150 Years Ago: Huddersfield Chronicle (15/Jul/1865)

A selection of articles and news from the Huddersfield Chronicle from 150 years ago today.


Adverts

1865.07.15 advert 1

1865.07.15 advert 2

1865.07.15 advert 3

Magistrates in Petty Sessions

NEIGHBOURS’ BICKERINGS. Maria Hill was charged with assaulting Mary Ann Eastwood on the 29th ult. Mr. Learoyd for the complainant, and Mr. Dransfield on behalf of the defendant. The parties, it seems, are neighbours, and live in Dobson’s Yard, Cross Church Street. On Thursday week the son of the defendant and the son of the complainant were quarrelling in the yard ; and the sister of the former boy ran out and seized the latter by the hair of the head. Mrs. Eastwood, on seeing what was taking place, went out to quell the disturbance, when defendant’s daughter struck her with a stick across the forehead. Immediately after this Mrs. Eastwood was rendered insensible, but she did not see by whom. Complainant subsequently spoke about the assault to Mrs. Hill, who replied “I am ready for all the law you can fetch ; and if you run all the way you cannot go fast enough.” It was proved that the defendant followed the attack with the stick and violently struck the complainant, who fell to the ground insensible. She bled freely from the mouth, and during the evening of the day on which the assault was committed had a serious attack of illness, and had been confined to bed for more than a week in consequence of the injuries received. Mr. Booth, surgeon, who had attended the complainant since the day of the affray, described the state in which he found Mrs. Eastwood, and stated that the severe symptoms did not subside until Wednesday last. The complainant was enciente. His bill amounted to £1 14s. The defence was that Mrs. Eastwood was thrashing the daughter of the defendant, who thereupon pushed her on one side. Complainant fell, and, coming into contact with the ground, might have injured herself. Their worships considered the assault proved, and fined the defendant as follows :— Mr. Booth’s bill, £1 14s. ; allowance to complainant, 10s. ; fine 10s. and costs — altogether £3 12s. 6d.

A DISORDERLY. Catherine Hopkin was committed to Wakefield for ten days, as a disorderly character, having been found concealed at half-past one on Sunday morning behind the back door of Mr. Oldroyd’s house, New North Road.

IDLERS. James Hackey and John Langan were each committed to prison for seven days as idle and disorderly characters.

District Intelligence

MOLDGREEN — Attempted Suicide.

Yesterday week, Sarah Ann, wife of Thomas Armitage, an engine tenter for Mr. George Gelder, attempted self-destruction. For some days past the young woman had been depressed in mind. About a fortnight ago the left home on a visit to her friends, and returned after four or five days’ absence in her usual health. In the meantime her husband became acquainted with the fact of her having involved him in debt, and he charged her with it. After this her conduct changed, and she became low in spirits. Since then her husband has taken from her a razor and carving knife, with which she threatened to destroy herself. Yesterday week, about ten o’clock in the forenoon she went to the shop of Mr. Dewhirst, druggist, King Street, and purchased a pennyworth of laudanum. Mr. Dewhirst labelled the bottle “poison.” This she took on reaching home. Her husband, on going to his dinner at half-past twelve o’clock, found his wife sat in a chair half unconscious, and her tongue protruding from her mouth. He instantly went for Police Sergeant Greenwood, who resides next door, when an emetic was administered, and Mr. Gardiner, surgeon, sent for. By great efforts the woman was brought round, when she exclaimed, “If I had thought it would not have killed me, I would have got more.”

NEWSOME — Accident to a Boy.

On Monday evening a boy, four years of age, the son of Joshua Hinchlitfe, spinner, of Newsome, met with a severe accident whilst playing with some other children. The little fellow with his companions had gone into a field belonging to Messrs. Taylor, manufacturers, and while there he was kicked in the face by a horse. The boy was taken home, and Mr. Goodall, surgeon, sent for, who rendered every assistance, and the sufferer is now slowly recovering.

Thunderstorm in Yorkshire

Thunderstorm in Yorkshire. On Friday, Hull and the neighbourhood were visited by a very severe thunderstorm, which, amongst other casualties, has been attended with injury to a windmill on Holderness Road and to a house in Walker Street. The storm appears to have passed over the east and north ridings of Yorkshire, and the rain with which it was accompanied has proved very welcome to the farmers. The condition of the atmosphere all Friday night and Saturday morning was highly electrical, and during the day on Saturday there was a good deal of lightning and thunder, and some very heavy rain. Many of the concussions were just over Hull. Between eleven and twelve o’clock a woman named Williamson, whose husband is in the employ of Messrs. Reckitt and Sons, whilst standing looking out at the window of her house in Pease Street, Hull, was struck by the lightning, which had the effect of paralysing the optic nerves so as to produce blindness. Dr. Usher was immediately sent for, but his efforts were vain so far as the recovery of eyesight is concerned. Somewhat earlier in the day, on the Lincolnshire side of the river, at Barton-on-the-Humber, the house of Mr. Driffield Legard, in Junction Square, was struck by the lightning, which passed through the wall into the house, and smashed some of the furniture and paintings, broke chimney ornaments, a pier-glass, tore down paper and plastering from the wall, and then passed through to the adjoining house and struck Mrs. Henwood, the wife of Mr. Henwood, shoemaker, of High Street, who at the time was standing in the room talking with her married daughter, Mrs. Siddons. Mrs. Henwood was struck on the left side, and the electric fluid passed down on that side and seriously injured her leg. About the same time two valuable cows were killed by the lightning, whilst grazing in a meadow on Cheriot Farm, near Barton. The cows were the property of Mr. Bainbridge. We have heard that four beasts were killed in a field at Storkhill, in Yorkshire.

Local News

A BOY RUN OVER. A fatal accident occurred on Thursday to W. Thornton, a boy, residing in Manchester Street. It appears that, as two lurries, coupled together, were passing along Macaulay Street, the deceased and other children playfully jumped on and off the last lurry unobserved by the driver. Thornton fell off the waggon, and one of the wheels passed over his head. The aid of Mr. Knaggs, surgeon, was called in, but before his arrival life was extinct.

Correspondence

THE WEST RIDING ELECTION.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE HUDDERSFIELD CHRONICLE.

Sir, Mr. Beaumont makes a great talk about what he would do for the working classes, &c. Let any one go to Crosland, and see the wretched hovels provided by him for his tenantry.

Again ; it is reported that, in consequence of certain land and cottages being wanted for the new Meltham line of Railway, now making, partly through Mr. Beaumont’s and the Earl of Dartmouth’s estates, that whilst the noble Earl demands payment for his land only, and allowed his tenantry to receive compensation for such buildings as they had erected thereon, Mr. Beaumont — the Liberal — demanded compensation for both land and cottages, and would not allow his tenants to receive one shilling. Considering that this is little better than downright robbery, I waited upon the Liberal Committee of the Southern Division of the West Riding, on Tuesday last, with a view of being allowed to question Mr. Beaumont upon so grave a charge, but was peremptorily refused.

And this is Liberalism ! Is Mr. Beaumont fit to represent the progress and industry of our ever-improving community ?

I am, your obedient servant,

JAMES BROOK.
Buxton Road, Huddersfield, July 14, 1835.

The Big Valley Hotel

Standing on Meltham Road at the bottom of the hill running down from Netherton to the former Big Valley Garage is a large property which, until very recently, look rather dishevelled and unloved.

bigvalley

This photograph from the Kirklees Image Archive from around 1910 shows the same building on the far right:

bigvalley3

For over 100 years, this was a public house and an occasional hotel, most commonly known as the Big Valley Hotel.

The earliest newspaper references I could find are from the early 1840s, when two names are given for the building — the “Dean Wood Beer House” and the “Odd Fellows’ Arms”. The names appear in public house auction listings published in the Huddersfield Chronicle (April 1843) and Leeds Mercury (May 1843) respectively, and both name the location as Big Valley, South Crosland. The latter identifies Hannah Wilson as the current occupier and the former links the property to the Lockwood Brewery.

Hannah appears again in August 1848 when local newspapers name her in the Brewster Sessions applying for a new license for “the Big Valley, South Crosland”.1 Hannah, who was born around 1797 in Leeds, is listed in the 1851 Census as a widowed licensed victualler at Big Valley.2

On the 1854 map of the area, the building is marked as the “Odd Fellows’ Arms” public house. An article in the Huddersfield Chronicle (11/Dec/1852) identifies the owner of the property as Mr. James Walker and implies that he was linked to the “Grand Order of the Modern Druids, Honley and Huddersfield District”.3 There is some evidence that the pub was also known as the “Walker’s Arms” during Walker’s tenancy.4

bigvalley1854

A couple of years later, the Chornicle reported that the licence for the Odd Fellows’ Arms was transferred from James Walker to John Crowther of Lindley on 4 October 1856.

By 1857, it had been renamed the “Big Valley Hotel” — presumably a reflection that the pub now offered lodgings — and a magistrates court report in the Chronicle named Crowther as the landlord. The report implied that Crowther was regularly in front of the magistrates and in August 1857, having already been fined five times during the past year, his licence was not renewed.

By late 1859, Jesse Kaye had become the landlord. In late August, Kaye’s licence was initially not renewed as Superintendent Heaton gave evidence before the Brewster Sessions that whenever police officers visited the premises, Kaye “abused them, and heaped all manner of vile names upon [officials and] called them ‘a set of dastard thieves and scamps’.” The following month, the bench debated and, having heard that Kaye “had never been convicted of any offence”, decided to renew the Big Valley Hotel licence.

