works in Birkby. It also went by the name of Nanny Croft. It was pulled down about the sixties of the last century to build a row of houses in Beacon Street.

(vill.) Newhouse Hall is fully discussed in the next chapter.

(ix.) The Wheathouse is situated at the corner of Blacker Road and Wheathouse Road, Birkby. At one time it was an important residential dwelling for here lived Mr. John Starkey (1762-1813), the father of the three brothers who were responsible for the building of St. Thomas’s Church. Part of the homestead which seems to have been built about the 17th or early 18th century was pulled down in 1932 in order to widen Wheathouse Road.

(x.) The Woodhouse is situated on the right-hand side of Woodhouse Hill as one walks from Fartown Green to Christ Church, Woodhouse. It was built by John Whitacre (who also. built Christ Church) in the early days of the 19th century. It replaced an older Woodhouse which stood on the slopes of what is called the ‘‘Ridings.’’ It was converted into an Open Air School for Delicate Children and officially opened on June 5th, 192¢. (x1.) The Yathouse is mentioned in the Subsidy Roll of 1523 as the abode of Thomas Brooke who paid 1/0 tax on Goods assessed at £2 Os. Od. Further reference will be made to this homestead in Section iv. (p. 71). Other houses in the. Sheepridge district are Warrenfield House, built by Godfrey Binns, senr., and Wiggan House, but these are of a later date than some of those previously mentioned. Wiggan House was once the residence of Edward

Brooke, ‘‘the earnest, energetic and eccentric”? Wesleyan Local Preacher,

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THE FORMER RIGHT WING of Newhouse Hall, demolished in 1865..

hoto

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r

aph by the late Mr. Isaac Hordern, reproduced by kind permission -of the Committee of the Huddersfield Public Library.

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CMA TR. Vii i, HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION OF NEWHOUSE HALL.

Newhouse Hall, now the residence of Walter Hepworth, Esq., stands in a valley at the bottom of Wiggan Lane, Sheep— ridge, and its continuation, Newhouse Lane, close to the entrance of Lower Felgreave Wood, commonly known as Newhouse Wood.

, Secluded is the valley,’’ wrote the late Mr. G W. Tomlinson, ‘‘that many persons who have lived in Huddersfield all their lives have never seen the Hall.’’

It is one of the few Halls within the old manor of Hudders- field which can claim to possess antiquity. The actual date of the erection of the original Hall is uncertain, for it has been enlarged and rebuilt twice since it was originally designed. There are some’ topographers who believe that it was built about the same time as Woodsome Hall, but, as this latter Hall has been rebuilt at least three times in the long course of its history, this is not very definite information. (See ‘‘History of Huddersfield and District,’’ by Mr. Taylor Dyson, M.A., p. 248). The late Mr. D. F. E. Sykes, in his ‘‘History of Hudders- field and its Vicinity’’ (p. 256), stated that it dated back to 1550, but did not quote his authority. uk Hobkirk, in his ‘‘History of (2nd Edn., 1868, p. 104), described the Hall as being ‘‘built in the Elizabethan style, and evidently of that period.’’ He further stated that in the middle of the last century there could be seen a gate post in the lane leading to the Hall, ‘‘but which would seem formerly to have been the cross stone of a doorway.’’ It bore the coat of arms of the Brookes of Newhouse, viz., a hawk’s lure on a bend, and a device containing the following inscription :— I Aaa. 1638

which, in his opinion, pointed ‘‘to the time when Newhouse was erected,’’ but there is both documentary and internal evidence within the Hall itself that the first House was built before 1638.

From the will of Thomas Brooke I. of Newhouse, dated the 8th of January, 1553, and proved on the 27th of June, 1554, we gather that he describes Newhouse as having been recently built by himself (Y.A.J., Vol. XII., p. 411). It is quite possible that it was this source of information which led the late Mr, Sykes to fix the date of the erection of Newhouse Hall to be 1550.

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A photograph of the Hall taken before 1865, and presented to the late Mr. Isaac Hordern by the late Mr. G. W. Tomlinson (p. vi.) shows a three pointed gabied house of unequal heights. “The right wing (7.e., the one on the right-hand side of the doorway) was then the oldest part of the homestead; it consisted of a gable of rough stone work, while the upper part of the gable was of plaster work. The half gable (t.e., the centre part of the building) formed part of a later building and a better class of stone walling, but, was partly hidden by a straight wall on the roof.”’

‘‘There 1s good reason to believe that the house’ consisted of a front of two gables like so many of the manor houses in the > district. A much later building appears to have been erected and formed part of the half gable, but I have no means of telling the date of this work. It consists of a large entrance hall; the door is close up to the half gable, and on the left is. a fine six-light window adjoining the door, and above a similar six—light window anda two-1ight window above the door.’’ (Isaac Hordern MSS., in the Archives of the Huddersfield Corporation.)

Thomas Brook IV. (?1581—1688), the great-grandson of the original builder, made several improvements to the house, and in all probability erected the present left wing. He commemorated his work by placing his initials on the oak panels which are still to be seen in two of the rooms in this wing. ‘‘It locks as if he had intended to have completed the plan of the house in the form of the letter H., but for some reason it was not completed.’’ (Fletcher MSS.). His initials on the ‘‘gate post,’’ which has since disappeared and which the late Mr. T. P. Crosland made strenu— ous efforts to find, but in vain, has led several writers to believe that he built Newhouse in 1638, but, as stated above, three. generations of Brookes had lived there as far back as 1558.

1865, the whole of the right wing and a portion of the centre half gable were demolished. The right wing was entirely rebuilt, although some of the stones of its predecessor were used in its re-erection, while this new wing was. raised te the height of the one on the left, thus making the facade somewhat sym- metrical. A flat, parapet was substituted for the half gable. The late Mr. Hordern very much regretted the removal of the old Tudor fireplace from the lower room in the right wing, and the sub- stitution of a ‘‘dreadful modern wood affair’’ (!) A portion of the ‘old fireplace can be seen in the courtyard at the back of the

Hall.

In 1903, the right wing was again refronted and several alterations were effected in its interior, in particular, ‘‘the North window was opened out as it had been blocked up by a bookcase made to fit the aperture.’’ (Fletcher MSS.). The stone flags

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NEWHOUSE HALL. holo Dy Mer. fii, Cater.

DOLE RAIL, Ph

EWHOUSE, HALL. glo by Mr. Lawrence Hirst Woed.

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on the floor of the entrance hall were removed and wooden blocks substituted, while the old open fireplace was partially bricked up as this large room needed more warmth.

In 1988, the old fireplace was again reopened and it was found that two courses of brick had to be removed before the original space, 2 feet 3 inches deep, could be located. The walls of this aperture were found to consist of loose stones and rubble but they have since been recémented. A _ replica of .an old- fashioned dog-grate has been inserted, and thus the resumes something of its former antique appearance,

The late Mr. G. W. Tomlinson was of the opinion that Newhouse Hall ‘‘was inferior to Clough House (which formerly stood in Halifax Old Road) in its surroundings,’’ but thought that “‘the front of the house had more pretensions and archi— tectural beauty, the entrance hall being in particular, very fine.’

The main entrance to the Hall is by a massive oak door whice opens immediately into the Entrance Hall. This door ‘is hung in precisely the same fashion as the door. to the Shel- donian Theatre at Oxford’’ (Fletcher MSS.). On the left of the doorway is a fine eight-light transomed and mullioned window. Opposite the doorway is the large open fireplace previously men- tioned. It is surmounted by a modern oak mantel-piece on which are embossed five coats of arms, one is that of the Fletchers, while another is that of the University of Oxford.

At one time, too, the coat of arms of the Brockes were.em— blazoned in the Sh ese Hall, but these have been removed.

Up till April, 1938, there could be seen a massive refectory oak table, the property of Sir John Frechville Ramsden. This table had apparently been made for the Hall. It was not included in the sale of Huddersfield to the Huddersfield Corporation in 1920. Sir J. F. Ramsden agreed to leave it. there while the late Mr. T. P. Crosland, J.P., was in residence. After his death in August, 1932, it was removed. hi

The ‘‘piece de at Newhouse Hall is the ‘‘dole— rail’’ to be seen on the left-hand side of the Entrance Hall, near the staircase. This is a piece of workmanship not found in any other building in this district. It consists of a row of twisted oak—pillars through the apertures of which, in former days, food was passed out to mendicants. In those days, the ‘‘dole-rail’’ probably stood in the walls of the buttery or pantry, but. was removed into its present position in 1865 in order to preserve it.

The existence of the ‘“‘dole-rail’’ is internal evidence that the original homestead is older than 1638. Prior to the passing of the First Poor Law Act of 1601, it was the custom for the gentry to distribute voluntary alms to beggars and mendicants. This was effected either by direct gifts or by means of the above device, I

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Poe FIREPLACE, NEWHOUSE I FALL, previous to 1933. Photo by Mr. Lawrence Hirst Wood,

THE ENTRA

CE HALL, shewing Fireplace now opened up, and “part ot PANELLED CEILING,

Photo by Mr. Alfred Wainwright.

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The passing of this Poor Law Act tended to diminish the volun— tary assistance of poor persons. I

‘At the back of the Entrance Hall is a very oe carved oak staircase containing twisted pillars, which was restored in 1865 when ‘‘the house was then in a poor condition.’’ (Isaac Horden MSS.). This staircase leads to the rooms above. The ceiling of the Entrance Hall is of a remarkable design, consisting of a fine ornamental plaster relief which is said to be of Italian workmanship. A similar plaster relief is also to be found over the first bend of the staircase ceiling. It is possible that these ceilings were designed and made by Italian artists who came over to this country in the days of Charles I., and executed similar types of work in halls and mansions. Other building's in this district which contain similar types of work are Wormall Hall (now the Almondbury Conservative Club), and Lower Hirst. at Outlane. I

Three doors proceed from the Fabre Hall; that on the right-hand side of the doorway leads into the Drawing Room of the right wing ; that on the left-hand opens into the Dining Room of the left wing; while the door at the back of the Hall enters into the corridor which extends the length of the building.

The Dining Room is a large and well-lighted room; it con— tains a fine eight-light transomed and mullioned window, the panes of which are diamond-shaped and leaded, while one of the original yellow—coloured panes of the window-on the West side of this room still remains. On this side of the house, the leaded panes have been protected by a sheet 3 plain glass placed on the outside.

The walls of this Dining Room are beautifully panelled in oak. Some of the panels were originally of the ‘‘secret’’ variety, for strips of beading have been placed at the edges of the frames. A hollow sound is heard when these panels are tapped, but what lies behind them has not yet been discovered. A tradition has been handed down that at one time there were no less than eight secret panels in the Hall, I

The finest piece of workmanship in this Dining Room is the carved oak mantel-piece which surrounds the fireplace. Ate divided into three panels in which have been cut out the initials T.M.B., denoting Thomas Brooke IV. and Margaret Hanson, his first ike who died in 1615.

Proceeding up the oak staircase, one notices a very large panel cupboard door which so far has not yet been opened. The staircase leads to the corridor which connects the upper storeys of the two wings of the house. ‘The floor of the corridor is made of massive oak boards and is most uneven, sloping from one side to the other. At the end of the corridor is a cupboard on which there

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DAE, DINING ROOM,) NEWHOUSE, (HALL: Photo by Mr. Alfred Wainwright.

THE CARVED MANTELPIECE in the Dining Room, Newhouse Hall. Photo by Mr. Lawrence Hirst Wood,

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is some beautiful hand-worked carving. This may have been d relic of the Tudor right wing. One can also notice the width of the chimney flue which emerges from the Entrance Hall below.

The bedroom over the Dining Room is panelled throughout and over the fireplace is another beautifully carved oak mantel-— piece on which the letters T.D.B. have been cut out. These initials denote Thomas Brooke (already mentioned) and his second wife, Dorothy (or Dorothie) Crosland. Some of the windows of this bedroom contain diamond-shaped leaded panes.

