King's Head Inn, Upper Bridge, Holmfirth

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Details

  • also known as: The White Door
  • location: Huddersfield Road, Upper Bridge, Holmfirth, Upperthong
  • status: no longer exists
  • category: public house, beerhouse, inn, etc.

Property built in 1706[1]. Although the exact date it became an inn is uncertain, there are newspaper references to Matthew Bower (c.1768-1829)[2] being the landlord in 1795.[3]

The premises was the meeting place of the 984 Royal Lodge of the Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes.

The inn closed in 1968 and, along with two adjoining properties, was subsequently purchased by Holmfirth Council for £2,200 towards the end of the year at the recommendation of the Highways and Planning Committee.[4] Although this would perhaps suggest that the purchase was to allow for demolition and road widening, the historic nature of the former inn led to discussions around alternative uses, including a local museum.[5][6]

At around 5pm on Monday 21 July 1969, a runaway lorry driven by John Duffy of Leeds crashed into the adjoining property — a hairdressers owned by Kathleen Battye. Due to the lack of a solid continual partition wall between the two buildings, they were both demolished on 27 July.[7][8][9]

Gallery

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Further Reading

Location

Notes and References

  1. The datestone above the door read "M.T.S. 1706".
  2. The History and Topography of the Parish of Kirkburton and of the Graveship of Holme (1861) by Henry James Morehouse, page 167.
  3. "Joſhua Smith's Bankruptcy" in Leeds Intelligencer (21/Dec/1795).
  4. "Holmfirth Council to Raise Rents?" in Huddersfield Examiner (23/Nov/1968).
  5. Source: undated newspaper article titled "Holmfirth's oldest Inn closes".
  6. Contemporary sources also state that the Council sought and achieved a Grade II Listed status for the former inn, which would imply they were seeking to preseve rather than demolish.
  7. "Noted Inn to Disappear" in Huddersfield Examiner (26/Jul/1969).
  8. "End of the Sixties" in Huddersfield Examiner (27/Dec/1969).
  9. Public Houses of Holmfirth: Past and Present (2016) by Holme Valley Civic Society.