One noteworthy article from April 1865 (coincidentally the month when President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated) details the finding of “a large horse or cavalry pistol” in a “dilapidated state” whilst workmen were clearing an old hedge near Big Valley. The Chronicle described it as being in a “deeply corroded state, the whole of the stock and other woodwork completely rotted away, the lock and ramrod are rusted partially away, but the brass trigger guard, and the brass casing or socket that held the ramrods are in a perfect state of preservation.” The article ends by stating that the pistol was “now in the possession of Mr. Jesse Kaye, landlord of the [Big Valley Hotel], where large numbers of people have been to inspect it.” It was the opinion of many that this was one of the pistols used by the Luddites to murder mill owner William Horsfall in April 1812.

The pistol is mentioned again in an October 1871 article describing the exhibits on display at the “Fine Art and Industrial Exhibition” held at the Methodist New Connexion School at Paddock. Amongst the many dozens of weird and wonderful items loaned for display were two from Jesse — the sword of a swordfish and “the pistol that shot Mr. Horsfall during the Ludd Riots”.

It seems likely that Jesse remained the landlord at Big Valley for over 30 years until around 1890. He died in 1892. What happened to the pistol next remains a mystery!

bigvalley1892

An inquest held in October 1892 included a witness statement from Sarah Ann Harrison, wife of Thomas Harrison who was named as the landlord of the Big Valley Hotel. Although Sarah Ann died in 1908, Thomas is still listed at the Hotel in the 1911 Census.

The West Yorkshire Alehouse Licences provide details of when licences were granted for the premises:

  • 26.Aug/1879 — Jesse Kaye
  • 24/Aug/1897 — Thomas Harrison
  • 06/Dec/1921 — William Shaw
  • 03/Jun/1924 — Harold Farand
  • 05/Oct/1926 — Ada Wimpenny
  • 14/Feb/1928 — Walter Jackson
  • 07/Jun/1932 — Harry Heap
  • 07/Apr/1936 — Ernest Lockwood Nicholls

A photograph in the Kirklees Image Archive shows the building in the 1960s:

bigvalley4

At some point it became a residential property and local carpenter Joseph Hemingway lived there until recently — locals will surely remember the day in 2007 when a fire in his workshop behind the property led to Meltham Road being closed for 24 hours. Me? I managed to sleep through the sound of the fire engines that night!

The property was put up for auction in 2014 and, after selling for £142,000, has undergone what appears to be a full renovation. Hopefully a new chapter in the life of this local landmark is about to begin and, who knows, maybe the next owners of 221 Meltham Road might find the pistol used to kill William Horsfall over 200 years ago hidden somewhere in their house!

bigvalley2

At the time of posting this, the renovated property is on the market for £299,950 (view PDF).


Newspaper Articles

The following are a selection of newspaper articles mentioning the property or its landlords.

Huddersfield Chronicle (03/Jan/1857):

Magistrates in Petty Sessions

Guildhall, Saturday, December 27, 1856.
On the Bench : G. Armitage and W. Willans, Esqs.

Irregular Houses.

John Crowther, landlord of the Big Valley Inn, South Crosland, pleaded guilty to having his house open during the hours of divine service on the previous Sunday. Superintendent Heaton visited the house on Sunday morning, and found five persons there drinking and smoking — some in working clothes, apparently neighbours. The defendant was fined 5s., and expenses 5s. 6d.

Huddersfield Chronicle (07/February/1857):

Magistrates in Petty Sessions

Guildhall, Saturday, January 31, 1857.
On the Bench : G. Armitage, J. Haigh, and W. Willans, Esqs.

Irregular Houses.

John Crowther, of the Big Valley beerhouse, pleaded guilty to having his house open after twelve o’clock on Saturday night. Sergeant Sedgwick entered the house at a quarter to two o’clock on Sunday morning, and found four young men in the house, all drunk, with a pitcher of beer and a glass on the table before them. The defendant said two of the young men were going to America. He turned them out at the proper time, but they got in again, and induced him to serve them with a pitcher of beer. Superintendent Heaton said it was but a few weeks since the defendant was before the bench for having his house open at improper hours. The bench fined the defendant £2, and expenses 8s.

Huddersfield Chronicle (25/Jul/1857):

Magistrates in Petty Sessions

Guildhall, Saturday, July 18, 1857.
On the Bench : G. Armitage and W. Willans, Esqs.

Contrasted Decisions. — Where Was the Justice?

John Crowther, Big Valley Hotel, Armitage Fold, was charged with having his house open on Sunday morning at Four o’clock. Mr. Learoyd appeared for the defendant. The case was this:—

A man went knocking at the door of the defendant from two till four o’clock, demanding admittance, which was refused. At last Mr. Crowther, who was unwell, sent down his boy to see to the man, and the boy opened the door and served the man with a glass of ate. Whilst the man was drinking the ale, County Police officer No. 205, who had previously been talking to the man, walked into the house, having, in fact, listened to the knocking, and instead of ordering the man away as a disturber, permitted him to go on until he gained admittance. The defendant was fined £1 and expenses.

The Huddersfield Chronicle (22/Aug/1857) noted that publicans licences were renewed with 4 exceptions, including, “John Crowther, Big Valley Hotel, South Crosland, he having been fined five times during the past year.”

Huddersfield Chronicle (02/Oct/1858):

Magistrates in Petty Sessions

Guildhall, Saturday, September 25, 1858.
On the Bench : G. Armitage and T. Mallinson, Esqs.

A Public House Row.

Joseph Kinder was charged with having assaulted John Gibson on the 20th September, at Lockwood. The two men were drinking in the Big Valley Hotel ; and the complainant, after taking as much refreshment as he deemed necessary, had just got outside the house when the defendant went up and gave him a push, but was prevented from doing more violence there by the landlord. The defendant and another man, however, followed the complainant, and when he was about half a mile from the Big Valley Hotel, the defendant pulled off his coat and challenged him to fight. Complainant refused the invitation, and the defendant then attacked him, kicked him, tore his coat, and got him on the ground, when Mr. Bentley Shaw came up with one of his workmen, and pulled the defendant away. The complainant pro-duced the coat, which was torn to rags, and be estimated the damage at the certainly moderate sum of 5s. The bench fined the defendant 5s., allowing 10s. to the complainant, making a total of £1 2s. ; and in default of payment committed him to the House of Correction for one month.

Huddersfield Chronicle (01/Oct/1859):

Magistrates in Petty Sessions

TUESDAY
On the Bench: G. Armitage, J.T. Fisher, T.P. Crosland, W. Willans, and J.T. Armitage.

The Adjourned Brewster Sessions.

[…] The next application for renewal was that of Mr. Jesse Kaye, of the Big Valley Hotel, South Crosland. Superintendent Heaton said this house was necessary for the accommodation of the public. The police could not visit the house without being insulted, but he wished the bench to deal leniently with the case. Mr. Learoyd, who supported the application for the renewal of the license, said that Kaye had never been convicted of any offence, and never complained of until be appeared at the Brewster Sessions to obtain a renewal of the license, when a charge was for the first time made against him, without his having received any summons or intimation, so that he might have been prepared to rebut it. The license was suspended without conviction, without complaint, and without offence. He held that under the circumstances the bench had not the power under the act of parliament to suspend the license ; for the act provided that the magistrates had only the opportunity of doing this when the party applying had been convicted three times in the course of two years. He asked the magistrates to treat their adjournment of the license as a nullity. Mr. Kaye had succeeded a bad tenant, and had kept the house so well that during two years there had been no complaint and no conviction against him. Superintendent Heaton offered to go into evidence as to the conduct of the defendant towards the police, but the magistrates declined to hear it, and retired to consult as to their decision. On their return, G. Armitage, Esq., the presiding magistrate, said:—

[..] “In the case of Jesse Kaye, the bench merely state what they consider to be their opinion of the law of the case. We contend if we license any public-house in a district, and the keeper infringes the law, and is brought two or three times, and convicted within three months of the licensing day, we can take the license away at once without waiting for the Brewster Sessions. After hearing all that has been done in this case, we shall renew Jesse Kaye’s license in this instance. In case of no conviction, we think the magistrates have the power to take away the license at the end of the year, and, in case of two or three convictions, to take away the license at any time.”

T.P. Croslaud, Esq., said : “This is scarcely the unanimous opinion of the bench. Mr. J.T. Armitage and myself think that, in case of complaint, the party should be summoned and convicted before the license can be suspended.”

Mr. J.C. Laycock, the magistrates’ clerk, then remarked, “Anybody who knows this bench know they will commit no act of tyranny.”

Huddersfield Chronicle (19/May/1860):

DISTRICT NEWS.

Subscription Cradle.

To the great credit of the good people at Armitage Bridge, they are a charitable community altogether, as will appear in the sequel. Some time since, a poor woman in that neighbourhood was confined of twin children, which afforded an opportunity for her neighbours to exercise that spirit of charity for which they are noted. A subscription was at once entered into, and a cradle with two heads was purchased, in which the two babes were to be rocked to sleep at the same time. A week or two ago, another woman had the good fortune to be also confined of twins. The good husband then went for the cradle with two heads, but he was told that it was only to be used by those who were subscribers. The poor man was not of the number. Here, then, was another opportunity for the neighbourhood to do good. Another subscription was made, and another cradle with two heads was purchased at a cost of £3. The cradle is on a greatly improved principle, and is a great favourite with the good housewives at a Armitage Bridge. When out of use, the cradle is to be deposited at the Big Valley Inn ; and this cradle with two heads is also only to be used by those who are subscribers. Of course the subscribers to one or other of the cradles with two heads include almost the whole community at Armitage Bridge, and a fear is now beginning to be felt by the good men that their better-halves will be more anxious to have two at a birth than one, in order that they may have the advantage of one or other of the cradles already provided.

