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WALE 11 } “HflIlllllIHlHHIiiln Js
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PART FOUR
Gordon and Enid Minter
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Front cover:- Cambridge Road Baths Back cover:- Clock Tower, Lindley
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DISCOVERING
OLD HUDDERSFIELD
PART FOUR
By
Gordon and Enid Minter
Illustrations by J.R. Beswick
2000
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ISBN 9524747 6 X
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CONTENTS
Page Introduction i Directions 1 The Tour 3 at Newhouse 15 at Marsh 37 at Lindley 41 at Salendine Nook 64 at Paddock 72 at Lockwood 87 at Beaumont Park 92
Bibliography & Sources 106
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'Man could scarcely have achieved a greater triumph than that which shews itself in the work he has done in this town and neighbourhood.'
George Searle Phillips, 1848
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INTRODUCTION
Like the other books in the Discovering Old Huddersfield series, part four is designed to take you, the reader, out into the local district to discover how much of the past remains to be seen in our busy modern town and suburbs and, in some cases, how much has disappeared. Initially, we put together a route that started at the Parish Church in Kirkgate, ran through Newhouse, Marsh, Lindley, Paddock, Beaumont Park, Armitage Bridge, Berry Brow and Almondbury and ended at the old Palace Theatre in Kirkgate. However, when we started the research we soon realised that by the time we reached Beaumont Park we would have enough matenal for the whole book. Consequently, part four contains only one car tour - our shortest so far - and the route is not circular. But Beaumont Park is as pleasant a place as any to end the tour offering, as it does, the opportunity to take a quiet stroll after eight eventful, interesting and busy miles. As in the earlier books we have given directions for the whole route before the commentary. To help locate the features discussed in the commentary each has been given a reference number which appears in the appropriate place in the directions. Where there may be some confusion, directions also appear, in italics, in the text. The roads covered on this tour are, more often than not, extremely busy. Fast moving traffic has no sympathy for dawdlers and it is inevitable that some sites will be passed before they are recognised. There is, then, a lot to be said for tackling parts of the route on foot and to this end we have noted each mile in the directions. Thus, if you decide to leave your car to explore sites or features of particular interest to you, you will know roughly how far you have to walk. Occasionally, we have suggested short optional walks or drives. Directions for these, (O.W. and O0.D.), are given, in italics, in the commentary. Inevitably, in part four we meet routes of previous tours and where we come upon features already described, rather than repeat ourselves, we refer you to the appropriate places in parts one, two and three. Thus D.0.H.2.1. No.51 refers to part two, tour one, number 51. Using this method helps us to explain why, for example, in this book we pass an interesting area like Greenhead Park without comment. With the dawn of a new century we have, grudgingly, decided that the
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time has come to give precedence to the metric system. Most distances are given in metres with yards reduced to second place. Only when we are quoting from old documents and specifications do we use imperial measurements exclusively. As before, in both commentary and directions instead of using compass points we have used the less complicated left and right hand side and these should, of course, be taken to refer to the direction in which you are travelling. Once again we give our usual warning that some of the information contained in any guide book is likely to be out of date before the book is published. So speedily does the local scene change that not one of our previous tours is now exactly as we described it and, inevitably, this tour will be similarly affected. Indeed, while writing this introduction in May 2000 we learned of a proposal to institute a new, one way system round the open market in Huddersfield. If this comes to pass part of our route will be cut off. Unfortunately we discovered the scheme too late to change the commentary but we have been able to insert an alternative in the directions. It is also necessary to mention here that the path between the twin chapels in Edgerton Cemetry has recently been closed. If the closure remains in force simply walk round the side of one of the chapels to regain our route. Of course, given their poor state of repair it is possible that the chapels will be demolished in the not too distant future and the scene will be greatly changed. Once again we acknowledge the help of Mike and Cynthia Beaumont, Susan Cottrill and Alison Hughes all of whom know far, far more about the practical details of producing a book than we do. We thank Peter Greenwood for the history of Brook Motors, Alan Walshaw for the description of card clothing, David Green for patiently answering our questions about the Brown Cow public house and, of course, Richard Beswick for his illustrations. Part four has taken eighteen months to write - probably because we are fast approaching extreme old age. Yet we feel we have one more book in us, not, perhaps, a 'tour' book but one that might be subtitled bits and bats and unconsidered trifles - a mixture of interesting sites, buildings and features that we have been unable to attach to a viable route. So, if we are spared, we will be back.
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BENEFACTORS AND BUSINESSMEN
When we sought a title for this tour it occurred to us that, in the eight miles involved, we pass the homes and workplaces and (optionally) visit the last resting places of a number of wealthy nineteenth century businessmen some, but by no means all, of whom chose to use their wealth and their position in society to benefit the local community. Of course, as with all our tours much more is involved than the title suggests and this one includes churches and chapels, schools, warehouses, co-operative stores, cinemas and a theatre, tramways, railways and the canal, old water courses, bridges, Edgerton Cemetery and the late and lamented Cambridge Road Baths. Beaumont Park is the last of Huddersfield's four major parks to be included in our tours and we have devoted rather a lot of space to it. There are three reasons for this: it was the first public park in the district to be officially opened; the opening day provides a good example, only hinted at in our previous tours, of how our forebears liked to indulge themselves in an orgy of bunting and banners, processions and speeches; we like Victorian
parks. DIRECTIONS
The tour starts at the church gates in Kirkgate (1,2). Turn right into Byram Street (3, 4, 5, 6) cross St. Peter's Street and Northumberland Street (7) and turn left into Brook Street. At the top of Brook Street turn right into John William Street and continue under the railway viaduct into St. John's Road. In approximately 320 metres (350 yds) turn left into Clare Hill (8, 9). ALTERNATIVE ROUTE: It is likely that from Northumberland Street, Byram Street and Brook Street will soon become part of a one way system thus blocking the above route to Clare Hill. In this eventuality turn right at Northumberland Street and left at the ring road, s.p. Bradford, Halifax and Rochdale, take the right hand lane under the viaduct, turn right into St. John's Road, s.p. Cambridge Road car park, and in 320 metres (350 yds) turn left into Clare Hill. In 228 metres (250 yds) turn left into Claremont Street and in 83 metres (90 yds) turn right Belmont Street (10). At the T junction with Highfields Road turn right (O.W. 11,12,13) and almost immediately left into the narrow, cobbled section of the road (14,15) to the junction with New North Road
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(16,17). This is one mile from the starting point. Turn left into New North Road then first right into Mountjoy Road (18,19). At the end of Mountjoy Road turn right into Trinity Street, A640, (20). N.B. This difficult right turn should be executed with extreme caution. At the Gledholt roundabout take the second exit, s.p. Rochdale, M62 and the west, into Westbourne Road (21) and continue through Marsh (22, 23, 24, 25) to the roundabout (26) by the Bay Horse public house. This is one mile from the end of Highfields Road. At the roundabout take the third exit into Acre Street (27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32). At the Clock Tower (33) continue straight ahead into Lidget Street (34, 35,36, 37,38). From the end of Lidget Street turn left into West Street (39) and follow this to its junction with Cowrakes Road (40). This is one mile from the Bay Horse. Follow Cowrakes Road (41) up the hill and at the next cross-roads continue straight ahead into Moor Hill Road (42,43, 44, 45, 46, 47). At the end of Moor Hill Road turn left into New Hey Road, A640. This is one mile from the beginning of Cowrakes Road. Drive down New Hey Road, through Marsh, and after 1.8 miles, at the Gledholt roundabout by the Junction public house take the third exit into Gledholt Road to pass Gledholt Hall on the right (48, 49, O.W. 50) . This is two miles from the end of Moor Hill Road. Continue down Gledholt Road (51,52) to Paddock Triangle (53), turn right then quickly left into Colne Street and down the hill to Paddock Foot (54, 55, 56, 57, O. W. 58, 59). Follow Paddock Foot into Longroyd Lane, s.p. Oldham A62, and at the traffic lights at Longroyd Bridge turn right into Manchester Road and, at the next lights, left into St. Thomas' Road (60, 61, 62, 63, 64). Continue to the traffic lights at Folly Hall. This is one mile fromn Gledholt Hall. Tum right at the lights into Lockwood Road and after two thirds of a mile, at the traffic lights at Lockwood Bar, take the left hand lane and continue straight ahead into Meltham Road, s.p. B6108 Netherton and Meltham (O0.D. 65, 66). After about a quarter of a mile fork right into Hanson Lane and at the top of the hill continue straight ahead into Beaumont Park Road. In half a mile stop outside the main gates of Beaumont Park (67, O.W. 68) where the tour ends. This is 1.4 miles from Folly Hall, 8.4 miles from the starting point.
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Because the first part of our tour runs through two busy town streets readers might like to try for a parking space in either Lord Street or Byram Street and explore Nos. 1 to 5 on foot.
THE PARISH CHURCH OF ST. PETER (1) Like the parish churches of Almondbury and Kirkheaton, St. Peter's church was built near the eastern edge of its large parish and close to an ancient north-south highway. After the Norman Conquest in 1066 Huddersfield was one of two hundred manors granted by King William I to one of his supporters, Ilbert de Laci, the whole estate forming the Honour of Pontefract. There was no mention of a church in Huddersfield in 1086 when the manor was described in Domesday Book. Legend has it that the first church on the site was erected by Walter de Laci who, when he fell into a marsh somewhere between Huddersfield and Halifax, swore to his God that if he was saved he would build a church on the family lands in Huddersfield. Whether or not this romantic tale is true, it is likely that the first church on the site was built by the de Lacis towards the end of the eleventh century. Certainly the church was up and running by 1130 for in that year it was granted to the Priory of St. Oswald at Nostell. For the next four hundred years the Priory was in possession of the church and its lands and the Prior had the right and duty to appoint a vicar as and when necessary. The first vicar of whom there is any record was Michael de Wakefield who was appointed in 1216. He was allowed a suitable vicarage, which was built close to the church, and he was granted the offerings at the alter. The Prior reserved for himself the tythes of corn, hay, peas and beans. A tythe is a tenth and therefore the Prior was receiving, in kind, a tenth of all the most important produce of the parish. In later times, vicars were allowed the smaller tythes such as wool and lambs but right up to the Reformation the Prior continued to receive the greater tythes. In the early years of the sixteenth century the small Norman church was pulled down and replaced by a larger and more imposing structure which was consecrated in 1503. In 1546, after the Reformation, William Ramsden purchased the advowson of Huddersfield church - that is the right to appoint a vicar.
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In 1575, only seventy years after the rebuilding, a report stated that the chancel was 'out of reparation and the raine raineth into the church.' The chancel roof, in fact, had collapsed in 1568 killing the parish clerk. The Kaye Commonplace Book, compiled by Arthur Kaye of Woodsome and his heirs, gives an insight into the condition of the church towards the end of the sixteenth century. It seems that the church was without stalls and the parishioners had to kneel on a floor that was 'very filthy and uncomely.' With the consent of the parish the Kayes put in new stalls dividing the seating accommodation into two parts to '....avoid contention and strife without offence to any.' Superficial repairs to the second parish church were probably carried out as and when needed for the next two hundred years. A vestry meeting held on the 11th December 1811 records that 'the spire of the Parish Church should be taken down and at a proper season of the year the tower should be raised about seventy yards from the highest course.' This is the only written reference we have found to the second church having a spire. By 1830 the building was in a critical state. A survey carried out at the time reported that the rafters and principals were decayed and rotten and that a new roof was urgently needed. This would cost £780 but, the surveyor pointed out '...it would be almost useless putting a new roof on the present walls and pillars... as there is not a straight plumb wall about the building... several of the pillars are also not perpendicular and must be taken down if the church is repaired.' The surveyor also reported that the foundations were in a very bad condition and resting only on loose boulders. Nothing was done at that time and a report of 1831 states that the roof was propped up with poles. In 1834 action was at last taken and the poor old church was demolished. The present church, built to the design of J. P. Pritchett at a cost of £10,000, opened for worship in October 1836. The builder, W. Exley, who had presented the lowest tender, used stones salvaged from the old church and unfortunately laid them with the natural bed vertical and facing the weather. As a result, the stonework was found to be flaking and crumbling within twenty years of completion although it was not until well into the last century that the problem was addressed and repairs were made. Before leaving the church, glance back to the Chicago Rock Cafe at
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the corner of Kirkgate and Venn Street. This was the location of St. Peter's vicarage and gardens until 1842 when, at the request of the then incumbent, new prestigious premises were built in Greenhead Road (see D.0.H. 2.1. No.10). After the site was cleared, Venn Street, named in memory of the Rev. Henry Venn, was constructed across the gardens and later the Palace Variety Theatre was built on part of the site.
THE PALACE THEATRE (2) The Palace Theatre opened its doors to the public for the first time on 2nd August 1909. Much thought had been given to the safety and comfort of the audience and it was claimed, prophetically as it turned out, that the several exit doors, fitted with the new-fangled panic bolts, would allow the building to be evacuated in minutes. There were no side seats in this ultra- modern theatre and it was the boast of the management that, ''Whether one paid twopence for seats at the back of the gallery or a shilling for the front stalls there was an excellent view of the stage and all that was going on there.' From the start, the management promised 'not deep, dull or heavy items but advanced vaudeville, sparkling, clean, instructive and entertaining.' The bill for the first night allows us a glimpse of what constituted popular entertainment in those far off days:
Chas. T. Aldrich - a man of many parts. Arthur Gillimore Tho - popular comedy artistes. Arthur Woodville - versatile light comedian. Bernard & Western - comedians and dancers. Beatrice Willet - a melody of old flower songs. Four Sidney Girls - vocalists and dancers. Garrics - in a pot-pourri of charming songs.
'Advanced vaudeville' featuring singers, dancers, acrobats, jugglers, magicians and comedians proved a successful formula and for the next twenty seven years the sixteen hundred seats were usually filled, twice nightly. Ladies and children were encouraged to attend the early performances at seven o'clock as, the management said, 'these are given especially for you.' What went on at the nine o'clock performances we
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cannot imagine. On 23rd January 1936 at six-thirty p.m. an electrical fault on a switch- board caused a fire which spread rapidly. Those patrons who were in their seats at the time were led to safety by the manger, Mr. Frederick Pitt, who, despite suffocating smoke, also managed to rescue his pet pigeon, Ko-Ko, which he was training to play the ukelele with its feet! The fire-brigade was early at the scene but lack of water pressure hampered their efforts and although they resorted to pumping up water from the canal, by nine-thirty the building was gutted. A great crowd turned out to watch the drama, the early amvals securing a 'grandstand' view from St. Peter's churchyard. Work on rebuilding the Palace started immediately and although some of the old fabric was incorporated into the building (notice the outside wall on Venn Street) the look of the new theatre was entirely in keeping with the architecture of the 1930s. The grand re-opening took place on lst March 1937 in the presence of the Mayor, the Mayoress and several prominent citizens. Despite a heavy snowfall which blocked many roads there was a full house at both performances. The opening show, the Blackpool Arcadian Follies, featured, as star performer, Harry Korris whose popular 'wireless' programme Happydrome some of our readers may recall. The Palace variety shows were particularly popular during the Second World War when their colour, music and laughter provided a brief but welcome escape from grey reality. During this time most of the country's famous acts appeared at the Palace including Sandy Powell, Norman Evans, Frank Randle, Rob Wilton, Suzette Tarry, The Two Leslies, the Western Brothers, Albert Modley, Arthur Askey and Elsie and Doris Waters (Gert & Daisy). In the 1950s enthusiasm for live variety shows waned and falling attendances led to closure in 1954. Since then the building has been a diners' club, a night club and bingo hall, the latter opening in 1962 and continuing for more than thirty years. In 1998 the interior was completely redesigned when the Palace Theatre became the Chicago Rock Cafe.
BYRAM STREET (3) Constructed in the last quarter of the nineteenth century, Byram Street
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takes its name from Byram Hall near Ferrybridge, the principal seat of the Ramsdens, once lords of the manor of Huddersfield. One of several streets laid out during the development of the north side of the town, Byram Street was built across land previously occupied by the yard belonging to the Swan Inn (now the Pen & Cob) on the other side of Kirkgate. Dating back at least to the early eighteenth century the Swan yard stretched alongside the churchyard from Kirkgate to the area of the present day St. Peter's Street. The yard provided stabling and cart storage and there were also a few workshops, residential houses and a smithy. A photograph of the yard in 1875, just before its demolition, shows an uneven cobbled floor hemmed in by decrepit buildings with flights of outside stone steps giving access to their upper floors. The light source for the whole yard was one solitary gas lamp fixed on the corner of a building used as a billiard hall. In 1872 when a new general post office was badly needed in the town the local Chamber of Commerce put forward a strong argument for using the site of the Swan Yard. The post office authorities, however, successfully held out for a site in Northumberland Street which was cheaper (see D.O.H.1.1.N0.5). The buildings were finally demolished in 1878 and Byram Street with its handsome new buildings replaced the dereliction of the old yard.
LIBRARIES IN THE TOWN (4) Once in Byram Street, notice Church Street on the left where, on both sides, there are buildings with identical facades. The premises on the right, called Somerset Buildings, were once used to house the town's first public library and art gallery. Although the provision of a public library had been suggested in the 1850s and a Free Library Committee set up in 1880 it was not until 1897 that the Corporation agreed to provide such a service, to commemorate Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. Even then there was opposition to the idea from some members of the Corporation who insisted that a free library would be a waste of public money and a burden on the rates. Although Sir John William Ramsden encouraged the idea and offered Somerset Buildings on a ten year lease at a nominal rent it was only after a very close vote that
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approval was given for the scheme to be implemented. A public subscription list was opened with a target of £3000 to purchase ten thousand books but owing to a poor response from the town's industrialists only £1600 was collected and therefore only half the intended number of books could be provided. On 22nd April 1898 the new library was opened by the Marquis of Ripon and the art gallery by Lady Gwendolen Ramsden. So popular did this free service become that by the late 1920s, despite the addition of new rooms, the premises could no longer adequately cope with public demand. Acknowledging the problem, the Corporation, in May 1928, approved by thirty eight votes to ten, a proposal to demolish the Cloth Hall in Market Street and use the site for a new library and art gallery. Consequently, in June 1929, the tenants of the Cloth Hall were given notice to quit and the building closed six months later. Demolition started in March 1930 and the site was cleared by the end of that year. In July 1930 the Huddersfield Chamber of Commerce voted unanimously that, owing to the state of trade at that time, no public money should be spent on the new library. Despite this lack of confidence the Corporation, at a meeting held in January 1931, decided to go ahead with the scheme. That decision was reversed in December of the same year when the Corporation announced that the financial climate constituted a national crisis and postponed all public building. In September 1933 when the Congregational Chapel in Ramsden Street was offered for sale the Corporation moved quickly and within two months finalised the purchase of the property. With two prime sites now in their hands the General Purposes Committee gained approval in February 1934 to use the Ramsden Street site for a new library. Meanwhile, after secret negotiations, the Committee agreed to lease the Cloth Hall site to Union Cinemas who promised to erect 'the finest cinema yet built in the north.' This was the Ritz of popular memory (see D.O.H.1.11.N0.92). Work started in Ramsden Street in 1937 and the new library and art gallery was completed, at a cost of £102,000, in April 1940. As this was the time of blitzkrieg and possible gas attacks the lower ground floor was set aside for use as a first-aid post and decontamination centre whilst the upper floor was to be available, in case of emergency, as a hospital.
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After the war the library began an expansion that has continued to the present day and it now deals with a million visitors a year many of whom make use of the invaluable Local Studies and Reference Libraries. It is an undoubted success story and one that has its roots in the small library started here in Church Street just over one hundred years ago.
THE PARISH CHURCH GRAVEYARD (5) Before returning to your car you might like to take a short stroll through St. Peter's Gardens which were laid out in 1952 over the old graveyard. Legend has it that when a Bishop consecrated a graveyard he was supposed to walk around the church in rough circle encompassing about one acre of land, hence the term God's Acre. Whether the resulting churchyard was the result of a Bishop's casual wandering or whether he followed a pre-set route is not clear. The oldest stones in a graveyard are often to be found on the eastern side and this has to do with early burial traditions. Bodies were customarily laid in the grave facing east, the direction of the rising sun and Jerusalem, though the clergy were sometimes buried the other way round so as to be ready to preach to their risen congregation on the Day of Resurrection. This, it was believed, would begin at the eastern end of the graveyard which was, therefore, the favoured place of burial, and continue in a sunwise direction to finish at the north or Devil's end. This end was thus, in many parishes, shunned by parishioners and abandoned to strangers and criminals. Later, as the east side filled up, the sunny southern side was favoured. Unfortunately these customs are no longer evident m St. Peter's graveyard as, when the gardens were laid out, most of the gravestones were removed from their original positions and indiscriminately relaid as paving stones. Weathering and the passage of feet have made some of the stones difficult to read but only a few are illegible and it is worth taking time to discover some of the past inhabitants of the town. On the north side of the church the tombstone of the eminent builder Joseph Kaye has survived intact although it has probably been moved from its original position. Joseph Kaye (see D.O0.H.1.i1.N0.9) built many of the public buildings in the town. He did not build the Parish Church but, as his Obituary pointed out, it would have been better for the parish had he done
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so. At the right hand side of Kaye's tombstone is one of the oldest surviving outdoor gravestones in the churchyard. Dedicated to the memory of Elizabeth Hanson wife of John Hanson of Beay Hall, unusually it states the date of her baptism, 24th July 1636, as well as the date of her death, 10th January 1673. On the south side of the church there are a number of interesting old stones to be discovered including one, probably dating from the early seventeenth century, where the decorative border is crisp and clear but the inscription, apart from the name Goodal, is illegible. Here too 1s the gravestone of Thomas Brooke the Elder of Newhouse who died in 1638 (see D.0.H.3.p.49) and also the stone of his mother, Elizabeth, who 'dyed in the faith of Christ First of February Anno Dom. 1616 Her age 63 y.' This stone was renewed and reused by Barnard Henry Brook in 1855 to remember his wife, Mary Maria. Of course, a few of the town's past residents are buried within the church whilst many more he in unmarked communal or paupers' graves. By 1850 it was estimated that some thirty-eight thousand bodies had been buried in the graveyard and letters written at the time describe the awful stench from rotting corpses and the disgusting scenes witnessed at every new interment. Nevertheless, burials were increasing annually and when a Board of Trade inspector was asked to investigate he reported that it was the worse case he had ever come across outside London. After much discussion Joshua Hobson, clerk of the Board of Works, published a recommendation that a new municipal cemetery to be opened at Edgerton where the prevailing winds would carry any emanations away from the town rather than to it. The new cemetery was opened in 1855 and, to the relief of all, burials in the churchyard decreased from that time.