In this bedroom there formerly stood an old oak chest which contained a scroll carving similar to that which is seen on the wall—panelling. Its dimensions were roughly 7 feet by 3 feet by & feet. The late Mr. T. P. Crosland was of the opinion that it originally belonged to the Hall, but had been sold in the early days of the last century. Mr. Crosland saw it being used in a bake-house in Sheepridge some years ago and effected an exchange by giving the baker a deal chest wherein to store his floor. Since Mr. Crosland’s death in 1982, it has been removed.

On the left-hand side of the fireplace of this room is a doorway which leads into a small room originally used as a ‘‘Powder-Room”’ in the days of the Brookes of Newhouse. A ‘‘Powder—Room”’ or ‘‘Powder—Closet’’? was a small chamber wherein the seventeenth century perruquiers and powdered the hair of the mistress of the house before she went down to dinner in the Entrance Hall below,

The floors of all the bedrooms in the left wing and in the ‘“Powder—Closet’’ are of polished oak. Some of ‘the floor boards are six feet long and about eighteen inches broad. Their quaint unevenness is a proof of their age, but unfortunately, in the middle of the night, they have a bad habit of creaking !

The room over the kitchen is also panelled in oak and contains a secret panel which opens to a narrow space between the panelling and the stone wall. This space descends vertically to a similar secret panel in the corridor connecting the kitchen and the Entrance Hall. From thence an escape could be effected by run- ning to the cellar which formerly had a stone trap door in its floor which opened to an underground passage, which, in its turn, led to the wood behind the house.

It is said that a similar secret panel with an aperture between it and the wall existed in the right wing of the Hall previous to its demolition. ; It is possible that in Post-Reformation days, either in the reign of Edward VI., or, more likely, in the days of Queen Elizabeth, the Hall afforded protection to Catholic priests. The Brookes of Newhouse were Catholics previous to their subsequent adoption of Anglicanism, and would, no doubt, offer shelter to a.

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persecuted Catholic priest wandering in the dead of night from Hall to Hall in search of rest, food and protection, and, at the same time, administering the rites and consolations of the Holy Catholic Church to their owners. In the event of a search party raiding the Hall for such a priest, the latter could effect his escape through these two passages after having been hidden in the secret panel. One of the legends associated with the Hall has this secret panel for its theme. It has also been suggested that in the troublous days of the Commonwealth period, a loyal supporter of Charles I. could have been hidden and made his disappearance in the same fashion !

The entrance to the underground passage in the cellar has now been closed owing to its association with two tragedies which are supposed to have taken place in the Hall. A small party some years ago explored this underground tunnel but were compelled to beat a retreat through lack of fresh air. On their return they said that they had walked some thirty feet but could find no outlet into the wood. I

This room over the kitchen which contains the secret panel is supposed to be haunted. Persons who slept in this room when it was used as a bedroom complained that they had been awakened in the dead of night by the sensation of a heavy weight resting upon their legs as if some animal were crouched upon them! The occupants of the bed immediately switched on the electric light, but, as was to be expected, saw nothing supernatural! There were formerly two beds in this room and strange to say, this nocturnal visitor only manifested itself upon one bed !

The attic of the Hall is also interesting for therein can be seen the massive oak beams which support the gable of the middle part of the Hall. <A tradition has been handed down that this attic in Post-Reformation times was used as a private Chapel and that Mass was celebrated there.

The walls of the oldest part of the homestead are two feet six inches thick and show that the builder intended to erect a house which should stand the test of time.

A few details concerning the facade of Newhouse Hall are worth recording. The apex of the gable on the left wing is sur- mounted by an old finial. Two capstones lie on the top of the flat parapet while two others are on the roof of the right wing gable. The top of this latter gable is surmounted by a weather vane. Some of the original label mouldings on the top of the two eight- light windows are still to be seen. By the side of the entrance doorway is a small balustrade painted white. The ivy which has grown on the walls of the facade has added considerably to the picturesqueness of the Hall.

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At one time a Ha-Ha or sunken fence separated the Hall, the lawns and the grounds from the pasture lands. It has been filled up near the lane on the west side of the house but a portion of it can still be seen on the right-hand side of Newhouse lane. The Entrance posts with ‘‘ball’’ cap-stones were: originally designed by the late Mr. Isaac Hordern, formerly they had spikes jutting out of them but these were afterwards removed.

The gardens surrounding the Hall contain some large trees, the leaves of which present a beautiful sight in summer time, some of the beech trees, in particular, have branches which stretch to the ground.

Newhouse Hall in the possession of the Brookes of Newhouse till 1652, when Joshua Brooke, the last of the direct male line, died. His. widow, Sara Brooke, continued to live there until her death in 1688.

From the Hearth Tax Returns of 1664, we learn that Mrs. Sara Brooke paid tax on eight hearths. She was, with Mr. Matthew Wilkinson, of Greenhead Hall, the second largest tax- payer in the Manor of Huddersfield. The number of hearths recorded is a clue of the importance and magnitude of Newhouse Hall in 17th century days.

On the death of Mrs. Sara Brook, the estate at Newhouse devolved upon her youngest daughter, Hellen Brooke, who married John Townley, Esq., J.P. :

Subsequently the property was left to their daughters, Hellen Townley who married John Wilkinson of Greenhead Hall, and Catherine Townley who married Major Richard White (or Whyte), the Governor of the Tower of London.

There seems every reason to believe that Mr. John Townley

resided at the Hall after the death of his mother-in-law, Mrs.

Sara Brooke, but it is not definitely known whether Major White and his wife lived at the Hall after the death of Mrs. Townley in 1719.

Major White evidently possessed Newhcuse Hall in the right of his wife and appears to have had the power to bequeath it to whom he wished. As there were no children from his marriage to Catherine Townley, his share of the Newhouse estates, which included the Hall, devolved upon his nephew, the son of his sister, — Richard Chamberlaine, also of the Tower of -London. In 1751, Richard Chamberlaine sold the Manor of Deighton which included Newhouse Hall to Thomas Thornhill, Esq., Lord of the Manor of Fixby. I The Thornhills of Fixby held Newhouse from 1751 to 1854, when in the October of that year, the Trustees of Miss Clara Thornhill sold it to Sir John William Ramsden, Bart. He died

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- in 1914 and the Hall descended to his son, Sir John Frechville ~ Ramsden, Bart., who sold it to the Huddersfield Corporation in September 1920, in whose possession it still remains.

After the purchase of the Deighton-Newhouse estates by the Thornhills of Fixby, the Hall was let out to tenants,

A family of Brookes or Brooks who appear to have been related to the original owners of the Hall, lived there about the end of the 17th century and during the early decades of the 18th, but the writer has not been able to ascertain the precise date of their years as tenants.

In the early part of the last century, the Hall appears to have been in a deplorable condition; this may account for the fact that it was not included in the ‘‘List of the Seats of the Nobility and Gentry’’ in Baines’s ‘‘Directory of Yorkshire’’ published in 1822. From 1840 up till 1984, the tenants at Newhouse Hall have been :—Mr. George Dyson; Mr. Joseph Armitage, Senr.; Mr. Godfrey Binns, Junr., 1857-1865; Mr. Joseph Stork, 1865-1892; Mr. C. W. Keighley, 1892-1908; Mr. A. H. J. Fletcher, M.A.., 1908-1913; Mr. T. P. Crosland, 1918-Aug. 1932; Mr. A. P. Crosland, Sept. 1982-March 19353.

The present occupier of the Hall is Mr. W. Hepworth who took up residence in May 19338.

3 STORIES AND LEGENDS OF NEWHOUSE HALL.

A number of stories and legends relating to the Hall have been handed down.

_ The writer is indebted to the late Mr. G. W. Tomlinson for the following story of Oliver Heywood’s visit to the Hall in 1673. Oliver Heywood, the friend of the Rev. Christopher Richardson. who was ejected from his living at Kirkheaton at the time of the Restoration, appears to have found Newhouse Hall a convenient house of call in his wanderings about this district. He makes a note of this visit in his Event Book (Vol. IL.) :—

‘“‘T cannot but take notice and exceedingly admire God’s providence that when one door is shut, God opens another for service and employment. By an observable call, I was brought — to one Mrs. Brooke’s at Newhouse, to keep a fast upon a special occasion, November 18th, 1678, and, indeed, I have very seldom found such enlargements and meltings of spirit. It may be that God hath some designs of good in that very ignorant place; the oid woman was carnal, I fear, her daughters, civil. Mr, Gill,

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the young gentleman that married the one, keeps a kennel of ‘hounds, -yet much I Mrs. Brooke, “the old woman, above mentioned, -was Sara . Townend, then the widow of Joshua Brooke of Newhouse Hall. I Her daughters were Sarah Brooke, the wife of John Gill who kept . ‘‘a kennel of hounds,’’ and Hellen Brooke who married John Townley, J.P. Aes The other stories and legends which follow may be true or. apocryphal. They have been by various friends and acquaintances to the writer who has endeavoured to reproduce them as they were told to him,

019.

(I.).

In Section i. (p. 51) reference has already been made to the fact that the Brookes of Newhouse were ardent Catholics before they adopted Anglicanism. The following story which originally appeared in a Chap-book printed at Otley about the year 1790 and formerly in the possession of the late Mr. i. Hopwood, deals with an episode which was supposed to have taken place at the — Hall in the days when the Brookes of Newhouse gave shelter and protection to Catholic ay who refused to accept the tenets. of the Reformation :—

In the district of Huddersfield there lived a popular priest named Hocker although he was usually known as Hocker. He was much beloved by the inhabitants in this locality but was driven from pillar to post by the soldiery who were constantly on the look-out for Catholic priests. I On one occasion, Hooker travelled from Brighouse to New- house, knowing that he would find rest and hospitality in its pre- cincts. Whenever pikemen came to search the Hall, he was hidden in one of the secret panels or in the underground passage which led to the wood behind the Hall. He stayed at Newhouse for some weeks, and, when all seemed quiet, he departed, hoping to reach Fixby Hall where he would obtain further protection amongst other adherents of Roman Catholicism. On his way thither, however, he was brutally murdered by some soldiers on a lane leading to the Hall.

It has been suggested to the writer that the Ochre Hole Road which forms part of the boundary of Fixby Park may have been called after the name of this priest, but it is more likely that the Ochre Hole is called after the stream which flows under it, for, after a heavy fall of rain, the water is somethimes ochre-coloured.

It also appears that a poem in doggerel verse giving an account of the murder of this priest was written. Unfortunately, both the poem and the chap-book have been lost, ee I

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56 (II.).

During the stormy days of the Civil War, 1642-1648, so the legend states, there lived at Newhouse Hall a most beautiful damsel, one of the Miss Brookes. She was beloved by many, but most of all by a young Cavalier who lived at Toothill, half-way between Newhouse and Brighouse. her numerous admirers, she seemed to have favoured this gallant more than the others. Unfortunately, this wooer received no encouragement from the girl’s father who objected most strongly to this young gentleman paying attentions to his daughter and sternly forbade him to come near the Hall.

The lovers, however, determined to communicate with each other, even in those days before the advent of telephones, tele- graphs and three half-penny postage. The Toothill lover had a remarkably clever hound by means of which he sent amatory epistles to the fair lady at Newhouse. The hound sped across from Toothill to Newhouse and waited at a leaded window in the kitchen of the Hall. Here the lady took the letter from the dog’s mouth and inserted one which she had written for his master.

This means of communication proceeded for several weeks, but, Gne moonlight night, when the dog brought his master’s love-letter, no beautiful lady appeared at the window pane; instead, there stood her irate father who lifted his sword, and, with one fell swoop, cut off the dog’s head, and, in so doing, split the letter into two pieces. The hound immediately turned tail and ran back headless through the wood!