Huddersfield Chronicle (27/Sep/1862):

Vegetable Show

On Monday last tbe first of an intended annual show of vegetables was held at the bouse of Mr. Jesse Kaye, tbe Big Valley Hotel, Netherton, where a very craditable display of excellent grown vegetables were placed on tbe tables. For the first prize — a large handsome copper kettle, given by the landlord — for a tray of vegetables there was a spirited competition, — no less than nine trays being exhibited. It waa won by Brook Lockwood, who has obtained three other kettles this season, for vegetable trays. The following other principal prizes were awarded. Second tray, John Senior. Lewis Lunn obtained first prizes in leeks, parsnips, white turnips, red onions, red potatoes, eschalots, cauliflowers, and dahlias. Brook Lockwood, first in celery, white onions, peas, and white round potatoes. George Stringer, first red cabbage, first scarlet runners. Benjamin France, first carrots. John Booth, first white kidney potatoes. The judges were Mr. Joseph Heys of Armitage Bridge House, and the gardener of Bentley Shaw Esq., and their awards gave general satisfaction.

Huddersfield Chronicle (16/Apr/1864):

NETHERTON

The Railway.

The works of the Huddersfield and Meltham line of railway have at this place progressed very favourably for the few days since its commencement. On Wednesday an unusual bustle was occasioned in the village by the removal of the first barrow of earth from the Netherton end of the Butternab tunnel. The line at this place crosses a stream of pure water, reserved to Mr. Tolson, dyer, of Armitage Fold. To prevent the fouling of this water has been a source of great anxiety to Mr. Tolson. The consequence has been that several interviews have taken place between his manager and the contractors for this part of the works, the result being extremely satisfactory. To cement the amicable feeling originated, Mr. John Worth, manager of the dye-works undertook to remove the first soil for the boring of the tunnel. This took place on Wednesday last in presence of a large number of spectators, who had been attracted there by the novelty of the occurrence, as well as the fineness of the day. On the occasion, Mr. Jesse Kaye, of the Big Valley Hotel, presented Mr. Worth with anew spade, with which he removed the soil like one accustomed to such work. This being accomplished, Mr. Worth and a large number of workmen adjourned to the above hotel, where refreshments were plentifully provided, and a merry evening was afterwards enjoyed by all who partook of the same.

Huddersfield Chronicle (23/Apr/1864):

NETHERTON

Large Duck Eggs.

On Sunday last two ducks belonging to Mr. Jesse Kaye, of the Big Valley Hotel, laid eggs of extraordinary size — one weighing 5oz. and the other 4¾oz.

Huddersfield Chronicle (07/May/1864):

Magistrates in Petty Sessions

TUESDAY
On the Bench : Lieut-Col. Crosland, S.W. Haigh, Josh. Hirst, and Joshua Moorhouse, Esqrs.

A Stormy Scene at the Big Valley Hotel.

Jesse Kaye, William Kaye, Lucy Kaye, and Margaret Sugden, the landlord and household of the Big Valley Hotel were charged with an assault upon Joseph Taylor, a coal merchant, residing at Netherton. Mr. Learoyd supported the charge ; Mr. J.I. Freeman defended. The case was cumbered with a great deal of evidence on both sides. On Tuesday night the complainant, Taylor, who appears to be regarded at the Inn in question as a man of quarrelsome disposition, and between whom and the landlord enmity has existed for a length of time past, introduced himself amongst the company at the Big Valley Hotel, and commenced tossing for “glasses round.” In course of time the old enmity between Taylor and the landlord was revived, and he was ordered to leave the house. He declined to do so, and the landlord then resorted to violence in putting out his unwelcome guest. The other defendants were also alleged to have assisted more or less in the unenviable task. Complainant, on the whole, appeared to have been roughly handled, as he presented an extensively discoloured eye, and produced a coat which had been ripped into ribbons. He claimed the value of the coat under a special charge for damages. The magistrates considered that Jesse Kaye, the landlord, had been guilty of a very gross assault, and fined him £2 and expenses, and 2s. 6d. for the damage done to the coat — total £3 16s. They presumed that the other defendants — if they assisted in the assault — were acting under the landlord’s directions, and consequently dismissed the charges against them.

Huddersfield Chronicle (13/Aug/1864):

Local News

Accident to a Boy.

On Wednesday afternoon, an accident occurred to a boy named Kaye, whose parents reside in the Big Valley, Netherton. The lad is an apprentice with Mr. R. Haigh, mechanic, Folly Hall. On Wednesday he was sent in company with a younger boy to the foundry for some castings belonging to a tearing machine. When returning with about 13 cwt. of them in the hand cart, the shaft was jolted out of his hands and he fell to the ground the castings falling on him out of the cart. He was much bruised and shaken, but fortunately no bones were broken.

Huddersfield Chronicle (08/Oct/1864):

NETHERTON

Dastardly Outrage.

On Thursday evening week a brutal outrage was committed upon a woman named Scott, in this neighbourhood. The woman’s husband, Tom Scott, a pie hawker, lives in Huddersfield, and has been ill a long time. On the above day, Mrs. Scott went to her brother-in-law’s, who is a butcher, at Meltham, to obtain some preserves and other niceties for her sick husband. Having obtained them, she returned home. Upon arriving at a lonely part of the road known as Scotcher Dyke, a man suddenly jumped from Allheys Wood, seized her by the throat, and demanded her money. The poor woman had nothing to give, and in sheer brutality he throttled her till she was nearly insensible, such being his grip that he took a piece of flesh from her chin with his nails. Fortunately someone was heard approaching from the direction of Huddersfield, and the cowardly ruffian made off down the wood. The woman walked on as well as she was able till she met Police Constable Yates, who, finding her in an exhausted state, took her to the Big Valley Hotel, where brandy and other restoratives were administered, and she was forwarded to her home at Huddersfield. The ruffian who attacked her has not since been heard of.

Huddersfield Chronicle (29/Apr/1865):

NETHERTON.

A Relic of Luddism.

The murder of Mr. Horsfall during the reign of terror in this district, consequent on the Luddite disturbance in 1811 and 1812, will not soon be forgotten, and many yet living will remember the circumstances related at the time of the murder, and the search then and afterwards made for the weapons used without discovering them. At that time it was positively asserted that the murderous weapon had been buried somewhere in the neighbourhood of Armitage Bridge, or Netherton Wood. A circumstance transpired during the latter part of last week, which tends greatly to clear up this portion of the dark transaction. Mr. G.S. Tolson, manufacturer, of Dalton, has a dyehouse at Armitage, not far from the bottom of the “Big Valley,” and has lately purchased that estate. A number of men were last week engaged in removing an old quickset hedge, in order to supplant it with a strong fence wall, and while thus engaged, they discovered the remains of a large horse or cavalry pistol buried deep under the hedge. From the dilapidated state in which it was found, there is not the least doubt but it has lain there for more than half a century. On its becoming known that such a weapon was discovered, many circumstances were related tending to confirm the supposition that this was the very instrument by which the murder was committed, as it is well known the murderers took that direction from Crosland Moor in their way to Honley. Among these circumstances, the following was recollected. An old Waterloo veteran, now 73 years of age, named Bob Wood, some five years ago, while conversing in the Big Valley Hotel with the landlord and John Worth, foreman for Mr. Tolson, declared he knew for a positive fact that the identical pistol with which Mr. Horsfall was shot was buried under the hedge at Armitage, but he could not point out the exact spot. Since the fatal occurrence — now nearly 53 years — this instrument of death has lain where it was found till last week. It is in a deeply corroded state, the whole of the stock and other woodwork completely rotted away, the lock and ramrod are rusted partially away, but the brass trigger guard, and the brass casing or socket that held the ramrods are in a perfect state of preservation. It is now in the possession of Mr. Jesse Kaye, landlord of the above hotel, where large numbers of people have been to inspect it.

Rejoicing.

For a long time past the inhabitants of the Big Valley have been using their utmost endeavours to obtain gas mains laid from Messrs. John Brooke and Sons’ works at Armitage Bridge to the top of the hill in order to obtain a supply to their houses. This great desideratum has at length been accomplished, mainly by a private subscription to defray the cost of mains, &c., the principal subscribers being Bentley Shaw, Esq., Messrs. Milnes, Jesse Kaye, and others. On Saturday evening last the Netherton Brass Band met at the Big Valley Hotel and gave a concert of instrumental music in honour of the event, which was well attended.

Huddersfield Chronicle (31/Mar/1866)

NETHERTON

EXTRAORDINARY DUCK EGG.

On Tuesday morning a duck of the common breed, belonging to Mr. Jesse Kaye, of the Big Valley Hotel, laid an extraordinary egg, which measures nine inches round the long way, and seven inches in diameter, and weighs over five ounces.

THE “TRIPLED-HEADED CRADLE.”

About two years since a “triple-headed cradle,” purchased by subscription at the Big Valley, was presented to a working man named Alfred Berry, of Meltham, whose wife had been confined of three boys. A few days ago Mr. Jesse Kaye received the following letter from Berry:— “Meltham. Dear Friend, I am very sorry to inform you we have lost our little ones ; they have died in the measles. I shall send the cradle down to your house in a few days, and I thank you and your friends for the sympathy you have shown towards us.” It seems the children lived to the age of two years and five months, the dates of their deaths being January 13th, January 28th, and February 1st of the present year.