THE GEORGE INN (6) The building on the corner of Byram Street and St. Peter's Street is reliably believed to have been the George Inn which, until 1850, stood on the north side of the Market Place. The George is thought to date back to c.1 716 but this building appears to be later than that and could have replaced an earlier inn of the same name. In the 1770s, Huddersfield was beginning its thrust forward towards
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its prosperous industrial future. By that time the flying shuttle was in general use in the local textile industry and in the mid 1770s the revolutionary spinning jenny reached the Huddersfield area. In 1774 work began on the Ramsden Canal which was to make possible cheap and reliable transportation of raw materials and merchandise. New Turnpike roads were providing easier access to the town and, as the textile industry expanded, buyers and manufacturers came from far and near to do business at the Cloth Hall {opened in 1768). This then is a likely time for a prestigious rebuilding of the town's premier hostelry and certainly this building appears to fit in with the classical architectural designs of those times. As well as affording accommodation to many of the town's eminent visitors, the George was also the scene of many important business and political meetings. In 1798 a meeting there led to the formation of the Huddersfield Armed Association and five years later another meeting saw the formation of the Upper Agbrigg Volunteers led by Joseph Radcliffe of Milnsbridge. These amateur 'armies' were born out of a fear that the radical ideas behind the French Revolution would spread to this country and indeed the early nineteenth century was a time of growing political awareness and unrest. Many noisy political demonstrations were held in the Market Place and on several occasions orators addressed massed crowds from the windows of the George. Later, residents at the inn might have seen the vast crowds assembled in the Market Place to support Richard Oastler and his Ten Hour Bill and in 1837 they may have witnessed and been intimidated by a hostile and vociferous demonstration against the Poor Law Commissioners who were staying at the George in the hope of meeting the local Board of Guardians. In 1849, two years after the railway came into Huddersfield, the Ramsden's agent suggested that a new and direct approach to the station from the town could be made by removing the George Inn and extending New Street. Thus the fate of the inn was sealed and it was pulled down in 1850 to make way for John William Street. As already stated, the building was re-erected in St. Peter's Street but it did not re-open as an inn. The licence was transferred to the new George Hotel, built near to the station, which opened in 1851.
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THE PRINCESS CINEMA AND CAFE DANSANT (7) The large stone faced building on the corner of Northumberland Street and Byram Street was once one of the town's most popular cinemas, the Princess. Originally the premises of Herbert Dickinson, woollen merchant, the interior of the building was completely gutted, the front elevation was taken down and the foundations lowered a couple of metres. Steelwork was erected to support the roof, upper floor and balcony and a local architect, Clifford Hickson, designed a new front elevation in the neo-classical style. The work was completed at a cost of £30,000 in 1923. The Princess opened on 19th May 1923 with the presentation of the film Shifting Sands to an invited audience. The star of the film, Peggy Hyland, was present at the performance. Two days later, at the first public performance, the film was Way Down East. On 13th May 1929, the film The Singing Fool starring Al Jolson opened at the Princess. This, Huddersfield's first exposure to a talking picture, was a great success and the film played to full houses for four weeks, returning, by popular demand, in September for a further week. The Café Dansant, in the basement of the building, was officially opened by Ald. E. Woodhead on 19th October 1923 at a private dinner-dance, followed by a cabaret. The following day it opened to the public and continued for many years to be a popular venue for Saturday evening dinner- dances. Doubtless some of our readers will remember dancing to the music of Mrs. Elsie Richardson, Mr. Frank Sykes and Mr. Jack Townend, better known as the Princess Trio.
N.B. As we have covered Brook Street and St. John's Road before (D.0O0.H. 1). We pick up our commentary at Clare Hill.
THE COLLEGIATE SCHOOL (8) The rough land on the right hand side of Clare Hill (opposite Nos. 13 and 15) was once occupied by the Huddersfield Collegiate School. Founded in 1838 as a proprictory fee-paying school for day boys and boarders it was administrated under the auspices of the Church of England and the headmaster was always an Anglican clergyman. The Collegiate was never as successful as its undenominational rival, Huddersfield College, and by
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the late 1870s it was in severe financial difficulties. In 1887, after lengthy negotiations between the proprietors of both schools about the provision of religious education, the Collegiate merged with the College in the latter's premises in New North Road. The empty Collegiate building was sold to Alfred Jubb who established a printing works there. His venture was successful and in 1891 he opened larger premises between the school and St. John's Road. Thereafter, the building was renamed Albany Hall to commemorate the visit to Huddersfield of H.R.H. Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany (see No.67) and it became a popular venue for social gatherings.
CAMBRIDGE ROAD BATHS (9) As long as the present generation of Huddersfield people remains alive, Cambridge Road will be remembered for its public swimming baths which stood on a large site on the left hand side of the road. At the time of writing (February 1999) the baths are being demolished and the site is ultimately to be redeveloped. Whether any new buildings will equal the architectural merit of the front elevation of the baths is doubtful. Provision for public bathing in Huddersfield started in 1869 when the new Corporation purchased and enlarged the swimming baths at Lockwood (see D.O0.H.2.1i.N0.24). Nine years later, the Corporation acquired the gymnasium hall in Ramsden Street for conversion into a town centre swimming pool. Over the years, demand for swimming facilities grew and by 1918 the two existing pools were deemed too small to meet public requirements. Consequently, in 1919, the Corporation decided to build a large public swimming baths on an empty site in Cambridge Road. The landowner, Sir John F. Ramsden, agreed to lease the land to the Corporation for nine hundred and ninety nine years at a nominal rent of one guinea a year provided the baths were built within eighteen months and were not altered, added too or pulled down for the full term of the lease. These conditions no longer applied after the Corporation bought the entire Ramsden estate in Huddersfield in 1920 and, in effect, became its own landlord. Owing to restrictions on local authority spending after the First World War it was not until January 1928 that the Borough Architect submitted a draft sketch plan of the proposed new baths. The following month, members
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of the Baths Committee inspected the public baths at Leeds and Bingley, the only outcome of which seems to have been an instruction to include sufficient accommodation for sun-ray treatinent. In July 1928, detailed working drawings were approved and a resolution passed that local stone be used and that the ashlar be polished. On the Diamond Jubilee day of the incorporation of the Borough, September 27th 1928, the first sod of the new baths was cut by the Mayor. In the following February, final tenders were accepted and building began under the supervision of the late Mr. A. J. Minter of Messrs John Radcliffe & Sons Ltd., masons. On 23rd October 1929, Corporation officials and representatives of swimming clubs in the town were taken by bus to the site where they witnessed the Mayor, Ald. T. Canby, and the Chairman of the Baths Committee, Ald. A. Willis, lay foundation stones. Cambridge Road Baths, built at a cost of £60,000, comprised one large swimming pool, 33 yards long by 12 yards wide, one small pool, 25 yards long by 12 yards wide, slipper baths for ladies and gentlemen (admission sixpence including the use of two towels) foam baths, shower baths, a cafe and a laundry. The small pool was used for single sex bathing. On 24th August 1931, Alderman Willis formally opened the main door of the building, Councillor George Thorp opened the small pool and the Mayor, Alderman W. T. Priest, opened the large pool. A mannequin parade of Windsor Water Woollies followed! In the evening, a swimming gala was held and so great was public interest that places were soon filled and hundreds of people had to be turned away. In 1934, a removable dance floor, made in 1931 to cover the large pool, was brought into use and for the next twenty years Cambridge Road Baths served as a popular dance hall during the winter months. No doubt some of our readers will remember happy times there dancing to the music of Aub Hirst, the Ambassadors and many other bands. Over the years, maintenance of the interior of the building was neglected and in 1997 Kirklees Council decided that the baths should close as it would be impractical to spend the two million pounds needed for repairs. Despite much vociferous and heartfelt opposition from the public the Council remained obdurate and, sadly, the baths closed on 10th August 1998. It is fairly safe to say that whatever stands on the site in the future will not hold
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as great a place in public affection as did the Cambridge Road Baths.
NEWHOUSE (10) Soon after turning right into Belmont Street, notice the house on the left just above Belmont Close. This is Newhouse, the origins of which go back to the early eighteenth century. The 1716 estate map of Huddersfield shows that a Mr. Bradley held the freehold of a large parcel of land in this area together with a smaller freehold in the nearby Highfield area. On a later map (1797) Mr. Bradley's land is shown agam but this time with a house, called New House, near to the centre of the larger holding. However, the house must have been well established by this time as we find recorded in the Huddersfield Parish Church register the baptism in 1727 of a daughter of William Bradley of Newhouse. Thus it would seem that early in the eighteenth century William Bradley (or his father) built a new house on his holding, near to the old road to Marsh which was, for two centuries, known as Bradley Lane. Whether any of the fabric remaining today is part of William Bradley's building is difficult to say. The cement rendering on the front of the house makes dating difficult but the symmetrical design suggests a date nearer to the middle of the eighteenth century than the beginning. However, the north side (facing Belmont Street), despite repairs and renovations carried out in fairly recent times, has the look of an earlier age. Over the years Newhouse was altered and enlarged and by the early years of the nineteenth century there were ranges of buildings on the north, east and west sides of a small courtyard. At the south side and stretching down the hill in front of the house was a large ornamental garden. (The new apartments in Belmont Close now stand on the site of the front garden.) The Bradleys' connection with Newhouse came to an end c.1820 and thereafter new streets were laid out across their land which was divided into small freeholds. By 1850, several high status houses had made their appearance near to Newhouse and later in the century Elmwood Avenue with its row of Gothic style villas (Nos. 19-23) was built over the side garden. Throughout most of the nineteenth century Newhouse and its environs was considered by the well-to-do to be a prestigious address. Merchants, manufacturers, solicitors, brewers, land agents and shop proprietors all lived
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here with their families and servants. Included in their number during the 1860s were two prominent public servants, William Keighley, Chairman of the Improvement Commissioners, and John Fligg Brigg who was to become Mayor of Huddersfield in 1875. The advantage of the Newhouse area to all these important men of business was, of course, that it was pleasantly situated above the town but within half a mile of its centre and their places of work. But fashions change and improving methods of transport encouraged a move towards suburban living. As the twentieth century dawned the popularity of Newhouse began to decline and after the ring road was constructed in the 1960s, cutting off direct access from the town, the area, with its fine houses, became the little known backwater it 1s today. After passing Newhouse continue to the top of the hill where a rough path on the right (called Highfields) leads to Edgerton Cemetery. This is our first optional walk; readers who do not wish to walk should continue straight on into the narrow cobbled section of Highfields Road (No.14).
HIGHEFIELDS (11) (O.W.) Turn right into Highfields and park on the right hand side. The large building on the left hand side of the path, presently occupied by J. O'Shaunessy, builders, was originally built by Benjamin Oxley, coach and cab proprietor. Benjamin Oxley was born in 1847, the son of Joseph Oxley, cab proprietor, whose premises were at 4, Upperhead Road. By 1870 Benjamin was in charge of the business and was advertising himself as a livery stable keeper and a proprietor of omnibuses, mourning coaches and wedding carriages. Ten years later with his wife and seven children he was living at 29, West Parade (now part of Trinity Street) and he had acquired additional premises in Trinity Street where he established a coach building business. At that time he was advertising gigs, phaectons, wagonettes, hansom-cabs and wedding equipage for hire and he was obviously proud of his 'large wagonette, suitable for pic-nic parties, with a moveable top and side windows, capable of accommodating twenty persons.' His funeral department offered good hearses and mourning coaches and a mourning coach specially adapted for the interment of children. Benjamin Oxley had three sons, Edward, Joe and Percy, and around
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the turn of the century he formed a limited company trading under the name of Ben Oxley and Sons Ltd. At the same time he moved his coach building shop from Trinity Street and his livery stables from Upperhead Row to the newly built premises at Highfields. Thereafter he used 4, Upperhead Row as an office. Oxleys continued in business during the first decade of the twentieth century but after 1910 they disappear from all business records. Perhaps the advent of trams and motor cars adversely affected the business; there is certainly no indication that the Oxley sons tried to adapt to the motoring age. After the Oxleys' fairly short occupation of the premises here at Highfields, Benson & Co., motor car body builders, moved in and, for a time, part of the building was occupied by Huddersfield Curling Club. After the First World War, a new gear cutting company occupied the premises and took the name Highfield Gears. They later became Highfield Gear and Engineering Company and moved to the old Karrier Works at Nile Street, St. Thomas' Road. Of the four buildings associated with Benjamin Oxley this, we think, is the only one that remains. His premises at Upperhead Row lie under the bus station and, as far as we can tell (re-numbering makes positive identification difficult) his Trinity Street works stood on the site of the modern Technical College buildings. His house at 29, West Parade, where he was a near neighbour of Alderman John Fligg Brigg J.P. sometime Mayor of Huddersfield, was pulled down in the 1960s to make way for the ring road. Incidentally, John F. Brigg, who was a founding member of the Huddersfield Mechanics Institution, is commemorated on the wall of a shop in Trinity Street which stands on or near to the site of his house. Leaving Oxley's Stables behind walk along the path to where it nar- rows and notice here a recessed dry-stone wall on the left. On this site stood a small sweet shop owned by William Braime and affectionately remem- bered by some Huddersfield College old boys who regarded it as their tuck shop. Walking along the path it becomes obvious that 'Highfields' is an ap- propriate name. Facing the view from the path and following it through a hundred and eighty degrees from the left there is a clear view of Grimescar Wood, Cowcliffe, Fartown, St. John's Church at Birkby, Woodhouse Hill,
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Sheepridge, Deighton, Dalton Bank, Kilner Bank with the Stadium at its foot, Dalton, the mast at Emley and the high ground at Almondbury. In the eighteenth century five small fields to the left of the path each had the name Highfield Close and it is possible that they were enclosed from an original and much larger high field.
THE WORKHOUSE (12) After about 180 metres (200yds), where the path divides, take the right hand branch to the bottom of the hill. From this branch of the path there is a good view of Birkby School which stands on ground long known to local people as't'owd oss! but which was originally the site of the Huddersfield township workhouse. But before we come to the workhouse we include a brief account of two Charities, set up to assist the poor, as lands held by both of them might well have influ- enced the choice of the workhouse site here at Bay Hall Common. In his will dated 21st September 1647, Thomas Armitage, an English merchant residing in the city of St. Lucar de Barrameda in Spain, left £200 to the poor of Huddersfield, the town of his birth, and directed that the profit from the money be used by appointed trustees 'to buy wool and de- liver the same to the poor to work that they might have the wherewithal to sustain themselves.' At some later date Abraham Firth the elder, William Brook and others, trustees of the charity, with the consent of the church- wardens and overseers of the poor, laid out £160 of the money on the purchase of lands in Huddersfield. Thereafter the charity was known as the Dole Land Charity. The estate purchased by the trustees included land ad- joining Bay Hall Common, which was later to be tenanted by the overseers of the poor, and land alongside Leeds Road near to a large close called Red Doles. The present Red Doles Lane (formerly Canker Lane) runs along the western edge of this land. Although we do not know when this land transaction took place it was certainly before 1752 when the estates were conveyed to the Vicar of Hud- dersfield and other trustees, and possibly before 1716 as the estate map of that year marks a close next to Red Doles as Poor Land - that is land being worked for the benefit of the poor. The profits from the estates continued to be distributed to the poor until 1865 although by this time the custom of
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distributing wool had long since been replaced by doles of money. In 1866 it was decided that the estates should be sold and the money used to erect an industrial school for the reclamation of poor or orphan boys and girls in Huddersfield. However, before this scheme could be car- ried out, the passing of the Elementary Education Act in 1870 rendered such provision unnecessary and after long discussions the Charity Com- missioners directed that the income from the trust should be used to set up an endowment for the purpose of maintaining scholarships for girls and boys at the Technical School. Armitage's Technical School Endowment was instituted in 1885 and it was appropriate that the name of the original ben- efactor was remembered in the title. The second Charity of interest here, called the Poor's Estate, concerns an indenture dated 29th August 1767 by which Sir John Ramsden, as owner of the commons and wastes of Huddersfield, agreed, at the request of cer- tain freeholders, to grant five acres of land at Bay Hall Common, the rents and profits of which would be forever applied towards the maintenance of the poor of Huddersfield '...whereby the burthen of maintaining the aged and infirm and poor persons would be reduced to the common benefit and advantage as well of Sir John Ramsden as of the freecholders...' The rents and profits were to be distributed as and when the Trustees of the Charity, the Overseers of the Poor and the Churchwardens thought necessary. Over the years the trusteeship lapsed, mainly because existing trustees had ne- glected to appoint new ones to succeed them, and by 1850 the estate was in the possession of the overseers of the poor who were applying the rents and profits in aid of the poor rate. In 1863 under an order of the Charity Commussioners the land at Bay Hall was sold to the Guardians of the Poor Law Union who were anxious to acquire the land in order to increase ac- commodation at the old workhouse. The money from the sale was invested in three per cent Consols and the income used to buy clothing and boots which were distributed on the Thursday before Christmas to the 'deserving poor' subject to the character, sobriety, honesty and industry of the appli- cants. Although there is no mention of the workhouse in the records of either of these Charities it would seem that when a site was sought for a township workhouse it was found on or near land held on behalf of the poor. Early
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records of the workhouse do not seem to have survived and we have been unable to find the date when it was built although we know it was before 1797 as it is shown on the estate map of that year. It is not, however, shown on the 1716 map and it is likely that it was one of the two thousand work- houses built in England in the fifty years after the passing of the General Workhouse Act in 1723. This required parishes and townships to build workhouses and finance them out of the poor law rate. No drawings exist to show us what the workhouse was hike and the only description we have found is by the local historian D.F.E. Sykes who, in 1897, wrote: 'At the beginning of the nineteenth century the poor were housed in a small ugly brick building at Birkby which seems to have been singularly unfortunate in having to accommodate both the Lazar House and the Fever Chambers of the town.' In April 1851 the 'small ugly building' housed one hundred and ten unfortunate souls whose ages ranged from three-weeks to eighty-two years. Seventy six were born locally, the rest were from Leeds, Sheffield, Wakefield, Halifax, Manchester, London and Ireland. Six of the inmates were described as idiots. In 1863, following the purchase of the land from the Poor's Estate Charity the premises were extended, not, alas, to improve conditions for existing inmates but to increase the accommodation capacity of the work- house. The last master and matron of the workhouse were George and Edna Sykes who were in charge of one hundred and fifty-two inmates of whom one hundred and ten were locals The people of that time did not mince their words and saw nothing wrong in describing five of the inmates as imbe- ciles, ten as idiots from birth and one as a lunatic. With its crowded, unsani- tary accommodation, its cruel segregation of families and its harsh regime the workhouse was truly a place of last resort. In 1872, a large new workhouse opened at Crosland Moor and shortly afterwards the premises here at Birkby closed. The old building was not, however, razed to the ground as it should have been. At this time there was a growing recognition that epidemics of infectious diseases could be more efficiently contamed if patients were isolated and the workhouse was seen as a convenient place to house an isolation hospital. It mattered less that the building was old, ramshackle and unhygienic than that it was cheap and would not be too great a burden on the rates.
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The infectious diseases hospital at Birkby (towd 'oss) opened in 1873 and shortly afterwards a separate smallpox ward was opened close to the main building. Patients suffering from scarlet fever, typhoid, tuberculosis and smallpox, who lived in houses where they could not be properly iso- lated, were removed to the hospital at their own expense there to take their chances in conditions that were far from ideal. In 1879 it was decided to extend the hospital and a new wing was built and opened in 1881. By this time it had been recognised that inadequate drainage was of- ten responsible for outbreaks of typhoid. Consequently, the drains of prop- erties in which cases occurred were required to be thoroughly flushed and disinfected and the Medical Officer of Health made an eloquent plea for tub closets to be more frequently changed and more thoroughly disinfected. 'Even a week in warm he pointed out, 'is too long to leave tubs unemptied in crowded yards.... With the new accommodation at Birkby it was hoped to keep typhoid in check as isolation at home, near to the of- fending drains and tubs, was not considered efficient. In 1886 all fees for the removal of patients to the hospital and all charges for their maintenance were discontinued and a Removal Officer was appointed who, under the direction of the Medical Officer of Health, made house-to-house inspections and ordered the removal of reluctant pa- tients to the hospital. Despite the new wing, conditions at the hospital were appalling. During epidemics there were not enough beds and, frequently, new cases had to share a bed with one or two other patients. Sanitary ar- rangements were primitive and there was only one bath to serve the whole hospital. By 1890, £5880 had been spent on the hospital but still it was de- scribed as patched-up, neglected and rotten. At a meeting of the Health Committee in 1892 Councillor T. Mellor said the buildings were 'of a tumble-dow n character and in a worse state than some of the lodging houses in Castlegate which the Committee had condemned.' He felt 'utterly ashamed of the Council for having allowed the hospital to get into such a state. After all, they had spent money lavishly on the parks and the Town Hall and he considered that the working folk ought to have the protection regarding health to which they were so justly entitled.' The battle for a new isolation hospital was fought over several years in the Council chambers and finally
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resulted in a prestigious new building at Mill Hill, Daiton which opened on 22nd October 1898 (see D.O.H. 3.Nos.44, 47, 53). Shortly afterwards the wooden buildings at Birkby were destroyed, probably by fire. The old workhouse building lasted a little longer but it was demolished circa 1905 and the site cleared. The foundation stone of Birkby Council School was laid in 1910 and thankfully the laughter and chatter of children has replaced the sadness, misery and horror so long associated with the site. At the bottom of the short hill turn right and then left onto the narrow path between the cemetery and the school.
EDGERTON CEMETERY (13) When the municipal cemetery, over the wall on the left hand side of the path, was laid out it was divided into two halves, one half being conse- crated for Anglicans whilst the other half, for Non-Conformists, was left unconsecrated. The cemetery, which was opened on 8th October 1855, was provided with two mortuary chapels which, although now in a sorry state, still survive and stand one on each side of the path that divides the consecrated ground from the unconsecrated. The first burial in the cemetery, that of William Ashness, a forty-seven year old silk spinner from Paddock, took place on the opening day. Three days later came the first non-conformist ceremony when a stillborn son of Joseph Thornton of the Temperance Hotel, New Street was interred. Walk to the end of the path, turn left into Blacker Road and in 82 metres (IOyds) enter the cemetery through the gate on the left. Immediately inside the gate notice the large cross on the right hand side of the path. This is a Cross of Sacrifice, identical to crosses in British and Commonwealth war cemeteries all over the world. It was erected by the Imperial War Graves Commission and dedicated by Canon Baines, Vicar of Huddersfield, on 14th October 1929 to the memory of members of the armed forces who lie buried in Edgerton, Lockwood and Almondbury cem- eteries. After the dedication the representative of the Commission, Mr. E. H. Wilson, handed over the Cross to the Corporation and the Mayor, Ald. T. Canby, in accepting promised that it would always be cared for. At the Cross, turn right and follow the path uphill to a tall monument
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on the right. Turn left here along a path leading towards the mortuary chapels. Immediately on the right of the path notice the communal grave of the victims of the fire at Booth's clothing factory who lost their lives on 31st October 1941 (see D.O.H.1.1.No0.4). Behind the grave and memorial are two rows of war graves where twenty four men lie buried who died during or just after the Second World War. Continue along the path to the mortuary chapels. The two chapels are identical in design and together with the arch over the path of division appear to be one structure. Close inspection, however, reveals that there are, in fact, three separate structures. The Church of England chapel on the right (as we approach), the Non-Conformist chapel on the left and the cen- tral arch are separated by hidden gaps (see plan). Such was the religious fecling in the 1850s that neither committed Anglicans nor fervent Dissent- ers could tolerate any sort of connection and so, to placate their feelings, the gaps were deliberately left and the consecrated and unconsecrated chapels were forever separate.
path
Vaulted" and spire silver &
0 bs aaatera
Auglicana
Plan et Morturary C hapela
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Continue through the archway and notice how the scene changes, with what is virtually a forest of monuments clustered close together in the high- est part of the cemetery, near to the main gate. Most of these were erected in high Victorian times when it was expected that a person's status during life would be reflected in his or her graveyard memorial and when grief could, to a certain extent, find its expression in marble and granite. The poor, buried in unmarked graves, lie elsewhere in the cemetery. At the top of the path, the obelisk on the right preserves the memory of Joshua Hobson who died in 1876. An Owenite, a Chartist and a sup- porter of the trade union movement Hobson, in the early 1830s set up a printing press in the Swan Yard where he published a radical news sheet, Voice of the West Riding, which enjoyed a wide circulation locally. In 1834, however, publication ceased when Hobson was sentenced to six months imprisonment for publishing an unstamped newspaper. In the 1840s he was much concerned with improving sanitary conditions in the town and in 1848 he was appointed Clerk to the newly formed Board of Works. In that capacity he became involved in the provision of a new cemetery and it was at his suggestion that there should be a mortuary chapel for Dissenters as well as one for Anglicans. Another of his schemes was the Model Lodging House at Chapel Hill which, he was proud to boast, was the only such establishment in England to be supported out of the public rates (see D.0.H.2.1.N0.18). In 1854, Hobson resigned his position to return to jour- nalism but throughout his life he was held in great esteem by most local people and it is not surprising to find that his handsome memorial was erected by public subscription. As the inscription on the monument is diffi- cult to read we include a transcript (see facing page). Although our route has merely followed the main paths through the cemetery we hope some of our readers will find time to wander at will along other paths to see for themselves the many and varied styles of monu- mental architecture. By the 1850s the Cross, which had previously been regarded as pop- ish, was gaining popularity as a graveyard memorial and there are many here, several in the Celtic or Saxon style. As well as a firm belief in salva- tion, represented by the Cross, the allegory, symbolism and sentimentality of the late nineteenth century are evident in a welter of draped urns, shells,
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To the Memory of Joshua Hobson born 1810 died 1876. Erected by public subscription in grateful recognition of private worth and public service during a prominent and eventful life. He proved himself an intrepid champion of the poor the advocate of a free press a bold and faithful journalist and useful public servant. His name must ever be associated with the passing of the Factory Acts the Huddersfield Improvement Acts the erection of the Model Lodging House the establishment of this Cemetery and many other Social and Sanitary reforms.
