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[[Image:Victoria Tower Castle Hill(RLH).jpg|thumb|right|180px|Victoria Tower at 'Castle Hill']]
[[Image:Victoria Tower Castle Hill(RLH).jpg|thumb|right|180px|Victoria Tower at 'Castle Hill']]


Huddersfield is notable for its abundance of fine Victorian architecture. has the third highest number of listed buildings of any town or city in the UK.
Huddersfield is notable for its abundance of fine Victorian architecture. It has the third highest number of listed buildings of any town or city in the UK.


The colonnaded Huddersfield railway station in St George's Square was once described as 'a stately home with trains in it', and by [[Nikolaus Pevsner|Sir Nikolaus Pevsner]] as 'one of the best early railway stations in England'.<ref name="pevsner">{{cite book | author=Pevsner, Nikolaus; Radcliffe, Enid (Ed.) | title=The Buildings of England: Yorkshire: The West Riding | publisher=Yale University Press | year=2002 | id=ISBN 0-30-009662-3}}</ref>
The colonnaded Huddersfield railway station in St George's Square was once described as 'a stately home with trains in it', and by [[Nikolaus Pevsner|Sir Nikolaus Pevsner]] as 'one of the best early railway stations in England'.<ref name="pevsner">{{cite book | author=Pevsner, Nikolaus; Radcliffe, Enid (Ed.) | title=The Buildings of England: Yorkshire: The West Riding | publisher=Yale University Press | year=2002 | id=ISBN 0-30-009662-3}}</ref>

Revision as of 22:06, 12 October 2006

Template:Infobox England place Huddersfield is a large town near the confluence of the River Colne and the River Holme. It is in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire and is located within the historic borders of the West Riding of Yorkshire.

History

It was a village during Anglo-Saxon times and appeared in the Domesday Book as Oderesfelt. However, there had been a settlement in the vicinity since Roman times, as evidenced by discovery of the remains of a Roman fort at Slack, just west of the town. Castle Hill, a major landmark of the town, was originally an Iron Age hillfort.

Huddersfield was incorporated as a municipal borough in the ancient West Riding of Yorkshire in 1868. The borough comprised the parishes of Almondbury, Dalton, Huddersfield, Lindley cum Quarmby and Lockwood. When the West Riding County Council was formed in 1889, Huddersfield became a county borough, exempt from county council control. The county borough was abolished in 1974 and its former area was combined with that of other districts to form the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire.

In 1952, in recognition of historic ties and links with The Duke of Wellington's Regiment (West Riding), Huddersfield conferred on the regiment the Freedom of the Town. This gives the regiment the right to march through the town with 'Flags Flying, Bands playing and Bayonets fixed'. Many of the town and district's male residents have served in the regiment during its 304-year history.

Huddersfield has been known as a Market Town since Saxon times. Since the granting of University status to the local Polytechnic it is sometimes described as a University Town.

Attempts by the local council to gain support for city status were rejected by the town's population in an unofficial referendum, held by the local media. The council did not apply for that status in either the 2000 or 2002 competitions.

According to the 2001 census the population of the Huddersfield urban sub-area of the West Yorkshire Urban Area was 146,234, and the population of the former area of the county borough was 121,620. The wider South Kirklees area had a population of 216,011.

Institutions

Schools and colleges

Huddersfield is the home to two sixth form colleges, Huddersfield New College located at Salendine Nook, and Greenhead College. It has one general further education college, Huddersfield Technical College and one establishment of higher education in the University of Huddersfield. The current Chancellor of the University is the actor Patrick Stewart, who comes from Mirfield.

Hospitals

Huddersfield currently has one main hospital, the Huddersfield Royal Infirmary situated in Lindley, plus the smaller St Luke's Hospital at Crosland Moor, which mostly provides geriatric and psychiatric care. Kirkwood Hospice provides care for the terminally ill, and is dependent on private donations and charitable gifts. Greenhead's Princess Royal Hospital originally provided Huddersfield with its maternity facilities until the risks of not being able to get an ambulance to A&E in the event of complications were judged to outweigh the benefits of specialist service provision. It now functions as a day clinic and family planning consultation centre.

Recent changes to the services provided by the Huddersfield / Calderdale Trust will change these facilities in 2007 despite a campaign by the local population to retain them in-house.

Historical landmarks

Victoria Tower at 'Castle Hill'

Huddersfield is notable for its abundance of fine Victorian architecture. It has the third highest number of listed buildings of any town or city in the UK.

