There has been a settlement in the area for over 4,000 years.[5] The remains of a Roman fort were unearthed in the mid 18th century at Slack near Outlane, west of the town.[6]Castle Hill, a major landmark, was the site of an Iron Agehill fort. Huddersfield was recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Oderesfelt and Odresfeld.
Huddersfield has been a market town since Anglo-Saxon times. The market cross is on Market Place.
The manor of Huddersfield was owned by the de Lacy family until 1322, at which it reverted to royal ownership. In 1599, William Ramsden bought the manor, and the Ramsden family continued to own the manor, which came to be known as the 'Ramsden Estate', until 1920. During their ownership they supported the development of the town, building the Huddersfield Cloth Hall in 1766 and the Sir John Ramsden’s Canal in 1780, and supporting the arrival of the railway arrived in the 1840s.[7]
Huddersfield was a centre of civil unrest during the Industrial Revolution. In a period where Europe was experiencing frequent wars, where trade had slumped and the crops had failed, many local weavers faced losing their livelihood due to the introduction of machinery in factories. Luddites began destroying mills and machinery in response; one of the most notorious attacks was on Cartwright — a Huddersfield mill-owner, who had a reputation for cruelty — and his Rawfolds Mill. In his book Rebels Against the Future, Kirkpatrick Sale describes how an army platoon was stationed at Huddersfield to deal with Luddites; at its peak, there were about a thousand soldiers in Huddersfield and ten thousand civilians. In response, Luddites began to focus attacks on nearby towns and villages, which were less well-protected; the largest act of damage that they committed was the destruction of Foster's Mill at Horbury — a village about 10 miles (16 km) east of Huddersfield.[8] The government campaign that crushed the movement was provoked by a murder that took place in Huddersfield. William Horsfall, a mill-owner and a passionate prosecutor of Luddites, was killed in 1812.[9] Although the movement faded out, Parliament began to increase welfare provision for those out of work, and introduce regulations to improve conditions in the mills.
Political history
Two Prime Ministers have spent part of their childhood in Huddersfield: Harold Wilson and Herbert Asquith. Wilson is commemorated by a statue in front of the railway station.
Kirklees Council was the first in the UK to have a Green Party councillor, Nicholas Harvey who was instrumental in protesting against the intended closure of the Settle and Carlisle Railway line.[10]
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.
In 1920, the Corporation bought the Ramsden Estate from the Ramsden family, that had owned much of the town since 1599, for the sum of £1.3 million. As a result, the town became known for a time as ‘the town that bought itself’. To this day, much of the freehold of the town belongs to the local authority.[7]
Huddersfield expanded in 1937, including parts of the Golcar, Linthwaite, and South Crosland urban districts.[11] 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.
Attempts by the council to gain support for city status were rejected by the population in an unofficial referendum held by the Huddersfield Daily Examiner. The council did not apply for that status in either the 2000 or 2002 competitions.[12]
According to the United Kingdom Census 2001 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.
Industry
Huddersfield is a manufacturing town, despite the university being the largest employer. Historically the town produced textiles. The number of people who work in textiles has declined, but the surviving companies produce large quantities of woollen products with little labour. The town is home to textile, chemical and engineering companies, including Brook Motors Ltd founded by Ernest Brook in 1904, which would become known all over the world.
Against conventional wisdom, he started making alternating current electric motors, and he did this in one room with two assistants and starting capital of just £300.
On its 50th anniversary in 1954 it employed more than 2,000 people and, with Ernest’s sons Frank and Jack in charge, was the largest exclusive producer of AC motors in the world, and had a turnover of £4,500,000.