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mourning cherubs, weeping angels and an occasional chain and anchor (his little barque is anchored on the everlasting shore). Later monuments tend to be less ornate, the rococo and neo-Gothic thrusting monuments giving way to plain, low gravestones simply incised with the name and dates of the deceased. A still later fashion that cannot be imssed is the pol- ished black marble and gold headstone, often with a photograph, of a type commonly found throughout the European mainland. As might be expected from a time of high infant mortality there are many children sadly commemorated on the nineteenth century monuments. In 1873, for example, the death rate of infants in Huddersfield was 20.35 per 1000 of the population. Of course, many of the town's past luminaries are buried here including (at random) Sir Joseph Crosland, briefly a Mem- ber of Parliament for Huddersfield, Joseph Sykes who founded the Ragged School in Fitzwilliam Street. Sir Charles Sikes instigator of the Post Office Savings Bank, Wright Mellor, Joseph Brook, John Joshua Brook and Joseph Blamires, Mayors of Huddersfield, and members of the Radcliffe, Mallinson, Pyrah, Conacher, Shires, Crowther, Crosland and Rippon families, manu- facturers, industrialists and businessmen. Here and there among the more lavish monuments notice the simple white headstones of members of the armed forces who died during and just after the First World War. Some of these, and others who died in 1918 and 1919, might well have been victims of the great pandemic that swept across the world at that time, the so-called Spanish Flu. It is not known where the disease originated (although it probably was not Spain) but in the late summer of 1918 this new strain of influenza be- gan its relentless spread among the war-weary civilian and military populations of Europe, across the United States and, with what seemed like lighting speed, around the world. The effects were drastic. The new virus was highly communicable and wildly aggressive, an unstoppable, airborne killer of millions. No one knows exactly how many people died during the 1918-19 pandemic but the probable total, world-wide, lies somewhere between thirty and forty million. In England and Wales the total number of deaths rose from 14.4 per thousand of the population in 1917 to 17.6 per thousand in 1918. These figures may not sound too dramatic but they represent a 22.2
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percent increase in the mortality rate in 1918; put another way, if we as- sume a population of fifty million then Spanish flu killed one hundred and sixty thousand in England and Wales in 1918 most of whom died in the last quarter of the year. The outbreak in Huddersfield started in June 1918, faded away in July, appeared again in October and continued until April 1919. The total number of deaths from influenza in the Borough was three hundred and eighty seven. Strangely, the disease affected young and middle aged adults more severely than children and the elderly as the Huddersfield figures for 1918 show:
Age No. of deaths - 15 39 15 - 45 98 45 - 60 52 over 60 17
By April 1919 the worst was over. In the second six months of the year only two deaths were ascribed to influenza. In 1920 there was one local case reported of encephalitis lethargica, a strange and frightening condition that affected a few people who had seem- ingly recovered from Spanish flu, causing them to fall suddenly into a coma which could last for many years and from which some never wakened. It is somewhat alarming that some epidemiologists are presently pre- dicting the emergence, sooner rather than later, of an entirely new and viru- lent strain of influenza which, unlike the 1997 'chicken flu' in Hong Kong, will be impossible to control and which will once again wreak havoc around the world. Leave the cemetery by the main gate (near to the Lodge) turn left and take the path on the right of the school sign. Follow this back to your car and rejoin the main route of the tour in the narrow, cobbled section of Highfield Road.
N.B. Readers who would like to explore Nos. 14 & 15 on foot should do so
from Highfields as there is no more convenient place in the area to leave a car.
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HIGHFIELD CHAPEL (14) On the right hand side of the narrow section of Highfields Road notice two impressive buildings. The first of these, as we pass, was originally Highfield Sunday School, the second, Highfield Congregational Chapel. Highfield Chapel the first Dissenters' church to be built in the town may be said to have its origins in the ministry of the Rev. Henry Venn, Vicar of Huddersfield from 1759 to 1771. At a time of great religious fer- vour Venn's evangelical sermons were deeply felt and loudly proclaimed - so much so that he was affectionately known as 'Towd Trumpet'. During his ministry people flocked from all the outlying districts to hear him preach and the Parish Church was, more often than not, packed to the doors during services. Deteriorating health led to Venn's decision to leave Huddersfield for the quieter Rectory of Yelling in Huntingdonshire and he preached his farewell sermon at St. Peter's on 30th March 1771. His successor belonged to a different school of preachers and many of Venn's supporters left the church, determined to build a chapel in the hope that they might be united under a pastor of their choice. They were encour- aged in their endeavours by Henry Venn who gave his sanction and sup- port to the plan and advised his people to attend the chapel after it was built. It was his heartfelt wish that the Liturgy should be used in the new chapel but in this he was to be disappointed. As Sir John Ramsden refused to allow a Dissenting congregation to build on his land, a site at the northern edge of the town, described as quite among the fields, was purchased from one of the Bradleys of Newhouse. The first chapel, built at a cost of £800, opened on Ist January 1772. It was a plain, rectangular two storey building with three entrances at the west end, two leading into the body of the church and the third to the gallery. Near to the west end was a shed built to cover the conveyances of the well-to-do who came to attend morning and afternoon services from a dis- tance - the Dewhirsts of Aspley for example and the Cliffes of Paddock. In front of the chapel was a small graveyard with a number of plain table and chest tombs where the congregation paused to chat or to comment on the sermon they had just heard. For many years this was truly the chapel in the fields. Between here and Edgerton Bar to the northwest and Bay Hall to the northeast was all
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open country. From the graveyard there were uninterrupted views of Sheepridge, Woodhouse, Hillhouse and the woods at Fixby and, in be- tween, pleasant meadows stretched away, their hedgerow divisions redo- lent in spring and autumn with blossom and berries. The chapel, without doubt, was much loved by its congregation, a place to express their firm and unshakeable faith in the Almighty. But times changed and as confidence in and support for Non-Conformity grew so the plain, simple and often vernacular chapels of the eighteenth century gave way to the grander more massive edifices of the nineteenth. The certainty of belief was to be expressed in the stone, wood and glass of grand buildings. In 1843 the old chapel was pulled down and the present impressive late-classical style building erected on the same site at a cost of £7000. Opened in 1844 the new chapel could accommo- date twelve hundred people. Ten years later an organ, built by Walkers of London, was installed much to the regret of John Crosland and Neddy Moorhouse whose services as instrumentalists were no longer required. Not to be completely outdone, during hymn singing John Crosland insisted on beating time with a leather strap on the pillared front of the organ gal- lery. Highfield chapel continued in strength for the next hundred years but in the mid-twentieth century, as at so many places of worship, congrega- tions began to dwindle and such a large building was expensive to main- tain. In 1979 the chapel closed and was later converted into apartments. The bodies of its carly members, several of whom, no doubt, still lie be- neath the premises, must have done a considerable amount of turning! Highfield Sunday School, the first of its kind in Huddersfield, opened in 1811 in hired rooms in the town. The classes were well attended, for they taught reading and writing to children and young adults who had no other recourse to education, and the decision was soon made to build a school next to the chape!. This opened in December 1812 and was rebuilt in 1844. Twenty years later the present Italianate style building was erected at a cost of £4000 and opened in January 1865. At the time it was described as 'a building unsurpassed by any in the Kingdom for Sunday School In 1871 a Limited Company was formed for the purpose of establish- ing a Girls' College in the town and arrangements were made by the new
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company to secure the use of the Highfield Sunday School building. A Miss Cheveley was appointed principal under whose management the school was said to have acquired a high position amongst the educational institu- tions in the town. Fourteen years after its formation the Girls' College merged with the Collegiate School and the Boys' College in the premises of the latter. Highfields Hall, as the building is known today, is presently used by the Technical College for its School of Music.
HUDDERSFIELD COLLEGE (15) The Gothic building on the left hand side of Highfields Road and fronting on to New North Road was originally the Huddersfield College, a private proprietory school for day boys and boarders. The college opened on 21st January 1839, its professed aim to provide, at moderate expense, a superior collegiate and commercial education upon a Scriptural basis. The directors and masters of the school were usually Non-Conformists and its support came from the middle-class Dissenters in the town. By 1870 the College had more than two hundred pupils and its power- ful patrons at that time were the Marquis of Ripon, Earl Grey, the Earl of Halifax and Sir J. W. Ramsden. Among the directors were Charles H. Jones and Wright Mellor, first and second Mayors of Huddersfield. The curricu- lum included Scripture, English, French, German, Latin, Greek, History, Geography, Arithmetic, Mathematics and Economics. Fees were six to twelve guineas per annum according to age. Tuition in Art and Chemistry was extra. The undenominational College and the Anglican Collegiate at Clare Hill were always considered to be rival schools although a report of the Schools Enquiry Committee in 1868 pointed out that 'in practice the differ- ence between the religious teaching at the two schools was far less than either the enthusiastic enemies or supporters would be ready to believe, the greatest practical difference being that in one the choice of headmaster was unrestricted whilst in the other he was obliged to be a clergyman.' Increasing financial difficulties at the Collegiate in the 1880s led to a suggestion of amalgamation with the College and on 18th July 1885 it was agreed that the several properties of the Huddersfield College Ltd., the Huddersfield Girls' College Company Ltd. and the trust estate of the Hud-
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dersfield Collegiate School should be transferred to a new joint stock com- pany called the Huddersfield College Ltd. By this time, however, wealthy merchants and industrialists were choosing to send their sons to public schools whilst board schools were providing a free education for the chil- dren of tradesmen and shopkeepers who had probably struggled to pay the College fees. The new venture was, therefore, unsuccessful and the Col- lege Company was liquidated in 1893. After the closure of the College the Huddersfield School Board pur- chased the premises for use as a Higher Grade School. As such it took, free of charge, pupils from the higher standards of local elementary schools. Thus, apart from the small private grammar schools at Longwood, Fartown and Almondbury, there was for a time no provision for secondary educa- tion in Huddersfield. The next step in the development of the school came in 1907 when the Higher Grade School became the College Municipal Secondary School for girls and boys. The College became a boys only school again in 1909 when the girls were transferred to the newly opened Greenhead High School Huddersfield College continued as a selective secondary school until 1958 when it amalgamated with Hillhouse School to become Huddersfield New College and moved to new modern premises at Salendine Nook.
THE OLD ROAD TO MARSH (16) This short cobbled section of Highfields Road, narrowly confined by the buildings on either side, is part of an old route, clearly shown on the 1716 map of Huddersfield, which left the town at the top of Westgate and ran in a northerly direction to skirt the western edge of the Bradley's estate at Newhouse. This direct connection between Westgate and Newhouse was lost when the ring road was constructed in the 1960s. From the Newhouse estate the road turned abruptly to the west and somewhere near the site of Highfield chapel merged with another route out of Huddersfield which fol- lowed West Parade and Portland Street (formerly Dyke End Lane). From the junction of the two roads the route continued across the fields towards Marsh (see map p.32). The name Highfields Road is comparatively modern dating only from the early years of the twentieth century. Of the road's earliest name or names
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we have no record but from the eighteenth century to the twentieth it was called Bradley Lane, a name originating from the time when the Bradley family held the Newhouse estate. Beyond the junction with the other road the old highway was called Marsh Lane. After the New Hey and Hali- fax turnpikes were constructed, in the first quarter of the nineteenth century, this old route to Marsh fell into comparative disuse and by the middle of the century it was merely a little used right-of-way running through the 'Edgerton New Cricket Ground'. Not surprisingly, the low- 1X ered status of Marsh Lane soon led to it becoming known merely as the old lane. We have mentioned this route \
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before (D.0.H.2) and we have to confess that we misread a map and got it wrong. We suggested that Marsh (or Old) Lane was later re- developed and renamed Mountjoy Road but this is not so. In fact, the old route to Marsh continued straight ahead from Highfield Road on a route briefly preserved in the short stretch of rough track to be seen on the opposite side of New North Road. This is all that remains of Marsh Lane between here and Snodley. In the last quarter of the nineteenth cen- tury a new street, Vernon Avenue, was constructed across the line of Marsh Lane (and across the cricket field). This was the first of several encroach- ments (see map). It is unusual for a once important highway to disappear completely but a search for Marsh Lane today is a fruitless task. All traces of the old highway have long since been lost beneath houses, gardens and garages and not even the narrowest of footpaths now remains to preserve a right-of-way that had existed for hundreds of years.
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Emerging from Highfield Road our route turns left into New North Road and then quickly right into Mountjoy Road. This manoeuvre should be executed with care.
NEW NORTH ROAD (17) Opened c.1820 this new route to the north was the Ainley Top branch of the Huddersfield and Halifax Turnpike Trust. It was constructed to re- place the old more circuitous branch from Ainley Top which reached Hud- dersfield by way of Grimescar and Hillhouse (see D.O0.H.1.1.N0.16). For the first thirty or so years of its existence the road ran through a landscape of green fields, hedgerows, small woods and occasional quiet farmsteads but this peaceful scene began to change in the 1850s when the advantage of suburban life, away from the smoke and pollution of the in- dustrial areas, became apparent to wealthy manufacturers and merchants. During that decade large mansions set in well wooded gardens and grounds began to make their appearance at Edgerton. These were soon to be fol- lowed by detached and semi-detached villas and substantial terraces built for the respectable middle classes who aspired to a 'good address'. New North Road was the artery of the new high status suburb provid- ing easy access to the from town. For those not rich enough to keep their own carriages and for servants, workmen and their like, Foxton's horse drawn omnibuses operated an hourly service to Edgerton in the 1870s. The fare was twopence outside and threepence inside, a not inconsiderable amount at that time. The omnibuses were succeeded by steam trams on 10th January 1884 and the line was electrified on 14th February 1901.
MOUNTJOY ROAD (18) Originally called Mountjoy Street, Mountjoy Road belongs to the last quarter of the nineteenth century and was probably laid out soon after Greenhead Park was opened, to supply an anticipated demand for residen- tial building sites in the area. In the event, only the land between New North Road and Vernon Avenue was taken up at that time for house build- ing. In 227 metres (250yds) Mountjoy Road crosses its contemporary, Vernon Avenue. Pause here briefly to notice Clifton Villas on the right hand
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section of Vernon Avenue. This row of Victorian houses was built directly across the line of Marsh Lane and we were tempted to think that the narrow green lane behind the villas was a remnant of the old route. However, map measurements proved us wrong. Beyond Vernon Avenue the houses on both sides of Mountjoy Road are of a different style from those lower down and, clearly, development of this section of the road did not begin until the 1920s. Near the top of the road notice a high stone boundary wall on the left. It is at this point that Mountjoy Road picks up the line of Marsh Lane. From here the old highway crossed the once sparsely populated Marsh Common on its way to Lindley and the western hills.
SNODLEY TANK (19) Greenhead Court, the small estate of houses on the left hand side of Mountjoy Road dates from 1992 but the high wall surrounding it is about a hundred and twenty years older. It was built to contain a break-pressure and service tank by the Huddersfield Waterworks Committee at the same time as they were building the reservoir at Blackmoorfoot. The head of flow from our upland collecting reservoirs was of such force that break- pressure tanks were needed to avoid burst pipes at lower levels and, in all, eighteen such tanks were constructed. Snodley Tank, completed in March 1874, was the first of these. Situated at five hundred feet above sea-level the tank, which had a capacity of one and a quarter millions gallons, re- ceived its water from Blackmoorfoot via a main running through Linthwaite, Longwood and Marsh. Filtered water from Snodley was supplied to Moldgreen, Dalton, Mirfield and the higher parts of Lockwood. The minor place-name 'Snodley' is little used today. The last O.S. map on which it appears is 1854, where it is shown as the name of the land between Old Lane (Marsh Lane) and Blacker Lane (now Edgerton Grove Road). The same area on the 1716 map is called Snoddle Hill. 'Lea' or 'ley' means a clearing and 'snod' is an old dialect word meaning smooth or level (originally Old Norse). Just as Bradley means broad clearing and Longley ineans long clearing so Snodley could be level clearing. It is an uncommon name and so far we have not come across it in anywhere else but it could well be present somewhere locally as there must have been a good deal of
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sloping land in the Huddersfield district that needed clearing and levelling in preparation for cultivation. At the end of Mountjoy Road very carefully turn right into Trinity Street (which becomes Westbourne Road at the roundabout) and be prepared to keep moving here as the traffic is fast and unforgiving of dawdlers, even those in search of history.
THE NEW HEY TURNPIKE (20) In 1806 an Act of Parliament authorised the making and maintaining of a turnpike road from Huddersfield to New Hey, near Milnrow, in the parish of Rochdale. The new road which ran locally through Marsh, Salendine Nook and Outlane ignored the old Marsh Lane and took a new and more direct route (the present day Trinity Street) between Huddersfield and Snodley. At Snodley the turnpike picked up the old road and followed it through Marsh but after two thirds of a mile the old line through Lindley was abandoned in favour of a new straight route up the hillside through Salendine Nook. The trustees of a new turnpike road raised the necessary capital for building and maintenance by offering high interest rates against loans bor- rowed on the security of tolls. Charges for using the road were collected at bar houses and a ticket issued by a toll collector would give a full day's clearance for a particular section of the road.
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Because the finances of a turnpike road depended heavily on tolls the trustees would sometimes take steps to prevent traffic using the older free routes to bypass the gates and to this end they erected barriers at side roads leading into the turnpike. There was an example of this here in the Gledholt area. Before Greenhead Park was opened in 1884 there were only two side roads in the area: Blacker Lane on the right and Gledholt Road on the left (see map p.35). Certainly in the 1850s, and possibly before and after that, chains were stretched across both these roads where they joined the turnpike. Al- though the chains could have been immovable barriers it seems more likely that on request and payment of a fee they would be dropped to allow traffic to enter the main road. If this was so they must both have been attended to by the toll collector, Samuel Naylor, whose bar house was situated on the right hand side of the turnpike (see map p.35) and whose chief duties would have been collecting fees and opening the gates on the main road.
THE AMBULANCE STATION (21) After negotiating the busy roundabout by the Junction Public House notice the ambulance station of the right hand side of the road. Before a municipal ambulance service was established in Hudders- field it was the responsibility of the police to transport emergency cases to hospital. The earliest method was a wheeled stretcher trundled along by a policeman and it must have been a considerable relief to patients and po- lice alike when in 1898, soon after the new police station opened in Peel Street, an enclosed horse drawn ambulance was introduced. In the same year, the newly opened Mill Hill Isolation Hospital also obtained a horse ambulance which was kept in a small shelter in the hospital grounds. For obvious reasons this ambulance was strictly reserved for transporting pa- tients to Mill Hill. The next significant advance came in 1912 when the horse ambu- lance at the police station was superseded by a motor ambulance. Around the same time Mill Hill took delivery of its own motor ambulance which, because of its distinctive colour, soon became widely known as the brown fever van. By the early 1930s Mill Hill had three ambulances used exclusively for infectious cases and the police had two Rolls Royce ambulances which were used for accidents. In addition to these there was an ambulance, kept
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at the Haulage Department in Vine Street, which was used for non-infec- tious cases and two kept at the Fire Station in Princess Street which could be requisitioned when required. In cases of accidents within the Borough no charge was made for the latter but for private use, in case of illness, the charge was three shilling (15p) per mile within and four shillings (20p) per mile outside the Borough. Only patients in very poor circumstances were excused these swingeing charges. No charge was made for use of the Mill Hill ambulances. Cases of infectious diseases were notifiable and, unless a patient could be properly isolated at home, removal to the Sanatorium was mandatory. During the Second World War, when the need for ambulances was expected to rise, an ambulance service was established under the auspices of the Civil Defence. The headquarters of the new service was a temporary building in Leeds Road which had initially been used as an auxiliary fire station. In 1947, in anticipation of the requirements of the National Health Service due to come into effect the following year, the Health Committee inaugurated a municipally owned ambulance service operated from the same 'temporary' building in Leeds Road. This soon proved inadequate owing to its small size and its situation on a very busy main road which was fre- quently shrouded in fog. When radio communication was introduced in 1951 the station's low-lying position did not lend itself to good reception between control and fleet and it soon became obvious that a new site was needed. The first calls for new and larger premises on higher ground were heard in 1953 at which time the service had a fleet of twenty vehicles. In 1957 the number of ambulance journeys had increased to over sixty thou- sand a year (compared with ten thousand in 1948) and the need for a new station was described as acute. The following year the decision was taken to build at Marsh nearer to the Infirmary which was then in Portland Street. The new station with a capacity for twenty-eight vehicles finally opened, to the relief of all concerned, in November 1961.
MARSH 'CO-OP' (22) Two hundred and twenty seven metres (250yds) after the ambulance station notice the premises on the left hand side of Westbourne Road, on the corner of Eldon Road, presently occupied by an off-licence shop. This was the Marsh branch of the Huddersfield Industrial Co-operative Society,
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a purpose built store opened in 1877. Although designated branch number eleven it was, in fact, the Society's twelfth branch, numbers having been adjusted after the Barkisland branch (number four) closed after only two years in 1864. The foundation stone of the Marsh branch was laid on Saturday 1st July 1877 by the President of the Society, Thomas Bland. The Directors decided to make a special occasion of the ceremony to prove to the public that there was a great deal of co-operative enthusiasm in the town. To this end, some employees were given leave of absence from two o'clock to six o'clock on condition they joined the procession. Doubtless the opportunity was enthusiastically accepted; a four hour break in a fourteen hour work- ing day (8 a.m. to 10 p.m.) would be very welcome. At three o'clock the President, Committee and branch representatives assembled outside the society's headquarters in Buxton Road and, headed by Jackson's Brass Band, processed along New Street, Westgate, West Parade and Trinity Street to Marsh where a crowd had gathered to watch the ceremony. Afterwards the Committee congratulated themselves on their success and recorded in their minute book that the occasion had been a 'demonstration in true York- shire fashion.' Ten months later, when the branch opened, a celebratory public tea was attended by many civic dignitaries and prominent co-opera- tors. A small butchery department situated on the opposite side of Westbourne Road (presently occupied by Marsh Carpets) was opened on the same day.