And so, on moonlight nights, in the fall of the year, this headless hound can be seen running through Felgreave Wood and ‘‘whosoever sees this dog, to him misfortune shall befall.’’ (!) When the fair damsel received no further news from her lover and was subsequently informed by her father of the fate of the dog, she walked up and down the corridors, from one room into another, eradually lost her reason and eventually died of a broken heart.

The young gentleman from Toothill, on hearing of the out- rageous beheading of his faithful hound, forsook the cause of Charles I. whom he had hitherto loyally supported and became an adherent of Oliver Cromwell !

It is said that the ghost of the beautiful Miss Brooke wanders the upstair corridor and in the upper rooms of Newhouse. Maids, who had lived at the Hall in the 50’s of the last century, positively declared that they had seen the ghost of this lady, while one, who had been in service there for thirteen years and had never seen the apparition, yet affirmed that she could hear the rustle of a silk dress at night time. The writer has been told of a person who actually felt this ‘‘spirit’?! One lady who had lived at the Hall in the early 70’s of the last century told the writer that

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57

her sister would scream at times and exclaim that she was being clutched by some unseen hand !

Over fifty vears ago, many of the inhabitants of Sheepridge were terrified to walk into the woods surrounding Newhouse Hall lest they should encounter the headless hound which was supposed to career madly through the woods and up and down Wigegan Lane.

(II1.).

A tradition has been handed down that Oliver Cromwell slept at Newhouse Hall after the Battle of Mar ston Moor, 1644, on his way to Manchester. I

This story is hardly likely to stand the test of veracity as in that year Joshua Brooke (1614-1652) lived at Newhouse Hall. The Brookes were ardent Royalists and it is difficult to conceive how they would have received Oliver Cromwell as a welcome guest. Nor would the latter in 1644 have adopted such a high- han ded method of commandeering a private house as he had not yet been appointed. Lord General of the, Parliamentary forces. Joshua Brooke’s daughter, Sarah, married John Gill, a member of a well- known Parliamentarian family but this event happened in 1664. (See Pedigree of the Brookes of Newhouse, Section v., p. 82).

Our local historians are silent on Oliver Cromwell’s traditional visits to Huddersfield and district. It seems possible that this tradition and many others relating to the Protector arose out of the place name Cromwell Bottom between Elland and Brighouse but this locality name dates as far back as 1277..

(IV.).

Another legend relating to Newhouse Hall states that in the early days of the Commonwealth, 1649-1660, when there was a “hue and cry’’ for Royalist refugees, the Brookes of Newhouse, who, as we have noted, were loyal! adherents of Charles I., afforded shelter to a devoted follower of the ill-starred monarch— a man badly ‘‘wanted’’ by the authorities of the Commonwealth.

It was futile to hide this fugitive in the secret panel or in the underground passage, these devices had then become well-known, so according to the story which has been handed down, he was secreted in the attic of the gable on the west wing. ‘There he lay concealed under lumber and other ‘‘junk’’? whenever the Commonwealth soldiers explored the lower rooms and the bedrooms of the Hall.

After being concealed for some weeks, he eventually made his. escape to the moors and thence to Scotland,

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(V.).

Two murders are supposed to have been committed in the Hall :—

(i) One Sunday morning, in the days before banks were instituted and when money had to be locked up in cash-boxes, trunks, coffers or even kept in stockings by the side of the chimney piece, a vagrant disguised as a woman, called at Newhouse Hall with the deliberate intention of plundering the gold which he knew to be stored there. He chose his time of call carefully for he knew that the master of the house and his lady had gone to the Huddersfield Parish Church. He gained admittance to the kitchen and demanded a drink. (Another version states that two rufhans called at the Hall and demanded food and drink). ©The cook acceded to ‘‘her’’ request and offered ‘‘her’’ an armchair in which ‘‘she’’ soon fell asleep and snored to ‘‘her’’ heart’s content.

In the bedroom above the kitchen, the family nurse observed a crowd cf men crouching in the wood behind the Hall. She suspected that they were ready to move at a signal from the rascal who had been admitted in the kitchen.

By this time, the ccok’s suspicions.had been likewise aroused for she noticed the vagrant’s trousers emerging below the skirts I of the supposed woman. These suspicions were reinforced by the nurse who opened the secret panel and shouted to the cook to give the rascal ‘‘a scalding hot drink.’’ .

On that particular morning the cook had rendered fat from pork and ham, and, on hearing the nurse’s words, poured down the rogue’s opened mouth the contents of a cauldron of boiling fat. The rascal awoke in terrible agony, and, at that psychological moment, the master of the house returned home and instantly slew the maurauder. As the servants were removing the corpse, a whistle dropped from the vagabond’s clothes which confirmed the opinion formed by the nurse that he was in league with the men in the wood. Eventually the body was thrown into the under- ground passage, There are variations of this story but the writer has endeavoured to combine all the versions into one.

(ii.) At one time, a certain man had quarrelled with one of the Brookes of Newhouse over money mattters. The owner of the Hall had lent this person sums of money at various times and had helped him out of his financial difficulties on more than one occasion. But this man did not seem inclined to meet his obliga- tions to his creditor. This so exasperated the latter, that, after heated words had taken place between the two men, Brooke landed his powerful fist on the man’s temple and killed him outright.

No one saw the deed and Brooke flung the corpse of his victim into the cellar; there it lay until Brooke on his death-bed confessed _

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that he had murdered a man many years previously. After’ Brooke’s funeral, the cellar was explored and the Bere once

remains of the man were discovered.

At one time marks were to be seen on one of the panels in one of the lower rooms at Newhouse which were supposed to be the imprints of the nails of the victim’s boots as he fell back against the panel. There are also variations of this story but this is the version given by the late Mr. J. Hopwood to Mr. G. Fox, and by him to the writer.

(V1.).

Two other different stories concerning dogs are told about

~ Newhouse Hall :—

(i) Tradition states that the ghost of Newhouse Hall is a dog and that this dog visited its former abode at certain times, particu- larly when the bed in the rcom-above the kitchen was occupied.

Here it would crouch upon the sleeper in the dead of. night and

later disappear into the wall! (See Section i., p. 52). (11) A dog which had a human head and a beard stretching from car to ear was. supposed to lurk in the vicinity of the Hall in mid- nineteenth century days. One or two persons have assured the writer that they have seen this apparation. One acquaintance told him that when he removed his eyes from the ghost it disappeared.

Another version states that about a hundred years ago, this monstrosity appeared in Newhouse Wood and so terrified a woman named Elizabeth Haigh that she swooned and was discovered a day later in a very prostrate condition.

Some persons allege that it is this ghostly monstrosity which is supposed to wander about in Newhouse Wood and not the headless hound of Toothill.

There may be a reason for the origin of the bearded dog super- stition. It appears that in the 17th and 18th centuries, Newhouse Wood (or to be strictly correct Upper Felgreave Wood) was noted for its game, pheasants and hares were very plentiful in this locality. The Brookes and their successors, the Townleys, the Wilkinsons and the Thornhills, naturally wished to preserve the birds and animals which provided them with both food and sport, and employed keepers to be on the watch for poachers who would be most anxious to get cheap food.

A story has been handed down that these keepers disguised themselves in sheep-skins and crawled through the woods on ‘‘all fours’’ at night. This device appears to have scared the poachers and thus it “got noised abroad that monstrosities frequented the woods.

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THE SO-CALLED “HAUNTED. ROOM,” NEWHOUSE HALL. Photo by Mr. Alfred Watnwright.

PANELLING OVER CEILING cn Bend cf Staircase, and Part of Twist Oak Rails of Staircase, Newhouse Hall. Photo by Mr, Alfred Wainwright,

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On the other hand, it is also possible that such freaks of nature did exist in eighteenth century days.

(VIL).

Newhouse Hall has a story of hidden treasure. It appears that Thomas Brook, who lived at the Hall in the latter part of the 18th century, feared that his descendants would find themselves once again in straightened circumstances, and, secreted, so the story goes, three thousand golden guineas behind eight secret panels. ~ Before he died, he called his children and grand-children together, and is reported to have said, ‘‘I’ve provided for your future by hiding money behind some of the panels in this room and elsewhere and also under a floor-board, when you require it, search.’’ Un- fortunately for his descendants, long after his death, the Hall was let out to others and although efforts have been made by later tenants to find this supposed hidden treasure, yet it has never been found; or, if it has been discovered, the finders have kept their mouths sealed !

(VIII.).

There seems good reason to believe that the Luddites raided Newhouse Hall. The late Mr. J, Hopwood told Mr. G, Fox that they (the Luddites) forced open the front door of the Hall, assaulted old Mr. William Brook, the son of Thomas. Brook, and then ‘‘banged their way through the Entrance Hall and out of the building by the back door.’’ They do not appear to have committed any robberies such as they did in the immediate vicinity

of the Hall.

A Huddersfield correspondent to the ‘‘Times,’’ in a letter dated December 3rd, 1812, gave an account of their acts of violence in Fartown and district. He concludes his letter by say- ing :—‘‘They next proceeded to the house of Mr. James Brook of Pracken Hall, in Far Town, where after conducting themselves © in an outrageous manner, they took his watch, a pound note and four shillings in silver.’’

Bracken Hall is not far off from Newhouse Hall. The ‘

perpetrators of this robbery were arrested and tried at the York.

Assizes. (See D. F. E. Sykes ‘‘History of Huddersfield and Its * District,” p. 317): I I The Scholes MSS. tell us that the Luddites visited Upper Newhouse, a farm situated not far from Newhouse Hall, and later known as ‘‘The Cot’’ which eventually fell down ‘with old age.”’ ‘The Cot’ in 1812, was the residence of Mr. George Scholes, the great-great-grandfather of Mr. J. W. Scholes of Grimscar. It appears that Mrs. G, Scholes had a bag containing £50 in gold —

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62 in her bedroom. On hearing the approach of the Luddites, she flung this bag over the canopy of the old-fashioned four-poster bedstead. When the Luddites searched the house they looked anywhere but here for

Thus there seems sufficient evidence to believe that Newhouse Hall was visited Oy the Luddites.

THE TWISTED OAK RAILS of the Staircase, Newhouse Hall. Photo by Mr. Lawrence Hirst Wood.

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63 iii. THE BROOKES OF HUDDERSFIELD.

The late Mr. G. W. Tomlinson, in his studies of the old Halls and Houses in Huddersfield and of the families who had resided therein, printed a pedigree of the Newhouse Branch of the Brookes in the Huddersfield Parish Church Magazine for January, 1886, and prefaced his remarks concerning this family with the following paragraph :— ‘‘Huddersfield is famous for the number of its et and must have been so for many. generations. . Why the name has flourished so well in our neighbourhood it is impossible to say but the fact is this. There were twenty-one families of the name : Brookes of the Green, cf the Nooke, of Stone Delves, of Fould, of Flashhouse, of Greenhouse, of Blackhouse, of Deighton Hall, of Bay Hall, of Bradley Hall, Brookes with an ‘‘e’’ and Brooks with- out, but I think that the chief of the clan, if an they were, was the Brookes of Newhouse.’ :

It seems almost certain the original holders of. the surname derived it from the fact that they lived ‘‘by the brook’? which runs through the valley which lies behind Sheepridge and Deighton. There were Brookes living in Huddersfield as far back as 1379. From the Poll. Tax Returns of that year, we find the following entries under the heading of the ‘‘Villata de Hoderfeld.”’ (aoe ee E. Sykes, ‘‘History of Hue ‘dersfield and Its. Vicinity,”’ pp. 86-88) :— (i) Henricus By the br ek and Johanna, his wife, paid 4d. (ii) Willelmus By the broke and Cecilia, his wife, paid 4d. (ii) Johannes By the broke and Agnes, his wife, paid 4d. (iv) Ricardus By the brooke paid 4d, I We do not find the surname in any other ‘‘Villatae’’ which were assessed. It seems likely that all these Brookes were engaged in agriculture and kindred occupations. The following extract from the Inquisition into the Manor of Almondbury in 1488 gives an interesting piece of ne enon regarding a member of the Brook family :—

“Will’us by ye Brook de Deighton tenet an burgage nuper Joh’es Oldfield.”’