That same year Brook Motors Ltd operated 10 factories in Huddersfield, its biggest being Empress Works on St Thomas’s Road, and had just opened one at Barugh Green, Barnsley. Cummins Turbo Technologies (turbocharger manufacturers), Huddersfield Fine Worsteds (textiles), Taylor & Lodge (textiles), C & J Antich (textiles), Syngenta AG (agro-chemicals), Pennine Radio Limited (electronicstransformers and sheet metalworking) and a large number of niche manufacturers, such as Dual Seal Glass (maker of spandrel glass panels[13]) and Ellis Furniture (producer of kitchen and bathroom furniture[14]). Huddersfield is home to Andrew Jones Pies, a regional award winning pie-maker, where a worker was killed in a gas explosion on 10 April 2009.[15][16] and Mamas and Papas – a manufacturer and retailer of prams, pushchairs and related items.
Geography
Climate
Huddersfield experiences a temperate oceanic climate which is relatively mild for its latitude, which comes without major temperature extremes due to the moderating influence of the Gulf Stream. According to the Köppen climate classification, Huddersfield is certified as Cfb.
After boundary changes in 2004, Huddersfield now covers eight of the twenty-three electoral wards for Kirklees Council. Neighbouring wards in the Colne Valley, Holme Valley, and Kirkburton are often considered to be part of Huddersfield though they are predominantly semi-rural. Huddersfield town centre is located within the Newsome ward. The eight wards that make up Huddersfield proper, with their populations, areas and constituent suburbs (mid-year 2005 estimates) are:
Like many former mill towns, Huddersfield has a higher than average number of residents from ethnic minorities. The white population makes up 81% of the population comparing to 91.3% for England as a whole. The largest ethnic minority group are those who have described themselves as being Asian or British Asian originating from the Indian sub-continent (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka) with 10,837, or 8.9% (compared to 1.4% for England as a whole). An ethnicity summary of the town's 121,620 population is 98,454 (81.0%) white, 15,072 (12.4%) Asian or British Asian, 4,328 (3.6%) Black or Black British, 328 (0.3%), 259 (0.2%) Other and 3,131 (2.6%) Mixed.[26]
Religion
Huddersfield is slightly above the English average for those who have no religion and also for the number of Muslims. Conversely, it is below average for its number of Christians.
Huddersfield has an abundance of Victorian architecture.[27] The most conspicuous landmark is the Victoria Tower on Castle Hill. Overlooking the town, the tower was constructed to mark Queen Victoria's 60th Jubilee Year. A picture of the Victoria Tower features on the New Zealand wine Castle Hill.
Huddersfield Town Hall
Huddersfield Town Hall was designed by John H. Abbey and built in two stages between 1875 and 1881. The first section opened on 26 June 1878, comprising the Mayor's Parlour, Council Chamber, Reception Room and municipal offices including the Sanitary Inspector, Inspector of Weights and Measures, Medical Officer, Town Clerk, Borough Surveyor and the Rates Office. The second phase opened in October 1881 comprising the Magistrates' Court and Concert Hall. The hall seats up to 1,200 people and hosts events ranging from classical to comedy and from choral to community events.
The George Hotel designed by William Wallen was built by Wallen and Charles Child in 1850. The hotel's Italianate façade became Huddersfield’s adopted architectural style as the town developed over following decade.[29]
St Peter's Church (Huddersfield Parish Church) was constructed in 1838 and is adjacent to the town centre, on Byram Street, near the Pack Horse Centre.
The Pack Horse Centre is a covered pedestrianised shopping area constructed over a cobblestone street, Pack Horse Yard, renamed Pack Horse Walk. Pack horses carried merchandise over pack-horse routes across the Pennines before turnpike roads and railways improved transportation. The pedestrian link passes from Kirkgate, across King Street and along Victoria Lane, by the Shambles, to the Piazza and the distinctive Market Hall at Queensgate, which was built to replace the old Shambles Market Hall in the early 1970s.[30] Next to the Piazza is the Victorian Town Hall and the 1930s Public Library.
Greenhead Park is another large park in Huddersfield, situated around 0.4 miles (0.64 km) west of the town centre. A multimillion-pound restoration project, funded by the Heritage Lottery fund[31] was finished in Autumn 2012.