The colonnaded Huddersfield railway station in St George's Square was once described as 'a stately home with trains in it', and by Sir Nikolaus Pevsner as 'one of the best early railway stations in England'.[1]

The distinctive clock tower in the village of Lindley (a suburb to the west of the town) was constructed in 1902 by a local mill-owner, so that his workers would not have any excuse for being late for work! St Peters' Church, or 'Huddersfield Parish Church' was constructed in 1838 and is located in the town centre near Pack Horse Walk, named in memory of the beasts of burden which ferried the textile industries' merchandise to and fro in the days before the Standedge Canal Tunnel - the longest, deepest and highest canal tunnel in Britain - had been navigated through the Pennines. The Pack Horse Walk stands on the site of the old Cloth Hall. It provides a link for pedestrians between Kirkgate and the Piazza, with its acclaimed triad of public library, Market Hall and Town Hall.

The most conspicuous landmark in the Huddersfield area is Victoria Tower atop Castle Hill, constructed to mark Queen Victoria's 60th Jubilee Year and being distiguishable from Macclesfield's tower in that it can't be seen by rail passengers. A picture of the Victoria Tower features on the New Zealand wine Castle Hill.

Shopping and Entertainment

Huddersfield has a large and diverse shopping area, compared to most towns of its size; one of the central shopping areas is the Kingsgate Centre, completed in 2001. There is a covered Market Hall, which has listed building status, adjacent to the Town Hall and public library, and an open market on the opposite side of the town centre.

The town has a varied array of popular bars, clubs, fast food outlets and restaurants and a small casino, all within the central ringroad and an easy walking distance from the rail and bus stations

Transport infrastructure

Road

Huddersfield is well connected to the national motorway network via the M1 and M62 motorways. The M1 passes near the eastern fringes of the town about ten miles away. The M62 comes much nearer (about 2½ miles away) and Huddersfield is served by three junctions at Mount (A640, J23 - limited access), Ainley Top (A629, J24) and between Brighouse and Cooper Bridge (A644, J25).

The Huddersfield Corporation built an inner ring road (part of the A62) in the 1970s. The area within this ring road has come to define the central business district of the town. The ring road is effective in relieving traffic congestion in the town centre where many roads are now pedestrianised.

Rail

Huddersfield railway station enjoys a comprehensive local and regional rail service. However, there are no Intercity services or a direct service to London, with passengers having to change at either Leeds or Wakefield Westgate. Many services are subsidised by the local-government public transport co-ordinator, Metro. A frequent express service operates to the nearby principal cities of Leeds and Manchester and a regular service to Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Sunderland, Darlington, Middlesbrough, Scarborough, York, Hull, Manchester International Airport and Liverpool. This is operated by First Transpennine Express. There are also local stopping services operated by Northern Rail which link Huddersfield with Leeds, Dewsbury, Bradford, Halifax, Wakefield, Barnsley and Sheffield.

Huddersfield Railway Station in St. Georges Square

Bus

Huddersfield Bus Station is the busiest bus station in West Yorkshire with a daily footfall of almost 35,000[2]. The majority of bus services pass through the bus station. Many services are subsidised by Metro who are also responsible for co-ordination, planning and timetabling of services throughout West Yorkshire. Huddersfield's bus operators reflect the national situation; three dominant national operators provide most of the services in the area: First (in Huddersfield & Halifax) who provide most local services across Huddersfield, Arriva Yorkshire, who provide frequent services along Leeds Road towards Dewsbury and Leeds and Stagecoach Yorkshire through its recently-acquired subsidiary, Yorkshire Traction who provide almost all services in the South West of the town. Other smaller operators include K-Line and FairRider, who are both based locally

Canal

The Huddersfield Broad Canal, originally the Sir John Ramsden Canal, and the Huddersfield Narrow Canal (both navigable by narrowboat and the former by wider craft also) wind around the south side of the town. To the rear of the YMCA in the Turnbridge section there is an electrically operated road bridge, which is still in use, to raise the road and allow boat traffic to pass. This bridge was originally opened by use of a windlass system.

Sport

Association football

Main article: Huddersfield Town F.C.

Huddersfield Town FC is the town's senior association football team, founded in 1908, and currently playing in Coca-Cola League One.

In 1921-22 Huddersfield won the FA Cup and between 1923-26 they became the first club to win the League Championship three times in a row, an achievement matched only by three other teams. The club left its ground on Leeds Road in 1994 and now shares the Galpharm Stadium with the Huddersfield Giants rugby league team.

Notable ex-players include Scottish international Denis Law, Ray Wilson, a World Cup winner with England in 1966 and Trevor Cherry, England international. Bill Shankly and Herbert Chapman are notable former Huddersfield Town managers.

Rugby union

Rugby was first played in the town in 1866 and the Huddersfield rugby club formed in 1870 when there were twenty players a side. It was in Huddersfield in 1895 that twenty northern clubs broke away from the Rugby Football Union to establish what is now known as Rugby league.

Disavowing professionalism, amateurs continued playing at neighbouring clubs until 1909 when the union club was re-established as Huddersfield Old Boys - nomadically playing in five grounds until buying farmland at Waterloo in 1919 and, in 1946, retitling the club as Huddersfield RUFC.