That is to say, ‘‘William by the Brook of Deighton holds a burgage (=land held by payment of a yearly rent) from John Oldfield.”? (Fenay MSS. quoted by Hobkirk in his ‘‘History of Huddersfield,’’ 2nd Edn., p. 129). At some date between 1379 and 1523, the prefix ‘‘by the’? had been dropped.

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In 1523, a tax was imposed upon the inhabitants of this district by Henry VIII. to pay the expenses of his war against France. From the Subsidy Roll compiled in that year, we note, that out of the twenty persons recorded in the Manor of Hudders- field who paid this tax, there were no less than ten Brookes so mulcted. I HUDDERSFILELD-CUM~BRADLEY. William Brooke of Bradlay paid 3s. 0d. tax on Goods assessed at £6-0-0

Thomas Brooke 5h a ee ay A £3-0-0 William Brooke'‘and John, his son ,, 3s. Od. ,, i £6-0-0 Thomas Brooke I lk eee a a i £2-0-0 John Brooke of the Barkhouse > er eee, at £2-0-0 Humfray Brooke yo ae. ‘i i £2-0-0 Edward Brooke of Wodhouse ee a £6—-0-0 Edward Brooke of Blakhouse yy) CA, apt a £2-0-0 Edmund Brooke of Greynhouse ,, Is. Od. ,, oh py ten: (eae Thomas Brooke of Yathouse 55 ey ‘ i £2-0-0

(D. F. E. Sykes, ‘‘History of Huddersfield and Its Vicinity,’’ p. 103).

At the time of the Dissolution of the Monasteries, 1534, an enquiry was held regarding the revenues, &c., of ‘‘the Chantry of Our Lady in the Chapel of Huddersfelde in the Paryshe of Huddersfelde,’’ from which we gather that ‘‘Richard Broke (=Brooke), Incumbent, 42 years of age, hath none other certyntye of lyving than the profits of the said chantry. The said chapyell is distant from the Parysch Churche.’’ (Quoted by Mr. G. W. © Tomlinson in the ‘‘Huddersfield Parish Church Magazine’’ for June 1886). Richard Brooke was, in all probability, a younger son of one of the important families of that name, for it was a custom during the Middle Ages for a younger son to enter Holy Orders.

The Lay Subsidy Roll for the year 1545 which contains the list of those who paid taxes when Henry VIII. again declared war against France and Scotland, gives the names of the following members of this family living in Huddersfield who contributed to the National Exchequer :—

John Brook de Deighton paid 138s. 4d. tax on Goods assessed at £20 Thomas Brook Brae bm eee i be £20 William Brook 4s, Od. = ,, Bs “5 Edward Brook a 46 De. <j = £12 Christopher Brook ‘J $8) 0G. 4 i SAD Roger Brook in a i‘ |. Sag Edward Brook a O00: 4, £12 Marmaduke Brook 49) 06. 4 ae. £12 Roger Brook a. ig xe Humphrey Brook Re a i £20 Edward Brook Ag. iii, " , £4 Percival Brook Ba i ‘ - £3 Edmund Brook Ba x is £3 Thomas Brook - 1s. 3a." a £7 Thomas Brook, Junr, % Ads! i £1

Jacob Brook, Junr, nt Riley, gs ae £1

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65 IN ALMONDBURY. George Brook paid 1s. 2d. tax on Goods assessed at £7 (Thoresby Society’s Publi petions, Vol. XI., pp. 106 and 351). The reader will note that migration of Brookes from the Manor of Huddersfield into that of Almondbury had begun to take place and also that the compiler of the Roll had omitted the final letter - The Huddersfield Parish Chur he Registers date back to 1562. T te entries for that year and for 1581 were copied out by Mr. G. W. Tomlinson and printed in the Parish Church Magazine for October, 1885, The following entries deal with a few members of the family of Brooke :— ‘‘Baptisms.* Januarye 1562. Itm. xxuj die, Johanna, filiae Edwardi Brooke de Huddersfelde, baptizata fuit. 3 Burialls, July 1562. Itm. quinto die, Johannis Brooke de Fyrtowne, sepultus fuit. Marriages. April, Ao. Dni. 1581. John Armetege and Mary Brooke were married the xviij of . Marriages... June, Ao, Dni. 1581, James Brocksbanke and Elizabeth Brooke were married the xviii If the whole of the Huddersfield Parish Registers: had been transcribed and printed, our knowledge of the Brookes and Brooks of Huddersfield (as well as of other families) would have been increased considerably.

Amongst the list of Jurors who took part in the Inquisition held into the Manor of Almondbury held in the year 1584 appears the name of Thomas Brooke. He may have been one of the Brookes of Newhouse.

Vhe Lay Subsidy Roll for the year 1588 contains the list of those tax-payers in this district w ho contributed to the levy made upon the inhabitants of the country for the purpose of equipping the fleet which eventually helped to destroy the Spanish Armada. The following is the list of those Brookes who were mulcted :—

Thomas Brooke paid 5s. 4d. taxon Lands assessed at 40/- Thomas Broke de Brokehole bank,, 5s. 4d. ,, 40/- I;dwardus Brooke de Dighton oc ee a ‘i ie 20/- Edmondus Brooke de Storth ee Rs iss ‘a 20/- William Brocke oh Oey Sal on. £4—0-0 Broke de Hill howse ,,,,, 5s. af A £3-0-0 Rogerus Brooke co ee. DAS eo i = £3-0-0 Edmondus Brooke ee pa £3-0-0

(Thoresby Society’s Publications, Vol. XV., p. 138).

I In that important document which records how Queen Elizabeth in 1599 sold the Manor of Huddersfield to William

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Ramsden, Esq., for the sum of £975 Os. 9d., there occurs the name of John Brooke :—‘‘Elizabeth, by the Grace of God, etc., know ye that we, in consideration of the sum of nine hundred and seventy-five Pounds and nine pence, have granted to William Ramsden, his heirs and assigns, all that our Manor of Huddersfield, now or lately in the tenure of occupation of John Brooke ..... a

In this document are also mentioned the names of Thomas Brooke and George Bourke (otherwise Brooke) who tenanted lands under the former Lord of the Manor, Gilbert Gerrard. Thomas Brooke (above mentioned) was one of the witnesses to the will of Thomas Brooke II. of Newhouse made in 1586.

Mr. G. W. Tomlinson, in his interesting account of the old Clough House which formerly stood in the Halifax Old Road, tells us that the owner of this residence in 1609 was WW ilies Brook; in 1624 it belonged to Edward Brook.

A number of Brookes served as soldiers in the Regiment of Sir Henry Savill, Bart. In the list of the names of the Companies delivered to Sir John Ramsden, Knt., on the 6th of April, 1626, _ are found the names of Edward Brooke (two of this name), Thomas I Brooke and George Brooke, while Edmund Brooke and William Brooke cf Hillhouse were soldiers in the Huddersfield Company. All these men were designated by the letter ‘‘c’’ which the late Mr. E. Sykes interpreted as ‘‘culverin,’’ that is, they were in charge of-a large cannon piece, but it 1s more likely that they I used a ‘‘caliver,’’ a light but clumsy gun.- In the Dalton Com- pany, Richard Brooke served as a musketeer while in the Holm- firth Company, Humfrey Brooke is recorded. (D. F. E. Sh ‘‘History of Huddersfield and District,’’ p. 153). In the Hearth Tax Returns for the year 1664, a large number I

of Brookes are recorded as ey ing this tax on a varying number of hearths :—

Edward Brooke of Norbar ... 2 hearths. Edward Brooke of Townehead 2 hearth. John Brooke of Fould 1 hearth. William Brooke of Lee heade ‘a. Hearth, Mrs. Sara Brooke (Newhouse) 8 hearths. Thomas Brooke of Yathouse 4 hearths. Joshua Brooke of Storth ‘2 hearths. Thomas Brooke of Birkby ... 2 hearths. John Brooke of Blackdike 2 hearths. George Brooke of Felgreave ... 1 hearth. Richard Brooke of Lane 1 hearth. John Brooke of Bay Hall 1 hearth. Rodger Brooke of Greenehouse 3 hearths. Thomas Brooke of Greene ... 1 hearth. ©

(Os ts “History... of HHiddersheld and . District,’’ I pp. 182-185),

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Two other Brookes are enumerated, Joshua Brooke and Edward Brooke, but the place of their abode is not stated. Thomas Brooke of ‘‘Common,’’—a house situated somewhere in Birkby,—did not pay this tax and was recorded as “‘not chargeable.”’ In Almondbury there were three Brookes, Widow Brooke and two George Brookes who paid this tax. In Honley there dwelt one William Brooke while in Holmfirth there were several of the name amongst whom were two Humphrey Brookes.

One of the founders of Salendine Nook Baptist Chapel in 1743 was Stephen Brook, one of three who subscribed to the ‘‘solemn

covenant of communicn,’’ who could write his signature. (D. F. E. Sykes, ‘‘History of Huddersfield and District,’’ p. 230),

John Brook, of the Flashhouse, Fartown, was one of the. original founders of Highfields Congregational Church in 1772. He died in 1821 and was the last of a family of Brooks who had lived in that old homestead for over two hundred years.

In Edward Baines’s ‘‘History, Directory and Gazetteer of the County of York, West Riding,’’ (Vol. I., printed in 1822), we find the following members of the Brook family inserted under ‘“Huddersfield’’ :—

1. Booksellers, Stationers and Binders : Joseph Brook,. printer, Subscription Library and Patent Medicines at Westgate. 2. Cloth Dressers: George Brook, James Brook, John Brook, (all at Top Green), William Brook, (Castlegate), Joseph Prook, (Longroyd Bridge), John Brook, (Paddock), Joshua Brook, (Greenhead). . 3. Merchants and Manufacturers: Henry Brook & Son, (Northgate). : 1. Cloth Drawers and Letterers: Barnard Henry Brook, (Northgate). (Mr. B. H. Brook was the father of Mr. Thomas Brook, b. 1804, d. 1876, one of the founders of the firm of Brook, Freeman and Batley, Solicitors, New Street). 5. Woollen Cord and Velveteen Manufacturers : James Brook, 6. Woolstaplers: Thomas Brook & Son (Westgate), William Brock & Sons, Market Street, James Brook at his house in Upperhead Row. 7. Gardeners, Nursery and Seedmen : John Brook, (Kirkgate). 8. Iron and Brass Founders: Jonathan Brook, (Longroyd Bridge). 9. Woollen Manufacturers who attend the Cloth Hall : William Brook & Sons, Longwood; William Brook, Crosland. 10. Miscellany: Nancy Brook, pastry baker, King Street; Martha Brook, gentlewoman, Northgate,

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In the ‘‘villages’’ surrounding the town we find under :-— (i) Deighton : John Brook, Woollen Cord Manufacturers. (ii) Lockwood: George Brook, Victualler, Red Lion; John Brook, Merchant. ; (iii) Longwood: Thomas Brook, ;Woolstapler, Grocer, &c. ; Joseph Brook, Flock Dealer, Outlane. (iv) Sheepridge : Thomas Brook, Cloth Dressers; Joseph Brook, Woollen Cord Manufacturer. Coming down to more recent times, we find amongst the names of Past Mayors of Huddersfield :— ee

(i) Henry Brooke, Bsq., J.P., 187344, (ii) Joseph Brooke, |: P., 1887-1888; 1888-1889. (ii!) John Joshua Brook, Esq.., i; P., 1893-1894; 1894-1895.

