Yorkshire Post (10/Dec/1940) - New Books: Old Legends of Huddersfield

The following is a transcription of a historic newspaper article and may contain occasional errors. If the article was published prior to 1 June 1957, then the text is likely in the Public Domain.

NEW BOOKS

OLD LEGENDS OF HUDDERSFIELD

The Legends and Traditions of Huddersfield and its District, Part 1. By Philip Ahier. (The Advertiser Press, 2s. 6d.)

Few, if any, are more qualified than Mr. Ahier to record the history and topography of his adopted town and district. This latest publication is a compendious effort which will undoubtedly make its way into the bookcases of many local households and societies.

As Mr. Ahier explains, he has endeavoured to classify the legends and records relating to the district under two headings and concerning persons and the other places. The second part of the book will deal with the Elland Feud, the legend of Bretton Hall and the legends of places.

Here we have a mass of information concerning the origin of legends and traditions, "faked" legends, amusing legends concerning visits supposed to have been paid to Huddersfield by the Devil himself, half-a-dozen pages about Robin Hood and of his traditional death and burial at Kirklees, and a wide assortment of legends associated with alleged visits to Huddersfield and district by Oliver Cromwell.

On this last point the author comments that there were certainly several local raids by Parliamentarian soldiers, "and it is conceivable that the legends of these visits of Oliver Cromwell to this locality arose by assuming, but without foundation, that he was in command of the troops."

Mr. Ahier's research has been authoritative and exhaustive: his book is the more attractive for its wealth of entertaining anecdote.