In April 1871, the question of the current whereabouts of the “triple-headed cradle” came up in an article about the birth of triplets in Meltham Mills, to John Marshall.

Huddersfield Chronicle (08/Jun/1867):

SOUTH CROSLAND

An Uncouth Customer.

Thomas Patrick Carney, a navvy, was summoned to appear before the magistrates at the Petty Sessions, on Thursday, on a charge of assaulting Mr. Jesse Kaye, proprietor of the Big Valley Hotel, South Crosland. Last Monday afternoon the defendant and three other men called at the hotel, and were served with a quart of beer. They called for another quart, and Carney asked the complainant to give him credit. He replied that he must be paid for the beer, and one of the party threw down some silver in payment. When the complainant was taking it up. the defendant wanted him to return it to the party, and, because he would not do so, kicked him in the abdomen ; and lie had been suffering ever since from the effects of the kick. The defendant, who, Police Constable Yates stated, had absconded, was fined in the of 10s. and expenses — total 23s. ; in default of payment, 14 days in the House of Correction.

Huddersfield Chronicle (04/Jan/1868):

NETHERTON.

Large Pullet Egg.

On Wednesday afternoon a pullet, in the possession of Mr. Kaye, of the Big Valley Hotel — only eight months old — laid an extraordinary egg, which measured seven inches by six inches, and weighed over 3¼ ounces.

Lost, Lost.

At an early hour on Wednesday morning the inhabitants of the Big Valley were alarmed by hearing a man shouting out, “Lost, lost,” in most pitiful accents. On some of them opening their bedroom windows to ascertain the cause, it was found that one of the musicians, who had been at the Lockwood concert, was returning home, when, from the darkness of the night, and the quantity of “Timmy’s best” imbibed, he became bewildered. Being directed in the right way, he went home rejoicing.

Huddersfield Chronicle (29/Aug/1868):

SOUTH CROSLAND

Breaking Windows at the Big Valley Hotel.

On Thursday, at the Huddersfield Police Court, Geo. Hy. Levi Lumb, delver, Black Moor Foot, was charged with breaking windows at the house of Mr. Jesse Kaye, landlord of the Big Valley Hotel. The complainant stated that, on the day mentioned in the precept, the defendant came into his house, and wanted something to drink. The defendant was labouring under the influence of drink, and he refused to supply him with anything. He (complainant) took hold of him, and he went very peaceably out. The defendant, who did not appear, was fined 2s. 6d., damages 2s. 6d., and costs (total 18s.)

Huddersfield Chronicle (24/Oct/1868):

NETHERTON.

Cricketers Supper.

The annual batting-off supper of the Armitage Bridge Cricket Club took place at the house of Mr. Jesse Kaye, the Big Valley Hotel, on Saturday last, when upwards of 40 of the members and their friends partook of a first-rate spread. Mr. Lewis Lunn occupied the chair. The report of the year’s proceedings was read and adopted, and a very pleasant evening was afterwards enjoyed.

Huddersfield Chronicle (30/Jan/1869):

NETHERTON.

Supper of Employees.

The cloth millers to the number of thirty, employed by the firm of Messrs, John Brooke and Sons, Armitage Bridge, partook of supper together on Saturday night, at the house of Jesse Kaye, the Big Valley Hotel. The after proceedings were conducted by Mr. Wm. Scaife, who occupied the chair, and the evening was spent with singing, reciting, and other recreations.

Huddersfield Chronicle (24/Sep/1870):

SOUTH CROSLAND.

Fatality in a Quarry.

Yesterday morning a fatality occurred, in Robinson Wood delf, near the Big Valley, to Joseph Bangham, a delver, residing on Manchester Road, Huddersfield. It seems the deceased was undermining a portion of rock, when, without any warning, a large piece of rock fell, knocked him down, and killed him almost instantly. A fellow workman, named Swallow, ran to his assistance, as did also a teamer, named Fred Todd. As soon as possible after the accident the deceased was extricated, and the body conveyed to the Big Valley Hotel, to await an inquest.

…at the subsequent inquest, it was heard that Bangham had likely been raising his pickaxe above his head when rock fell, causing the pick to be “driven into his head for some inches, entering just below the right eye”. A verdict of accidental death was recorded.

Huddersfield Chronicle (22/Apr/1871):

Huddersfield County Court.

An Alleged Cigar Transaction.

Jesse Kaye, of the Big Valley Hotel, Netherton, was sued by Henry South-worth, tea dealer, &c., of Huddersfield, to recover the sum of £6 4s. 11d., balance of amount for cigars sold. Mr, John Sykes defended. The evidence of the plaintiff went to show that he had had dealings with the defendant in the years from 1862 to 1865, both inclusive. The last transaction was about November of the latter year, alleging that at that time twelve boxes of cigars, amounting to about £5, were supplied to the defendant. — This transaction was utterly denied by the defendant and his wife, both of whom swore that they had never had a dozen boxes of cigars at their house at one time since they had kept the place. — The plaintiff declared he had taken the order himself, and had packed the goods, and that they were sent by the omnibus. The plaintiff not being in a position to prove the delivery of the goods to the defendant, the case was adjourned till the next court day, May 5th, to prove the delivery.

Huddersfield Chronicle (06/May/1871):

Huddersfield County Court.

A Cigar Transaction.

Southworth v. Kaye.

This was an action brought by Hy. Southworth, tea dealer, &c., Cross Church Street, to recover from Jesse Kaye, of the Big Valley Hotel, the sum of £14 8s. 5d., for cigars sold to the defendant. Mr. J.I. Freeman (for Mr. John Sykes) appeared for the defendant. The case had been partially heard on the previous court day, and was adjourned for the purpose of the plaintiff proving the delivery of a dozen boxes of cigars, which the defendant disputed having received. From the above sum certain payments had to be deducted, reducing the claim to £7 18s. 3d. The plaintiff called James M’Gowran, grocers assistant, who swore to having, in November, 1863, delivered a parcel containing twelve boxes of cigars to John Armitage, the driver of the Meltham omnibus, for delivery to the defendant. After the date named the defendant paid to plaintiff £1 on account. The defence was a denial of ever having received the cigars in question. — His Honour believed the goods had been ordered and received by the defendant, and gave a verdict for the plaintiff for the sum of £7 18s. 3d. and costs.

Huddersfield Chronicle (23/Aug/1873):

NETHERTON.

Club Termination at Netherton.

A small bat successful money club that had been held at the house of Mr. Jesse Kaye, the Big Valley Hotel, Netherton, was brought to a close on Friday week. The books and accounts were audited, and everything connected with the club was found satisfactory and certified by the committee. At the close of the audit, over 20 of the officials and friends of the club partook of a splendid supper provided by Mrs. Kaye, Music was afterwards introduced, and a pleasant evening was spent.

Huddersfield Chronicle (01/Jun/1881):

COUNTY POLICE COURT.

A Disorderly Man.

Albert Bates, logwood grinder, Netherton, was summoned for refusing to quit the Big Valley Hotel, Netherton, kept by Jesse Kaye, for assaulting the landlord, and for tearing Miss Kaye’s imitation sealskin jacket, doing damage to the extent of 13s. Mr. W. Arimtage, for the defendant, admitted the charges. The defendant had a friend who, on the day in question, recovered some money which he thought he had lost. After lodging a substantial portion of it in the bank, the two went and spent some of the remainder. The defendant who had been an abstainer for 12 months, was easily overcome, and he now expressed his regret that he should have misbehaved. On the suggestion of the Bench an arrangement was come to between the parties and the summons for damage was withdrawn. Defendant was fined 5s. for each of the other offences.

Huddersfield Chronicle (01/Jul/1885):

COUNTRY POLICE COURT

A Raid on the Big Valley Hotel

John Brook and Fred Brown, moulders, Primrose Hill, Huddersfield ; Willie Shaw, John Jenkinson, Fred Wood, and William Kaye, moulders, Almondbury ; were summoned for being disorderly, and refusing to quit the Big Valley Hotel, South Crosland; and William Kaye was further charged with doing wilful damage to a window of the hotel, and with assaulting Jesse Kaye, the landlord. The Magistrates decided to take the charge of assault first. Mr. J.H. Sykes appeared for the complainant, and Mr. W. Armitage for the defendant. The case opened for the prosecution was that an apprentice at the place where the men worked had come of age on June 22nd. About noon on that day three men went into the Big Valley Hotel and gave an order. They were supplied with drink. Shortly afterwards three or four more men went in, and it was evident that they were friends of the first lot. They were asked to have a drink, and accepted the invitation. Drink continued to be supplied as ordered until one of the men became ill. A shilling was handed to the prosecutor to pay for the beer supplied and for clearing up the mess which had been made. After that two glasses of beer were supplied and two more ordered. Seeing that there was likely to be a row about the sixpence which had bean given him he asked for payment before leaving the beer. This was refused and he took the beer back to the bar. The men followed him in a very threatening manner, and it appeared as if they would wreck the bar. Prosecutor and his wife did their best to get the men out of the bar and pushed them on the passage. Mrs. Kaye got a whip and used it. She was thrown down and ill-used, and the defendants used very bad language to her. The men persisted in pushing forward, and it was with great difficulty that the bar was protected. Defendant Kaye was one of the most violent of the defendants. He had a belt with a steel hackle round his waist, and in response to calls to use the belt the defendant took it off, succeeded in getting past Mrs. Kaye, and, swinging the belt round, broke the fanlight. He then ran at the prosecutor and struck him with the buckle end of the strap a violent blow on the head. The consequence was very serious, the prosecutor bleeding very freely and suffering from the wound till the present time. The men then apparently thought they had done enough and went away Prosecutor, who was 60 years of age, had kept the hotel for 28 years. Prosecutor said he hid a mallet in his hand during the disturbance but he did not use it. Mrs. Kaye and a man named Brooksbank gave corroborative evidence. Mr. Armitage submitted that Mr. and Mrs. Kaye lost their tempers and behaved themselves in a way which was not becoming for people in charge of an hotel. There was no doubt the belt was taken off, and on being swung round the window was broken. He suggested that the falling glass had cut the prosecutor’s head. It was alleged that the disturbance arose in consequence of the conduct of the landlord and his wife, and a number of witnesses were offered to bear this out. The Magistrates were of opinion that the fact that two of the defendants did not pay for their glasses of beer did not make the six defendants disorderly, and they therefore dismissed the case. Mr. Armitage said the defendant William Kaye admitted breaking the window, and was willing to pay for it. The Magistrates then made an order for the payment of 1s. penalty, 3s. damages, and 13s. coats. They were of opinion that the assault had been committed, and that it was a vary aggravated one. They therefore fined the defendants £1 and £1 Is. 11d. costs.