The Roll upon whom the Borough has conferred the distinction of Honorary Freemen contains the following names :— (i) Major Charles Brook, (died 1929); conferred in 1901. (11) Sir Thomas Brooke, (died 1908); conferred in 1906. (ii) Mr. William Brooke, (died 1920); conferred in 1913. (iv) Sir John Arthur Brooke, Bart., (died 1920); conferred in 1918.

The reader will note that no reference has been made to the. Brookes and Brooks of Honley, Armitage Bridge, Almondbury and Healey House, &c.

A full account of the work done in Huddersfield and District by Sir Thomas Brooke, Sir John Arthur Brooke, Mr. William Brooke and other members of that well-known family is given by the late F; E. ‘Sykes in his “‘ History of Huddersfield and Its Vicinity’? (pp. 375- 3717). The late Canon C. A. Hulbert, in his “Annals of Almondbury’’ (pp, 318-320) gave a full account of the Brookes cf Honley from whom Sir John Arthur Brooke and_ Sir Thomas Brooke were descended while he gave a few details con- cerning ‘‘Squire’’ Edward Brooke whose biography was written by. the Rev. J, dt. Lerdian 1372, 3 Mr. G. W. Tomlinson gave a list of the Churchwardens of the Huddersfield Parish Church in the Parish Magazine for October, 1887 :— 1643-1645. Edmund Brooke officiated for Bradley. 1650. J. Brook of Birkby Fould for Huddersfield. 1650. Thomas Brook for Marsh. From 1651-1792 records are lost. Joseph Brook. 1818. . William Brook. 1847-8. I Joseph Brook.

‘Joseph Brook (1799) I to have been the of the late Mr. Brook, of Glenwood. Joseph was the son of John Brook, who was born in 1718 and died in 1784; the subject of this

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note, Joseph Brook, was born in 1758 and died in 1829. Mr. Brook, of Glenwood, who was Churchwarden in 1847-8, was born in 18G1 and died in 1879; three lives covering the period of 161 years.’’ I “William Brook (1819), known as ‘of the Wells and of Glecholt,’ was the son of Henry and Martha Brook. Henry died in 1817, aged 56. Mr. William Brook was a J.P. for the West Riding, he died at Geneva in the year 1845, at the early age of 55, leaving two sons’ and several daughters.”’

1V. THE BROOKES OF NEWHOUSE.

Our knowledge of this family is mainly based on the re- searches of John Charles Brooke, Esq., Somerset Herald, 1748—. 1794, a descendant of the original builder of the Hall through William Brooke, 1584—1672, the founder cf the branch which settled at Dodworth, near Barnsley, about 1650. John Charles Brooke visited Huddersfield in 1775, ‘‘ explored’’ the Parish Church, extracted the entries relating to his ancestors from the Parish Registers, copied out the inscriptions o the tombstones of the Brookes of Newhouse, and eventually cornpiled a pedigree.

The late Mr. G. W. Tomlinson, in his account of Newhouse which appeared in the Huddersfield Parish Church Magazine for January, 1886, said that the Rev. J, Hunter made use of these materials and compiled a pedigree of the family. Mr. Tomlinson availed himself of ‘“‘this foundation,’’ and printed a pedigree which appeared in the above-mentioned magazine,

In the Yorkshire Archeological Journal for 1893 (Vol, XII., pp. 405—412), Mr. Tomlinson printed the complete pedigrees of both the Newhouse and Dodworth Brookes as originally com—_ piled by John Charles Brooke, and wrote short biographical accounts of each member of the former branch. Unfortunately, there are discrepancies in the two accounts given by Mr. Tomlinsen, while the pedigrees are not quite identical; there is reason to believe that the latter pedigree and the details concern— ing each member of the Brookes are more accurate than those in the Parish Magazine for 1886, Uhe Coat of Arms of the Brookes of Newhouse were—Ermine, on a bend sable, a hawk’s lure with line and ring—and their Motto was Dieu ma Foy’’—‘‘In God my

THOMAS BROOKE (?—1553 or 4).

Mr. Tomlinson (in Y.A.J., Vol. XII., p. 411), says ‘‘that the first Thomas Brooke appears to have been unknown to the Somer— set Herald.’’ He married Jennet, concerning whom no further

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tHE: COAT-OF-ARMS OF THE BROOKES OF NEWHOUSE,

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information is available, and left a large family of sons and daughters, Thomas Brooke II., John Brooke, Edward Brooke, I Jennet Brooke, who married John Felker, Alice Brooke, and Elizabeth Brooke, et

Thomas Brooke I. made his will on the 8th of January, 1553; it was proved on the 27th of June, 1554, so it 1s evident that he died between those two dates. In his will, he states. that he wishes to be buried in the Parish Church of Huddersfield; he desires his daughters, Alice, Agnes and Elizabeth to live with their mother. He alludes to Newhouse as having been recently built by himself, and made his wife and two sons, John and George to be the 2xecutors of his will. In 1523, a tax was imposed upon the inhabitants of this dis- trict in order to enable Henry VIII. to. wage war upon France (Section iii., p. 64). . Amongst those who paid this tax was Thomas Brooke of the Yat House, who paid 1/- tax on goods assessed at £2. Mr. Tomlinson was inclined to think that the first Thomas Brooke, who built Newhouse, originated from the Yat House. It seems probable that Yat House is a dialect cor— ruption of Gate House,-and that it stood not far from Newhouse Hall. $Wé53thin a short distance from the Hall stands a farm house called Bradley Gate. The former Bradley Gate Farm House was demolished some years ago. Would this have been the original Yat House? On the other hand, the writer has heard a story that the original home of the Brookes of Newhouse was the old Deighton Hall, demolished many years ago, and two houses built upon its site. This. story, however, has no docu- mentary confirmation. ve

The Lay Subsidy Roll for 1545 mentions two Thomas Brookes, (Section i., p. 64), but the place of their abode is not recorded, it is quite possible that one of them was the builder of. Newhouse Hall.

THOMAS BROOKE II. (?—1588),

He was the eldest son of the above Thomas Brooke and Jennet his wife. He was living in the reign of Henry VIII., and may have paid the war tax in 1545, for, as previously stated, one of the names recorded is Thomas Brooke, Junr. (Section iii., p. 64). He died in 1588, and was buried on the 27th of April of that year, but no monument. to his memory remains. He made his will in 1586, and was buried at York on the 3rd of October. 1588. Mr. Tomlinson gave two different accounts. of this will. In the Hud- dersfield Parish Church Magazine for January, 1886, he wrote :—

“His will, made in 1586, does not mention any of his children, but names his wife and brethren, (brothers) George,

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Edward, Christopher and Roger Brooke, executors, the wit- nesses were Roger Brook of the Greenhouse, and Thomas Brooke, of Bay Hall, Jane Brooke, widow and executrix of Thomas. Brooke is supposed to have been of the Beaumont family, she died in 1612, and is buried at Huddersfield.”’

In his account in the Yorkshire Archeological Journal (Vol. XII., pp. 405—412), Mr. Tomlinson wrote :— I ‘His will was made in 1586, his children are not men- tioned, but his wife is left sole executrix. Jennet or Joanna was the daughter of John Hirst of Greenhead, in the Parish of Huddersfield, and is mentioned in her father’s will, proved in 1582. She was buried at Huddersfield.’’

The reader will note the discrepancies in these two versions; it seems probable that the latter account 1s accurate.

Thomas Brooke II. left two sons and one daughter :— (i) Thomas Brooke III. 7 (i) Edmund Brooke, who married Sybil Brooke, the daughter of Edmund Brooke of the’ Blackhouse, on the 12th of December, 1603, at the Huddersfield Parish Church. 7 (iit) Katherine Brooke, born in 1558, and married Thomas Hanson, of Toothill. She died on February 4th, 1621, and was buried at Elland.

THOMAS BROOKE III. (21540—1624).

He was born in 1540 or 1541, and died at Newhouse on the 24th of September, 1624, and was buried in the Huddersfield Parish Church on the following day. There 1s some doubt as to whom he married. Mr. Tomlinson, in his monograph of the Brookes of Newhouse (H.P.C.M., Jan., 1886), says that this Thomas Brooke ‘‘married Elizabeth, daughter of one of the Hirsts of Greenhead,’’ but in the Somerset Herald’s Pedigree (Y.A.]., Vol. XII., pp. 405—410) no surname is given opposite the Christian name of Elizabeth; possibly this is accurate. Her tombstone can be seen at the North-Eastern corner of the Parish Churchyard. It is much defaced and is cracked in two places, while moss is growing in the cavities thereby formed. In the space below is the motto of the Brookes, ‘‘En Dieu ma Foy.”’ Mr. Barnard Henry Brook renovated the slab in 1855, and added the following inscription upon it to the memory of his wife :— ‘‘In Memory of Mary Maria, the wife of Barnard Henry Brook. She died April 21st, 1854. Aged 76 years and 6 months. She was a Pious and Zealous Christian, a Sincere and a Willing I'riend, Blessed are the Dead which die in

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THE TOMBSTONE OF ELIZABETH BROOKE in the Huddersfield Parish Church Yard.

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the Lord. Renewed 1855, by Barnard Henry Brook, Gent.’’ The inscription on the tombstone of Elizabeth Brooke reads as follows :— ‘‘Here lyeth the Body of Elizabeth, wife of Thomas Brooke the Elder who levid a Godly life and dyed in the faith of Christ. 1 of Febrvrary Ano. Dom. 1616. Her age 63 vr EM. BY Ba Diev ma

An error with respect to the age of Thomas Brooke III. occurs in the Somerset Herald’s Pedigree. The Herald states that Thomas Brooke III. was 74 years old at the time of his death, whereas the inscription on his gravestone as copied by Hobkirk in 1869, and transcribed by Mr. Tomlinson in the Hud- dersfield Parish Church de aco for January, 1886, gives the age as 84.

The gravestone was formerly to be seen at the North-Eastern corner of the Parish Church Yard. . A transcription was printed in Hobkirk’s second edition of the ‘‘History of Huddersfield,’’ (p. 31). At the moment a portion of the original slab can be seen, on which appear the words ‘‘X XIIII. Day of Sept., 1624.”’

Later a replica was placed on the right-hand side of the ~ Chancel in the Parish Church. The inscription reads as follows : ‘“ Here lyeth the Body of Thomas Brooke, of Newhovse, who died the xxiii day of September, A° Dni 1624, A®° aetatis sue Ixxxuil. A cheif frend to the poore, a lover of the Chyrch, and a good member of the Comonwelth, who had yssve Six children, Thomas, . Willm, Elizabeth, and Svsan.’

The arms of the family and the motto, ‘‘En Diev ma foy,’’ then follow.

In the space below the motto, appears the following tribute to Mr, Barnard Henry Brook :—

‘“Here also lieth the body of Barnard Henry Brook of this town, Gentleman. He died on the 11 Feby., 1859. Aged 80 years. He was a loyal subject. A true Churchman and a Humble Christian. Christ died for all men for all are sinners.”’ I Thomas Brooke III. and his wife, Elizabeth, had a very large family :-— I (i) Thomas Brooke IV.

(ii) William Brooke, who founded the Dodworth family, a descendant of whom, John Charles Brooke, the Somerset Herald, compiled the pedigrees of both the poles of Newhouse and of Dodworth.

(i) Jennet Brooke, who married Henry Walker, of Rockley

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Hall, in the Parish of Worsborough, on the 26th of January, 1601. She died on the 6th of October, 1662.

(iv) Susan Brooke, who married Roger Rhodes, of Crofton, at Huddersfield, on the 26th of January, 1607.