Transport
Road
A map of Huddersfield from 1954
Huddersfield is connected to the national motorway network via the M1 and M62 motorways. The M1 passes about 10 miles (16 km) to the east. The M62 comes passes about 2.5 miles (4.0 km) to the north and Huddersfield is served by three junctions: Mount (A640, J23 – limited access), Ainley Top (A629, J24) and between Brighouse and Cooper Bridge (A644, J25).
Huddersfield Corporation built an inner ring road, part of the A62, in the 1970s. The area within the ring road now defines the town's central business district. The ring road relieves traffic congestion in the town centre where many roads are pedestrianised.
Main routes into Huddersfield include the A62 Leeds Road, A641 Bradford Road, A629 Halifax Road – Penistone Road, A640 New Hey Road and the A62 Manchester Road.
Huddersfield railway station in St. George's Square
Bus
The Huddersfield Free Town Bus
A trolleybus system operated from 1933 to 1968. Huddersfield bus station was opened by the Mayor, Councillor Mernagh on 26 March 1974, although it had not been completed.[33] It is the busiest bus station in West Yorkshire with a daily footfall of almost 35,000. Most bus services pass through the bus station. Many services are subsidised by Metro.
Huddersfield's bus operators reflect the national situation; local subsidiaries of three dominant national operators provide most services in the area: First Calderdale & Huddersfield provide most local services in Huddersfield and some services outside Kirklees with destinations including Bradford, Brighouse, Halifax, Manchester and Oldham. Arriva Yorkshire provide frequent services to Dewsbury and Leeds, and Yorkshire Tiger provide almost all services in the south east of the town. Other smaller operators include Stotts Coaches and Tiger Blue. Centrebus Holdings purchased Teamdeck in May 2008, along with Stagecoach Yorkshire's Huddersfield depot.[34] In November 2006, a zero-fare town centre bus service, the Free Town Bus, was launched run by K-Line in partnership with Kirklees Council and Metro.
Canal
The Huddersfield Broad Canal, originally the Sir John Ramsden Canal, and the Huddersfield Narrow Canal which are both navigable by narrowboat, and the broad canal by wider craft, wind around the south side of town. To the rear of the YMCA in the Turnbridge section is an electrically operated road bridge, which is still in use, to raise the road and allow boat traffic to pass. This bridge originally used a windlass.
Football and rugby league are the main spectator sports in Huddersfield. Its professional football team, Huddersfield Town F.C. play in the Championship. In 1926, the club became the first in England to win three successive league titles, a feat only three other clubs have matched.
Rugby was first played in the town in 1848 and the Huddersfield Athletic Club, the direct progenitors of Huddersfield Giants, formed in 1864, played its first rugby game in 1866. In Huddersfield on 29 August 1895, 22 northern clubs met in the George Hotel and voted to secede from the Rugby Football Union and set up the 'Northern Rugby Football Union' which became the Rugby Football League in 1922. The Rugby League Heritage Centre is in the basement of the George Hotel.
Following the split of 1895, Huddersfield became a focus for rugby league and is represented by Huddersfield Giants in the Super League. Huddersfield Giants (Huddersfield Rugby League Club) has won the Rugby Football League Championship seven times, most recently in 1961–62, and the Challenge Cup six times, the last time in 1952–53.
After 1895 rugby was played exclusively under the auspices of the Northern Rugby Football Union until 1909 when Huddersfield Old Boys were formed to play under rugby union rules, nomadically playing at five grounds until buying farmland at Waterloo in 1919 and, in 1946, renaming the club Huddersfield RUFC. In 1969 the club was at the forefront of a revolution in English rugby when it became the first club in the country to organise mini and junior rugby teams. The innovation spread and almost every club in the country has a thriving junior section providing a production-line of home-grown talent. Junior players at Huddersfield number over 200. In 1997 the Waterloo junior grounds were sold and the 26-acre (0.11 km2) former Bass Brewery site at Lockwood Park was purchased for its replacement. With the assistance of a £2 million grant from Sport England, the club has transformed it into a major sports complex, conference centre and business park.