MARSHCROSS (23) On the 1716 estate map a tall cross is prominently marked at the side of the highway running through Marsh. At that time the appropriately named area was a sparsely populated tract of wasteland and common with few, if any, identifiable landmarks and the cross was most likely a waymark. In the days when roads were little more than rough, wandering trackways such a waymark, visible in thick snow and discernible in mist and heavy rain, would be a welcome guide and assurance to travellers. The cross stood at the junction of Eldon Road and Westbourne Road and, in addition to indentifying the main road, it seems likely it marked a parting of the ways. Today, 'Cross' has disappeared from Marsh place names but until the early years of the twentieth century Eldon Road was Cross Lane and a nearby
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farmstead was called Cross.
THE SAVOY (24) On the right hand side of Westbourne Road, beyond the Croppers Arms, it is just possible to catch a passing glimpse of the Savoy Picture House, now used as a retail store. Known wryly in its early days as 'The Cabbage' the cinema, which had a seating capacity of seven hundred, was the sixth to be opened in the district. On the opening day, 19th February 1920, there was no formal ceremony but admission was free to the after- noon performance of the silent film A Tale of Two Cities. In 1926 the Savoy was purchased by Mark Freedman who had previ- ously been connected with the Picture House cinema in Ramsden Street. One or two Marsh residents still remember Mr. Freedman who during the Depression generously offered free seats to some regular clients who were out of work. Like most out-of-town cinemas The Savoy presented two different programmes every week. Arguably it was at the height of its popularity in the 1940s and early 1950s when 'going to the pictures' provided a tempo- rary escape from war and austerity. A steady decline in cinema audiences in the 1960s brought about the eventual closure of all our suburban cinemas but the buildings were often retained and put to other uses. The Savoy, for example, was purchased by the Lodge family who converted it into a supermarket - the first example of 'a new and exciting shopping experience' to be opened in the Huddersfield area.
MARSH HOUSE (25) About two hundred and seventy metres (300yds) beyond the The Sa- voy notice a small estate of modern houses on the right hand side of New Hey Road. The houses stand on the site of Marsh House a small, early Victorian mansion, which was once the home of Joseph Sykes a member of the philanthropic Sykes family of Lindley. Born in 1811, Joseph was the first son of John and Charlotte Sykes of Thomas Street, Lindley. John was a card clothing manufacturer and when he died in 1830 the business was carried on by his widow and three sons,
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Joseph, William and James. Subsequently, the three brothers, trading as Joseph Sykes Bros. woollen and cotton card manufacturers, built Acre Mills at Lindley. The business prospered and, as their fortunes increased, each of the brothers sought to benefit the community. A firm believer in the benefit to working men of an elementary educa- tion Joseph Sykes contributed to the foundation of the Lindley Mechanics' Institute and as President he took an active part in its management and activities. His compassionate concern for homeless and destitute children prompted him, at his own expense, to provide a site and build a residential school for orphans and foundlings. The Huddersfield Ragged and Indus- trial school opened in Fitzwilliam Street, Huddersfield in 1862 and was given by Sykes into the hands of trustees from each protestant religious denomination in the town (see D.0.H.3.N0.6). After his death the Sykes family maintained an active interest in the institution (later called the Indus- trial Home) and contributed generously towards renovations and exten- sions in 1899. At the reopening ceremony Joseph's nephew, John Sykes, reminded the audience of his uncle's generosity and told them that when Joseph, the eldest of ten children, was left fatherless at the age of nineteen he promised his mother that he would be father to all these children. 'Never, John said, 'did any man perform a duty more nobly, faithfully and consci- entiously than he did and he was beloved by every brother and sister in the Sykes family.' Joseph Sykes J .P. died on 6th July 1865 aged fifty-four. He is buried at Edgerton Cemetery beneath a tall urn-topped, marble monument near to the Nonconformist Chapel. In his will he left £300 for the support of the Lindley Mechanics' Institute and the interest from £500 to be paid yearly to the 'poorest of the poor' in Lindley. At the roundabout ahead we leave New Hey Road and turn right into Lindley.
NEW HEY ROAD (26) In the mid eighteenth century the trustees of the earliest turnpikes in our area provided their improved routes by widening, surfacing and repair- ing existing highways. Fifty years later, as a result of advances in road
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engineering and a bolder approach to route planning, it had become in- creasingly common to construct lengthy new stretches of road which at last broke away from the wandering, hilly routes of the past. The New Hey turnpike, for example, ignored the old indirect approach to Outlane through Lindley in favour of a new straight route through Salendine Nook. From Outlane, where there is a branch road to Rastrick, the turnpike crossed the hills to Denshaw, where it met the Ripponden and Oldham turnpike, and continued on to New Hey to link up with a turnpike leading to Rochdale. This old road (A640) was for over a hundred and fifty years, one of the main trans-pennine routes in the area. Since the advent of the M62 its traffic has considerably diminished but for anyone wishing to cross the hills it provides an infinitely less stressful route than its monstrous succes- sor - and, as a historical bonus, its little changed aspect offers an insight into the engineering of turnpike roads two centuries ago. N.B. Because of the volume of traffic using the main road through Lindley it may be difficult and even dangerous to stop at or drive slowly past the various places we mention in our commentary. The best way to tackle Lindley, therefore, is on foot. A roadside parking place can usually be found about a third of mile along the road, just past the church.
WELLINGTON MILLS (27) Soon after turnmg into Acre Street look along Wellington Street, on the left, for a distant view of Wellington Mills the one-time premises of Messrs. Martin Sons & Co., better known as 'Pat Martins'. Born in Belfast in 1815, Patrick Martin came to Huddersfield circa 1840 and found employment as a cloth designer. In 1859, he and two part- ners set up the business of Messrs. Liddell, Bennet and Martin at premises in Spring Street, Huddersfield where they produced fancy woollens with a silk twist. Fifteen years later Liddell and Martin moved to Wellington Mills and in 1868 turned from woollens to the manufacture of plain and fancy worsteds. In the mid 1870s, at about the same time as two of Martin's sons. Henry and Edwin, were taken into the business, Joseph Liddell left Wel- lington Mills and with another partner started the business of Liddell and
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Brierley, woollen and worsted manufacturers, Stanley Mills Marsh. (The site of this mill is now occupied by Leo's supermarket). After Patrick Martin died in 1880 his two younger sons, Fred and John, became members of the firm, the four brothers trading as Messrs. Martin Sons & Co. In 1891 the business was formed into a private limited com- pany with Henry as chairman of directors, his brothers having previously ceased to have any control of the business. Rapid strides were made by the firm during Henry Martin's time and by 1894 they had offices in Hudders- field, London and New York. He constantly expanded Wellington Mills until every process connected with cloth manufacture could be carried out there. In 1904 he arranged to have coal delivered directly to the mill from the railway goods yard in Alder Street via the main tramway system (see D.O.H.3 No.14). By the early years of the twentieth century the firm had become the largest employer of labour in the Huddersfield textile trade, employing fourteen hundred workers at Wellington Mills and three hun- dred at their subsidiary, Pelion Lane Mills, Halifax. Henry's insistence on using only the finest yarns maintained the firm's high reputation, which had been built on his father's skills as a designer, and their products were sold all over the world. Locally, it was said that a suit made from Pat Mar- tin's cloth would last at least twenty five years. The success of his business allowed Henry Martin to live in some style. For the last twenty years of his life he and his family occupied Stoneleigh, an ornate mansion in Bryan Road, Edgerton, where he em- ployed nine servants including a butler, a cook and a nursemaid. After his death in 1911 control of the firm passed to his eldest son, Horace, who lived at Beechwood, Bryan Road (many years later to become a Cheshire Home). Wellington Mills remained in the hands of the Martin family until 1960 when, after the death of Sir Ernest Martin, the name Martin Sons & Co. Ltd. was bought by Mr. Stanley Kinder who took production to Springfield Mills, Kirkburton. Today the Martin name survives as part of the Huddersfield Fine Worsted group of Kirkheaton. The dam at Wellington Mills has twice been the scene of some drama. In February 1873 three young girls were sliding on the frozen dam when the ice gave way and they fell through into the water. Fortunately, five
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workmen saw their plight and at great personal risk managed to rescue all three. A month later, in front of three hundred of their workmates, the five men were presented with medals for their 'noble and heroic conduct'. The second incident happened during an air-raid on 23rd December 1940 when high explosives and incendiary bombs fell on the mill, damag- ing one of the sheds, and a land mine dropped into the mill dam. This failed to explode on impact but as it was possible that it could 'go up' at any moment people living nearby were hurriedly evacuated from their homes. So abrupt was their departure that an aunt, uncle and cousin of one of us walked through the 'black-out' to a relative's house at Marsh completely unaware that they were covered in soot! Compared to towns such as Shef- field, Hull and Manchester, Huddersfield received little bomb damage dur- ing the Second World War and the memory of the land mine in Pat Martin's dam lingers simply because it was an unusual occurrence.
GREEN LEA (28) Buried somewhere beneath the Infirmary car-park is the site of Green Lea, a handsome Victorian mansion built in the 1860s by William Sykes a member of the philanthropic Sykes family of Acre Mills. A staunch Non-Conformist, he was a devout member of the Methodist New Connexion and a generous contributor to the Zion Chapel and Sunday School in Lidget Street. In secular matters he served the community as a member of the Huddersfield School Board and a county magistrate. After his death in 1881 Green Lea passed to his only child, Frederick William Sykes J.P. who entered the family business and eventually became chairman of the company. As public spirited as his father and uncles, Frederick maintained the family connection with the Orphan Home in Fitzwilliam Street, serving as a trustee for many years. He died at Green Lea on Ist April 1923 aged sixty five and was buried at Edgerton Cemetery not very far away from his uncles Joseph and James. In August 1926 the Huddersfield Royal Infirmary purchased the Green Lea estate for £10,000 for use as a recovery hospital. The new unit opened on 14th June 1928, during the 'Great Infirmary Carnival Week'. So great was public support for the Infirmary that this special effort, in the town's Diamond Jubilee year, raised £30,000 ten times the carnival committee's
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original target. Seven years later Green Lea became the Infirmary's private patients' ward and remained so until 1957 when the site was cleared to make way for the new Infirmary. Private patients were transferred to St. Luke's Hospital at Crosland Moor a temporary arrangement that, because progress was slow at Lindley, lasted ten years. For several years after the new infirmary opened, private patients were treated in the so called Green Lea wing.
THE INFIRMARY (29) The story of the Huddersfield Royal Infirmary is a long one and the proper place for telling it is outside the building in New North Road that was its home for more than a hundred and thirty years. Perhaps our jour- neys will take us there one day but here, outside the comparatively new premises, we merely include a very brief summary of the developinent of the institution. The first public centre for medical treatment in Huddersfield was a Dispensary set up in 1814 in the Pack Horse Yard to provide relief for the industrial poor of the district. The Dispensary was funded by personal sub- scriptions, donations, legacies and special fund raising efforts such as ba- zaars and concerts. Patients able to attend were treated at the Dispensary, whilst those too ill to attend were visited at their own homes. The demand for treatment was great and the need was soon felt for an Infirmary where patients would receive proper supervision and a suitable diet. In 1824 a subscription list was opened and four years later application was made to Sir John Ramsden for the lease of a green field site in New North Road. The foundation stone of the Huddersfield and Upper Agbrigg Infirmary was laid by Mr. John Charles Ramsden on 29th June 1829. Ex- actly two years later the building was opened for the reception of patients. Accidents in factories and coal pits, on building sites and on roads and railways were common occurrences in the nineteenth century and accident victims accounted for a large percentage of admissions at the Infirmary. Particularly distressing were cases where mill workers were caught by their smocks and drawn into unguarded machines and shafting. The few victims who survived such catastrophes often lost an arm or a leg - in its first year no fewer than twelve amputations were performed at the Infirmary.
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The premises were extended in 1859 and again in 1874 when new wards were added, furnished with what were described as desirable neces- sities: kitchens, bathrooms and lavatories. In 1911 King George V signified his pleasure that the prefix 'Royal' should be used in the name of the Infir- mary and the following year he unveiled a bronze statue of his father, King Edward VII, which was erected in front of the premises. The policy of extending and modernising continued in the twentieth century but by 1950 the old building had become inadequate to serve the needs of the town. In 1951 the Leeds Regional Health Board announced a scheme for a new Infirmary but it was to be six years before the site at Green Lea was cleared and little building progress was made until 1960. Thereafter, things went on apace and the new Royal Infirmary was opened by the Prime Minister, the Right Honourable Harold Wilson, on 27th Janu- ary 1967.
ACRE MILLS (30) On the left hand side of Acre Street, just beyond King Street, notice Acre Mills. Founded by Joseph Sykes and his brothers William and James, the factory produced card clothing used in the mechanical combing of wool and flax. We are indebted to Mr. Alan Walshaw, carding engineer, for the following description of card clothing:
'Card clothing is what is used to cover the cylinders and rollers with the wire required to comb the material in the carding process. In the days when cylinders and rollers were made of wood the card clothing consisted of strips of leather, five to six inches wide, punched with wire card teeth which were nailed across the width of the cylin- der or roller. 'Modern carding machines are mainly made of metal cylinders and rollers so the card clothing now consists of a continuous band of foundation of various widths with metal card teeth punched through - this is called Fillet. It is wrapped round the cylinders under tension. The foundation can be leather or cloth but because of the expense of leather it is usually cloth.'
In the second half of the nineteenth century there was an enormous increase in demand for card clothing and in fifty years Acre Mills expanded
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from two or three sheds in Acre Street to cover most of the ground between King Street and Union Street. In 1897 Joseph Sykes Bros. amalgamated with three other card cloth- ing firms to form the English Card Clothing Company Ltd. The first two chairmen of the new company were both nephews of Joseph Sykes.
ACRE HOUSE (31) On the right hand side of Acre Street, just beyond the Infirmary exit, Acre House was once the home of John Sykes, nephew of Joseph, William and James Sykes. John Sykes started his working life as a cotton spinner and after working in India for a time he set up a cotton spinning business at Acre Mills. Subsequently he joined Joseph Sykes Bros. and when the firm amalgamated with three others to form the English Card Clothing Com- pany Ltd. he became the first chairman of the new company. Well known for his concern for the sick, poor and needy, in 1905 John Sykes was elected to the Board of Governors of the Huddersfield Infir- mary. Four years later he became President, an office he held until his death. His gifts to the Infirmary included a Finson Lamp, an operating table, a research room and a lecture and recreation room. In 1910 it was agreed that a new ward to be built at the Infirmary should be named 'King Edward the Seventh Ward' to commemorate the reign of the late King. John Sykes helped to raise £24,000 for the endowment of twenty-four beds in the new ward and it was at his request that King George V agreed to unveil the statue of King Edward VII at the Infirmary. In 1912 Mr. Sykes offered to provide and equip a sanatorium for con- sumptive children if the Corporation would be responsible for its mainte- nance. After lengthy discussions agreement was reached and a thirteen acre site at Bradley Wood was chosen. The following year in appreciation of his generosity, he was made Honorary Freeman of the Borough. John Sykes died on 9th August 1914 aged seventy. He made provi- sion in his will for the completion of the sanatorium at Bradley Wood and for a holiday home for crippled children to be built at Lindley Moor. The latter was opened by his widow, Mrs. Eliza Sykes, on 30th June 1915. Although John Sykes was only twenty-one when Joseph Sykes died he esteemed his uncle's memory throughout his life and freely acknowl- edged that he owed nearly all he possessed to Joseph's influence and assist- ance. 'A nobler man', he said on one occasion, 'never lived.' For his public
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service, a similar compliment might be paid to John.
LINDLEY'S ROADS AND FIELDS (32) Just before the Clock Tower, notice the junction of five of Lindley's most important roads. One of the roads, Lidget Street, probably dates back to the earliest days of settlement. The other four are merely two hundred years old having their origin in the Lindley Enclosure Awards of 1798. The principle of Parliamentary Enclosure was that owners and occupi- ers of scattered holdings in open or common fields would be allotted new compact land holdings in the same fields. The cost of walling, hedging or fencing the new enclosures, which were notionally equivalent in acreage to the land previously held, fell on the recipients of the awards. Smaller land- owners who could not meet the considerable costs involved were often forced to relinquish their land; there is no doubt that Parliamentary Enclo- sure contributed considerably to rural depopulation. Lindley on the eve of enclosure consisted of a few farmsteads and cottages scattered along a village street on the line of the present day East and West Streets (see map below).
Law Nill Well
Liadieg'a Flatde Prior to 179%
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To the south lay the open and common fields called the Marsh (or West Field), Law Hill, Nearfield, Farfield, Spring and Upper and Lower Acre. Access to the fields was by way of Lidgate Lane (now Lidget Street). The name Lidgate is part of open field terminology and implies the one time presence of a swing gate placed at the entrance to the fields. At the time of enclosure mills, factories, chapels and church were all in the future. In many areas, before they dealt with enclosure, Award Commission- ers often proposed a planned road system to replace old tracks and paths that wandered haphazardly between the furlongs of unenclosed arable and common, connecting farmsteads and villages. Enclosure roads, which may be recognised by their undeviating course, run to old township boundaries where, often with an abrupt change of alignment, they connect with roads leading to neighbouring villages. The four straight roads converging on Lidget Street were awarded, appointed and named by the Commissioners in 1798. The new roads paid
Lia dloay's Fialdta & Raata Past 1 F958
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little attention to open field configuration but, naturally, they determined the setting out of new enclosures. Our second map (p.48), which like the first is based on the Awards Map and on written information in the sched- ules, shows the new roads and enclosures. The first road described by the Commissioners was Huddersfield Road, a public carriageway thirty feet wide, leading from Lidgate Lane south- wards in a direct line to the township boundary to connect there with an ancient highway leading to Huddersfield. The latter was the road running through Marsh, later to become part of the New Hey turnpike. The second was a public carriageway, also thirty feet wide, called Quarmby Road leading in a south westerly direction to connect, at the bound- ary, with Sporth Lane leading to Quarmby. A short stretch of Sporth Lane {now called Sparks Lane) survives on the south side of New Hey Road. The third, Birkby Road, was a public footway twenty feet wide, lead- ing in an easterly direction to unite with a footway to Birkby. The latter was never upgraded and exists, a footpath still, with its entrance near Banney Royd in Halifax Road. The fourth, Springs Road, a public footway twenty feet wide, was given the name of one of its adjoining fields. It ran in a south easterly direction to the 'Beggars Stile' where it crossed the Sunny Bank Beck and connected with a footpath to Huddersfield. As a result of development in this area, stile, beck and footpath have disappeared. The two public footways, Birkby Road and Springs Road, were also described in the awards as occupation roads, a term, commonly given to enclosure roads in Yorkshire, indicating that the owners and occupiers of adjoining fields were required to maintain, repair and support the roads. In return, they had liberty to pass and repass to their land and buildings on foot or with horses, asses, wains, carts and other carriages and to drive cattle along the roads. They were, however, not allowed to turn cattle into the roads to eat the herbage or to depasture them in any way. Once the Lindley Commissioners had rationalised the road system they moved on to land distribution. Following a survey and valuation, and prob- ably several heated and acrimonious public meetings, the Commissioners awarded and set out ' ... the several pieces of land in the several open and Common fields .... in full lieu and recompense for all the parcels of land
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lying in the same fields.' Altogether they disposed of some two hundred and fifty acres but it seems they ignored about twenty acres for the award map clearly shows that the arable strips on either side of the north end of Lidgate Lane remained intact after enclosure (see map p.48). The lion's share of the reapportioned land, approximately one hun- dred and sixty acres, went to the Lord of the Manor, Thomas Thornhill; other names mentioned include Oldfield (approx. 21 acres) Radcliffe (14) Waterhouse (13) Lindley (12) Thornton (10) Wilkinson (8) and Dyson (5). The Awards were published on 3rd April 1798 and the owners and occupiers of the new allotments were required to complete their fences by 25th March 1799. Until that date they had liberty to carry their materials over the occupation roads without interruption or disturbance. They were also required to fix good and substantial stiles in their fences. As well as roads and land the Lindley Commissioners dealt with water courses, the most important of which was the Sough Dike which flowed from a well at Law Hill (now Low Hills) to a trough situated at the junction of Quarmby Road and Huddersfield Road. The directed that the dike should flow in the same direction and manner as before and that it should be kept covered for a space of twenty yards from the west end of the pipe which emptied into the trough. The owners and occupiers of the land on either side of the dike were to keep it cleansed and scoured. From the trough the water was to flow into and along the Birkby Road and all owners and occupiers of land adjoining the road were given liberty to take the water 'into their respective allotments for the purpose of water- ing their cattle but for no other use or purpose whatsoever.' After they had 'received the benefit thereof" they were required to turn the water out into the road again. As there is no instruction here that the water was to flow in the same direction as before it can be implied that, beyond the trough, the water was sent along a new course. The reference to the water flowing along Birkby Road probably should not be taken at face-value. A road constantly under water would be impractical and the likely explanation is that it flowed along a channel newly dug at the side of the road. Exactly how long this arrangement continued is not known but by the 1850s the water had probably been culverted underground. The trough mentioned in the schedules, which was conveniently situ-
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ated near the five road junction, was an important enough feature in Lindley to give rise to a place-name. As late as the 1930s the area between Daisy Lea Lane and Occupation Road was called Trough. The original names of the enclosure roads, chosen by the Commis- sioners in 1798, have not survived and perhaps they were never taken up by local people. Certainly by the 1850s Birkby Road had become Daisy Lea Lane whilst Quarmby Road was known at that time as Sparks Lane. Even then, it was the site of a large factory called Plover Mills which must account for its present name, Plover Road. Huddersfield Road soon be- came Acre Street presumably because it runs across land formerly called Upper and Lower Acre. Conversely, Spring Road lost its designated con- nection with Spring Field and became simply, Occupation Road. Although Lindley has been massively developed since 1798 a trace of the awards underlies the present day streets, mills, workshops, houses, chap- els and shops. In the area of enclosure, several property boundaries run at right angles to Acre Street and Lidget Street and coincide with the compact land holdings set out at that time. In contrast, property boundaries at the north end of Lidget Street tend to run parallel with the street and coincide with the strips ignored by the Commissioners in 1798.
