Huddersfield and Leeds Railway (1835/6)

The Huddersfield & Leeds Railway was an abandoned scheme to connect Huddersfield to Leeds via a line to Cooper Bridge that would then join the existing line to Leeds at Normanton.

History

A meeting was held at the George Inn in Huddersfield on Saturday 17 October 1835 "to establish a company for the purpose of constructing a railway from Huddersfield, by Wakefield, to Leeds". The meeting was chaired by John Brooke[1] of Armitage Bridge. The capital was to be £350,000 in shares of £100 each, with a deposit of £2. The Huddersfield Banking Company were appointed as bankers for the scheme with Messrs. Battye & Hesp as the solicitors.[2]

The Leeds Times reported that within two days of the meeting, around a third of the shares had been subscribed to.[2] By the end of the following week, all of the shares had been allocated and were already being profitably traded for £3.[3]

The proposed line would commence from a field near the bottom of Quay Street (near to Turnbridge) in Huddersfield and then pass northwards through the hamlets of Deighton and Dalton to reach Cooper Bridge. Noted railway pioneer George Stephenson was appointed as the consulting engineer for the scheme.[4]

At the same time, the rival Manchester & Leeds Railway (M&LR) was aiming to raise £1,000,000 for their ambitious scheme to cross from Lancashire into the West Riding. The proposed route along the Upper Calder Valley also took their line through Cooper Bridge and on to Normanton where it would join the existing North Midland Railway (NMR) into Leeds, effectively mirroring the planned route of the Huddersfield & Leeds scheme.

In November 1835, the Sheffield Independent reported that there were ongoing discussions as to the route the two companies could take. One suggestion was that the Huddersfield line should join the existing NMR at Wakefield in order to run into Leeds, and that the Manchester line should run as far as Cooper Bridge where it would join the Huddersfield line to run into Leeds via Wakefield.[5]

The plans for the Huddersfield & Leeds Railway were deposited at the office of the Clerk of the Peace in Wakefield by 30 November, as were the plans for the M&LR.[6]

Rumours that the "projected railway from Huddersfield to Leeds which was taken up so eagerly a few weeks ago has been abandoned" were reported in the press in December.[7]

A meeting of the shareholders was held at the George Inn on Monday 8 February 1836, again chaired by John Brooke of Armitage Bridge. Brooke began by reading the report of the committee regarding the difficulties they faced — specifically opposition from some of the land owners of their proposed route and also "the determination of the Manchester Company to contest the line". If the shareholders were willing, the M&LR was offering an exchange of shares for their company and would "undertake to make a branch from [the proposed station] at Cooper Bridge to Huddersfield".

After a long discussion, a resolution to accept the offer from the rival company was "nearly unanimously agreed to", and then a further resolution "authorizing the committee to wind up the affairs of the company".[8]

Notes and References

  1. Brooke's surname is often given as "Brook" in contemporary newspaper reports.
  2. 2.0 2.1 "Railway from Huddersfield to Leeds" in Leeds Times (24/Oct/1835).
  3. "Huddersfield" in Leeds Times (31/Oct/1835).
  4. All Stations to Manchester! The Centenary of the Huddersfield and Manchester Railway and Standedge Tunnel (1949) by Stanley Chadwick.
  5. "The Huddersfield and Leeds, and the Manchester and Leeds Railways" in Sheffield Independent (14/Nov/1835).
  6. "New Railways" in Yorkshire Gazette (05/Dec/1835).
  7. "The Railway" in Bradford Observer (10/Dec/1835).
  8. "Huddersfield and Leeds Railway" in Leeds Intelligencer (13/Feb/1836) and "Huddersfield and Leeds Railways" in Yorkshire Gazette (20/Feb/1836).