In 1996 the Waterloo junior grounds were sold. The club had pioneered mini-rugby in England at these grounds in 1969. A twenty-six-acre former brewery estate at Lockwood Park was purchased for construction of a replacement. With the assistance of a matching £2 million grant from the Sport England, the club has transformed the site into a major sports complex, conference centre and business park.

Rugby league

Main article: Huddersfield Giants

On August 29, 1895, 22 rugby clubs from across the north of England held a meeting in the George Hotel, next to the railway station. They voted to secede from the Rugby Football Union and set up their own Northern Rugby Football Union. In 1922 this became the Rugby Football League.

Huddersfield is still a focus for rugby league, being represented by the Huddersfield Giants in the Superleague, and the Huddersfield Underbank Rangers in National League 3, as well as many amateur teams.

The Huddersfield Giants have won the Rugby League Championship seven times, most recently in 1961-62, and the Challenge Cup six times, the last success being in 1952-53.

Motorsport

The expansion of the engineering sector in 19th and 20th Century Huddersfield, accompanied by the founding of the local Mechanics Institutes which later stimulated the establishment town's Technical College and University, has engendered a corresponding interest in motorsports in the area's population.

Although people from Huddersfield compete at all levels in all kinds of motorsports, outstanding local people include James Whitham, of superbike fame and former British Stock Car Association (BriSCA) Formula 1 World Champion Kev Smith.

Given the area's geographical features, trials riding, moto-X and hill climbing are also popular pursuits and local participants in these do regularly feature in print and broadcast news.

Arts

Music

Huddersfield Choral Society, founded in 1836, claims to be the UK's leading choral society. Its history was chronicled in the book 'And The Glory' to commemorate the Society's 150th anniversary in 2001. The author was a choir member for over 35 years.

Huddersfield is also home to the Lawrence Batley Theatre, the annual and internationally-famous Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, the Huddersfield Philharmonic Orchestra and the Huddersfield Singers.

As well as its strong orchestral and choral tradition, the Huddersfield area also hosts the Marsden Jazz Festival [1]] and, reflecting the town's fondness for popular live music, the now-defunct Kazzhoe's venue is reputed to be where the Sex Pistols played their last UK gig before embarking on the US tour that forms the backdrop to the Alex Cox film [Sid & Nancy].

Home-grown musical talent of all kinds is complimented by the consistently high standard of the student intake to the University of Huddersfield's music department.

Film and televisual arts

Various long-running television series have been filmed in and around Huddersfield, including: Last of the Summer Wine, usually associated with Holmfirth but which has made use of various locations in the area including Dodlee; Where the Heart Is, filmed in the Colne Valley around Slaithwaite; Wokenwell, shot on location in Marsden; and The League of Gentlemen, which also made extensive use of locations around Marsden.

Author and inventor Wilf Lunn[2], whose pioneering approach in Vision On was followed by regular appearances in Magpie and Take Hart, is also based in the Huddersfield area.

Playing lower-key roles in television production with reputations based on their expert knowledge of their subjects, Huddersfield can claim links with Time Team by way osteoarchaeologist Alice Roberts [3] and Life on Earth through local teacher Dr Jeff Carr's encyclopaedic knowledge of polar bears.

Visual arts

Watercolourist Ashley Jackson[4] is based in the Huddersfield area and has a gallery near Holmfirth.

Kirklees Council's Cultural Services also ensure that the art gallery which occupies the top floor of the library on Princess Alexandra Walk offers a balanced schedule all year round which showcases local painters and photographers alongside commissioned artists' shows.

Politics

Huddersfield had a strong Liberal tradition up to the 1950s and this is still reflected in the large number of Liberal Social Clubs in the town.

Kirklees Council is notable for being the first in the UK to elect a Green Party councillor.

Notable people born in Huddersfield

Suburbs of the town

See also

References

  1. ^ Pevsner, Nikolaus; Radcliffe, Enid (Ed.) (2002). The Buildings of England: Yorkshire: The West Riding. Yale University Press. ISBN 0-30-009662-3.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. ^ "Huddersfield Bus Station". West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive. Retrieved May 24. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  3. ^ 'During the periods 1822 - 1832 the 33rd Regiment of Foot, recruited from West Yorkshire was stationed in Jamaica. At the end of the tour 142 men chose to remain in Jamaica, having married and raised families, some of which may have originated from Huddersfield, thereby originating the name. Over 560 officers and men died and were buried in Jamaica during this period, from endemic diseases. In 1861 the regiment formally became known as the The Duke of Wellington's Regiment. The regiment's second battalion was again posted to Jamaica (Newcastle Camp) from the 18th of March 1891 to the 10th of April 1893.' Brereton, JM; Savory, ACS (1993). The History of the Duke of Wellingtons (West Riding) 1702 - 1992. Halifax : The Duke of Wellington's Regiment. ISBN 0-9521552-0-6.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
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