LINDLEY CLOCK TOWER (33) The inscription over the door of the Clock Tower reads: 'This tower was erected by James Nield Sykes Esq. J.P. of Field Head, Lindley, for the benefit of the inhabitants of his village in 1902.' The tower was designed by James Sykes' nephew, Edgar Wood, one of the country's leading archi- tects and the numerous symbolic sculptures, executed in the finest stone, were by T. Stirling of London. Carved over the door is the figure of Time standing on the winged globe, moving straight ahead in his full youth, holding his scythe and hour glass. On his right hand is the figure of Youth, sowing seed broadcast and on his left 'Old Age' reaping the harvest. The model for the sower in this simple sermon in stone is believed to have been thirteen year old Harry Mortimer whose father, Tom, was a plumber working on the tower's copper roof. One day, when the sculptor was in need of a model for 'Youth' he spotted Harry who had brought his father's dinner to the site. Thus Harry
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was immortalized in stone. The figures on each of the corner buttresses represent the four virtues: Faith (east), Love (south), Purity (west) and Justice (north). The four sea- sons are portrayed on the frieze with spring symbolized by almond blos- som, summer by the rose, autumn by the apple and winter by holly. The gargoyles represent 'the beasts fleeing from the tower of time' and are de- scribed as The Lazy Dog, The Vicious Dog, The Cunning Dog and the Greedy Dog. The clock was started by Miss Mary Alice Sykes, youngest daughter of James Nield Sykes, on 24th December 1902. To celebrate the event F. W. Sykes of Green Lea gave a treat on Christmas Day to the aged and poor of Lindley and two days later John Sykes entertained some four hundred people over the age of sixty at Acre House. The Clock Tower was conveyed to the Corporation on 14th July 1925. In 1968 the copper sheeting on the roof was replaced and the stonework was cleaned and pointed. Two years later the clock's original mechanism, which had worn, was replaced by the mechanism from the old market hall clock. Many local people were disappointed that the new mechanism did not strike or chime and a 'Save the Clock Tower fund was inaugu- rated to raise the necessary £500. When the fund reached £400 the Town Council offered the rest and on 11th September 1971, after more than a year of silence, the Mayor, Ald. Mrs. E. M. Whitteron, switched on the new electric chimes. Lindley Clock Tower with it copper roof is a landmark visible from many of the surrounding districts. That it is held in affection by the people of Lindley and areas further afield was proved on 11th and 12th September 1999 when, as part of a Heritage Weekend, the doors were thrown open to the public for the first time since 1902 and long queues of people patiently waited their chance to enter. After the clock tower was completed in 1902 it was whispered, rather unkindly, that Mr. Sykes' motive was to make sure that the employees at Acre Mills had no excuse for being late for work. If this idea, which is still current, is true then in Lindley Clock Tower we must have one of the most ornate and expensive alarm clocks ever known. For such a simple purpose it would surely have been cheaper to provide all the workmen with clocks
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or even the services of a 'knocker-up'. At the time the clock was built Mr. Sykes was retired and it is far more likely that his intention was, as the inscription suggests, to benefit his native village and, perhaps, as he was nearing the end of his life to leave something splendid as his memorial near to the place where he lived.
THE PARISH CHURCH OF ST. STEPHEN (34) In 1818 Parliament made one million pounds available to extend the influence of the established church through the building of new churches. The Million Act was ostensibly to thank God for the recent victory over Napoleon at Waterloo but its underlying motive was to combat the growing popularity of dissenting religion in new, rapidly expanding industrial areas. Several churches in the Huddersfield district, including St. Stephen's, were built under the Million Act during the first three decades of the nineteenth century. The so-called Million or Waterloo churches were usually Gothic in design, inexpensive in construction and plainly functional in character. They were required to provide free seats for the poor and, in a contemporary account, were described as 'churches where working men and women may freely go and feel at home.' Built between 1828 and 1830, on land formerly owned by the Thornhills, St. Stephen's could accommodate a congregation of seven hun- dred. Designed by John Oates, the church was built by Joseph Kaye, the most productive local builder of the times, who was responsible for many of the public buildings in Huddersfield (see D.O.H.1.u.No0.9). As well as St. Stephen's Kaye, between 1827 and 1831, built Waterloo churches at South Crosland, Linthwaite, Golcar, Paddock and Huddersfield (St. Paul's). St. Stephen's was opened by Rev. J.C. Franks, Vicar of Huddersfield, on 11th February 1830 and consecrated by the Archbishop of York on 1st September following. On the same day the Archbishop consecrated Kaye's churches at Golcar and Paddock and on the following day he performed the same duty at new churches at Lockwood and Netherthong. In later years Waterloo churches came to be regarded as plain and unimpressive. Many were 'improved' by the addition of a chancel as here at St. Stephen's where the chancel was built in 1872 at a cost of £2,000. The new work included a vestry and an organ chamber and on 15th January
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1873, with much rejoicing, the newly installed organ was 'opened'. There was further rejoicing on 15th August 1878 when Mr. T. Varley presented a peal of eight bells to the church. Since they were installed the bells have doubtless rung out to mark many special occasions; most recently they rang at noon on 1st January 2000 to welcome the third millennium of the Christian era.
FIELD HEAD (35) A few metres beyond the church, the house called Field Head (origi- nally Field House) was the residence of James Nield Sykes, giver of the Clock Tower. The younger brother of Joseph and William Sykes he entered the family business in his youth and became Chairman when the firm was converted into a limited company. A stauch Non-Conformist, he worshipped at the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel in East Street and contributed generously towards the extension of the premises and the purchase of a new burial ground. In 1893, James Sykes conveyed eight acres of land at the side of Daisy Lea Lane to the Corporation for use as a public recreation ground. The opening ceremony on 14th May 1894 was a grand affair with Lindley Brass Band, processions of teachers and scholars from all the local Sunday Schools, sports competitions and a spectacular fireworks display. For this and other services to the Corporation, Mr. Sykes was made Freeman of the Borough, only the fourth man to receive the honour. James Nield Sykes died on 4th March 1903 aged seventy seven. His funeral service, held three days later at the Wesleyan Chapel, was attended by most of the town's civic dignitaries and leading businessmen. As a mark of respect blinds were lowered and curtains drawn in almost all the houses and shops in Lindley. In his funeral oration the Rev. J.H. Clemison de- scribed the deceased as '...a fine type of rough and ready Yorkshireman, bluntly outspoken and not squeamish in his choice of words.' He went to praise Mr. Sykes' generous gifts to the village and his contribution to the 'beautification' of the Chapel, remarking that 'no more generous heart ever beat.' Surprisingly, perhaps, James Sykes was not buried in the Wesleyan Chapel graveyard. His remains lie beneath a large tombstone in front of the Non-Conformist Chapel in Edgerton Cemetery, near to the grave of his
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brother Joseph. In 1937 after the death of James Sykes' daughter, Mary, Field Head was bought by Huddersfield Corporation for use as a children's home and nursery.
LINDLEY TRAMS (36) Just beyond Field Head, on the opposite side of the road, the Fleece Inn was the terminus not only for Lindley's first tramway service but also for an earlier service of privately operated omnibuses. In the 1870s Coneys were running horse drawn omnibuses seven times a day (eight on Satur- days) from the Market Place via Marsh to the Fleece. Fares to Lindley were threepence - ha'penny outside and fivepence inside - a tidy sum in those days. Fares in the opposite direction were, at threepence and twopence, slightly more modest perhaps because it was downhill. When steam trams started operating on the Lindley route the fares were twopence and three- pence both ways. An hourly steam tram service from St. George's Square to Lindley was inaugurated on 9th June 1883. For a few weeks the line terminated at the Bay Horse public house at the corner of New Hey Road and Acre Street because the Board of Trade decreed that Lidget Street was too narrow for the use of steam power. Fortunately, through the generosity of James Neild Sykes who offered, gratis, a strip of land about seventy yards long, the Corporation were able to widen the road and thus take the tramway to a terminus at the Fleece in the heart of the village. Three years later it was decided to extend the Edgerton route from Bryan Road to Lindley via Holly Bank Road so making the Lindley service a circular route. Although Holly Bank Road was a new road, having been constructed some time after 1850, it was, like Lidget Street, too narrow for steam trams and had to be widened before the line could be certified for public use. The new circular route opened on 11th October 1886 and lasted until the Edgerton line was extended to Birchencliffe in 1911 when the Holly Bank Road section was closed. On 14th February 1901 the Lindley line was electrified and a more frequent service was introduced. During its lifetime there were only two accidents on the Lindley line, the worst of which was on 3rd July 1883 when seven passengers were
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killed (see D.O0.H.2.1.N0.7). The other occurred on 6th June 1905 when an electric tramcar left Lindley at 5.15 p.m. carrying several passengers. Shortly after turning into Holly Bank Road the car began to make speed. Although the driver tried his utmost to check it, the car continued to gather speed until it reached the bend into Halifax Road where it jumped the and careered across the road into a field, demolishing about six metres (20ft) of a substantial stone wall. The car remained upright, the driver remained at his controls and, remarkably, neither he nor his passengers were hurt. Two breakdown gangs were soon the scene closely followed by the tramway manager, Mr. Wilkinson, and the traffic superintendent, Mr. Hartly. Under their direction the work of removing the tram from the field began and by 9.30 p.m. it was on the metals again. The brakes were carefully examined by Mr. Wilkinson who could find no fault with them. Rashly, perhaps, he drove the tram several times up and down Holly Bank Road in the presence of three councillors who had arrived to take stock of the situ- ation. Prudently, they watehed rather than took part in the operation. The tram behaved perfectly and was later driven to the depot for repairs. Subse- quently, the accident was put down to a temporary malfunction of the brakes.
LINDLEY CO-OP (37) The Huddersfield Industrial Co-operative Society opened their first store in Buxton Road on 1st September 1860. Business was slow at first and by December of that year the new venture had attracted only three hundred members. The total profit for that first quarter was a mere £70 but so great was the directors' faith in the Co-operative Movement that, as soon as they were estabhshed in the town, they prepared to open their first two branches at Lindley and Moldgreen. Branch number one opened at Lindley in rented premises in Decem- ber 1860. The undoubted success of the Movement was due in no small part to the yearly dividend (known throughout the area as 'divi') paid to members. In the first year of trading at Lindley the dividend was 1s.7d. in the pound. Sixteen years later when a new purpose built store opened in Lidget Street the dividend had risen to 2s.7%d. Today, unable to compete with the buying power of supermarkets, all co-operative stores in the Huddersfield area have ceased trading. In almost
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every district, however, the old premises remain, put to some other use. Nos 85, 87 and 89 Lidget Street (opposite the bus lay-by) today occupy the premises of the Lindley Co-op. More often than not old co-operative premises are easily recognised for what they were. Here nothing seems to remain to remind us of the past but a very careful inspection of the facade will reveal the faint semi-circular outline of the old timber sign-board that once dis- played the name and number of the branch. This shadow of the past can be seen between the first floor windows of Nos. 85 and 87.
THE LINDLEY COINERS (38) In 1769 several members of the notorious gang known as the Halifax Coiners were arrested and brought to trial. Their leader, David Hartley, was executed and several of his accomplices were transported for at least seven years. Exactly one hundred years later the Lindley coiners received much more lenient sentences. Somewhere beneath the modern property on the right hand side of Lidget Street, near its junction with East Street, is the site of a shop once occupied by Jonathan Shaw, shoemaker, Mary Shaw, greengrocer, and their seven children. For several years shopkeepers in Huddersfield had suffered loss through unwittingly accepting counterfeit coins in payment for goods. Suspicion eventually fell on Mary Shaw, a watch was kept and at 7.30 p.m. on 8th April 1869 she was caught tendering a bad florin at Woods fishmongers in Victoria Street. Inspector J.A. Whelan arrested her and took her to the po- lice station in Bull and Mouth Street. Mr. Whelan and a police constable immediately went to Shaw's shop at Lindley where, in the loft, they found quantities of plaster of Paris, pewter, bismuth and black tin. Elsewhere they found an iron ladle with traces of a white metal clinging to it. To their ex- treme disappointment they found no moulds. Jonathan Shaw was arrested shortly after midnight and taken to the police station where both prisoners were charged with uttering base coins. Shaw's response was, 'Well, what about it? Mary, who had her baby son, Ellis, with her, made no reply. On 10th April the couple appeared at the Magristrates Court and were remanded for three days. As they were leaving the court a friend shouted to
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Mary, 'Its through him that you are in this position, I should tell all about it.' That evening Mary told Inspector Whelan that she had heard Jonathan tell a friend that he had planted things in Prince Wood and she offered to go to the wood to help search for the moulds. When she declared that she and Shaw were not married the police realised that any evidence she gave against Shaw could be admitted and permission was given for the search. At about 3.30 a.m. on 11th April, Mary and baby Ellis accompanied by three police officers set off on foot for Prince Wood. After a lengthy search an oilskin parcel was discovered concealed in the boundary wall. It contained three plaster of Paris moulds, one for coining half-crowns and two for coining shillings and, in addition, four base half-crowns and five base shillings. From the wood the party made their way to Shaw's shop where Mary assisted in another search. Her appearance in Lindley caused a small sensation and scores of people gathered around the shop thinking she had been released. Nothing was discovered in the shop and Mary was re- turned to the lock-up in Huddersfield on the Lindley omnibus. Another search of Prince Wood undertaken a day or so later led to the discovery, also in the boundary wall, of one hundred and sixteen base shil- lings wrapped up in an apron which was later identified as Shaw's by his daughter, Eliza Ann. Around the same time two boys playing in the field where Shaw kept his donkey found, hidden in a wall, a bottle containing a number of base half-crowns, shillings and sixpences. On Tuesday 13th April the prisoners were brought before the magristates in a crowded courtroom. Several witnesses told the court that Mary Shaw had purchased goods from them with counterfeit coins. Inspector Whelan and other police officers told of their several discoveries of metal, dies and coins. The prisoners were held on remand until instructions were received from the Royal Mint for their prosecution. Two weeks later, the couple were remanded in custody to appear at the summer Assizes. Mary's desperate plea that she could be of service at home and her fervent promise to 'sit still' were ignored. During the second week of August 1869 Jonathan Shaw aged 50 and Mary Shaw aged 40, spinster, were indicted at Leeds Assizes, before Mr. Justice Forsyth, for having possession of three dies for making counterfeit money. After listening to the overwhelming evidence against Shaw the jury
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ignored his denial of all knowledge of the moulds and found him guilty. Mary was acquitted on that charge but was immediately put on trial for attempting to pass base coins. She admitted the attempt but declared she was ignorant of the coins being spurious. The jury found her guilty but recommended her to mercy. Shaw was sentenced to eighteen months im- prisonment with hard labour, Mary to one month with hard labour. After her release Mary reverted to her maiden name, Schofield, and took a house in Thornhill Street (now Thorncliffe Street), Lindley, where she was reunited with her children. Two years later she took in a lodger - his name? Jonathan Shaw! N.B. Any of our readers who might light to try their luck with a metal detec- tor can at this point easily make a short diversion to visit Prince Wood. From Lidget Street turn right into East Street and at the traffic lights at the bottom of the hill continue straight ahead into Birkby Road. In about % mile turn left into Reap Hirst Road and park near a public footpath sign on the left. The path borders a remnant of Prince Wood. After exploring the wood and its boundary walls return to the main route of the tour in Lindley.
THE OLD BREWERY (39) About a quarter of mile after turning left into West Street notice, on the right, between Fern Lea Road and Weather Hill Road, a building called The Old Brewery. Lindley Brewery was founded in the late 1850s by George Netherwood who farmed sixteen acres of land at Weather Hill. After his death circa 1868 his sons Ellis and Law took over the business, trading as George Netherwood and Sons, ale and porter brewers and hop, wine and spirit merchants. In the day-to-day running of the firm Law was the brewer and Ellis the merchant. By 1880, Ellis had control of the brewery and was living, with his wife Susannah and their four children, in some style at Field Gate House in Temple Street. Ten years later, after her husband's death, Susannah was running the business with her eldest son, George. At that time there were at least eight inns and public houses in Lindley but despite having so many customers on the doorstep Lindley Brewery went out of business around the turn of the century. The building remained, disused and neglected, until someone saw the
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possibility of converting part of it into a dwelling house. Fortunately, when choosing a name for the house he or she had the good sense to remember
its history.
COWRAKES (40) Just beyond the brewery, West Street becomes Cowrakes Road. Near the top of the hill notice a small settlement on the right hand side. This was originally a single farmstead called Cowrakes, an unusual name that is at least two hundred years old and probably much older. In the northern coun- ties the word 'rake' (from the Old Norse rak - a stripe) was commonly used of a steep, narrow track where animals were formed into single file. The use of Cowrakes as a place name tells us something of the conditions around and activities at the farm in its earliest days. Cowrakes Road, of course, was so named because it led to Cowrakes farm.
BENJAMIN BROADBENT (41) One tenth of a mile beyond the Old Brewery, on the bend near the top of the hill, the house on the left hand side of the road is Gatesgarth the one- time home of one of our local heroes, Benjamin Broadbent. Born at Longwood in 1850 he was the sixth son of John Broadbent of Parkwood Mills, a wealthy manu- facturer who believed in providing ase oe. his sons with a wide education. One of Benjamin's older brothers, for ex- ample, became an eminent physi- cian, another became a Colonel in the British army. Benjamin was edu- cated at Huddersfield College, King's College, London and Queen's College, Oxford. After tak- ing his degree in 1874 he aban- doned his early ambition to become a journalist and returned home to GSP enter the family business. He mar- Couscitor B. BROADBENT, M.A., J.P. ried Louisa, daughter of William
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Keighley of Highfield, and in 1880 the couple set up home at Gatesgarth. He soon began to take an active interest in community health and quickly gained public recognition for his work. In 1886 he was elected councillor, by a large majority, for the Lindley-cum-Quarmby ward although he was out of country at the time and therefore unable to address any elec- tion meetings. Throughout his twenty-seven years as councillor, and later alderman, he was resolutely non-political subscribing to the admirable be- hef that the interests of the public should always be set before party politics. Over the years Councillor Broadbent served on many committees. As a of the tramways committee he encouraged the provision of the circular route to Lindley and, later, pressed for the electrifician of the sys- tem. But it was as a member, and later chairman, of the Health Committee that he found his most fulfilling role. His fervent belief that the town needed improved facilities for treating infectious diseases led him to become one of the chief proponents of a scheme to build a new isolation hospital at Mill Hill. For some seven years he fought for Mill Hill in the council chamber and finally saw his dream realised when, on 22nd October 1898, he invited his brother, Sir W.H. Broadbent, physician to the Prince of Wales, to open the new hospital (see D.0.H.3.N0.53). Councillor Broadbent's most important work was his lifelong crusade to improve infant welfare and he was instrumental in setting up the Infantile Mortality Sub-Committee in 1903. When he became Mayor, in November 1904, he announced his intention of awarding a promissory note for twenty shillings to the parents of babies born in Longwood during his term of office, the sum to be payable when the babies reached the age of twelve months. A ladies committee was formed whose members visited the parents to offer help and advice. After two years as Mayor he reported that notes had been given in respect of one hundred and twelve babies of whom only four had died. As a result of the scheme the infantile death rate in Longwood was reduced to less than half the national average. In 1905, at the end of his first term as Mayor, he was made Alderman. The following year he introduced a scheme for the prompt registration of all births within the Borough, a measure that was taken up a year later by the whole country. During the first decade of the twentieth century Alderman Broadbent
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received world-wide recognition for his innovative work in child welfare. In 1906 he accepted the post of Hon. Joint Secretary of the National Con- ference on Infantile Mortality and in 1907 he was made Membre d'Honeur de las lique pour la protection de Uenfance du premier age. As his reputa- tion grew he was always quick to acknowledge the help of members of the medical profession in London and the direct encouragement of Queen Alexandra. In 1918, in recognition of his single minded service to the com- munity he was made Freeman of the Borough of Huddersfield. Alderman Benjamin Broadbent C.B.E., M.A., J.P., LL.D. died on 25th April 1925. He was buried in the graveyard of the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel at Longwood. The chapel has gone now and we are unable to say whether a tombstone survives as, sadly, the graveyard is neglected, over- grown and locked. Just beyond Gatesgarth our route continues straight ahead at the cross roads to follow Moor Hill Road to Salendine Nook.
STARKEY'S ALLOTMENT (42) Immediately beyond the cross roads, the modern houses on the right hand side of Moor Hill Road were built on land allotted to a number of men in the Lindley Moor Enclosure Awards of 1813 and pur- chased afterwards by a William Starkey. The prop- erty amounting to about ten acres, soon became known as Starkey's Allotment (see map right) a name that, sur- prisingly perhaps, survived until the housing estate was built in the 1970s.
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As a landowner Starkey was required to make and forever maintain fences around his land. His compliance may be deduced from the 1854 O.S. map which clearly shows that the north and west sides of the allotment were bounded not only by straight walls but also by trees planted at regular mtervals along the walls. This wall - tree boundary, always more noticeable than other field divisions in the area, has survived. Anyone interested in landscape history might like to take a short walk (136 metres, 150yds) along Crosland Road to look at the drystone wall (and trees) on the left side of the road and running at right angles to it. Today, this is the northern boundary of the housing estate but from its style and state we can be fairly sure that it dates back to the early years of the nineteenth century and might, therefore, have been built by William Starkey. As a matter of interest the land on the other side of the wall was awarded to Thomas Thornhill in 1813 in lieu of the rabbit warren. (see map p.62).
LINDLEY WORKHOUSE (43) On the right hand side of Moor Hill Road, about eighteen metres (20yds) before a short road called Hill Close, notice a driveway leading to a modern house called White Gables. The driveway follows the exact line of a lane that once led to Lindley Workhouse and White Gables (which may be glimpsed from the road) now occupies the site of the building. The drystone wall on the right hand side of the drive is the south wall, now rebuilt, of Starkey's Allotment (see map p.62). It is difficult to decide whether or not the workhouse was ever an insti- tution for housing the poor like the one at Birkby. Early references to Lindley Workhouse have proved elusive and, significantly, in a diligent search of the Lindley census returns we could find no mention of a workhouse let alone a list of inmates. The Lindley Moor Enclosure Map of 1813 shows that the workhouse occupied a site at the north-east corner of a close of land marked Lindley Poor. Interestingly, we have come across a similar arrangement of workhouse and poor's land at Lepton. There the land and house were let to tenants and the rents applied in aid of that township's poor rate. It may be that this system prevailed at Lindley from the beginning. In 1924, the then occupant of the workhouse, who was described as of ad- vanced age, said his father and grandfather had occupied the site before
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him. Although such hearsay evidence should be treated with caution this could mean that the workhouse was tenanted circa 1820. We are on safer ground in the 1860s when it is certain that the Lindley Overseers were letting the workhouse and land for £12 a year, which sum was paid into the township's account in respect of the poor rate. In 1924, the decision was taken to sell the workhouse property which comprised a freehold farmhouse, two single storey cottages and six acres of land. It was found that the sale had to comply with the provisions of the Union and Parish Act of 1835. This stipulated that the overseers of the poor must obtain permission for the sale from the Lindley rate payers who were to be summoned to a meeting by a 'fairly written' notice posted on the principal door of the Parish Church. The Act also laid down the method of voting. The resolution to be submitted to the meeting was entered in a spe- cial book provided by the overseers and voters were required to sign their names, as they saw fit, on pages marked 'for or 'against' the resolution. Ratepayers whose property was assessed at less than £50 had one vote. Those who were assessed at more than £50 were entitled to another vote for each subsequent £25. On 21st August 1924 twelve ratepayers attended a meeting held in the Town Hall. Accustomed, as they were, to the one man one vote secret ballot they found the system of voting laid down by the Act antiquated and un- democratic. Nevertheless, the provisions of the Act were duly complied with and the meeting unanimously gave permission to the overseers to sell the property. The income from the sale was to be applied for the benefit of the Crippled Children's Home at Lindley Moor. It is interesting that some fifty years after the sale, long after the age of workhouses had passed, the buildings on the site were still called Old Work- house.
POTOVENS ROAD (44) In the late nineteenth century the rather bland name Moor Hill Road replaced the much more interesting and distinctive name Potovens Road which had it origin in the nearby Lindley Moor Pottery. Some time in the seventeenth century a family called Morton, tradi- tionally said to come from Scotland, settled in the Lindley area and estab-
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lished themselves as clothiers and farmers. Towards the end of the eight- eenth century two of their descendants, Edmund and Joseph Morton, set up a pottery kiln in Salendine Road (now Laund Road). Successive Mortons continued the business, combining pot making with farming. Eventually, the pottery split into two separate concerns one of which closed in 1945. The other, still in the hands of the Mortons, continued in business until the early 1980s. After the potters left the builders moved in and today a number of distinctive dwelling houses, some of them converted warehouses and of- fices, occupy the site which is appropriately called Kiln Court and Morton Way. Thus a small part of the fabric of Salendine Nook's history has been preserved on the site of it occupied for nearly two centuries. To see the site it is, of course, necessary to take a short diversion (about 200 metres, 220yds) into Laund Road.