(v) Elizabeth Brooke, who married Henry Potter at Hud- dersfield on the 2nd of June, 1617,

(vi) John Brooke, the third son, as stated on his father’s gravestone. ee

The will of Thomas Brooke III. is dated the 25th of June, 1624, and was proved on the 4th of January, 1625. He appointed his son, Thomas Brook IV. as his sole executor. In this will, ‘‘he mentions that he is a widower; and that he has portioned all his children, leaves a year for ever to the poor of Hudders— field; he mentions his grandchild, William Walker, son and heir of Henry Walker, late of the Old Hall alias Rockley; he mentions another gr andchild, Roger, son of Roger and Susan Rhodes. To his grandson, Thorias ‘Brooke, he left ‘the cubbord in my parlor with twelve pieces of pewther stamped with the letters J & C, one pewther cupp, one table in the same paclor, also one long: table in the howse and two long buffettes and cubbord in my said son Thomas’ parlor, three great arkes and fower iron ranges, also three stand beddes, one in the upper parlor, the other in the upper chamber, and the third in the little chamber.’’’ (G. W. Tomlinson, Y.A.J., Vol.’ XII., p. 411).

Was the ‘‘one long table,’’ the refectory table which formerly stood in the Entrance Hall at Newhouse till the end of March, 1933?

THOMAS BROOKE IV. (?21581—1638).

He was. the eldest son of the previously mentioned Thomas Brooke III. and his wife, Elizabeth. He was probably born in 1581, and died in November, 1638, being buried in the Hudders— field Parish Churchyard on the 17th of that moath, aged 57 years; the inscription on his gravestone states 87 years, but as it has been re—cut, it seems likely that an error has been made. It is to be seen at the North-Eastern corner of the churchyard, but as it had become very much worn out as the result of the tramping of feet, a copy was later placed in the left-hand side of the Chancel floor. The inscription on both stones reads as follows :—

‘‘Here resteth the bodie of Thomas Brooke the elder, of Newhovse, who was bvried. November 17, Ao. Dni 1688. In the Chvrch myllitant I fovt so vnshaken that to the Chvrch trivmphant I am taken, I am one oth Chvrch still, Greve not frends to know me advansed higher, whilst I stayed I prayed, now I sing in the qvier. Aet sve 87,”

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Underneath is the coat of arms of the Brookes. The ar- rangement of the words on the slab in the Uhancel is different from that on the original tombstone in the Churchyard.

Thomas Brooke IV. built the left wing of Newhouse Hall, and also placed his initials on the cross—stone of a doorway, which later became used as a gate post, and which was formerly to be seen at the entrance of the Newhouse Estate. On it were in— scribed the letters T.B., 1638, and also the coat of arms of the family. Thomas Brooke IV. married three times :—

(1) Margaret Hanson, the eldest daughter and co—heiress of John Hanson, of Woodhouse, near Brighouse (the celebrated antiquarian). © This marriage took place in 1602. She died in 1615 and was buried at Huddersfield on the 27th of December of that year. Her memory is perpetuated in the oak panel to be seen over the mantel- -piece in the dining room at Newhouse, on which the letters T.M.B. are carved. (Thomas and Margaret Brooke).

(2) Dorothie (or Dorothy) Crosland, the eldest daughter of Thomas Crosland, of Crosland Hill. Dorothy Crosland was born in 1594, and was married at the Huddersfield Parish Church to Thomas Brooke on the 4th of January, 1624. She died at New- house on the 4th of March, 1634, aged 39, and was buried in the Huddersfield Parish Churchyard on the 6th of March of that year. Her memory is perpetuated, first, by the oak panelling over the fireplace in the bedroom on the left wing of Newhouse Hall, which contains the inscription T.D.B. (Thomas and Dorothy Brooke) ; secondly, by her grave stone removed from its original site in the Churchyard to the right-hand side of the Chancel in the Church for better preservation. This removal was effected while Canon Tupper Carey was the Vicar of the Parish Church (1917—1925). The inscription on the tombstone reads as follows :— _ ‘‘Here lyeth the Body of Dorothie, late wife of Thomas Brooke, of Newhouse, eldest daughter of Thomas Crosland, of Crosland Hill, deceased, who died the fourth day of March. Aetatis sue xxxix, Anno Domini, 1634.”’

Her memory was also perpetuated by the fact that a member of her family, a many times great—nephew, the late Mr. T. P. Crosland, J.P., lived at the Hall from 1913 till 1932. It is singu— lar, however, that the compiler of the Crosland pedigree, which formerly hung on the wall of the Entrance Hall, omitted to record ‘her name as the eldest daughter of Thomas Crosland of Crosland Hill, and Dorothy Key, bis wife, after whom she was named. This omission was rectified by Mr, J. W. Clay in ‘this Edition of Dugdale’s ‘‘Visitation.’”’ (p. 182). There were no children from the of Thomas Brooke IV, and Dorothy Crosland,

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(3) Elizabeth Clay, the daughter of a Clay of Clay House, in Greetland. She was a widow at the time of her marriage to Thomas Brooke, having been previously married to Edmund Whittell, son of John Whittell, and had a son by him who was under age in 1641. Some of these details. are omitted in the Somerset Herald’s pedigree (Y.A.J., Vol. XII., p. 405—412). She died in 1641, and was buried at Hudderstield on the 11th of October of that year.

By his first wife, Thomas Brooke IV. had three sons :—

(i) Thomas Brooke V. who was born in 1617, and died unmarried in i637, aged 27 years. He was buried on. the 27th of July at Huddersfield. His gravestone can be seen on the left-hand side of the Chancel of the Parish Church. On it are inscribed the words :—‘‘Here sleepeth the bodie of Thomas Brooke, yonger, of New— hovse, gentleman, who was bvried the 27 July, A® zet svee 27. Christ is to me life, and death is to me advan tadg,, whether I live or dy I am the Lord’s, the memor-— jall of the jvst are blessed, pressihovs in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saintes.’’ I (ii) John Brooke, baptised at Huddersfield on the 25th of August, 1612, and buried on the 24th of July, 1614. (iii) Joshua Brooke, 1614—1652, upon whom the estate at Newhouse eventually devolved. By his third wife, Elizabeth Clay, Thomas Brooke IV. had two children, one son and one daughter.

(i) Thomas Brooke, a posthumous child, at Hud- dersfield on the Znd of December, 1638, and who died

; unmarried. ! (11) Elizabeth Brooke, baptised at Huddersfield on the 6th of December, 1636. She married Matthew Prince, of

Wooley, at Huddersfield, on the 8th of November, 1666. Her father left her £400 in his will,

Thomas Brooke’s will is dated the 14th of August, 1638. He appointed his surviving son, Joshua Brooke, as his. executor, and, stated above, bequeathed £400 to his daughter, Elizabeth, and a further £6 13s. 4d. per annum towards her education. He also enjoined his son, Joshua, to maintaim ‘‘Etizabeth, my loving wife, Elizabeth, my daughter, at his table at Newhouse afore— said, with sufficient howserowme, fyrerowme, lodginge, meat and drink suitable to their callinges, so long only as my wife Elizabeth doth keep herself sole and unmarried, and also during the said time to provide and buy and also keep for the said Elizabeth, my wife, one nagge or mare with his owne.’’ He also left £20 to his widow, 40/— to Mr, Edward Hill, Vicar of Huddersfield, ‘‘not

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doubting that he will make a Sermon amongste my frendes at my funeral.’’ He also left 40/— to his cousin Hanson, to buy a ring; to his sister Susan Ann Rhodes. he bequeathed £10 and to the poor of Huddersfield £5.

Thomas Brooke IV. presented a Silver Cup, Patten and Salver to the Huddersfield Parish Church in 1688. Details of these gifts were recorded in the ‘‘Terrier of 1795’’ reproduced by. Mr. Tomlinson in the Huddersfield Parish Church Magazine for May, 1887. Under the heading of ‘‘Church Furniture’’ we read :—

“One other cup and cover, the cup inscribed ‘Thomas Brook of Newhouse to the Huddersfield Church,’ the cup ‘T.B. 1688.’ Another cup and cover, but no inscription upon it, one bread plate inscribed ‘Thomas Brook’s

Elizabeth Brooke, the third wife of Thomas Brooke IV. made her will in 1641 :— ‘“To said John Whittell, by son, the ringe and Bible which his father gave me; to my loving daughter in law, Sara Brooke, of Newhouse, my best silk gown; to my loving mother my second gown, my second bever hat, my best rideinge suite and all my Horse furniture; to my sister Margerye, wife of William Wilson of Saddleworth, Clerk, my best grogeram gown, my red chamlett petticcat, and my best bever hat; to my sister Margaret, wife of my brother, John Claye, two of my best-gowns, twoe petticoats, together with a riding suite; 20/— to Mr. Edward Hill, Vicar of Huddersfield, for a funeral sermon; to my daughter, Elizabeth, my better Bible, and a gold ring that her father gave me.’’

The next owner of Newhouse on the death of Thomas Brooke IV. was his second surviving son, Joshua Brooke. I

JOSHUA BROOKE, 1614-1652.

He was the last of the direct male line of the Brookes of New- house, according to the pedigree. He was baptised at the Huddersfield Parish Church on the 9th of October, 1614, and died at Newhouse on the 20th of November, 1652, aged 38 years. Very little is known concerning him, says Mr. Tomlinson, except that he was a wealthy tanner. He gave the font cover to the Huddersfield Parish Chprch in 1640. This font cover is still to be seen inside the sacred edifice. He married Sarah Townend of Nether Hoyland in the parish of Worsborougk. He left no will and consequently his widow administered his estate after his death.

By his wife, Sarah Townend, he had three daughters :—

(1) Sarah Brooke, who married John Gill of Carr House, Rotherham, on the 3lst of January, 1665. They had one daughter Sarah Gill who died unmarried,

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(i) Margaret Brooke, who died in infancy and was buried on the dth of August, 1641. (iii) Hellen Brooke, baptised on the 9th of November, 1645, at the Huddersfield Parish Church. At the same Church ‘she married John Townley, Esq., J.P., for Lancashire, on the 4th of August, 1681.

The Rev. Oliver Heywood made a note of this marriage and entered it in the Parish Register of Northowram Church :—__

Townley and Mrs. Eleanor Brooke, of Newhouse, m. August 4th, 1681. ”

The reader will note the quaint descriptioa of Hellen Brooke as Mrs. Eleanor Brooke. (Quoted by Canon Hulbert in his of Almondbury,’’ p. 485).

It was while Mrs. Sarah Brooke, the widow of Joshua Brooke, was mistress of Newhouse Hall that the above mentioned Oliver Heywood paid frequent visits there and on one occasion described her as ‘“‘ the old (Section ii., p. 54). During her period of widowhood, too, the Hearth Tax was imposed upon the inhabitants of Huddersfield and she was compelled to pay tax on eight hearths in 1664. (Section i1., p. 66).

She died in 1688 and was bac at Huddersfield on the 5rd of September of that year. Oliver Heywood also made a note of: her death in the Parish Register of Northowram Church :— ‘“‘Mrs. Brook, of Newhouse, in Huthersfield Parish, buried Sept. 3rd, aged 66.”’

THE TOWNTAYS AND THE WILKINSONS AT NEWHOUSE HALE,

After the death of Mrs. Sarah Brooke, the estate at Newhouse devolved upon Hellen Brooke, her youngest daughter and her husband John Townley. Besides being a J.P. for the West Riding of Yorkshire, he was also a Ba at-Law.

Jchn Townley died in 1704 and his wife Hellen died on the 25th of May, 1719.. Both were buried in the Huddersfield Parish Church. Their children were two sons and one daughter : (i) John Townley, baptised at Huddersfield, October 7th, 1685, buried there 23rd of April, 1700. (ii) Bernard Townley, baptised at Huddersfield 26th August, 1686, buried there 17th of February, 1687. (111) Hellen Townley. She was baptised at the Huddersfield Parish Church on the 20th of July, 1682, and married John Wilkinson, son of Matthew Wilkinson of Greenhead Hall (the Hall which stood on the site of the present High

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School for Girls) at Kirkheaton on the 4th of May, 1708. She died in 1730 and her. husband jredeceased her in 172 There were two children from ‘he marriage :— _ (a) John Wilkinson, who was. born in 1710 and who died unmarried in 1736. : I (b) Helen Wilkinson, who was baptised at the Hud- dershield Church on the 28rd of February, 1709, and who died in 1729. She married Sir John Lister Kaye of Denby Grange, and had one son by him, Sir John Lister Kaye.