Huddersfield Chronicle (11/Jun/1890)

COUNTY POLICE COURT. TUESDAY.
Before W. Brooke (in the chair), A. Walker, and F. Greenwood, Esqs.

A Costly Refusal.

Ingham Spencer, millhand, of Lockwood, who did not appear, was charged with being drunk and refusing to quit the Big Valley Hotel, South Crosland, shortly before 10 o’clock on the night of Sunday, the 1st inst. Fined 10s. and expenses.

Huddersfield Chronicle (13/Jun/1894)

COUNTY POLICE COURT. TUESDAY.

Before J.F. Brigg (in the chair), E. Armitage, T.J. Hirst, and J. Crowther, Esqs.

Assaulting a Landlord.

Walter Woffenden, dyer’s labourer, South Crosland, who did not appear, was summoned for assaulting Thomas Harrison, landlord of the Big Valley Hotel, Netherton, on the 15th inst. The evidence was that on the night of the date named the complainant refused to supply the defendant with drink because he thought that he had had sufficient, whereupon the defendant hit him in the face, cutting it and causing it to bleed. A fine of £1, with 17s. costs, was imposed, or in default 21 days’ imprisonment.

Huddersfield Chronicle (02/Feb/1898):

COUNTY POLICE.

In the Snug.

John Jagger, hay and straw dealer, Huddersfield, was summoned for having allowed his horse and waggon to stand outside the Big Valley Inn, Netherton, unattended, for 20 minutes on the afternoon of 18th ult. Defendant was found by Police Constable Cooper and Sergeant Lee in the “snug” of the inn, drinking a glass of beer.

150 Years Ago: Huddersfield Chronicle (10/Jun/1865)

A selection of articles and news from the Huddersfield Chronicle from 150 years ago today.


Adverts

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Poetry, Original and Selected

A BIRD’S NEST.

What architect, with well-matured plans,
Could vie with this attractive symmetry,
And raise so light a structure and so sure,
On slender beams that sway with every breeze ?
So snng and smooth is it within, that one
Inspires from it a deeper love of home,
And longs to share in all its perfectness.
Scarce one insinuating drop of rain
Can scare the simple life that breathes within ;
For overhead a canopy of leaves,
So carelessly disposed, yet each soft blade
Overlapping other, that a compact roof
Of velvet green secures from nature’s frown :
But not from ruthless hand of cruelty.
That with one grasp makes vain the work of days,
Creates a song of woe where bright-eyed joy
Was budding into summer ecstacy.
Learn life’s economy, ye thriftless, here !
No sprig too sightless for an honoured place,
Or woolly fragment for the cushioned bed.
Art thou discouraged oft by adverse fate ?
Through what inclement days the parent bird
Piles up with care the units of its home !
Wilt thou less strong appear, when rest
Eternal interests in Stern Duty’s scale ?
Speckled, or white, or blue as southern skies,
Each egg brings newer grace to all within ;
So even holy thought thou utterest may
Within thy home lure tenderest hearts to bring
Such fresh’ning charms a world cannot supply.

— Henry Williamson, Huddersfield.1

Selections of Wit and Humour

He that is taught to live upon little, owes more to his father’s wisdom that he that has a great deal left him does to his father’s care.

Foreign Miscellany and Gossip

The American papers record the death of Old Hannibal, a travelling show elephant. He was 11ft. 8in. high, weighed 15,000lb, and was 66 years old. He consumed 300lb of hay, three bushels of oats, and 46 gallon of water daily. For 36 years he travelled 3,000 miles every year.

Sales by Private Contract

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Public Notices

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Local News

We understand the Enderby Hall Estate, situate about five miles from Leicester, was on Wednesday last offered for sale by auction, and purchased for the sum of £67,000 by Charles Brook, Jun., Esq., of Meltham Hall. The estate, which is situated in one of the loveliest parts of Leicestershire, comprises about 730 acres, and 45 acres of woods and plantations. The purchase also includes the lordship of the major, with the advowson. Mr. Henry Tinker, of Holmfirth made the purchase on Mr. Brook’s behalf.

Magistrates in Petty Sessions

A DRUNKEN FREAK. Alfred Whiteley, otherwise known by the sobriquet of “Sixes” was brought up on a charge of drunkenness. On Saturday afternoon the defendant was hired to take to a field a horse belonging to Mr. Henry Stocks, brewer, Spring Mill, but, instead of doing so, he mounted the animal, and rode too and fro until five o’clock, when he proceeded to the stable of F.R. Jones, jun., Esq., with a view of obtaining a saddle, to enhance the pleasures of the afternoon. In the stable, however, he found a horse already saddled, and with the coolest impudence he seated himself upon it, and drove away with the two animals up Crosland Hill. He was pursued by a man on horseback in the employ of Mr. Jones, and overtaken at the bar on Crosland Moor. This witness went to Milnsbridge and gave information to the police, and the defendant was eventually escorted to bridewell. — Mr. Laycock : He pleads guilty to being drunk. — Defendant, who urged that he was “partly” intoxicated, admitted that he took the horse from the stable, so that he could have a ride, but argued that there was a “chief p(o)int” about the case. — The court, however, failed to observe the force of the argument, and apparently believed that the “chief pint” (of ale) was that which impelled the defendant to commit the foolish act with which he was charged. — Mr. Superintendent Heaton informed the Bench that “Sixes” had several times received the special attention of the magistrates.— Defendant asserted that he would “sign teetotal,” and promised never to place himself in a similar predicament again if he were discharged. — The Chairman said they could not believe him, and he would be fined 10s. and expenses ; altogether 10s. — Defendant: Or in default ? — The Chairman : One month to Wakefield. (Laughter)

General District Intelligence

CUMBERWORTH — Accident to a Child.

On Tuesday last an accident occurred to a little girl while walking in procession with the school children in Cumberworth. A wedding party was passing along at the same time, when one of the vehicles knocked the child down, the wheel passing over her. She was immediately picked up, and the marriage party were very solicitious as to her injuries which fortunately proved but slight. One of the gentlemen considerately and handsomely gave the child a sovereign to compensate her for the fright sustained.

FARNLEY TYAS — The Feast.

Wednesday last was a pleasant day at Farnley, it being the annual feast. The day was remarkably fine, which caused an immense influx of visitors, and the village presented quite a lively appearance. The usual quantity of nut, gingerbread, and other stalls filled up the principal attractions till the evening, when a grand gala, got up by Lady Dartmouth’s brass band was held in a field belonging Mr. Robert Kaye, where the usual sports were indulged in till dark.

Cricket

Lockwood v. Manchester.

This match was played at Lockwood, on Whit-Monday, and resulted in favour of the former by 10 runs on the first innings. The game throughout was very closely contested, and the batting, bowling, and fielding were excellent.

Marriages

On the 5th inst., at the Independent Chapel, Honley, by the Rev. Henry Hustwick, Mr. William Waring, sculptor, of Liverpool, to Ann, youngest daughter of Mr. Thomas Heaton, of Honley. This being the first marriage celebrated in the above chapel since its re-opening, a handsome family Bible was presented to the bride by a few of her friends worshipping there.

The First Post Boxes in Huddersfield

According to Wikipedia, the first public post box in the United Kingdom was installed at Botchergate, Carlisle, in 1853.

The following article, published in the Leeds Mercury (24/Nov/1855), shows that Huddersfield wasn’t too far behind:

Street Letter Boxes

The Postmaster of Huddersfield has ordered four pillar letter-boxes to be placed in the streets for the accommodation of the inhabitants. The first is situated in Bradford Road, where Fitzwilliam Street crossed it ; the second in Halifax Road, at the top of Fitzwilliam Street ; the third on Chapel Hill ; the fourth on Seed Hill. The letters in them will be taken to the Post Office at 6:45 am, at 7 p.m., and 10:45 p.m., except on Sundays, when they will not be visited.

The approximate locations of the four boxes are shown in red on this 1908 map of Huddersfield, with the believed location of the Post Office in 1855 shown in blue. By 1874, the Post Office had moved to the market side of Northumberland Street (shown in green) and the building still stands. In 1914, the current Post Office was built on the opposite side of Northumberland Street to the old one.