SALENDINE NOOK CHAPEL (45) Just before Laund Road, on the left hand side of Moor Hill Road, notice Salendine Nook Baptist Chapel. The chapel has received much ex- pert attention from other wniters and its story is well known. Nevertheless we feel we cannot pass by without giving a brief account of the foundation of the first Baptist cause in Huddersfield. In the seventeenth century as opposition to the doctrines and rituals of the Established Church grew, separate dissenting congregations met in pri- vate houses to worship God according to their consciences. Because early Dissenters were persecuted for their beliefs their meetings were, of neces- sity, held in secret behind locked doors. Religious toleration was slow to grow but by 1689 the idea that some sort of coexistence between estab- lished and dissenting churches was possible led to the passing of the Tol- eration Act. At last, provided their premises were those who did not conform were permitted to meet openly. As a result of the Act, Michael Morton obtained a licence on 8th Octo- ber 1689 to use his house as a public meeting place for Protestant Dissent- ers. In the early eighteenth century two other houses in the area were li- censed as Dissenters' meeting places, the first in 1712 in the name of Samuel Grimshaw of Lindley, the second in 1713 in the name of John Morton of
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Quarmby. In 1731, Henry Clayton of Halifax began preaching regularly to the small community in their various premises and in 1739 a small meeting house was built at Salendine Nook which was duly licensed for religious meetings. This first chapel was erected on land belonging to the Morton family and three of the five trustees were Mortons. A momentous step was taken in 1743 when Henry Clayton's small congregation was organised into an independent Baptist Church with a membership roll of eleven. Clayton, who became their pastor, remained with his flock until his death in 1761 by which time membership had grown to sixty one. The cause at Salendine Nook quickly prospered and in 1803 the original meeting house was replaced by a larger one on the same site. The present chapel which dates from 1843, happily, still continues its ministry. On the south west side, the graves of several members of the Morton family prove that their allegiance to the chapel continued into the twentieth century. They are not alone for nearby in the huge graveyard generations of other families lie close together awaiting, with certainty, the Day of Resurrection.
THE COSY NOOK (46) On the right hand side of Moor Hill Road, a small supermarket now occupies the site of the Cosy Nook picture house which opened without ceremony on Thursday 22nd March 1934. The Cosy Nook had the dubious distinction of being the only cinema in the Huddersfield area to be damaged by enemy action. On the night of the 13th October 1940 when an enemy raider jettisoned his high explosive and incendiary bombs over the area, shrapnel from the blast damaged the roof of the cinema. Fortunately there was no incendiary damage and, to the relief of the locals, their much loved 'Cosy' soon reopened.
SALENDINE NOOK (47) The place name Salendine Nook is of interest for what it has to tell us about the area as seen by our forebears. According to the Dialect Diction- ary 'nook' is a remote corner and 'sallendine' is the northern name for the
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greater celandine. A plant of the poppy family, the celandine was supposed to flower when the swallows appeared and to fade when they departed. So, before we leave Salendine Nook try to imagine the area as it may once have been, a quiet, out of the way place where, in season, masses of yellow flowers on the hillside were, like the swallows, welcome harbingers of sum- mer. This may be a fanciful explanation but is likely that Salendine Nook enjoyed noticeably higher temperatures than the exposed Raw Nook situ- ated on the other side of New Hey Road at the top of the steep Longwood Edge. At the end of Moor Hill Road turn left into New Hey Road and drive 1.8 miles to the traffic roundabout by the Junction public house near Greenhead Park. Turn right at the roundabout into Gledholt Road (see D.0.H.2.i.No.51 for Greenhead Park).
GLEDHOLT HALL (48) About half a mile after entering Gledholt Road notice, on the right, the entrance to Gledholt Hall. The house, then called Glead Holt, is marked on the 1797 Valuation Map of Huddersfield but from a number of documen- tary references occupation of the site can be taken much further back: in 1664 Arthur Hirst of Gieadhould paid tax on four hearths; in the Subsidy Roll of 1523 John Hirst of the Gledholtt was taxed five shillings on goods worth ten pounds; Johannis Gleadhowe paid sixpence in the Poll Tax of 1379; towards the end of the thirteenth century Robert de Gledhold wit- nessed a grant of land from Arabella de Bellomonte to Adam de Hepworth. It is worth noting that in the three fiscal lists mentioned above the men associated with Gledholt were assessed at a higher rate than most of their contemporaries. The place name 'Gledholt', which is obviously many hundreds of years old, is easy to interpret. The first element, 'glede', is an old name for the common kite, birds of prey once more numerous and widely distributed than they are today. The word glede which is related to the verb 'to glide', from the Old English 'glida', is descriptive of the birds' flight. The seeond element 'holt' is a wood or woody hill and it is easy to believe that the wooded hillside immediately to the south of Gledholt Hall was, long ago, the habitat of kites and, therefore, the origin of the place name.
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There is no doubt that Gledholt is one of the oldest occupation sites in Huddersfield. For most of its long history the house was called Gledholt (or its ancient equivalents). Hall was added to the name in the mid twentieth century, perhaps to improve public perception of its status and, by infer- ence, that of its occupants.
T.P. CROSLAND (49) In the mid nineteenth century Gledholt was the home of Thomas Pearson Crosland a wealthy industrialist who played an active part in the affairs of the town. An enthusiastic member of the Huddersfield Volunteers he became their commanding officer in 1864 and was thereafter known as Colonel Crosland. In the General Election of 1865, Crosland stood as a Liberal-Con- servative candidate in opposition to the sitting Liberal member E.A. Leatham. Polling day, Thursday 13th June 1865, was marked by rowdyism, riots and running battles between the supporters of each candidate and only after the Riot Act was read and troops summoned did the crowds quieten down. The final result, declared at four o'clock, was 1019 votes for Crosland and 787 votes for Leatham (see D.O0.H.1.1.No0.1). Just over a week later, on Saturday 22nd July, in what was described in the press as the greatest political demonstration ever to take place in Huddersfield, thousands of non-electors marched in procession to Mr. Leatham's home at Whitley Hall to present him with an address expressing their appreciation of his political services and their deep regret that he no longer represented them. It was said that the procession was several miles long and that the toll house keeper on Wakefield Road took an average month's revenue in that one afternoon. On 24th April 1866, a petition from Huddersfield against the return of Col. Crosland, alleging bribery, threats and undue influence, was presented to a special committee at the House of Commons. No fewer than thirty two witnesses were called against Col. Crosland and, as an insight into the man- agement of mid nineteenth century elections, it is worth recording what one or two of them had to say. James Fawcett, tinner, of Market Walk spoke of receiving an envelope
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with a fifty pound note inside and said that his wife received three ten pound notes and another three a few days later. After that he voted for Col. Crosland. Thomas Dean, printer, said he was paid to break up Liberal meetings and to shout for Mr. Crosland. Joseph Smith, sawyer, of Castlegate had intended to vote for Mr. Leatham. He was offered five pounds to change his mind and ten shillings a day to act as a 'runner' to protect Col. Crosland's support- ers. By this time he must have had enough for, in his own words, 'I got the ten shillings and then showed myself a runner by running away and voting for neither.' On the sixth day of the hearing T.P. Crosland was examined. He said he had 1060 pledges out of 2080 and polled 1019. He could have polled fifty more had there not been disturbances and riots by the Liberals. He denied all intimidation and said he did not spend a shilling illegally. Twenty three witnesses gave evidence for Col. Crosland including Sergeant William Hannan of the Huddersfield police. He said that Mr. Crosland was the popular candidate amongst the respectable people of Huddersfield but non-electors were dead against him and when Mr. Leatham's cabs brought voters to the polling booth the crowd made way for them but Mr. Crosland's cabs were obstructed. On the ninth day, after deliberating for two and half hours, the Com- mittee declared that Col. Crosland had been duly elected. Thomas Pearson Crosland did not hold his seat for long. He died at Gledholt on 8th March 1868 aged fifty two. On the day of his funeral most places of business in the town closed for two hours and fourteen hundred people attended the service. In the resulting by-election A.E. Leatham was returned as Member for Huddersfield.
GLEDHOLT WOOD (50) (O.W.) Just below Gledholt Hall, Gledholt Wood, better known locally as T.P. Woods, offers an opportunity for a short pleasant and interesting stroll. There is space to park one car in front of the stile entrance on the right but if this is occupied the nearest place to park is Heaton Road. The broad path leading into the wood from the stile was important
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enough two centuries ago to be mentioned in the Huddersfield Enclosure Awards of 1784. It was described as a public footway leading from Gledholt Bank Road westwards to an ancient enclosure of John Dyson. This was somewhere in the region of Heaton Fold. Once, the footpath ran between Gledholt Hall's high retaining wall on the right and a drystone wall on the left but today only the foundations of the latter remain. That apart, the old route probably looks much as it did two hundred years ago. On reaching two upright but redundant gateposts turn left towards the fish pond, a small man made lake fed by two streams. Follow the footpath round the head of the pond and along the west side to the stepped path leading down to the embankment from where there is a good overview of the fish pond. From medieval times it was quite common for high status families to possess their own sources of fresh food in the form of dovecotes, rabbit warrens and fish ponds. The latter were of particular importance as they were a reliable source of food on the many 'fish days' observed throughout the year when, for religious reasons, eating meat was forbidden. The fa- voured fish was carp but ponds were also stocked with such native fish as pike, tench, trout, roach, bream and perch. Small artificial islands, such as the one near the head of the pond, are a common feature of fish ponds and were constructed as a habitat for ducks and other wildfowl suitable for the table. With such bounty, fish ponds - and their islands - were magnets for poachers. Gledholt Wood was part of the Gledholt estate and doubtless food from the fish pond supplemented the diet of the occupants of the house, as well as poachers, over the years. How many years we are unable to say. A look over the embankment at the massive stonework of the dam and over- flow quickly negates the idea that this pond dates back to medieval times. All we can say with certainty is that the fish pond in its present form is at least one hundred and fifty years old. In the 1860s, when Greenhead Park was in the planning stage, this wooded valley was known as Gledholt Glen and looking at the scene from the embankment it is easy to understand why. The alternative name, 'T.P. Woods', obviously dates from Thomas Pearson Crosland's association with
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Gledholt and could indicate that, in some way, he left his mark on the wood. Perhaps, in keeping with his times, he set about landscaping the wood to provide a pleasant environment, close to his home, for afternoon strolls. If this is so, it is tempting to think that the fish pond was included in his enterprise. Leave the embankment and climb the path straight ahead to return to the stile.
GLEDHOLT BANK ROAD (51) After the brief interlude in TP. Woods our route continues down Gledholt Bank Road towards Paddock. The road, which is mentioned in the 1784 Huddersfield Enclosure Awards, was laid out on the approximate line of an earlier footway (shown on the 1716 Estate map). According to the 1784 Schedules the road was twenty seven feet wide and led from Gledholt to Paddock Foot from where it turned eastwards towards the 'ford across the river' and the east end of Paddock Road (the present day Market Street). From this it appears that Paddock Foot was originally identified as the area at the bottom of Gledholt Bank Road and if so the name must have been transferred to the low lying area near the river in comparatively recent times. In 290 metres (320yds) the road is crossed by the main line railway to Manchester. The first double track line was opened in 1849 by the London and North Western Railway Company. Thirty years later the Company re- ceived powers to double their lines in the Huddersfield area, an immense task that took some fourteen years to complete. Here, at Gledholt Bank Road, the original stone arched bridges were replaced by the present concrete structures in the 1960s to allow the pas- sage of high sided road vehicles. At this point the two double track lines have just emerged from the Gledholt Tunnel about 45 metres (50 yds) to the left of the road and they pass Gledholt sidings immediately on the right. For many years Gledholt sidings was a repository where coal, delivered by the railway, was stored in a long row of hoppers. The hoppers are derelict now but in the day when coal was the main source of heat, light and power the place was forever busy with the comings and goings of local coal mer- chants who collected their supplies there for delivery, in bulk to industry
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and bagged to domestic consumers. (N.B. Neither the tunnel nor the sid- ings are visible from the road but paths giving access to both are easily found.)
PEDLEY'S FACTORY (52) Near the bottom of Gledholt Bank Road the large mill on the right had a dam (now filled in) fed by the stream running down Gledholt Bank from the fish pond in Gledholt Wood. Shown on the 1854 O0.S. map as Paddock Foot Mills (further confirmation that this area was known as Paddock Foot) the building was also called Pedley's Factory. In the 1870s it was owned by a Mrs. Allen of West Hill and rented by W. and H. Crosland, fancy manu- facturers, who sublet rooms and provided power to A.B. Haigh cord manu- facturer and J. Mellor, angora yarn spinner. On Wednesday 10th July 1872, a large part of Pedley's Factory, which was described as five stories high and fifteen windows long, was destroyed by fire. Rebuilding must have started immediately for only a year later the Croslands, Haigh and Meller were in production again. After the fire, the name Pedley faded into obscu- rity being replaced by the more prosaic Gledholt Mills.
PADDOCK (53) At the bottom of Gledholt Bank Road our route enters the lower part of Paddock. Modern Paddock is largely a result of nineteenth and early twentieth century expansion and development in an area that was formerly sparsely populated waste and common land. In early records the name ap- pears as 'Parrack' which is an old northern counties version of the word paddock meaning an enclosed field. It is likely, therefore, that the name originated from an early clearance enclosed from the waste. That this was a well known territorial feature is proved by frequent documentary references to the upper end, north side, east end, nab end of the Parrack, top o'th Parrack and Parrackfote. By 1716, when the first map of Huddersfield appeared, encroachment on the common had already started. The survey of the same year lists about a dozen cottages most of which had garths or crofts. One man, Anthony Ainley, had 'a very good house' and several cottages which he let out to
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tenants whilst, at the other end of the scale, Widow Heartley had 'a cott and Little Garth on ye Parrack end.' The rent for the latter was twelve shillings but it was noted that this was 'Respited during ye Life of ye Old Poor Woman.' At this time there were five small enclosures down by the river near to a fulling mill which was then the only industry in the area. Water to turn the mill wheel was brought along a goit from a weir about a half a mile up- stream. Settlement on the common continued slowly and by the end of the cighteenth century there were about twelve dwellings at Paddock Head and at least twice that number at Paddock Foot. Several of the houses and cot- tages had gardens and workshops. Joining the two communities was the Paddock Road which was laid out on the line of an old footway soon after the Huddersfield Enclosure Act of 1784. The road, which 1s described in the Awards as: 'Leading from the north west end of the common called Paddock eastwards over the said common to the north east end thereof...', is the present day Triangle - Market Street - Church Street thoroughfare. Other roads soon followed and by the mid-nineteenth century much of the ancient common had been lost beneath a labyrinth of yards, folds, courts and rows of working class houses. From the bottom of Gledhoit Bank Road turn right and quickly left into Colne Street. Continue to the road at the bottom of the hill (which is called Paddock Foot). There are a number of interesting features in this part of Paddock that are best approached on foot. In non-working hours parking is easy, otherwise the best chance of finding a parking space is in the wide entrance to Birkhouse Lane, opposite the bottom of Colne Street.
BIRKHOUSE BRIDGE (54) Walk a few metres along Birkhouse Lane to the bnudge over the niver Colne. It is possible that the earliest crossing here was by ford as the 1797 map shows roads on both sides of the river but no bridge to connect them. The first bridge, erected early in the nineteenth century, was a narrow wooden structure only suitable for foot traffic. By 1850 this had become inadequate for the increasing local and industrial traffic of the times and in 1855 the present stone bridge was built. A stone tablet records that the bridge was
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erected conjointly by the Surveyors of the hamlet of Lockwood in Quarmby, the Board of Surveyors of Marsh Hamlet, Mr. William Arnold, Birkhouse Boiler Works and Messrs. J .H. & C. Walker, Birkhouse Dyeworks. Strangely, the tablet was set in the upstream parapet of the bridge, facing the river and consequently hidden froin the gaze of passers-by. Why this was done, on an unnavigable river with no riverside footpath at a time when public ben- efactors did not hide their lights under bushels, must remain a mystery.
ARNOLD'S STEAM LOCOMOTIVE (55) Just beyond the bridge, on the left hand side, Arnold's Boiler Works was founded by William Arnold circa 1850. The firm manufactured dye pans, gas holders and multitubular, vertical and locomotive boilers. On 23rd May 1860, William Arnold caused great wonder and excite- ment when he took the first road locomotive the town had ever seen on a trial run. The locomotive, which had been made to Arnold's design by Messrs. Lawrence and Sons of Lockwood Iron Works, performed faultlessly. The following day it hauled a sixty horse-power boiler to Newtown Mills, St. John's Road, in only half an hour! Sadly a few days later a more ambitious journey, to take a boiler to Kirkburton, failed when the locomotive repeat- edly refused to ascend the steep incline onto the hump back bridge over the canal at Shore Foot. Walk back to the entrance to Birkhouse Lane and turn right along Paddock Foot. Just before the railway viaduct climb the rather messy but low bank on the right to look over the red brick wall at the canal.
THE HUDDERSFIELD NARROW CANAL (56) On the far side of the canal the towing path rises over a stone cobbled archway. Although the archway is now blocked, nineteenth century maps show that this was the entrance to a short channel terminating at the side of what was then Fisher's Silk Mill. We are at a loss when it comes to suggest- ing the purpose of the channel. It is unlikely that it was used to supply water to the mill as that would result in lowering the water level in, or even drain- ing, the pound -- not a situation to commend itself to the canal operators. The only solution to we can come up with is that the channel was somehow
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used for direct deliveries of goods to the mill. We have long been puzzled by this strange feature and would be delighted to hear from anyone who can enlighten us. Just beyond the arch is the entrance to lock number five which is com- bined in one structure with the Paddock Foot aqueduct. Boats entering the lock are lifted to emerge directly onto the aqueduct, an arrangement that is unusual if not unique. Paddock Foot aqueduct is one of two aqueducts crossing the Colne on this side of the summit, the other being at Golcar. Although we have met this canal on a previous tour we have said nothing of its history. Here then is as good a place as any to, briefly, repair the omission. The Huddersfield Narrow Canal was built to connect the Ramsden Canal, near King's Mill, with the Ashton Canal nearly twenty miles away in Lancashire. Because the canal would take the shortest possible route through the Pennines its proposers felt that it would have an advantage over its rivals, the Leeds and Liverpool and the Rochdale, which were already un- der construction and which were, to a certain extent, contour canals. This was the time of canal mania when profits from navigations and canals were high and speculators in the Huddersfield Narrow expected a rich return. Work commenced in 1794 and by 1798 boats were plying along the canal as far as Marsden bringing ever increasing prosperity to the small communities in the Colne Valley. The waterway finally opened between Huddersfield and Ashton in 1811 shortly after the completion of the great Standedge Tunnel. At a length of 5.2 kilometres (3%4 miles) and a height of 196 metres (645 ft.) above sea level the Standedge is the longest and high- est canal tunnel in the country. Profits from the canal fell far short of expectations. The estimated cost was nearly £100,000 short of the actual cost of £272,463 and the immense task of tunneling three miles through the Pennines was treated far too lightly. In addition, the speculators did not anticipate that seventy four locks, the extra cost of one and sixpence per ton for using the tunnel, the effort of legging boats through and delays of up to five hours at the tunnel entrance would prove unattractive to canal boat operators. It was not until 1824 that the canal company could pay a dividend and then it was only one per cent,
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a far cry from the vast returns of the heady days of canal mania. In 1845 the canal became a subsidiary of the Huddersfield and Man- chester Railway Company, later to amalgamate with the London & North Western Company. In 1849, 1870 and 1894 the railway company drove tunnels through the Pennines at Standedge and in each case the canal tun- nel was used for access and the removal of spoil. Working traffic through the Standedge Tunnel ceased in 1921 although trade on the lower section of the canal continued until 1944 when an Act of Parliament authorised abandonment. The last passage from Ashton to Huddersfield was in 1948 and subsequently lock gates were removed, parts of the canal were filled in and built over and the great engineering achievement was left to deterio- rate. In 1974 the Huddersfield Canal Society was formed whose members, even then, had faith in the possibility of restoration. In recent years their efforts have been rewarded and, today, what seemed to many to be an im- possible dream is approaching fulfilment.
PADDOCK VIADUCT (57) The Penistone railway line (see D.0.H.2.1.No0.31.) leaves the Hudders- field and Manchester line at Springwood Junction and sweeps southwards to cross the valley here by way of the Paddock Viaduct. Notice that the four centre spans on the viaduct are different from the stone arched spans on either side. The reason for this unusual arrangement must, we feel, be be- cause the proximity of road, canal and river beneath the viaduct meant that there was space to construct only three supporting piers. This resulted in greater distances between the piers and necessitated the use of lattice steel girders to bridge the wider spans. Walk back towards Birkhouse Lane. Whilst in this area readers inter- ested in seeking out past industrial activity might like to take a walk to see what is left of a mill race or goit dug over three hundred years ago to bring water to the wheel of Paddock's first mill. The walk, which starts in Millgate (beyond Birkhouse Lane) and follows a footpath to the weir at the head of the goit, is, there and back, about a mile in length. As the path is usually muddy it is advisable to wear boots or stout shoes. Readers who do not
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wish to walk should drive along Paddock Foot and Longroyd Lane to the traffic lights at Longroyd Bridge (page 80).
EARLY ENCLOSURES, GOIT AND WEIR (58) (O.W.) Our map (below) shows the area as it was in 1716 when William Brook paid £20 a year as tenant of a fulling mill, mill house, croft and five small closes called Upper Bank, Lower Bank, Byset Close, Middle Close and Pinnacle. These, the first enclosures in this part of Paddock, occupied the narrow strip of land between the river and the steep bank to the north. The name Millgate means the way to the mill and it is likely that some sort of track developed soon after the mill was established. However, no track is marked on the earliest maps and for this reason Millgate is represented on our map by a dotted line. The site of the old fulling mile is now occupied by comparatively modern buildings but a glance through the wide gates on the left hand side of Millgate will reveal traces of old walls and steps that once led to a foot- bridge over the goit.
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Further along Millgate, the area of Byset Close (see map) is now occu- pied by Quality Halal Products and all traces of the goit, which ran parallel to and slightly below the road, have been obliterated. At the end of Millgate take the level footpath immediately on the right of the 10 m.p.h. sign. For the first 92 metres (100 yds) the path passes Middle Close now occupied by the unlovely premises of Readymix York- shire Ltd. Looking at the area today with its silo, mixing plant and slurry
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pond it is difficult to imagine it as it was during the first half of the twentieth century when it was laid out in small cultivated allotment gardens. Here, as well as growing vegetables, tenants kept chickens, pigs, donkeys and, we are reliably informed, shire horses. At the end of what was Middle Close the path veers to the left round the site of Paddock Brow Mills an early nineteenth century mill, now gone. The mill was always difficult of access and must have been built here mainly to exploit the readily available supply of water in the goit. After the mill was built the goit was widened upstream to form a mill pond. The site of the mill is difficult to recognise today but here and there in the undergrowth moss covered worked stones may be spotted and near the river are the remains of the masonry connected with the overflow sluices. Beyond the site of the mill (and Readymix) the path runs through the flat area of the mill pond (now dry). This wild ground was once the enclo- sure called Pinnacle. This may seem a peculiar name for such low lying land but it has, in fact, nothing to do with crests or peaks. 'Pinnacle' is simply a variant of the old word pingle meaning a small enclosure or croft. There are several pinnacles to be found among local field names along with pightels, pingots and pighills all with the same derivation. In 1797 the ten- ant of Pinnacle was John Moor whose name is preserved in Johnny Moore's Hill a little to the north-west of here. The next landmark after 160 metres (175 yds) is a narrow bridge across the river but don't overlook the stone steps and wall a few metres to the right. This structure was originally a bridge over the goit, built, like the river bridge, as part of a footway leading from Lower Brow to the mills on the south side of the river. Here at Goit Bridge we are at the head of the mill pond mentioned above. A few metres further on, on the right hand side of the path, the centuries old line of the goit can at last be spotted as a shght ditch almost hidden beneath a tangle of reeds and rushes. From its present condition it is obvious that before it was abandoned the goit must have been periodically scoured and cleaned to ensure an uninterrupted flow. Further on, the channel is more obvious and usually wet and may easily be followed to the weir, a massive stone setted structure twenty three metres (75 ft.) wide and sloping twelve metres (39 ft.) from top to bottom.
