Welcome to Huddersfield Exposed!

Welcome to Huddersfield Exposed, a collection of articles and pages about the history of Huddersfield and the surrounding area.

The pages reflect the research interests of those who contribute to the site and are not meant to be an exhaustive history of the Huddersfield area... at least, not yet!

If you'd like to edit and contribute new content to the site, simply request an account.

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Huddersfield: The town that bought itself

29 September 2020 marks the centenary of Huddersfield famously becoming "the town that bought itself" after Huddersfield Corporation finalised their purchase of the Ramsden Estate for £1,300,000.

To help mark the event, a copy of the long out-of-print The Ramsdens and Their Estate in Huddersfield: The Town that Bought Itself (1972) is available to read online and Huddersfield Local History Society has partnered with the University of Huddersfield Press to publish a new full-length book, Power in the Land: The Ramsdens and their Huddersfield Estate, 1542-1920.

Further details, including information about the exhibition that will tour town to tell the remarkable story of what happened 100 years ago, can be found at thetownthat.uk.

Online Shop

We've launched an online shop where you can download high-resolution scans of historic items, such as maps, photographs and books, at reasonable prices. All income will be used to secure more content that can be added to the site.

What's New?

Jefferys' Map of Yorkshire (1771) is available to view online, including the sheet covering the Huddersfield area
A copy of the extremely rare Some Account of the Founders of the Huddersfield Subscription Library (1875) by G. W. Tomlinson is available to read online or download.
The Holmfirth Flood Project has begun!
A copy of Taylor Dyson's Place Names and Surnames: Their Origin and Meaning (1944) is available to read.
Arthur Sykes' Ramsden Street Independent Chapel Huddersfield (1925) has been added to the site.
The Story of the Gledholt Circuit, Huddersfield: 1888-1948 and Milton Congregational Church: Jubilee Souvenir (1931) are now available to read online.
A Short History of the Baptist Church, Scapegoat Hill (1921) by Nathan Haigh has been added to the site!
Ernest Lockwood's Colne Valley Folk (1936) is available to read online or purchase.
Story of the Golcar Town School (1926) by John Griffiths is now available to read online.
You can now find a selection of works by noted Saddleworth poet Ammon Wrigley on the site, along with his 1938 book Songs of the Pennine Hills.
A scan of The History of Honley and its Hamlets from the Earliest Time to the Present (1914) by Mary A. Jagger is available to view online.

... or see the news pages for more recent additions to the site.

Top Books

Looking for something to read? Today's most popular books are:

Huddersfield & District Roll of Honour

Based on pioneering research by J. Margaret Stansfield into the lives of those who died in the First World War, the Huddersfield & District Roll of Honour is now available.

The entries are cross-referenced with local war memorials and by individual regiments.

Search for a name:

If you have conducted your own research and would like to help expand the entries, please get in touch.

Explore the Site

Find out more about buildings, places and people
Look at historic newspaper articles, journal articles and maps
Browse some local books, genealogical resources, Local Acts or just view a random page!
Explore the growing map of buildings and locations, or search for a specific location
If you can't find what you're looking for here, there are lots of other web sites with useful information

Aims of the Site

The Huddersfield area is rich with history and the intention is for this site to explore some of the more obscure or unusual stories.
To make available original content under a licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
To make available out-of-copyright research materials, such as newspaper articles, books and Local Acts, and place those versions in the Public Domain.

Want to Contribute or Help Support this Web Site?

If you'd like to edit and contribute new content to the site, you'll need to request an account.

If you've found useful information on this site, please consider showing your support!

The site is maintained by Dave Pattern. He also helped develop the Buildings of Huddersfield site and is a committee member of Huddersfield Local History Society.