The First Postboxes in Huddersfield
The First Postboxes in Huddersfield

In fact, the Mercury was reporting old news, as the post boxes were actually erected the day before, on Friday 23 November. The Huddersfield Chronicle (24/Nov/1855) gave the following details:

They are cast iron pillars, of an octagonal form ; and will prove a great advantage to the inhabitants of those localities [where the pillars stood] by saving them the necessity of coming into town to post letters. For the information of those depositing letters in the boxes, we may state the boxes will be opened at a quarter to eleven a.m., and again at seven p.m., for the purpose of transmitting the letters by the mails. It is to be hoped that not only the police, but the public, will take an interest in guarding these boxes from any abuse to which inconsiderate parties might attempt to subject them.

It’s possible they looked this surviving octagonal box, situated in the village of Holwell, Dorset (photograph by Barry W.):

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A few months earlier, the Huddersfield Chronicle (18/Aug/1855) reported that on 13 August an important alteration to the postal system in Huddersfield had been introduced — “The principal is to give every house, as far as practicable, a free delivery of letters.” The article also mentioned the plan to install the four post boxes and predicted that this, together with the free delivery of letters, “cannot fail to give satisfaction both to the town and the neighbourhood.”

Speaking of old post boxes, here’s one from the reign of Queen Victoria in the little hamlet of Helme, near Meltham, which is still in use:

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If anyone knows of other old and/or interesting post boxes in the Huddersfield area, please leave a comment!

William Moore (1797-?)

The Postmaster of Huddersfield, William Moore, was born in Pontefract, West Yorkshire, in 1797.

Moore had taken up his position by the time the Civil, Ecclesiastical, Literary, Commercial, and Miscellaneous History of Leeds, Halifax, Huddersfield, Bradford, Wakefield, Dewsbury, Otley and the Manufacturing District of Yorkshire: Volume 2 was published in 1834:

The Post-Office at Huddersfield is in New Street, Mr. William Moore is the post-master. Letters from London, Pontefract, and Wakefield, arrive every evening at six, and are despatched every morning at a quarter before six. Letters from Leeds, Halifax, and Manchester, arrive every morning at a quarter-past seven, and afternoon at a quarter-past two, and they are sent every morning at a quarter-past ten, and in the evening at six o’clock. There are foot-posts to Lockwood, Honley, Thong Bridge, Holmfirth, Paddock, Slaithwaite, Marsden, Longwood, Almondbury, Dogley Lane, Kirkburton, Crossland, Netherton, Eltham1, Deighton, Sheepridge, Rastrick, Brighouse, Dalton, Kirkheaton, Lepton, Lindley, and Out-Lane, every morning (except Tuesday) at eight.

By the time of the 1851 Census, he was the Postmaster for Huddersfield and was residing on Morpeth Place, Seed Hill, with his wife, Mary, and two of their children. I wonder if it was a coincidence that Moore chose Seed Hill as one of the four locations for the first post boxes?

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The 1861 Census shows him still living at Seed Hill, with his son William residing next door with his family.

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The following are a summary of newspaper articles relating to William Moore, all from the Huddersfield Chronicle

  • 12/Jul/1851 — Joseph Gaunt, landlord of the Queen Hotel, Market Street, was fined for assaulting William Moore.
  • 18/Dec/1852 — Mr. Moore’s son, William, married Harriet Frances Akers, at the Parish Church in Halifax on 16 December.
  • 22/Jan/1853 — To celebrate the marriage of his only daughter to Mr. John Dobson of Kirkburton, Moore threw a party for the Post Office staff at the Ship Inn. The landlady, Mrs. Richardson, provided “an excellent supper”.
  • 25/Nov/1854 — Moore brought a prosecution against farmer George Heap for attempted to steal £5 worth of manure from near Moore’s property at Seed Hill. Moore represented himself, “in his own peculiar style, exciting occasionally much merriment in court”. The court ruled it had no jurisdiction in this case, as Heap had permission to collect manure from the streets of the town.
  • 03/Feb/1855 — Mr. Moore’s swift actions had saved other packages after someone had illegally posted a package of “wax lucifer matches” which spontaneously combusted in the Post Office.
  • 12/May/1855 — The Postmaster’s annual salary was given as £180, with the total cost of providing the postal service for the Huddersfield division being £1,411.
  • 13/Oct/1855 — The Post Office received a letter addressed to: “thomas grange, cark ey etin spank, ncar, huddersfreed, englind speed.” It was reported that this had been interpreted as “Thomas Grange, Spangled Bull, Kirkheaton, near Huddersfield, England. Speed.”
  • 13/Sep/1856 — A couple of weeks previously, Mr. Moore’s beloved dog, “Curry”, had gone missing. Moore affixed a sign to the front of the Post Office reading, “My favourite dog, ‘Curry’, is lost, nay, stolen — for if the wicked holder will only set him at liberty. I warrant that the beautiful, sleek, chestnut animal will bound his joyous way to Seed Hill. Faithful creature as he is — worth a thousand two-legged animals such as the thief who stole him — if any kindly being will give the hint where he is located, he will receive a full reward.” The Chronicle took great delight in revealing that the dog had been located locked in Lockwood’s Yard on New Street and that it had been the “two-legged” Mr. Moore himself who had accidentally locked Curry there “in a moment of forgetfulness”!
  • 12/Jun/1858 — George Whitehead, a printer who occupied a part of the building above the Post Office on New Street, was charged with assaulting Mr. Moore on 3 June. Whitehead would occasionally work throughout the night and insisted on having the front door to the building left unlocked. Moore had repeatedly remonstrated with Whitehead over this, as it left the Post Office (and the other businesses in the building) vulnerable to robbery. On the night of the incident, Moore insisted that the door must be locked overnight and Whitehead had “both struck and kicked” the Postmaster and then threatened to assault Frederick John North, a post office clerk. In court, Moore was asked if Whitehead struck him more than once, to which he replied, “Aye, hundreds of times. It would be incident or I would bare my body ; you would then see I am full of wounds from the crown of my head to the soles of my feet.” Whitehead was found guilty of assault and fined £2 19s.
  • 25/Feb/1860 — Mr. Moore’s speech at the “8th annual soiree of the Milnsbridge Mechanics’ Institute” was reported.
  • 02/Mar/1872 — A discussion around the potential sites for the new Post Office (which was subsequently built on Northumberland Street) mentioned that the post service in Huddersfield began around 1850 (in reality, it had begun before 1831, when he was suspected of intercepting mail) and that Mr. Moore and his son (also named William) were now running a stock and share brokering business.
  • 31/Jan/1874 — At the annual meeting of the Huddersfield Chamber of Commerce it was reported that the council were deeply unhappy with the choice of Northumberland Street as the location for the new Post Office.
  • 15/Jan/1876 — A reunion took place to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Ramsden Street Independent Chapel and Schools, with around 1,100 former scholars present. Amongst those sending their apologies for not being able to attend were Mr. Moore, “the late postmaster for Huddersfield.”
  • 19/May/1886 — Mr. Frederick North, who worked under Mr. Moore in the early days of the post service in Huddersfield, had been promoted to role of Postmaster of Grantham.

As mentioned above, after stepping down as the Postmaster in the late 1850s, William Moore set himself up as a broker on New Street with his son and their adverts regularly appeared in the Chronicle:2

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Locations

Post Office (187?–1914):

Post Office (1914–present):

Miss Challand, the Local Clairvoyant

The name “Miss Challand” cropped up in the previous blog post about the “Seed Hill Ghost” of March 1855. To summarise that particular event, ghostly knocking sounds and ringing bells were heard in the house of dyer Samuel Routledge and it was reported that Miss Challand had been brought in twice in an attempt to shed light on what was happening, but without any success.

It eventually transpired that a young Irish servant girl in the employ of Routledge was behind it all, so Miss Challand’s inability to contact the spirit responsible for the noises is entirely understandable. Of interest, one of the articles about the “Seed Hill Ghost” includes a brief description of Challand’s second visit to the house, which followed a few hours after the bedclothes and pillows had been inexplicably ripped from a bed and left strewn upon the landing and staircase:

During the evening a clairvoyante was again brought into the house, thrown into the mesmeric state, and performed some strange antics over and under the bed and among the bed clothes, put to no purpose.

The description paints a comical scene and you’d be forgiven for wondering what Miss Challand’s credentials actually were, but another article describing her first visit to the house provides hints:

The services of Miss Challand, who has “got her name up” as a faithful clairvoyante (since the discovery of the body of the missing female from Marsden), were put into requisition ; but, after being placed in the required state, nothing could be elicited from her, inasmuch as, not having heard the ghost perform his operations, she could discover nothing to detect his whereabout, or the means he employed to effect such startling sounds.

Intrigued by the reference to the “missing female from Marsden”, I started hunting through the newspaper archives.

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The Disappearance of Sarah Ann Lumb

Although her father is named as farmer “John Lumb” in one of the articles about her disappearance, it seems much more likely that he was the John Lumb, married to Mary (née Whitehead?), who is listed as the landlord of the Old Ram Inn on Town Street in Marsden in the 1851 Census — 11-year-old “S. Ann Lumb” was listed as their oldest daughter on the census.

On the evening of Thursday 14 December 1854, Sarah Ann was walking home in heavy rain with a friend, Hannah Haigh.1 After saying goodbye to her friend, she headed towards the bridge in the village to cross over the river. In the darkness and perhaps blinded by the driving rain, she seemingly misjudged where she was — instead of stepping onto the bridge, she accidentally fell into the river.