‘Thus a portion of the Newhouse estates became the of the Lister Kayes of Denby Grange.

Catherine Townley, who was baptised on the 16th of August, 1683. She married Major Richard White, Major or Governor of the Tower of London. He eventually possessed Newhouse by right of his wife and appears to have had the power to bequeathe it to whom he desired. As there were no children from this marriage, the other half of the Newhouse Estates which apparently included the Hall devolved upon a nephew of Major White, Richard Chamberlaine, a son of his sister, also of the Ay er of London.

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THE PEDIGREE OF THE BROOKES OF NEWHOUSE, 1n tue Parisn or HupDERSFIELD.

Drawn by John Charles Brooke, Esq., Somerset Herald, and copied from the MS. in the possession of his niece, Mrs. Longwood, by

the late T. N. Ince.

Thomas Brooke (1) of Newhouse will dated 8 Jan., 1553; proved 27 June, 1554

= Jennett .....

Thomas Brooke (2) of Newhouse living temp. Henry VIII; will proved at York 3 Oct., 1588, by Jennet, his widow, sole executrix

= Jennet, dau. of John Hirst, of Greenhead, buried at -Hudders- field 29 July, 1612

Printed, with a few alterations, in Y.A.J., Vol. XU., pp. 402-411, by Mr. G. W. Tomlinson.

Pte John Brooke George Brooke Edward Brooke Christopher Brooke Roger Brooke

Ticeusi Brooke (3) of Newhouse,—Elizabeth, dau. of...

died at Huddersfield, 24 Sept., 1624, age 74; buried at Hudd- ersheld 24 Sept., 1624. Will dated 25 June, 1624; proved at York by Thomas, his son, sole

buried at Huddersheld 3 Feb., 1616, aged 63

Edmund Brcoke —Sybil, dau. of Edmund Brooke, of Blackhouse, married 12 Dec., 1603, at Huddersheld

executor, 4 Jan., 1625

aged

Thomas Brooke (4) of New-—(i)

house, buried at Hudd- ersheld, 17 Nov., 1638, aged 57. Will dated 14 Aug., 1638. Sole exec- utor to his father’s will

This stone gives his age as 87, but having been recut is not reliable

Margaret, eldest dau. and co- heiress of John Hanson, of Wood- house, m. as per an old paper (t.e. a Bill in Chancery) circa 2 James I. Buried at Huddersheld 27 Dec., 1615 (ii) Dorothy, eldest dau. of Thomas Crosland, of Crosland Hill. m. at Huddersfield 4 Jan., 1624, d; at Newhouse, 4 March, 1634; buried 6 March, 1634

(iii) Elizabeth Clay, of -

Widow of ......... Whittell, buried at Huddersheld 11 Oct., 1641. Will proved 8 Nov., 1647

I William Brooke,—Judith, dau. of bap. at Hudd- John ersheld 17 Jan., of 1584, d. 19 May, 1672. Buried at Silkstone, 22 May, 1672 Will dated 20 May, 1671. Proved at York 17 July, 1672

I

I Jennet Brooke=John Felker Alice Brooke Agnes Brooke Elizabeth Brooke

Katherine Brooke, buried—Thomas Hanson, at Elland, Feb. 4, 1621,

of Toothill 73

Susan Brooke, bap. 2 Apl.,

>

Jan., 1607

I Jennet Brooke, —Henry Walker, m. 26 Jan., 1601, d.6 Oct., 1662

=Roger Rhodes

Somerset Herald, was descended.

I I Elizabeth Brooke, John Brooke, bap. 16 Aug., bap. 24 Nov., 1590, m. 2 June 1594 1617 Potter

DODWORTH BRANCH OF BROOKES, from whom John Charles Brooke, Esq.,

81

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(i) I I Thomas Brooke, buried John Brooke, bap. at at Huddersfield 27 Huddersfield 25 Aug. July, 1637, aged 27. 1612; buried 24 Died unmarried July, 1614

(i) (i) (iii) ; ; I Joshua Brooke, of New-—Sarah Townend, of house, bap. at Hudders- Nether Hoyland, in held, 9 Gct., 1614, buried I the Parish of Wors- there 20 Nov., 1652 borough, Co. York. Sole executor to his Buried at Hudders- father, 1638, died intes- field 3 Sept., 1683 tate, his wife adminis- tered

Thomas Brooke, bap. 2 Dec., 1638. A posthumous son, died unmarried

(ni)

ae Elizabeth Brooke,—Matthew Prince, bap. of Woolley

i (i) Sarah Brooke =John Gill, of Carr House, Rother-—(ii) Martha, dau. of Joshua m. at Huddersfeld ham, High Sheriff of York, 1692 Horton, Esq., of Horton, 31 Jan., 1665 near Bradford

Sarah Gill, bap. 17 March, 1674 (died in infancy) oe

Huddersfield 9 Nov., 1645, m. there 4 Aug., 1681, buried ! there 25 May, 1719

SS anole seas

Hellen Brooke, bap. at—John Townley, Esq., J.P.,

I Margaret Brooke, died in infancy, buried at Hudd- ersheld 5 Aug., 1641

for the W.R. of York- shire, Barrister at Law, buried at Huddersfield 1704

I =e Sot Ss ss sie ie Hellen Townley, bap. 20—John Wilkinson, Catherine Townley, =Richard White, Major, July, 1682, m. at Kirk- of Greenhead, bap. at Huddersfeld or Governor of. the May, 1708, died 1727 16 Aug., 1683 Tower of London 2

I I I John Wilkinson, bap. at Hudders- Helen Wilkinson, bap. 23— Sir John Lister Kaye, Bart., of Denby Grange field, 26 1710, died 1726 Feb., 1709, died 1729 (unmarried)

Sir John Lister Kaye, Bart., of Denby Grange

(i) John Townley, bap. 7 Oct., 1685, buried 23 April, 1700 (ii) Bernard Townley, bap. 26 Aug., 1686, buried 17 Feb., 1687

82

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83 vi. THE TENANTS OF NEWHOUSE HALL.

As already stated, after the sale of the Newhouse estates by Mr. Chamberlaine to Mr. Thomas Thornhill in 1751, the Hall was let out to tenants.

The writer has had some difficulty in ascertaining the names of all the tenants from 1751 to 1854, and the precise years when they lived at Newhouse. Till we come to the middle of the 19th century, when the names of. the occupiers are definitely recorded in the archives of the Ramsden Estate, we are dependent for our information from details supplied by descendants of former tenants.

THOMAS BROOK.

The writer has been informed on very good authority that a family of Brooks, of which the above Thomas was the then representative, occupied Newhouse Hall at some period after its purchase by the Thornhills of Fixby. It is believed that the Brooks lived here during the last decades of the 18th century, and in the early part of the 19th. I Copies of leases (or the originals) are supposed to exist, but the writer has not seen them.

There is an element of romance associated with Thomas Brook. He appears to have been related in some way to the original Brookes of Newhouse, whether with that branch or with the Dodworth branch, it is difficult to say as the writer has not yet come across an authenticated pedigree. At an early age, Thomas Brook emigrated to the New England Colonies, and made a fortune by trading between South Carolina and Hon- duras. His two vessels, the ‘‘Merry Maid”’ and ‘‘The Marathon,’’ must have witnessed stirring events in the latter days-of the War of the American Independence, 1775—1783. He came back to England after the Declaration of Independence of the U.S.A. had been acknowledged by Great Britain in 1783.. On his return to Huddersfield, he found the fortunes of his family, who had been ignorant concerning his travels after his departure from this locality, at a very low ebb, and retrieved their condition by estab— lishing them at Newhouse.

Thomas Brook had five sons and several daughters. Two of the former eventually settled at Netheroyd Hill and brought. opprobium upon themselves by forsaking the Anglican Church and associating with Salendine Nook Baptist Chapel, which had been founded in 1739—1742. He and his sons were aniong the first in this district to introduce machinery in the Woollen Indus— try, although it is believed that the two sons at Netheroyd Hill still maintained the old hand—-loom weaving: system, Twice a

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week a waggon was loaded with cloth. It was drawn by horses in the charge of one of the two sons and two drivers. From Newhouse and Netheroyd Hill it travelled to London, via the Great North Road. Two men on horseback, armed with pistols, rode on each side of the waggon. ‘The owner and the driver were also armed lest they should encounter highwaymen of the Dick Turpin fraternity ! Christmas time at Newhouse Hall in the days when this family of Brooks lived here, was a scene of merriment and revelry. All the members of the family and their relatives from near and far participated in Yuletide festivities. A heifer was

roasted in the open fireplace. On a large table in the Entrance.

Hall, the Christmas fare of those days was spread and thoroughly enjoyed by all. Cakes and ale were amongst the items in the menu, while the wassail-bowl was passed round. Later in the evening, the table was removed to one side of the room and danc— ing indulged in to the tune of fiddlers who played their instru- ments on the twisted oak staircase.

The above details concerning Thomas Brook and the festivi-.

ties at Newhouse have becn communicated to the writer by one of his descendants,

Mr, GEORGE, DYSON,

The first tenant concerning whom we have definite record is Mr. G. Dyson, a Wool Merchant, a member of the firm of John Dyson & Sons (Williams’s ‘‘Directory of Huddersfield,’’ 1845). He lived at the Hall for some years. previous to his death, which took place on the 18th of January, 1850. A tablet to his memory can be seen on the wall of Christ Church, Woodhouse :—

‘Sacred to the Memory cf George Dyson, of Newhouse, Huddersfield, Wool Merchant, who died January XVIIIth MDCCCL. Aged 56 years.’’

Mr: JOSEPH ARMITAGE,

The last tenant under the Thornhill. ownership of Newhouse, was the above. Mr. Armitage, a well-known Market Gardener, Florist and Agriculturalist in his day.

Mr. Armitage was born in 1804 at the Old Hat Inn, widen then belonged to his father. In 1820, he became a market gar— dener and resided in Spring Street, Pcie he cultivated a large garden which extended to Greenhead Road.

At an early age he:associated himself with the Wesleyan Methodists of Queen Street, and continued till the time of the ‘‘Secession’’ in 1851. For about thirty years he taught in the Sunday School there. Mr. Armitage was amongst those who

i —.~. SS

Page 53

en es

85

seceded from Queen Street and became one of the founders of Brunswick Street Free Wesleyan Chapel, of which he remained «a member till the time of his death.

About 1840, Mr, Armitage left Spring Street and removed to ‘‘Rose Cottage,’’ Birkby, on the site of which now stands the Palladium Picture House. In the early 50’s, he rented Newhouse Hall from the Thornhills, and made the house his headquarters, although he retained his farm in Birkby. His son, Mr. Joseph Armitage, Junr., who emigrated to New Zealand and died there at the age of 85 years, in a letter to his relatives, wrote some of his boyhood experiences. To him, ‘‘Newhouse Hall was both a ‘thing of beauty and a joy for ever.’’’ He said that one Whit- Monday during his father’s tenancy of the Hall, the Sunday School scholars. of Brunswick Street Chapel went there for their annual ‘“‘feast,’’ but one visit satisfied his father, the children played ina field close to the farm, and ‘‘did not eet to destroy the fences’’( !)

Mr. Armitage, Sen., in 1857, sold his interest in the land. furniture, farm—produce and cattle to Mr. Godfrey Binns, Junr., of Deighton, and this ended his connection with the old Hall.. He continued to reside at Rose Cottage, Birkby, where in August, 1888, on the occasion of his 84th birthday, he entertained a com— pany of forty-seven persons. Incidentally, it also celebrated the bi-centenary of his home in Birkby.