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More than three hundred years ago a weir was constructed here to provide the head of water necessary to send a steady and controlled flow along the goit to the wheel of the fulling mill half a mile away down stream. The difference in height between the head of the goit and the mill is three inetres (10 ft.), a fall sufficient to turn an overshot or breast-fed wheel. As we have seen, a mill was built over the goit in the early nineteenth century to take advantage of the same reliable water supply and it is likely that the original weir would be improved and repaired or even re-built at that time. After water ceased to be the motive power the goit continued to deliver water to the mills for use in industrial processes and as far as we can tell it was not abandoned until the 1960s. After abandonment, the height of the weir was reduced and, we believe, a short section at the head of the channel was filled in. This would explain why the goit is now higher than the river at the top of the weir. Before leaving, it is worth a final scramble through the undergrowth to look for traces of the sluices once used to control the flow of water from river to goit. N.B. The weir is the turn-round point of our guided walk but readers who, like us, enjoy landscape history might like to continue along the path to explore a httle-known riverside scene and discover and interpret from them- selves a number of interesting industrial relics. To follow the path to its end and come back to the weir will add about two thirds of a mile to the walk. From the weir follow the same route back to Millgate.
MILLGATE (59) On the left hand side of Millgate, Granville and Millgate Mills were built in the first half of the nineteenth century in the old enclosure called Lower Bank. Over the years both mills have been occupied by several branches of the textile trade including woollen and angola yarn spinners, cloth finishers and woollen and fancy manufacturers. Half way along Millgate Mills notice the stepped footpath, typical of several rights of ways in this steeply sloping part of Paddock. Further along, the handsome early nineteenth century building, on the left hand side, was the Brown Cow Inn which closed after nearly one hun- dred and thirty years of business in 1958. The Licence Consolidation Acts
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of 1904, 1910 and 1911 allowed licensing authorities to close public houses in areas deemed to have too many. This was the fate of the Brown Cow; when the licence expired on 13th February 1958 it was not renewed and a month later the inn was declared redundant. Later that year the owners, Bentley & Shaw, and the landlord, David Green, were awarded £3856 and £464 respectively in compensation. Green continued to occupy the premises until the mid 1960s and afterwards the building was used as a workshop. Presently (April 2000) it is undergoing internal renovation. Walk back to your car and drive along Paddock Foot to the traffic lights at Longroyd Bridge, turn right and then left into St. Thomas' Road.
ST. THOMAS' ROAD (60) St. Thomas' Road was laid out, probably in the 1870s, across an area of low lying land, called Deadwaters, bounded on the north by a wide arc of the River Colne. At its east end it connected with an earlier, short, un- named road leading to the mill complex at Folly Hall established by Joseph Kaye in 1825 (see D.O0.H.2.1.N0.22). Because the area was developed piece- meal over the years we include a small map (p.81) to help identify the sites referred to in the text. The large building on the left hand side of St. Thomas' Road, presently occupied by a window manufacturer, was originally a depot, built in 1920, to house the Corporation's fleet of electric tramcars. Lost somewhere be- neath the building is the site of John Wood's Cropping shop, the workplace of George Mellor who was reputed to be the leader of the local Luddites during tumultuous early years of the ninetecnth century. On 8th January 1813, Mellor and two accomplices were executed at York for the murder, nine months previously of William Horsfall of Marsden (see D.0.H.2.11.Nos.13 & 25).
BROOK MOTORS (61) In 1917, Ernest Brook opened Empress Works on land that had previ- ously been occupied by the Victoria Gardens (see map), some thirty small allotments let to local inhabitants at a very low rent. It takes a vivid imagi- nation now, in this built up industrialised area, to picture the sheds with
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their chickens and pigs, the greenhouses, the fruit trees and the rows of vegetables that were, for more than sixty years, a colourful part of what was essentially a rural landscape.
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The firm founded by Ernest Brook soon expanded to occupy other sites in St. Thomas' Road. Brook Motors undoubtedly contributed to the town's prosperity. During the last century they were one of the foremost employers of labour and doubtless some of our readers will have memo- ries, fond or otherwise, of the firm. For this reason we are pleased to in- clude the following account of Brook Motors written by our friend Peter Greenwood, a former director of the firm:
'Throughout the century, St. Thomas' Road has been home to a variety of manufacturing companies. In addition to textiles, the prod- ucts have included commercial vehicles, gear boxes, iron castings and cooking equipment, but without doubt the most significant has been the electric motor manufacturing company founded by Ernest Brook. Previously, electric motors were being produced in Huddersfield at Dynamo Works, whose proprietor was T. W. Broadbent. In 1901 he recruited as his manager and designer, old Emest Brook, born in Pontefract, and already widely experienced im the science of electrical machines. Broadbent's motors operated on direct current, and his new manager was convimced that the future of the industry would be dominated by the recently developed alternating current
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technologies. However, his attempts to persuade his employer to manu- facture A.C. motors were unsuccessful, and he decided to set up his own factory. The firm of E. Brook was established in 1904 in Threadneedle Street near the town centre, employing initially 2 persons, but in- creasing to 20 in the first year. Indeed the demand for his motors was such, that within 18 months he moved into larger premises at Nelson Mill, Colne Road. Expansion continued, and by 1915 with a workforce of nearly 200, he was planning a purpose-built factory in St. Thomas' Road. The official opening of Empress Works with its adjoining office block was on 6th October 1917, and it remains virtually unchanged, but surrounded by extensive later additions on both sides of the road. In 1927 the name was changed to Brook Motors Ltd., and Ernest Brook introduced a profit-sharing scheme, encouraging his employ- ees to take up shares in the company. He retired in 1938, after ap- pointing his two sons Frank and Jack Brook as joint managing direc- tors, and it was under their highly individualistic style of manage- ment that the firm developed into Britain's largest inanufacturer of small/medium-size industrial electric motors, producing nearly 50% of the motors sold in the U.K., plus export sales via a network of outlets in every continent. The period of their most rapid expansion was during the war and the post-war boom, when the demand for their inotors often exceeded their output. The main bottle-neck was handwinding and inserting the coils of wire, time-consuming operations performed by women, and in those days of full employment in Huddersfield's textile mills, there was a shortage of applicants for the job vacancies at Brook Motors. Two courses of action were taken to resolve the problein. First was the opening of a winding factory in Barnsley, where female labour was plentiful. Second was the imaginative idea of inviting previously employed winders, (many of whom were mothers with young children) to be- come 'home winders'. Each was provided with a portable winding bench, and the work-pieces dehvered and collected weekly. The scheme was probably unique in the electric motor industry. It quickly became popular, and thousands of inotors were wound in this way. From about 1965 onwards, the situation was entirely changed by
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the phased introduction of winding machines, which could perform in minutes, tasks which had previously taken hours. The number of motors wound by hand was reduced dramatically, and the Barnsley factory was eventually closed, many of the workers being transported daily to Huddersfield and the recently opened Honley works. Brook Motors Ltd. ceased to be an independent company in 1970, as a result of an agreed take-over. It is unnecessary to recount the changes of ownership in which they and others have since been involved. Suffice it to say that their holding company is now Invensys, a British registered nulti-billion international group manufacturing a diver- sity of products, but who now own not only Brook, but virtually all their former U.K. based manufacturing competitors. They produce electric motors at Huddersfield, Guiseley, Doncaster and Birming- ham, plus overseas factories in France, Poland, Canada, India and China. These manufacturing sites form the basis of a global manufac- turing strategy covering a diverse range of- electric motors. Thirty years ago, Brook Motors Ltd. employed almost 3000 peo- ple, of whoin more than 2000 worked at the Huddersfield and Honley factories. Recently as a result of competitive pressures, their East European and far-Eastern manufacturing plants have expanded, whilst the Honley works has closed, and its production integrated into St Thomas' Road, with a total workforce now less than 1000. Neverthe- less, considerable hi-tec investment has resulted in an output capacity of around 1200 motors per day, more than 50% of which are ex- ported. The registered name is still Brook Motors Ltd., but its products are now traded under the name Invensys Brook Crompton. Emmest Brook died in 1956 and is buried in Edgerton cemetery, but the most fitting memorial to hiin and his two sons is the company which bears their family name, and which for nearly 100 years has contributed to the prosperity of Huddersfield, to the livelihood of so
many of its citizens, and indeed to the economy of the nation.'
Until it was swallowed up by the post-war expansion of Brook Motors the land opposite Empress Works was occupied by a recreation ground, sports field and bowling green (see map p.81). During the inter-war years the recreation ground was the location of an annual Whitsuntide fair.
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DEADWATERS (62) Although the name does not appear on any map, the land on both sides of St.Thomas' Road has long been known as Deadwaters. The name has always aroused a great deal of curiosity and we have heard one or two ingenious suggestions as to its origin the most persistent of which is that in 1852 the dead of the Holmfirth Flood were deposited here by the swollen waters of the River Holme. However, as the confluence of the Holme with the Colne is two thirds of a mile away downstream and as the detailed records of the Flood make no reference to any bodies being recovered here this seems unlikely. Our more mundane explanation is based on the ancient course of the River Colne and our evidence on the line of the old boundary dividing the parishes of Huddersfield and Almondbury. All the way down from Marsden the boundary followed the River Colne but nineteenth century maps show that here at Deadwaters it abruptly left the river, described a great loop to the south and rejoined the river 275 metres (300 yds.) downstream. Thus it seems that long ago, when the boundary was drawn, the River Colne mean- dered across the land now occupied by Nile Street, Graham Street, St. Thomas' Road and Hope Street (see map p.81). At some time in the past either through natural silting or, more likely, through human intervention the shallow meander was cut off and the course of the river realigned. It is conceivable that the name Deadwaters was applied to the old water course which, like the dead, had ceased to exist but more likely that the name was coined to describe the low lying land previously contained by the meander. This would undoubtedly be an area of stagnant boggy pools which, when compared to the lively sparkling waters of the River Colne flowing nearby, would indeed appear to be dead waters. The first streets and buildings in the Deadwaters area were constructed by the Huddersfield Industral Co-operative Society less than half a mile away from their headquarters in Buxton Road. The Society's minute book records, in July 1879, the purchase of land at Deadwaters from Mrs. Cot- ton. This is the land now bounded by Barge Street, Nile Street, Cable Street and St.Thomas's Road. Two years later, on 27th August 1881, the minutes record that new stables to accommodate the Society's twenty horses were
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opened at Deadwaters with much rejoicing and tea at the Victoria Hall. The following year thirty two terrace houses, most of them back-to-back, were built on the site for letting or selling to members of the Society. An adjoining parcel of land, between Graham and Barge Streets, was taken on lease by the Society in 1898. In that year a lard refinery, work- shops, a boiler house with a 'long chimney' and ten dwelling houses were built on the leasehold followed, a year later, by a clothing factory and a wheelwright's shop. All the buildings in this co-operative expansion were designed by the Society's favoured architect, Joseph Berry. A three storey bakehouse, erected in 1900, was the Society's last major project at Deadwaters but over the years other smaller concerns were operated from here including a shoeing forge, a monumental masons' yard, a funeral home and a taxi service. If the committed co-operators of a century ago, busy with their plans for expansion, ever spared a thought for the future it is unlikely that they would have envisaged the decline and eventual death of the dynamic move- ment in which they had such faith. Yet one by one the branches closed and now even the splendid headquarters building in Buxton Road stands empty and forlorn. Here at Deadwaters, apart from a row of terrace houses, all that is left of the Society's great undertakings is, fittingly perhaps, the Co-op funeral parlour.
KARRIER WORKS (63) Another well remembered Huddersfield firm with premises at Deadwaters was Karmer Motors Ltd., (see map p.81). Karrier specialised in the design and construction of buses, lorries and road maintenance vehi- cles and one of their most constant customers was the local authority. In 1920, the Corporation, using Karrier buses, inaugurated shuttle services to outlying districts via the tramway system. For example, passengers leaving Huddersfield for Golcar would take the tram to Paddock Head and from there complete their journey on a connecting Karrier bus. The firm also supplied the Corporation Tramway Department with tower wagons for car- rying out repairs to overhead wires and these became a familiar part of the Huddersfield tramway scene.
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In the 1920s Karrier built a number of charabancs (from the French char-a-banc, carriages with benches) which were long open-topped vehi- cles with seats for up to thirty passengers. They were commonly hired out to local societies for outings to such distant destinations as the seaside, the Peak District and the Yorkshire Dales and a trip by charabanc, despite the discomforts of solid rubber tyres, inadequate suspension and, if they were unlucky, exposure to wind and rain must have been a great thrill to people unaccustomed to travelling any distance by road. In October 1925 Karrier exhibited a new and impressive six wheel, single decker omnibus saloon at Olympia. Substantial orders for fleets of the new buses were secured from the Sudan Government, the Cape Tram- way Company, and the Dublin Bus Company. The following year, on 7th December, the Corporation Tramways De- partment exhibited their latest acquisition, a six wheel Karrier bus, in Square. Described in the press as '...a wonderfully sprung luxury vehicle with bucket seats, electric gadgets and a clock...' the new bus, which had pneumatic tyres, was put into service on the Bradford route on the following day. A later Karrier invention was the fancifully named Ro-Railer, an open- back wagon designed to run on railway lines as well as on the roads. The vehicle was tested on the Midland Line between Newtown sidings and the main line junction at Red Doles and it was hoped that it would lead to the development of Ro-Railer buses and lorries. Inevitably, the new invention, like so many other outlandish inventions, came to nothing. In 1934 Karrier Motors Ltd., was taken over by the Rootes Group and in the following year production ceased at Deadwaters. Later, the Highfield Gear and Engineering Company moved from Oxley's Stables at Highfields to the Karrier Works premises in Nile Street.
RIVER CONDITIONS (64) At the end of St.Thomas' Road we are only 137 metres (150 yds) from the confluence of the Rivers Holine and Colne (see map p.81). Towards the end of the nineteenth century, as a result of nearly a hundred years of rapid population growth and industrial expansion, both rivers were heavily pol-
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luted. During the 1880s the Medical Officer of Health, Dr. J. Cameron Spottiswood, became increasingly concerned about the condition of the rivers and the threat they posed to the health of the community and in No- vember 1887 he delivered the following brief but graphic report to the Health Committee:
'The junction of two filthy streams the Holme and the Colne which unite and take the name of the latter at the foot of Primrose Hill come from two densely peopled valleys outside the Borough. They bring much sewage and manufacturing refuse from neighbouring townships as well as from portions of our own Borough to which our mtercept- mg sewer has not yet been extended. During a large portion of 1887 the bed at their junction and thence down to the King's Mill damstakes was a smelly mess of festering filth."
Although at the end of the nineteenth century vital and fortunate ad- vances in methods of sewage disposal (see D.0.H.3.N0.45) removed much of the 'festering filth', our rivers continued to be polluted by trade effluents and it was not until the second half of the last century that the problem was seriously addressed. Happily today, as a result of mandatory river improve- ments no noxious smells arise from the confluence and the water, whilst it would surprise and please the nineteenth century community, has a quality that would not be unfamiliar to our more distant forebears. From the end of St.Thomas' Road turn right and continue along Lockwood Road to the traffic lights at Lockwood Bar. Just beyond the lights we include a short drive through Lockwood Park for an unparalleled view of the towering viaduct and to see the site of Huddersfield's best known brewery. Readers who do not wish to take the detour which involves a cir- cular route back to the lights, should continue through the lights into Hanson Lane and pick up the commentary on p.92.
LOCKWOOD BREWERY (65) (O0.D.) To take the detour drive past Hanson Lane, turn into the entrance marked Lockwood Park (a modern name) and follow the drive to the bot- tom of the slope.
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There is little trace now of the brewery works that occupied this site but one or two ancillary buildings remain from those days including the fine terrace with a clock where once the firm's own fire engine was housed. Not too far away, a classical style house with a columned portico was the early home of the owners of the brewery. The 1879 date stone to be seen low down in the gable-end belies the age of the house which dates from earlier in the nineteenth century. There is little doubt that when Timothy Bentley, a Halifax man, came to Lockwood in 1795 to establish a brewery, his choice of site was influ- enced by the existence of the Horse Bank Spring, an everlasting supply of water that gushed from a cavity in the rocky bank below the Meltham turn- pike road. So important was the spring to production at the brewery that it was eventually adopted as the firm's trade mark (see right). Bentley's policy of introducing progres- sive business methods, installing up-to-date plant and experimenting with new methods of fermentation ensured rapid success and he went on to establish breweries at Rotherham and at Woodlesford near Leeds. After Timothy Bentley's death in 1830 con- trol of the latter passed to his sons Henry and Robert. Active management at Lockwood was eventually assumed by Bentley Shaw, son of Timothy's daughter Ann and her husband, William Shaw. Bentley Shaw, one of Huddersfield's prominent and wealthy Victori- ans who owned lands at Lockwood, Armitage Bridge and Crosland, was a supporter of the Mechanics Institution Movement, a Justice of the Peace, an active member of St. Stephen's Church Lockwood and, as Deputy Grand Master of the Province of Yorkshire West Riding, an eminent Freemason. Under his management, Lockwood Brewery, by now called Bentley and
Shaw, was modernised and expanded to cover more than twelve acres of land between Meltham Road and the River Holme.
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In 1870 Bentley Shaw found himself at the centre of a bitter local dispute concerning the firm's most valuable asset, the Horse Bank Spring. On 25th Apnil of that year a public meeting of ratepayers was held at Lockwood Town Hall to hear a report of the findings of a committee, previ- ously appointed by the Town Council, as to steps to be taken to preserve to the public the use of the water of the Horse Bank Spring. Seventy five years previously, when the brewery was built, the inhabitants of Lockwood were few, the quantity of water used in the brewery was small and there was an abundant supply for all. Consequently, the inhabitants had taken no steps to maintain or recover their rights. In the intervening years, however, the population had grown, Messrs Bentley and Shaw had extended their works and their increased consumption of spring water was leaving the inhabit- ants without supply for hours on end. Over the years, in fact, the spring had gradually been enclosed by the brewery and the inhabitants complained that the water was being intercepted, diverted and stored by means of tanks and cisterns. Thus, deprived of the rights to which they were legally enti- tled and which had been theirs since time immemorial, they had, they said, been compelled during recent dry seasons to shorten their hours of rest so that they might procure water for their families from distant springs. The Committee maintained that the spring, which was reached by a public footpath and a flight of sixty steps, was marked as a trough on Ord-
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nance maps thereby implying a public watering place and, as such, the inhabitants had the right of first take of the water. Bentley Shaw, on the other hand, steadfastly maintained that his firm had that right but he offered to build a storage tank so that the brewery could take the night water, which generally ran to waste, thus leaving the daily flow for public use. His offer was received with much scepticism by the meeting. Opinions were expressed that the object in putting down such a tank was to reap advantage for the firm enabling them to catch water not only during the night but also during the day and store it for their own use. The Borough Surveyor, Mr. J.H. Abbey, told the meeting that he had advised Mr. Shaw to put down a tank which would contain as much water as would be required by the brewery whilst allowing the surplus to the inhabitants. Mr. Shaw had, in fact, been most solicitous and was prepared to act generously and he believed there would be no reason to complain of the firm's action in seeking to provide a sufficient supply for all. The secretary of the committee, Mr. W.R. Croft, was unimpressed by Mr. Abbey's remarks and he received cheers and loud applause when he expressed the opinion that there was no other landlord in all England who was so cold and heartless as to appropriate the whole of the local water supply to make beer and leave the people without sufficient supply for domestic uses. He went on, 'If Mr. Bentley Shaw was a man of honour, if he had a spark of philanthropy in his soul, if he was desirous that his tenantry should be healthy, he would open his heart for once and let the inhabitants see that he was not that cold and unfeeling man his tenantry and Lockwood believed him to be at present.' So the bitter debate went on with claims and counter claims being made, with bouquets and brickbats being thrown. There is little doubt that the two sides would have eventually faced each other in a court of law had there not been a general expectation that within a few years Lockwood would receive mains water. In the end, nothing was resolved, the meeting ending with the motion that 'This meeting leave the question as it is at present requesting the Town Council to watch the interests of the inhabitants of Lockwood at the Horse Bank Spring.' Four years later Lockwood did in- deed receive mains water via the Snodley Tank. Bentley Shaw died on 20th March 1878 aged sixty two. The brewery
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remained a family concern until 1944 when it was taken over by Hammonds United Brewers. After several subsequent mergers and name changes {(Charrington, Bass Charrington, Bass North) brewing ceased here in the mid 1960s and many of the old buildings were demolished in 1975. In 1997, after a lengthy search for a suitable site for a playing field the Huddersfield Rugby Union Football Club (the Old Boys) moved here from their original home at Waterloo. The once contentious Horse Bank Spring still flows. At the top corner of the small car park, at the side of the Brewery House, is the structure built by the brewery to enclose the spring. The water cannot be seen but if all is still then it can, just, be heard.
THE VIADUCT (66) The Lockwood Viaduct, built thirty nine metres (129 ft.) high to carry the Penistone branch line across the valley of the River Holme is an impres- sive structure of thirty six arches stretching 1407 feet and containing some 1,000,000 cubic feet of masonry. It is worth mentioning the existence of a stone tablet at the Woodhead Road end of the viaduct that commemorates its completion in 1848 and perpetuates the names of the contractors, Miller Blackie and Shortridge and the engineer, John Hawkshaw. Looking at the viaduct today, seeing it as an accustomed and intrinsic part of the environment, the achievement of its Victorian builders is still obvious. To the people who saw its construction and completion, people for whom the railway age was continually opening up new horizons, the viaduct must have seemed as marvellous an achievement as any that had gone before and it is worth quoting the words of one of them, George Searle Phillips: 'The Lockwood Viaduct is one of the most stupendous structures of ancient and modern times. It bridges the deep, yawning valley with its innumerable pillars and tiers of arches and connects on either side the old hills which have been sundered since the creation. As you look at it ... and see it stretch its enormous length of stone before you, the impression is almost irresistible that it is the work of demi-gods and Today Phillips' enthusiasm for the great building projects of his time is of-
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ten mocked as is his 'purple prose' but the man saw the viaduct built, his life was touched by it, his intellect thrilled by it and he was able to put into words the awe that must have been felt by many of his contempories. The great height of the viaduct has, on occasions, challenged cricket- ers, some local some from afar, to prove their prowess by attempting to throw a cricket ball clear over the top. A few have succeeded! One story has it that during a match at the old Lockwood Cricket ground, in the shadow of the viaduct, a batsman hit a ball from the wicket with such force that it flew through the open window of a passenger train that happened to be crossing the viaduct at the time. The story is almost certainly apocryphal but allowing the remote possibility that it could be true and assuming the train continued its journey to Penistone uninterrupted then that ball should probably hold the record for travelling the farthest distance ever, after leav- ing the bat. Follow the path past the function rooms and leave Lockwood Park by the marked exit turning left into the narrow road running alongside the River Holme. At the end, turn left into Bridge Street, at the traffic lights turn left again into Meltham Road and in 242 metres (265 yds) fork right into Hanson Lane. In 256 metres (280 yds), near the top of the hill it is worth stopping, in all but the summer months, to look over the wall on the left hand side for another, different, view of the great viaduct, which 'connects on either side the old hills.' At the top of Hanson Lane continue straight ahead into Beaumont Park Road and in 668 metres (730 yds) stop near the main entrance by the lodge.