The rains had swollen the river, which was running faster and deeper than usual, and Sarah Ann was rapidly carried downstream. Her screams altered those living nearby and the alarm was quickly raised that someone was in the water but, despite a frantic search, they could find no-one in the darkness.

The search continued the following day and, by now, it was known that Sarah Ann was missing and likely the person heard screaming. Within a week, her family were offering a £5 reward “to any one who shall find the body”. The Huddersfield Chronicle (23/Dec/1854) reported that several readers had written in to urge the authorities to fence off the gap in the wall near the bridge, where it was believed Sarah Ann had tumbled into the river.

In the days after her disappearance, items of clothing were found in the river. Her skirt was found the day after she disappeared, about a quarter of mile downstream from Marsden. Her shawl was found a few days later, followed by her flannel petticoat on Christmas Eve and her dress skirt on 28 December.2

Her family grew increasingly desperate and reportedly consulted a “wise man” in Holmfirth, but he could give them no information. It seems someone then put them in contact with a “mesmerist”3 by the name of Captain Hudson who was staying locally. Sarah Ann’s uncle, builder Samuel Whitehead, and local mill-owner Joshua Farrar approached Hudson and asked if he knew of anyone who could help. He gave them the name and address of a dressmaker named Challand who lived in Moldgreen, Huddersfield, who he claimed had the gift of clairvoyance.

Whitehead and Farrar then went to Miss Challand and asked her to accompany them back to Hudson’s residence. Perhaps at the insistence of the Captain, they didn’t explain anything to her. Hudson then placed Challand into a hypnotic trance and he asked her if she knew why the two men had come to her. She replied, “Yes, about the young woman who was drowned at Marsden.”

Whitehead had brought with him the clothes that had been found in the river and Challand said that Sarah Ann had had the shawl wrapped tight over her head to help fend off the rain, which, if true, perhaps helps explain why the girl misjudged the bridge.

Hudson now asked her to see where Sarah Ann Lumb’s body was now. Challand appeared to fall asleep for around five minutes before she began describing the progress the girl’s body had taken down the river. She ended by stating that Sarah Ann’s body was within 100 yards of the second bridge in Mirfield and that the body was covered in mud, apart from the feet.

Whitehead then travelled to Mirfield on 4 January with some workmen and began searching the river around Legard Bridge, but could find no sign of the body. A local then told them that, if they wanted the “second bridge in Mirfield”, they were at the wrong location — Shepley Bridge was where they should be looking. Whitehead moved his workmen there, where they soon found Sarah Ann’s body 20 yards from the bridge. Just as Challand had told him, the girl’s body was buried but her feet were exposed.

According the subsequent inquest, which was held at the Ship Inn, Mirfield, on 5 January, a post mortem proved death by drowning. It was recorded that Sarah Ann’s body had been carried downstream a distance of 14 miles and that Mary Ann Challand claimed to have known nothing of the deceased prior to being hypnotised by Captain Hudson. The jury returned an open verdict.

The Huddersfield Chronicle reported the events in an article titled “Extraordinary Mode of Finding a Missing Human Body“, which was republished verbatim in a few other regional newspapers.

On the evenings of 12 and 13 January, Captain Hudson gave a “mesmeric demonstration” to a packed house at the Old Ram Inn, Marsden, hypnotising several people. However, it seems most people were there to see his companion, the clairvoyant Mary Ann — by now, most of the locals had heard that she had helped find Sarah Ann’s body. The Chronicle (20/Jan/1855) reported that Mary Ann failed to do anything at either lecture, so “the audience had no proofs given of her powers as a clairvoyante, so that unbelievers remained unbelievers still.”

At this point in the story, it’s tempting to assume that fame and fortune awaited Mary Ann, the Huddersfield clairvoyant who found the drowned girl. However, events in her own life were about to take a sad and tragic turn.

Mary Ann Challand

Mary Ann Challand was born in August 1838, the daughter of corn miller Thomas Challand and his wife, Mary (née Broadly).4

By the time of the 1851 Census, 12-year-old Mary Ann was living on Smythey Lane, off Springfield Terrace, Huddersfield, with her parents and her older brother brother, George. Not long after, they appear to have moved to Moldgreen, Huddersfield.

In June 1854, Mary Ann’s mother brought a case against a man named Charles Oldfield whose dog she claimed had attacked her whilst she was fetching in washing from her clothes line. However, discrepancies in her statements led to the case being dismissed.

1855 would be a tumultuous year for Mary Ann Challand. Following her work in locating the body of Sarah Ann Lumb in early January and then her attempts to contact the “Seed Hill Ghost”, her father Thomas died a few months later and was buried on 30 May. Her mother Mary appears to have sunk into a depression following the death of her husband5 and on the morning of Wednesday 18 July she told a neighbour that “she thought she would not see the day out”.

At noon that day, she visited Mary Ann at her place of work and then at around 1:30pm, she met her son, George. We can only speculate what her final words were to her children, but within a couple of hours Mary Challand had taken her own life.

A rent collector named Benjamin France called at Challand’s house around 4pm that afternoon and assumed the property empty when he received no reply to his shout of “holloa”. Letting himself in, he was horrified to see Mary hanging from the stairwell banister. Rather than cut her down, he altered some neighbours and went off to find a policeman.

An inquest was held the following evening at the Kaye’s Arms in Moldgreen with George Dyson presiding. Dyson was critical of Mr. France for not immediately cutting Mrs. Challand down in case she had only just hung herself. The jury returned a verdict of “suicide whilst temporarily insane”.

If Mary Ann continued to be a clairvoyant after the death of her parents, it was not reported in any of the newspapers that I have access to.

The 1861 Census has 22-year-old unmarried Mary Ann living as a lodger at the house of police constable George Ramsden, 33 Templar Street, Leeds. Her occupation is given as “milliner”, which ties with the contemporary newspaper reports that she was a dressmaker.

She married engineer Benjamin Haigh on 7 March 1863 at St John the Baptist in Halifax. Oddly, her father is not marked as being deceased.

MaryAnnChallandMarriage

The 1871 Census has them living in Manchester, with two young daughters: Clara and Ellen. Ten years later, they were living at 7 Portland Street, Litchurch, Derbyshire, with a third daughter, Edith. All three daughters appear to have been given the middle name “Ann” after their mother. By 1901, 62-year-old Mary Ann was a widow and was living with her married daughter, Ellen Bowes, in north Manchester.

Her brother, George Thomas Challand, married Ellen Sykes on 14 January 1856 at All Hallows, Almondbury, and he worked as a farmer in Dalton, Huddersfield. He died on 26 April 1883 and was buried at All Hallows on 30 April.

Mary Ann died in 1903, aged 67, and was buried St Bartholomew’s in Whitworth, Lancashire.

MaryAnnChallandBurial

Whether you believe in her gift or not, it certainly seems she helped bring closure to a grieving family who had lost their teenage daughter in tragic circumstances. For that alone, Mary Ann Challand, the clairvoyant of Huddersfield, deserves to be remembered.

As for Captain Hudson, who seems to have been Mary Ann’s mentor, he crops up in many other interesting articles and deserves a blog post of his own!


Further Reading

The death of Sarah Ann Lumb was reported in these articles:

The Ghost of Seed Hill

As a location in Huddersfield, Seed Hill no longer really exists, but it was the area to the east of the modern-day Shorehead Roundabout and is more-or-less where Sainsbury’s supermarket and car park is now located. This 1894 map of the area shows Seed Hill Road:

seedhillmap1894

In the mid-1800s, Samuel Routledge (born 1803 in Brampton, Cumberland) ran a profitable dye business at Seed Hill but, in 1852, an attempt to expand into trading with Australia, saw him overstretch himself. Needing to raise further capital of £5,000, his bank recommended that he “apply to his friends for a guarantee” and his property was put up security. By June 1853, he was in debt to his bank to the tune of over £4,500 with further debts of £5,764. The following year, Routledge declared bankruptcy. When it became obvious that the value of Routledge’s estate would not cover his debts, a court case in July 1855 ensued as to whether those who guaranteed the £5,000 loan were liable or not for the other outstanding debts.

A few months before that case was heard, Routledge’s creditors had moved to begin selling off his estate and, in mid-March 1855, advertisements began to appear in local newspapers:

Huddersfield Chronicle 10 March 1855

The dwelling house mentioned in the advert was soon to become one of the most notorious residences in Huddersfield. The events surrounding the “Seed Hill Ghost” were reported widely both locally and nationally, and some of the newspaper articles are occasionally contradictory, so the following is an attempt to pull together the facts of the story as best we can, 160 years after they occurred…

On the evening of Friday 16 March 1855 at around 7:45pm, a vigorous knocking sound echoed through Samuel Routledge’s house. Routledge was away at the time, so his maid rushed to answer the door to find out what all the urgency was. However, when she opened the door, there was no-one there. No sooner had she closed the front door than loud banging sounded from elsewhere in the house. She thought it must be coming from the kitchen and went to investigate but found the room was empty.

The maid, perhaps suspecting a practical joke or perhaps getting fearful, left the house and roused a night watchman from a nearby yard. He accompanied her back to the house and stood guard in the passageway. Before long, the loud knocking sound echoed once again through the house. Perturbed, he announced that he would he was unprepared to remain on guard there overnight, unless there was someone else to watch over him!