Association football
Huddersfield Town F.C. is the town's senior association football team, founded in 1908, and currently playing in Football League Championship.
In 1921–22 Huddersfield won the FA Cup and between 1923 and 1926 became the first club to win the League Championship three times in a row, an achievement matched only by three other teams. However, they have been less successful in modern times, having not played in the top division since the early 1970s. The club left its ground at Leeds Road in 1994 and now shares the John Smith's Stadium with the Huddersfield Giants rugby league team.
Huddersfield Rams Aussie Rules is an Australian rules football team, formed in 2008. The club played its first season in 2009 and won the Aussie Rules UK National League – Central Division and took part in the North West Division in 2010.
Huddersfield has a number of field hockey teams, many of which train at the Lockwood Park sports complex on the all weather pitch.[35]
Motorcycle speedway racing was staged in Huddersfield in the UK pioneer year of 1928. A venue in the town staged four or five meetings.
James Whitham, is a former 'British Superbike Champion'. Lepton born Tom Sykes joined the Yamaha Motor Italia World team in the 2009 World Superbike season[36] after spells in British Supersports & British Superbikes in which he finished 4th in the 2009 Season. He won his first race in World Superbikes in one of two wildcard meetings.
On 6 July 2014, Stage 2 of the 2014 Tour de France from York to Sheffield, passed through the town.[37]
Arts
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',[38] written to commemorate the society's 150th anniversary in 1986 — its title derived from a line in the Hallelujah Chorus featuring in Handel's landmark choral arrangement Messiah.
On Christmas Day 1977, the Sex Pistols played their last two British shows, a matinee for the children of striking firefighters, at Ivanhoe's nightclub, before embarking on their ill-fated US tour which saw the group's acrimonious collapse. In the early-mid-1990s, Flex, an underground Jungle/Drum 'n' Bass record label, was founded by musician and BBC Radio 1Xtra DJ, L Double. In 2000 another independent record label Chocolate Fireguard Records was founded by singer Pat Fulgoni who developed a three-stage community music event, Timeless Festival, in Ravensknowle Park, featuring a range of electronica, hip hop and rock music.
There are other annual music festivals held in the town and surrounding area, examples being the MarsdenJazz Festival,[39] Mrs Sunderland,[40] Janet Beaumont, the Holmfirth Festivals, and the Haydn Wood (Linthwaite). The Haydn Wood (for under 21s) and Mrs Sunderland festival focus on musical and oratorial performance. The Mrs Sunderland Music festival is the second oldest in the United Kingdom, started in 1889 lasting for nine days each year. Free music concerts have been put on for the town, including bands such as the Ordinary Boys, the Script and Elliott Minor. There are many local choirs, youth and adult, a noted example of the latter being the Honley Male Voice Choir.[41] Home-grown musical talent of all kinds is complemented by the student intake to the University of Huddersfield's music department. "The Sheriff of Huddersfield" is a song by heavy metal band Iron Maiden on the B-side of their 1986 single "Wasted Years", written about their co-manager Rod Smallwood, leaving his home town of Huddersfield and struggling to settle into life in Los Angeles.
Huddersfield is home to thrash metal band Evile, dance rock outfit Kava Kava, the birthplace of the synthpop musician Billy Currie of (Ultravox and Visage) fame the hard rock bassist John McCoy who played with Neo and Gillan.
Long-running television series have been filmed in and around Huddersfield. They include Last of the Summer Wine, which is usually associated with Holmfirth, but uses locations in the Holme and Colne valleys; Where the Heart Is, was filmed in the Colne valley around Slaithwaite; Wokenwell, was shot on location in the Colne Valley and Marsden; and The League of Gentlemen, used locations around Marsden. The feature films Between Two Women and The Jealous God were filmed in and around Huddersfield.