BEAUMONT PARK (67) During the last few decades of the nineteenth century a growing re- alisation, among those of liberal convictions, that the provision of accessi- ble open spaces would be likely to increase the health and happiness of the working classes led to the development, all over the country, of public parks. Usually established within walking distance of or a short tram nde from the centres of urban population, parks, with their trees, shrubs and flower beds, their promenades, arbours and lakes, offered their enthusiastic visitors free
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acquaintance with nature, albeit of a controlled and managed variety. The idea of a public park in the Huddersfield area surfaced as early as 1866 when John Ashton at a meeting of the Lockwood Local Board suggested the idea of renting about eighteen acres of the Dungeon Wood Estate. He said that no attempt should be made to lay out the ground but the Board could provide seats here and there and grant the public the right of free access. The majority of Board members, however, were not convimced that it was necessary to provide a park for the people and the scheme was abandoned. A few years later, an unofficial attempt by Alfred Crowther J .P. of Lockwood to purchase Dungeon Wood for use as a park was also unsuc- cessful. In May 1879 Mr. Henry Frederick Beaumont of Whitley Beaumont who owned a large estate in the Crosland area offered the Corporation the gift of some thirty acres of land at Crosland Moor for use as a public park and recreation ground. The offer was gratefully received but when a depu- tation from the Council visited the site they decided that the land was scarcely suitable for the people as it was almost inaccessible by road and rail and to convert it into a park would undoubtedly be a very costly affair. (The land in question is now partly occupied by the Crosland Moor Airfield.) When the difficulties were pointed out to Mr. Beaumont he eventually agreed to the Council's request for a more favourable site at Dungeon Wood but be- cause the land there was much more valuable than that originally suggested the offer was reduced to about twenty acres. In November 1879 a Deed of Conveyance was signed. The newly formed Park Committee resolved to name their new acquisition Beaumont Park, a name they hoped would be perpetuated through ail coming time. The ceremony of cutting the first sod was carried out on 29th May 1870 by Mrs. H.F. Beaumont in the presence of the Mayor, the corporation and a vast crowd of enthusiastic spectators. With a silver spade Mrs. Beaumont lifted the first sod and placed it on the Deed of Conveyance held by her husband. To loud cheers, Mr. Beaumont said, 'Mr. Mayor, by this deed I grant and with this sod in the name of the whole, I deliver possession to you, as representative of the town, of the lands described in the deed for the purposes of a public park for the inhabitants of Huddersfield for ever.' Addressing the crowd Mr. Beaumont said that he believed parks tended to
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elevate the minds of the people because everything that was beautiful had an elevating tendency and he went on to contrast the squalid, pallid un- healthy looks of town dwellers with the hale, ruddy and robust appearance of country folk. In his reply, the Mayor, Ald. A. Walker, expressed the hope that poor men after their day's work would come into the park and find their lungs refreshed by inhaling the pure air all around. He believed there could not be too many parks although this might not be palatable if the cost of them had to come out of the rates but it would be well if gentlemen living in other parts of the town would emulate Mr. Beaumont's great kindness and generosity. After further lengthy and effusive speeches the ceremony ended with the crowd singing 'Auld Lang Syne.' The land provided at Dungeon Wood covered just over twenty acres of rocky and precipitous ground overlooking the Holme Valley. In its vir- gin state the hillside was very rough and covered with spruce and stunted oak trees. Underlying the shallow soil was grey sandstone and the excava- tions that were necessary in some parts of the new park afforded the oppor- tunity of winning a vast quantity of stone, which was used for the construc- tion of paths, steps, rockeries, balustrades and bridges. Because of the quan- tity of available stone very little had to be bought and the money thus saved was a source of economic satisfaction to members of the Park Committce. The park was designed by Mr. R.S. Dugdale C.E., Borough Engineer and Surveyor, and laid out under his direction. Whilst providing two miles of paths and levelling the ground in many places Mr. Dugdale skilfully retained much of the natural beauty of the site. The addition of such fea- tures as a small lake, a pond, a waterfall, one or two rustic shelters and a 'castle' (refreshment room) did little to detract from the artfully contrived pastoral scene. In 1872, as the engineering projects were nearing completion, work began on laying out and stocking the gardens. Shrubberies were planted with rhododendron, acubas and golden elder; rockeries formed on many levels had several varieties of ferns and heathers; trees including laburnum, sycamore, ash and purple and copper beech were established among the existing oaks and spruce and, as a final touch, wherever practicable, stone vases were erected and filled with brilliant displays of flowering plants. All the landscaping was designed and carried out by Mr. George Renshaw of
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Linthwaite under orders from Mr. Dugdale. On Wednesday 10th October 1883, Mr. Beaumont accompanied by Mr. Reuben Hirst, Chairman, and other members of the Park Committee paid their last visit of inspection prior to the opening of the park and ex- pressed their satisfaction. All was now ready for the Grand Opening Day. When the question of who should perform the opening ceremony came before the Committee earlier in the year it was soon realised that there was an obvious choice. The park was expected to be nearing completion in October and in that month the town was expecting its first ever royal visi- tors. His Royal Highness Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany, youngest son of Queen Victoria, and Her Royal Highness Princess Helene of Waldeck Pyrmont, Duchess of Albany, had agreed to come to Huddersfield to in- spect the Fine Arts and Industrial Exhibition at the Technical School. Who better than a royal prince to open Huddersfield's first park? Steps were taken to obtain the prince's consent and much gratification was expressed when he agreed to perform the interesting ceremony. On hearing the happy news the Town Council decided almost unani- mously to 'give their Royal Highnesses a loyal welcome to this seat of wool- len manufacturers' by determining that the sum of no less than one thou- sand pounds be placed at the disposal of the Mayor, Alderman John Fligg Brigg, for the purpose of decorating the town and entertaining the distin- guished visitors. In true Victorian fashion there were to be processions, parades, presentations, bunting, banners and banquets and, of course, speeches, on a scale unprecedented even for those times. Royalty was coming to town and the people's loyalty to the crown and their pride in the town and the new park were to be clearly demonstrated to the Duke and Duch- ess. On Saturday 13th October 1883 Huddersfield was en féte. All along the processional route Venetian masts, covered with scarlet cloth and dis- playing shields and flags, were connected one to the other with brightly coloured bunting. Public and private buildings draped in blue and gold cloth displayed trophies of flags, shields and the Royal Arms. Ail over the town there were archways, medallions and cartouches, stars, shields, fes- toons, streamers, flags, canopies, crowns and bunting, many of them illu- minated by gas jets. The principal item in the display was a triumphal arch
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in Buxton Road, erected in the style of a Norman Castle with a tower on one side, a keep on the other and battlements connecting the two where trumpeters were to stand to herald the approach of the royal party. Inter- twined ivy and evergreens decorated the arch which displayed the Royal Standard, the Union Flag, flags of other nations, the arms of the Duke and Duchess, Sir J.W. Ramsden and Mr. H.F. Beaumont and emblems repre- senting the first three degrees of Freemasonry (the Duke was Provincial Grand Master of Oxfordshire). Bunting and streamers stretched from both tower and keep to the buildings on each side of the road and across the battlements was the motto 'God Bless the Royal Pair'. The arch was illumi- nated by gas lamps and it attracted much admiration from the thousands of people who flocked into the town during the evening of the great day. On that sunny Saturday morning the Duke and Duchess of Albany arrived by tram at the lavishly decorated station and were received by the Mayor and Mayoress and Mr. & Mrs. Beaumont. After refreshments and an address of welcome read by the Town Clerk the royal couple joined a pro- cession to the Technical School where they toured the exhibition. After- wards, more than one hundred and fifty guests joined the Duke and Duch- ess for luncheon at the Town Hall. The balcony and the gallery were occu- pied by spectators, who were admitted by ticket, to watch the great and the good tackle the lavish menu (see facing page). The scene was described in the council minutes as 'exceedingly brilliant' but, the note goes on, 'the persistent way in which some of the people in the balcony used opera glasses was very disagreeable.' After the loyal toast and a short speech by the Mayor the royal party prepared to join the procession, the leaders of which had already passed the Town Hall and were on their way to Beaumont Park. Headed by four mounted police officers and accompanied by the Hoime, Moldgreen, Honley, Linthwaite and Catholic Brass Bands the first part of the procession consisted of representatives of local Friendly Socie- ties: Oddfellows, Foresters, Buffaloes, Rechabites, Druids, Free Gardeners, Sons of Temperance, Good Templars and the Band of Hope. All wore rega- lia and each society was headed by a wagon bearing the appropriate ban- ner. They were followed by trade exhibits provided by the machine, stone, rug, blacksmith, butcher, draper, brewer, mineral water, boot, boiler maker, cotton, woollen, tea, sadler, bread, fish, piano and joinery trades. All the
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SOUP Clear Turtle
JOINTS, POULTRY, GAME, ETC . Boar's Head a la Grand Monarque. Collar of Beef. Galantine of Turkey with truffles. York Hams. Galantine of Veal. Cutlets a la Moscovette. Fowlis a la Bechamel. Roast Fowis with Cresses . Strasburg Game Pate. Cold Quails. Pheasants Partridges. Salmon a la Cardinale. Fillets of Sole a la Hollandaise. Lobster Salad. Italian Salad. Galantine de Coupier.
Ice a la Macedonian. Ice au Maraschino. Ice Noyau. Chartreuse of Strawberries. Swiss Chocolate Cream. Meringue (tartiet) a la Swiss. Victoria Charlotte. Chantilly Cake. Polish Bun. Almond cakes and cream.
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exhibits were mounted on wagons, carts or drays and some were shown m practical operation. Already the procession was a lengthy affair. The trade exhibits were followed by carriages carrying officials of the Corporation and members of the Town Council. At this point, the Duke and Duchess entered their carriage from the Town Hall steps accompanied by the Mayor and Mayoress and escorted by a detachment of Yeoman Cav- alry. Then came representatives of the law, education, religion, medicine and the guardians of the poor and a long string of private carriages. The Huddersfield and Holmfirth Fire Brigade Friendly Societies brought up the rear with their president, Mr. E.H. Carlile, on horseback, to maintain order! As the royal carriage approached Buxton Road the trumpeters sta- tioned on the triumphal arch sounded a fanfare and the thousands of spec- tators thronging pavements, windows, walls and even roof tops let out an enormous cheer, waved handkerchiefs and flags and threw hats into the air. All the way to Beaumont Park the route was lavishly decorated; even the Model Lodging House in Chapel Hill, more familiar with exhaustion than exuberance, was festooned with banners, streamers and drapery. Seldom, it was said, had that building been so gay and never had it entertained so distinguished a company as gathered there on that Saturday afternoon. The procession was a mile and half long and as the park is a mile and half away from the town, all things being equal, the vanguard should have arrived at the park gates as Mr. Carlile passed the Town Hall. This did not happen for in Lockwood Road the lumbering drays and wagons carry ing the trades exhibits were overtaken and, on turning up the hill beyond Lockwood Bar, the second part of the procession went on at a good round trot leaving even the brass bands behind. The confusion must have been disconcerting and, to the officials, organisers and trade representatives a touch humiliating. To everyone else it was probably hilarious. At half past three, half an hour late, the Duke and Duchess arrived at the park. With a solid gold key studded with precious gems (ten diamonds, three rubies, two emeralds, thirty pearls and thirty turquoises) the Duke performed the ceremony of opening the park gates. Amidst cheering crowds the official party made their way along the main promenade to a specially erected pavilion near the lake. Considerable commotion and confusion en- sued when the crowd rushed up to occupy ground in front of the dais that
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had been reserved for the four thousand members of the procession. The Chief Constable called in his policemen to drive them back but his orders were soon rescinded and the crowd returned. Perhaps the trade societies were still making their way to the park. At four o'clock the official party mounted the dais and the Mayor introduced His Royal Highness to the crowd. After a lengthy speech during which he reminded the people how lucky they were in their generous ben- efactor, the Duke declared the park open. More speeches followed given by the Mayor, Mr. Beaumont, Mr. Reuben Hirst and Alderman Walker, the latter saying he felt sure that one day Mr. Beaumont would offer land for a park at Dalton. (He was wrong.) The last part of the ceremony involved the Duchess who, with a solid silver spade, presented to her by the Mayor, planted a commemorative syca- more tree. Thus the first public park in Huddersfield was opened. When the larger Greenhead Park (also designed by Mr. Dugdale) was officially opened eleven months later the celebrations were on a markedly quieter scale. For several decades Beaumont Park was a place of popular resort for local people. A park superintendent, a park keeper and no fewer than four- teen full time gardeners worked to maintain the park and ensure it was treated with respect. Sadly, in more recent years a decline in the popularity of parks has been accompanied here by a decline in official interest, up- keep and maintenance. By the 1980s, castle, shelter, bandstand and lake had gone the walkways and steps had fallen into disrepair, flower beds were over-grown and, inevitably, litter disfigured the scene. Then, in Sep- tember 1998, a Friends of Beaumont Park group was set up to lobby Kirklees Council about the neglect and since then things have improved. Today, although there is only one full time gardener, Mr. Andrew Morris, the park is blooming again. A walk along some of its two miles of paths will reveal the Victorian layout of promenades, terraces and rockeries; trees and shrubs planted long ago still thrive among the native spruce and oak and, of course, the magnificent views endure.
A WALK THROUGH BEAUMONT PARK (68) Here, near the end of the tour we suggest an interesting circular route
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through the park which has something to offer in all seasons: blossom, new leaves and birdsong in spring, flowers, shady trees and the chance of a picnic in summer, in autumn - colour, and panoramic views on clear, crisp winter days after the leaves have fallen. Our route covers about a mile and involves several flights of steps. Anyone who has difficulty with steps could take a shorter stroll along the main promenade to the Butternab end of the park and return on one of the higher paths. We include a small plan (below) to help locate some of the features. Beaumont Park Road owes its existence to the park. Built to provide convenient access - and an excellent promenade drive for those who vis- ited the park in carriages - it was constructed by men of the waterworks department whose work at the Wessenden Head reservoir had ended in 1881.
Before entering the park notice the handsome Victorian railings on the left hand side of the entrance and the lack of them on the right. Origi- nally, railings extended along the whole length of Beaumont Park Road but a national call for metal during the Second World War (to make Spitfires we were told) resulted in the willing sacrifice, along with domestic pots and pans, of railings everywhere. The surviving railings at Beaumont Park must, we feel, have been spared because the land drops away behind them. It is likely that the park gates, opened with so much ceremony by the Duke of
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Albany, went at the same time and for the same reason. The pretty cottage or lodge (L on the plan) by the entrance, the only structure in the park not built of the underlying stone, was also constructed by the waterworks department. Now in private hands it was originally oc- cupied by the head gardener, Andrew Paterson, and later by successive park superintendents. From the entrance walk past the lodge to a viewing point (V.P.) straight ahead. From here there is a splendid view over the Holme Valley and we include a diagram to help locate places far and near. We must point out that only the roof of Honley High School and only the finials of Honley Church are visible through the trees. The land below Stirley Hill (the row of white cottages to the right of Castle Hill) was once part of a Norman hunting park established by the de Lacy family when they occupied the long gone castle on Castle Hill. The sports ground in the bottom of the valley, near Armitage Bridge Church, belongs to the police. Below the viewing point it is possi- ble, in winter, to see the roof and chimneys of Woodfield House, once the home of Bentley Shaw and his family.
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From the viewing point descend the steps to the left. At the bottom of the steps notice a paved area. When the park was established the Huddersfield Naturalists Society asked for and were granted a part of the grounds for a botanical garden and it was here they built their greenhouses. They were removed circa 1980 after nearly a century on this site. From the bottom of the steps follow the path downhill between a mas- sive rockery on the left and a steep drop on the right. The rockeries were formed from the sedimentary rock quarried when the park was laid out. Before the path starts to rise notice a cleared area below on the right. This was the site of the refreshment rooms (RR) where visitors could enjoy ham and eggs, a favourite repast. In the days before dinner replaced high tea there were ham and egg tea-rooms all over the West Riding. Follow the path uphill and continue straight ahead at the fork. Here and there, natural rock faces, exposed during the construction of the park can be spotted high up on the left. Further on, approaching the bridge, the path runs through a deep cutting made in the natural rock. Continue under the bridge, follow the path to the right, climb six steps on the right, turn right to walk over the bridge and continue along the path. After a few metres notice the arched recesses in the wall on the right built to retain the weight of Beaumont Park Road. When the wall was built it was noted that the arches would add considerably to the cost of the park and it was hoped they would not detract from the general effect. The red brick wall is later, built during the Second World War as a blast wall to protect visitors to the park in the event of them having to take shelter in the recesses during a daylight raid. Climb twenty three steps and follow the path, passing the lodge on the right to reach the main promenade. Follow this away from the lodge. In the massive rockery on the right, where ferns and heathers still flourish, look out for the lion. Soon the promenade crosses a natural ravine by a bridge constructed from rock quarried in the park. Originally, to give a rustic look, the bridge was veneered with the ancient roots of trees, felled
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long before work began on the park, found during quarrying. On the right hand side of the bridge notice a pretty little ornamental pond constructed at the head of the ravine. Here a fountain once played and, before the water level was lowered, a small waterfall cascaded down the face of the rocks. This water feature (as it would inevitably be called today) was much ad- mired by the Duchess of Albany on the opening day. Just past the pond, on the right hand side of the path, notice two magnificent trees, a horse-chest- nut and an oak. They were brought here as saplings from the battlefield of Verdun in France and planted on the 7th November 1921, the chestnut by the then Mayor, Ald. W. Dawson, the oak by Mrs. Dawson. Two other trees from the same source were planted on the same day and may well be the ones growing alongside the two already mentioned. The battle which started on the 21st February 1916 with an attack by the German 5th Army on the fortified town of Verdun lasted for ten months. French casualties were esti- mated at 540,000, German at 430,000. Verdun did not fall. Today, although here and there in the French countryside some fortifications remain and vast military cemeteries and a huge ossuary bear witness to the slaughter, Verdun is a town dedicated to peace and the battlefields of 1916 are cov- ered with trees of an age similar to their relatives here in the park. Just after the trees, ignore the steps ahead and follow the path round to the left to the Butternab end of the park. Near the Butternab Road entrance there was once a pavilion or shel- ter (8) overlooking the children's playground and with a splendid view of the nearer hills. Now seats occupy the site and enjoy the same view. Behind the shelter was the large pond (P) or small lake. The area is now grassed over but the position of the pond's two small islands is obvious. From the end of the promenade fork right onto the uphill path above the rocky embankment. After a few metres notice that the glazed terracotta gutters at the sides of the path turn towards a short stretch of wall. This was once the entrance to a segmental arched bridge (F.B.) which led to the rocky island in the middle of the lake. Here, surrounded by water, people could take their ease on seats shaded by fir trees. After the bridge was demolished the wall was built to block off the entrance.
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At the next fork take the path to the right and pause at the steps on the
left. Here, glance to the right to see the original extent of the lake which is delineated by large edging stones fastened together with metal clamps. Near to the edge of the defunct lake, a mature sycamore tree in a circular walled bed is the very tree planted by the Duchess of Albany on 13th October 1883. Descend the eight steps to enter an area that once, on sunny summer evenings, echoed to the strains of Viennese waltzes, Sousa marches and, undoubtedly, the music of Arthur Sullivan. Built on the still existing stone base the bandstand (BS) was a framework of painted pitch pine the upper portions of which were filled in with coloured leaded lights. On the apex of the green slate roof was a finial indicating the cardinal points of the com- pass. Turn left round the bandstand, take the first flight of eight steps and follow the path round to the right towards a long row of arched recesses. In the tenth recess are the remains of an artificial grotto which, at the time of its construction, was much admired for its ingenuity. Made of foun- dry clinkers set in concrete and painted with what was described as cement slob the grotto contained a dual drinking fountain. It is difficult now to see how this worked but, here and there, are remains of water pipes that emp- tied into small basins. The overflow from the fountain found its way down to the ornamental pond. Continue along the high level path towards the lodge. Before the end of the walk we should mention the existence, some- where in the park, of two stone heads, one male and one female, both with long, narrow angular and severe features. The heads, both badly weath- ered, are believed to be busts of Mr. & Mrs. H.F. Beaumont set up in the park when it was opened. This may well be so but from the anount of weathering and the less than flattering style we wonder if they could be carvings of an earlier date brought to the park from Whitley Beaumont as representations of Mr. & Mrs. Beaumont. Because the busts are difficult of access we include a drawing of the female version (see facing page).
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The walk ends at the lodge, where we started. At the end of the walk we hope we have shown that Beaumont Park
is emerging from years of a 'don't care' attitude on the part of those who have our heritage in their charge. There are plans afoot to restore water to the fountain in the ornamental pond and to rebuild the band stand. Through the enthusiasm of its Friends and the careful work of Andrew Morris a ren- assance is beginning which, if we are very lucky, could stimulate the re- birth of other, similarly neglected, public parks in the Huddersfield area.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY AND SOURCES
Many of the books and all the documents and maps listed below are available for consultation at the local studies department of the Local History Library where the staf are always delighted to help with enquiries.
Documents and maps:
SURVEYS AND RENTALS OF HUDDERSFIELD 1716-1797
INCLOSURE OF LINDLEY 1798 INCLOSE OF LINDLEY MOOR 1816 HUDDERSFIELD EXAMINER (Microfilm copies) HUDDERSFIELD CHRONICLE (Microfilm copies)
CENSUS RETURNS, HUDDERSFIELD, MARSH, LINDLEY 1841 - 1891 ANNUAL REPORTS OF THE MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH 1890 - 1906, 1917-1919 HUDDERSFIELD CORPORATION MINUTES 1868 - 1879 COUNTY BOROUGH OF HUDDERSFIELD COUNCIL PROCEEDINGS FROM 1880
ENDOWED CHARITIES, WEST RIDING OF YORKSHIRE HUDDERSFIELD ESTATE MAPS 1716, 1778, 1797, 1825
ORDNANCE SURVEY MAPS FROM 1854
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Books: WALKS AROUND HUDDERSFLIELD G.S. PHILIPS 1848 THE HISTORY OF HUDDERSFIELD AND {TS VICINITY D.F.E. SYKES 1898 THE HISTORY OF HUDDERSFIELD AND DISTRICT T. DYSON 1951 THE STORY OF HUDDERSFIELD ROY BROOK 1968 HUDDERSFIELOD, A MOST HANDSOME TOWN ed. E.A. H. HAIGH 1992 HUDDERSFIELOD INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY, JUBILEE HISTORY OWEN BALMFORTH - 1910 JUBILEE HISTORY OF THE CORPORATION OF HUDDERSFIELD OWEN BALMFORTH - 1918 STUDIES IN LOCAL TOPOGRAPHY P. AHIER 1954 PENNINE JOURNEY W.B. STOCKS 1958 HUDDERSFIELOCORPORATION TRAMWAYS ROY BROOK 1983 THE HISTORY OF THE COUNTRYSIDE O. RACKHAM 1986 LAND OF LOST CONTENT R. REID 1986 BATSFORD COMPANION TO LOCAL HISTORY S. FRIAR 1991 CATCHING COLD P. DAVIES 1999
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ISBN 9524747 6 X
Bardan Print @41422522