He died on the 9th of December, 1888, and was interred in the Huddersfield Cemetery on the 18th. One of his four sons, founded the firm of James Armitage & Sons, which is. still carried on by his grandson, Mr. Arnold Armitage.

Mi BINNS,

From the archives of the Ramsden Estate we gather that ‘the first tenant after Sir J. W. Ramsden purchased the Hall was Mr. Godfrey Binns, Junr., of Deighton.’’

It is difficult to state the precise date when Mr. Binns took up residence at Newhouse. [From informaion supplied by the above— mentioned archives, it would appear that he was in occupation in 1854; but, from the letters of the late Mr. Joseph Armitage, Junr. . it would seem that his father left in 1857, ‘‘for Mr. Binns was about to get married and his future bride fancied living in the © pi, Hall?’

Mr, Godfrey Binns was the eldest son of Mr. Godfrey Binns, Senr., of Warrenfield House, Sheepridge, by his third wife. ‘‘The Mercantile Directory of Halifax, Huddersfield and Dewsbury,’’ printed in 1863, states that Mr. Binns, Junr., was a farmer. Two years afterwards he left Newhouse and resided at Sowerby Bridge. » Subsequently he settled in Berlin and owned a mill outside the City. He was alive in 1901,

Page 54

86 Mr. JOSEPH STORK,

The next tenant of Newhouse Hall was Mr. Joseph Stork. who took up his residence there in the Autumn of 1865. He was the youngest surviving son of Mr. Thomas Stork, of Cowcliffe, whose forbears had lived in that locality for many generations previously. Mr. Stork was born on the 3rd of December, 1820.

A wave of emigration from Huddersfield to the Dominions and to the U.S.A. took place in the middle of the last century. About the age of 21, Mr. Stork with £20 in his pocket set sail for the States. Here he tried his hand at all sorts of jobs and pro— fesstons. Later in life, he used to relate how, in his younger days, he had worked on a canal boat which carried grain down one of the large rivers in the U.S.A. Mr. Stork remained in the States for nearly twenty years, during which time he amassed a large sum of money. While in America he married a lady who died shortly afterwards. He returned to Huddersfield about 1854, and from that year till 1864 was associatcd with Mr. George Scholes of the Clough House Mills, under the name of George Scholes & Co., Spinners. I In 1864, he, in partnership with his two brothers, founded the well-known firm of Stork Brothers, Woollen and. Angola Yarn Spinners.

Shortly after his return to Huddersfield, he married Miss Elizabeth Stansfield, who died a few months after. In 1861, he married his third wife, Miss Ellen Scholes, the eldest daughter of Mr. John Scholes, of Bradley Grange. Mrs. Stork was born at Bradley Grange on the 8th of August, 1830,.and died on the 28rd cof June, 1907, at the age of 71. After his third marriage, Mr. Stork lived in a house formerly situated on the site of the Palladium Picture House in Birkby. As his family increased, he removed to Wiggan House, Sheepridge.

Previous to his third marriage, Mr, Stork had been a membe: of the Church of England, but, on his removal to Sheepridge, he associated himself with Wesleyan Methodism. Mr. Stork off- ciated as Treasurer of the Sheepridge Wesleyan Church, and also held the office of Sunday School Superintendent. Mr. Stork was a Liberal in politics, and during’ his residence at Wiggan House and at Newhouse, was President of the Sheep-— ridge Liberal Club. He was one of the first members of the Huddersfield Town Council, and sat as Councillor for the Fartown Ward from 1868 to 1871. I I

In 1865, Mr. Stork removed from Wiggan House to New - house Hall, and contributed to the restoration of the old home- stead which was then in ‘‘a poor condition.’ Considerable alterations were effected, and as we have already stated, the right wing was pulled down and rebuilt (p, 45),

ae

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87

Mr. Stork’s great hobby was farming, and one reason which induced him to remove to Newhouse was the amount of land then available for agricultural purposes. Under the Thornhill ownership, and in the early days of the Ramsden ownership, both the Hall and the farm were leased out to the same tenants, and this policy was pursued until after Mr. Stork’s when the Newhouse estates were divided, the Hall and the farm were let separately. On Christmas Eve, the Sheepridge Brass Band played carols and hymns in the Entrance Hall. At the conclusion of the pro- gramme, the performers were regaled with cakes and beer. On these festive occasions a huge fire was lit in the open fireplace; decorations and festoons were hung across the ceiling, and: an endeavour was made by Mr. Stork and his family to keep up the old-time Xmas traditions. I

Mr. J. Stork died, on the 18th of February,. 1892, and was interred in the cemetery of Christ Church, Woodhouse.

THE SILVER GUP,, PATTEN: AND SALVER presented to the Parish Church by Thomas Brooke of Newhouse in 1638. Photographed by kind permission of Canon A. Baines, M.A., Vicar of St. Peter’s, Huddersfield. Phote by Mr. A, 7, Dawson,

Page 56

Lee OF

of Cowcliffe,

Pose Stork, of Cowcliffe - b. 1796, d. April 11, 1874

I Ann Stork, John Stork, William Stork, / b. 1813, ‘d. Jan. Sep. 26, 1817. b. May 24, 1819 Newhouse. 12, 1875 =Caroline Steel d. Sep. 30, 1880. b, Dec. 3, 1820, Oddy, (isue) =Caroline b. 1810, d. Noy. Thomas 20, 1876

Ss se I

I I Mary Sabina, Thomas Henry Stork, b. Apr. 25, 1862 b. July 7, 1863, ~ b. March 29, 1865, d. Nov. 30, 1932 emigrated to Aus- _ d. Aug. 9. 1931 — Arthur Green tralia i —A. E. Hardy, Esq.

oot.

tas Ann

ON 1

Newhouse Hall,

ork, of — (i) An American lady

THE

STORKS and of Riley,

Kirkburton.

—Mary Scholes, dau. of George Scholes, of Sheepridge, and of Martha Payn, his wife, b. Feb. 19, 1795, d. June 20,

1826

Martha Stork,

-—“Tii) Elizabeth Stansheld, b.

Edward Stork, b. Oct. 8, 1897 d. Oct.

b. 1830, d. June 4, $858 1822

John Scholes, of Bradley and of Mary Ann Chadwick, his wife. b. Aug. 8 1829, m. July 24, — d. June 23, 1907

Se

Eleanora, b. Aug. 12, 1867 d. May 25, 1868

John Arthur Stork, b. Mar. 11, 1869, d. Sep. 3, 1931

15, 1902 = Richard Leslie Brown

‘ i

Harriett Stork, April . 14.

d. Feb. 18, (892 (iii) Ellen "Scholes, dan. of =George Watson

—— Margaret Stork, b. June 19, 1905, d. May 7, 1922

I I Elizabeth, Thomas Stork, b. Oct. 6, 1814, b. June 11, 1826 d. young

b. June 30, 1823 —Jeremiah Holt

I Joseph Edward Stork, —Elizabeth Stansfield, of Riley, Kirkburton, dau. of Joseph b. Oct. 20, 1871 Hudson Stansfield, Esq , and of Helen

Mallinson, his wife

i William Stork, b. Nov. 8, 1911

Page 57

89

Mr. oC) AW. KEIGHLEY, 1.P,

After the death of Mr. Stork in 1892, Newhouse Hall was occupied by Mr. C. W. Keighley.’ He was born in Halifax in 1848, but at an early age he came to Huddersfield, where he re- ceived part of his education, although he completed his studies at the Edinburgh High School. His father, Mr. William Keighley, was a partner in the firm of Messrs. Lockwood & Keighley, who carried on business as Woollen and Worsted Manufacturers at Upperhead Mills, Huddersfield. Mr. William Keighley died in 1869, and the management of the firm then de— volved upon his son. The business was converted into a private limited company in 1900, and for many years Mr. Keighley was Chairman of the Directors. I ) I Mr. Keighley was appointed a J.P. for the Upper Agbrigg Division in 1885, and was a Magistrate of the Huddersfield County Bench. For some time he sat in the Huddersfield Town Council, from 1871 to 1874, and was one of the original Governors of the Huddersfield Technical College.

Originally he was connected with Buxton Road Wesleyan Church, but when he took up his residence at Newhouse in 1892, he became associated with Christ Church, Woodhouse. For eight years he was Vicar’s Warden to Canon A. Whorlow. Later, he became Vicar’s Warden at St. Thomas’s Church, Long— royd Bridge,

Mr. Keighley left Newhouse in 1903, and later resided at Deganwy, North Wales, where he died on the 23rd of November, 1924,

A ‘memorial tablet is to be seen on the North wall of the Chancel of Christ Church, Woodhouse :—

‘In Loving Memory of Charles William Keighley, J.P.> late of Newhouse, Sheepridge, Huddersfield, and ‘Gwynedd,’ Deganwy, North Wales. Born October, 1848. Died 23rd November, 1924. For many years Church Warden and ardent worker of this Church. ‘They pass beyond our touch, beyond our sight. Never, thank God, Beyond our Love and Prayers:

Mr.. ARCHIBALD, HENRY. JOHN. FLETCHER, MA.

Mr. Fletcher resided at Newhouse from 1908 till 1913. He was a partner in the firm of Laycock, Dyson & Laycock, Soli— citors, Cloth Hall Street, Huddersfield. I He married Florence Emillie, the daughter of the Rev. Anthony Bunting, B.A., of Kilsby, Northants., and had two sons and one daughter. He left Newhouse in 1918, retired to Newick in Sussex. While he lived in Huddersfield he was actively associated with the Hud- dersfield Dramatic Society, which came to an end during the war.

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90 Mr PS

Mr. Thomas Pearson Crosland was the eldest son of Mr. T. P. Crosland, M.P. for Huddersfield, 1865—1868, by his third wife, Julia Cousins, daughter of James Cousins, Esq., of Bristol.

I He was born at Gledholt Hall (then the residence of his father) on the 16th of Iebruary, 1854. He was educated pri- vately in London, and completed his educational studies in Brussels. He entered the business of George Crosland & Sons, Cloth and Woollen Manufacturers at Crosland Moor, of which his father was then the principal. The old mills at Crosland Moor were burnt down in February, 1915. He later became a Director of Messrs. Read Holliday & Sons, before that firm became merged into what is now the British Dyestuffs Corporation.

Mr. Crosland married Charlotte Elizabeth, the daughter of Mr. John Sykes, of Croes Howel, Denbighshire, Wales, on the 19th of February, 1877. Mrs. Crosland died at Newhouse on the dth of February, 1921, and was buried in the cemetery of Christ Church, Woodhouse. After his marriage, Mr. Crosland lived at Birkby Grange. His only hobby was shooting, and it was this love of spert which tempted him to leave Birkby Grange and reside at Wessenden Lodge, which he inherited after the death of his uncle, Sir Joseph Crosland, M.P. In 1913 he left Wessen— den and took up his residence at Newhouse, where he learned that a many times great-aunt of his, Dorothy Crosland, had lived there from 1624 to 1634.

He was a staunch Conservative in politics. He was one of the original founders of the Huddersfield and County Conserva-— tive Club, and for over twenty years:was the Honorary Treasurer of the Huddersfield Conservative Association. He took an active interest in the General Elections of 1885, 1886, 1892, when he worked vigorously on behalf of his uncle, Sir Joseph Crosland. In these elections the latter was not fortunate in securing election, but on the 4th of february, 1893, Mr. Crosland had the pleasure of seeing his uncle returned as M.P. ‘for Huddersfield, the second occasion On which a member of this family had that honour. Mr. T. P. Crosland died at Newhouse Hall on the 31st Aug., 1932, and was interred in Christ Church Cemetery, Woodhouse His brother, Mr. A. P. Crosland, continued to live at the Hal! until March, 1933. The present occupier of the Hall is Mr, Walter Hepworth,

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