The art gallery occupies the top floor of the library on Princess Alexandra Walk showcases local painters and photographers alongside commissioned artists' displays. The gallery's permanent collection includes artworks by L.S. Lowry, Francis Bacon and Henry Moore.
Cultural events
Huddersfield Festival of Light takes place annually in December,[42] usually in the town centre adjacent to the railway station. Each year there is a performance by a theatre company. The finale is a firework display. The 2007 show was performed by French company Plasticiens Volants, which used large inflatable sea creatures in a parade through the streets as they told the story of 'Pearl'. The 2005 and 2008 performances were by the Valencian artists Xarxa Teatre.
The 2010 festival featured Belgian company Company Tol and their suspension act – Corazon de Angeles (Angels' Heart) and ended on 5 December with fireworks in St. George's Square.
Huddersfield Caribbean Carnival in mid-July, begins with a procession from the Hudawi Cultural Centre in Hillhouse, through the town centre to Greenhead Park where troupes display their costumes on stage. Caribbean food, fairground rides and various stalls and attractions are available. A "young blud" stage presents Hip Hop, UK garage, RnB and bassline.[43]
The Huddersfield Literature Festival is held annually in the town,[44] and features author events, creative writing classes and poetry nights, and sometimes creative writing competitions.
Since 1986 Huddersfield's gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered community has a summer celebration and picnic. The event attracts thousands from miles around and is held as a gay pride event, usually at Castle Hill.
Present day
Shopping
Huddersfield has a large and diverse retail shopping area — enclosed within the town's ring road — compared with other towns of its size. There are three shopping areas: Kingsgate, The Packhorse Precinct and The Piazza Centre. The Piazza offers an outdoor shopping mall near the public library, with a grassed area, used for relaxation and events throughout the year such as entertainment, international markets and iceskating in winter. Through the adjacent Market Arcade is a covered market hall, which has listed building status, due in part to its distinctive roof formed by hyperbolicparaboloids. It is adjacent to the town hall and public library. An open market is located next to Tesco, on the opposite side of the town centre.
The Lawrence Batley Theatre, opened in 1994, in what was once the largest Wesleyan Chapel in the world,[46] and presents dance, drama, comedy, music and exhibitions and is the base for Full Body & the Voice, a company focusing on the integration of disabled people into mainstream theatre.
The John Smith's Stadium, (formerly the Galpharm Stadium and Alfred McAlpine Stadium), is a multi-use sports stadium with a gym, swimming pool, spa and offers sporting classes. The stadium is home to Huddersfield Giants and Huddersfield Town football team. Adjacent the stadium is an Odeon cinema (formerly UCI).
There are many pubs, restaurants and night clubs, one of which, Tokyo, occupies the former Huddersfield County Court, a 19th-century Grade II listed building. The oldest pub is the Parish (formerly the Fleece Inn), the pub has been trading since 1720.
Huddersfield Royal Infirmary is situated in Lindley. Medical services are split between there and the Calderdale Royal Hospital at Salterhebble, near Halifax. Kirkwood Hospice provides care for the terminally ill, and is dependent on donations and charitable gifts. Princess Royal Hospital provided 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, family planning consultation centre and GUM Clinic. A decision to move most maternity services provided by the Calderdale & Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust to the Calderdale Royal Hospital ended the provision in 2007, despite strong local opposition. The campaign was led by Save Huddersfield NHS which elected a councillor, Dr Jackie Grunsell in the Crosland Moor ward. In January 2016 plans were announced to close the A&E department of Huddersfield Royal Infirmary and have all emergency cases go to Calderdale Royal instead. This sparked uproar in local communities as it would mean journeys from some areas of over 40 minutes to and from the hospital assuming that the main road into Halifax was not congested, as it frequently is.[47]
On 2 July 1952, in recognition of historic ties and links with the Duke of Wellington's Regiment (West Riding), the Huddersfield County Borough had conferred on the regiment the Freedom of the Town. This gave 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 had served in the regiment during its long history. This right to march was technically lost when the County Borough itself was merged with Dewsbury to form Kirklees Metropolitan Borough Council though, unofficially, continued as on 25 March 1979, Kirklees Metropolitan Borough Council gave the Freedom of Kirklees to the 3rd battalion of the Yorkshire Volunteers. The 3rd Battalion was the Duke of Wellington's Territorial Army unit.
Conferring the Freedom of Huddersfield on the Yorkshire Regiment 25 October 2008
When the 'Dukes' were amalgamated with the Prince of Wales's Own Regiment of Yorkshire and the Green Howards' to form the Yorkshire Regiment on 6 June 2006. The right to march was finally ended as the award did not give the right, for the freedom to march, to be passed on to any heirs or successors. The majority of the Yorkshire Regiment is now composed of soldiers from the north and eastern areas of Yorkshire. The Yorkshire Regiment requested the right to march to be transferred to them. However, the County Borough no longer exists and so there was no authority to do so. The 'Freedom' given by Kirklees to the 3rd battalion of the Yorkshire Volunteers did not permit any transfer to heirs or successors and effectively that freedom also ceased when the battalion was amalgamated into the East and West Riding Regiment. The East and West Riding Regiment ceased to exist on 6 June 2006, having been merged into the Yorkshire Regiment as its 4th Battalion. Kirklees Metropolitan Borough Council, as successors to the Huddersfield Borough Council, amended the original 'Freedom' and transferred the 'Freedom' to the Yorkshire Regiment, at a Freedom parade on 25 October 2008.
A number of national and internationally famous people originate from Huddersfield. Actors include James Mason, Gorden Kaye and Keith Buckley.
Some people have also become known through their association with Huddersfield, though they were not born there. These include the Mirfield-born actor ("life-long" Huddersfield Town F.C. supporter[49] and Chancellor of Huddersfield University from 2004 to 2015[50][51]), Patrick Stewart; the dancer, entertainer and TV presenter Roy Castle, who was born in Scholes;[52][53] the York-born Olympic gold medal-winning swimmer, Anita Lonsbrough;[54][55] and the Brighouse born inventor Wilf Lunn, who was raised in Rastrick.[56] Other famous people whose association with Huddersfield is not as notable or well-known, though they were raised there, include H. H. Asquith (born in Morley), who served as the Liberal Prime Minister of the United Kingdom between 1908 and 1916. The actress Lena Headey, who was born in Bermuda, grew up in Shelley from the age of five.[57][58]
Keith Buckley, Actor who co-starred with fellow Huddersfield born actor James Mason in the film Spring and Port Wine and played Sir Henry Morton Stanley in the Emmy Award winning The Search for the Nile.
^Pevsner, Nikolaus (2002). Radcliffe, Enid (ed.). The Buildings of England: Yorkshire: The West Riding. Yale University Press. ISBN0-300-09662-3.
^Wyles D. in Haigh H.E.A. (ed.) 1992, Huddersfield: A Most Handsome Town – Aspects of the History and Culture of a West Yorkshire Town. Huddersfield: Kirklees MC.
^"Brian Shaw". The Oxford Dictionary of Dance. Retrieved 30 October 2014.
^'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. On 18 June 1853 the regiment formally became known as "The 33rd (or The Duke of Wellington's) Regiment". The regiment's second battalion was again posted to Jamaica (Newcastle Camp) from 18 March 1891 to 10 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. ISBN0-9521552-0-6.
Further reading
E.A. Hilary Haigh ed. (1992) Huddersfield: A Most Handsome Town – Aspects of the History and Culture of a West Yorkshire Town. Kirklees MC, Huddersfield, pp. 704.
External links
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