Fortunately for the maid, the ghost of Seed Hill apparently slept at night and soon the rappings diminished. In their first article about the strange events, the Huddersfield Chronicle (24/Mar/1855) quoted a policeman as saying, “it’s a woise boggert, for he ligs to sleep at’neets”. Before J.K. Rowling appropriated the word for her Harry Potter novels, a “boggart” was a catch-all term applied to a mischievous and/or malevolent spirit dwelling in a house or location, so we can translate our strongly-accented policeman as saying “it’s a wise spirit, for he lies down to sleep at night”. In past times, boggarts were blamed for everything from the milk turning sour overnight to any sudden aches or pains.

After the respite, this particular boggart awoke and knocking noises once more sounded through the house, sometimes loud enough to be heard in every room. With the master of the house returned, attempts were made to ascertain where the noises were coming from — pipes throughout the house were checked, but to no avail. It seemed no-one could agree on where the source of the rapping actually was.

By now, news of the strange happenings was spreading quickly and locals were keen to experience the events from themselves. According to the Chronicle, small groups were admitted into the house where they waited expectantly for the knocking to begin… sometimes the spirit would oblige, other times not. During the evenings, large groups of people wandered around Routledge’s dye works and the neighbouring area in hope of experiencing something supernatural, but the ghost became shy with only a few sounds being reported on the Wednesday.

Thursday saw a return of the noises and it was reported “sewers have been searched, goits fathomed, pipes cleared, but all has yet failed to discover the cause of the day-rapper”. By now, the Chronicle had a journalist on-site and he reported:

We heard the singular phenomenon three times on Thursday, about noon, with some dozen others, distributed in and about the rooms on the ground floor, but none could agree as to where it came from, only that it was loud and indefinite, and produced a pitiful change in the air of some of the listeners. [On Friday] the rappings were as loud and frequent as ever, and though many gentlemen of our acquaintance, who are not easily “gulled,” visited the spot […] they assure us that there is an air of strangeness about these loud, frequent, and imperious rappings which their philosophy cannot solve ; and how or by what instrumentality brought about they, in common with Mr. Routledge, are unable to trace. At the same time we would caution the credulous against placing reliance on the thousand silly rumours afloat, as it is possible that more minute examinations of the premises may tend to make clear what is at present, to say the least, a very mysterious exhibition on behalf of something or other which has so far evaded the vigilance of the thousands who have crowed around the premises as Seed Hill during the week.

Although Routledge had been away when the noises first started, gossip began to spread that he was behind it all and that he wished to put off potential buyers of the house at the upcoming auction — “Numerous rumours detrimental to Mr. R. and his family were rife in every quarter, and every one explained the extraordinary circumstance in his own way.”

News of the ghost had by now spread to neighbouring towns and cities, with other regional newspapers carrying the story in their Saturday editions…

Halifax Courier (24/Mar/1855):

The Seed Hill Ghost.

The people of Huddersfield have been amused, surprised, and alarmed, as the case may be, these few days back, by the reported visits of a ghost, which secrets itself somewhere in the premises or mansion of Mr. Samuel Routledge, of Seed Hill. What questionable shape it may yet take, who can tell, but so far it has modestly kept out of sight, no one having seen its saucer eyes, if it have any, nor its horns or anything to make “night hideous,” beyond a noise. It is known, as yet, but as a ghost of percussion.

Leeds Times (24/Mar/1855):

During the whole of the past week the neighbourhood of Seed Hill, and in fact the whole of the “lower region” of the town of Huddersfield, has been in a state of extraordinary excitement owing to most alarming “noises” made in the house of Mr. Samuel Routledge, an extensive dyer, at Seed Hill. Mr. Routledge first called the attention of the police and the public to the matter last Saturday, declaring that the noises resembled the “striking of a door or a table-top with a stick or switcher with all one’s might;” that these noises were very frequent, and had frightened all his servants and even the cat from the house, and that he was thus left in awful solitude. The rumour spread rapidly, and every day since the house has been regularly besieged by crowds of people, all anxious to see and hear for themselves the marvellous doings of the ghost. On Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, several policemen were stationed inside the house. The ghost, however, was not to be intimidated either by the crowd or the police — “bang, switch, bang, switch, bang, switch,” — continued at intervals to echo through the corridors and rooms of the building. Impudent and cunning ghost! He is quite a ventriloquist; when you are seated in the dining-room, the sound appears to come from the front door ; and when you are at the front door, the sound appears to proceed from the dining room. A policeman was therefore placed at each of these places, determined to catch the ghost. “Bang, switch” echoes once more; each policeman rushes from his post to catch the fugitive ; they meet in the passage, and a terrific collision takes place, each knocking the other down, and in the mêlée the ghost escapes ! These watchings continued until Wednesday evening, when the police, fairly baffled, raised the siege, and left the ghost in undisputed possession of the fortress. The phenomenon remains a mystery, but the premises are advertised for sale by public auction on the 2nd of April, and rumour insinuates that the ghost is merely the result of some hidden galvanic wires, or some subterraneous steam pipes, and the ruse is to frighten purchasers, so that the house may be sold very cheap.

Leeds Intelligencer (24/Mar/1855):

A Ghost Story.

During the early part of the present week a good portion of the Huddersfield public have been running mad in their endeavours to discover the workings of a certain ghost, said to have located himself at the residence of Mr. Sam. Routledge, dyer, Seed Hill. On Sunday and Monday last several hundred people visited the place, and, strange to say, not a few returned deeply impressed with the reality of the story. How to capture the bane intruder has been a point which has drawn largely on the resources of the ingenious, aided by the light of official police experience, but up to the present time he continues his perambulations unchecked and undismayed. We record this much of this idle tale, as illustrating the great amount of superstition still prevalent in the popular mind.

Extra night watchmen were now employed to guard the house — perhaps with the hope of catching a hoaxer — and a joiner was “engaged to thoroughly examine the house to ascertain if any mechanical apparatus had been fixed whereby, with the aid of galvanism or other scientific means, the strange unearthly sounds might be produced”. However, said joiner could find no evidence of trickery.

On Sunday 25 March, the ghost began to extend its repertoire and the servant bells “were continually rung, but no explanation offered itself as to the cause”.

On Monday, the renowned local clairvoyant, Miss Challand, visited the house. Sadly, the ghost decided to cease activity during the visit and, despite going into a trance, Miss Challand could offer up no explanation.

Tuesday and Wednesday saw further knocking and bell ringing. However, the latter was ceased when Routledge unhooked their wires. Perhaps frustrated by this ploy, the ghostly activities now moved to the bedrooms of the house. Late on Thursday afternoon, the bedclothes and pillows were found ripped from the beds and left on the staircase and landing. This, together with the continued knocking, was the final straw for the housekeeper who fled the house, vowing not to return. Apparently that night, the watchman hired to remain in the house overnight was so scared that he “dared not close his eyes” and nod off.

Routledge returned that evening, having been away in Bradford during the day, to learn that his housekeeper had left. By now, the cost of investigating the cause was becoming serious, not to mention the ongoing local gossip, so he re-doubled his efforts to get to the bottom of the mystery. Perhaps he had had time to reflect on the events whilst away in Bradford, but he had apparently grown convinced that someone in the house must be behind it all.

It would seem the clairvoyant had already been asked to return that evening and, having gone into her trance, “performed some strange antics over and under the bed and among the bed clothes, but to no purpose”(!)

Together with some trusted companions, Routledge took up a walking stick and began banging walls and objects to see if he could replicate “the same dolorous sound” as the ghost. After much investigating, one of the group “accidentally struck the end of the barrel of a large washing-machine standing in the back kitchen, and like magic the sounds were at once explained, and on the outer end being examined hundreds of indentations were discovered.” He had indeed been right to suspect an “inside job” — but who?

Quite how many people were residing in the house at that point in time isn’t recorded, but the 1851 Census lists Routledge (a widower), his three young daughters — Catherine (aged 5), Annie (4) and Lucy (1) — along with two servants — cook Margaret Wright (26) and housemaid Eliza Barker (21). By 1854, Routledge had taken in another servant girl (“from motives of charity”), a young Irish “urchin” named Catherine Hayley (her name is variously reported as “Haley”, “Healey” and “Heeley”). One by one, apparently Routledge questioned everyone in the house and all denied having anything to do with the noises. In a dubious instance of stereotyping, a journalist later reported the Irish servant girl as saying “Shure [I know] nothing about it at all at all”!

It seems the following day, Routledge again questioned everyone and, this time, young Catherine Hayley admitted that she had “knocked a little”. That was enough for him, and he took the girl to the local police station where she was interviewed further. Here it emerged that Catherine had taken a dislike to the housekeeper and began making the noises to frighten her, for a “bit of fun”. As events escalated, she’d hoped that the noises would scare the unwanted curious visitors away.

The Chronicle reported that Catherine had used a stick and a small sandstone to bang on the washing tub and on the doors in the passageway — when the latter were examined closely, indentations were found from the banging. As for the bedlinen, she explained that she waiting until no-one was around, then slipped off her clogs, run silently upstairs, and pulled off the sheets and pillows, dragging them behind her and leaving them disarrayed on the landing and stairs. Having crept back downstairs, she slipped on clogs back on and screamed, alerting the watchman sat in the parlour. As she was wearing clogs that would have sounded on the stairs, it seems no-one thought for a minute that she was actually the culprit.

In fact, throughout the events, young Catherine had pretended to be scared by the noises and “no one for a moment thought that she could he capable of playing such extraordinary tricks, so successfully as she had done”.

Unsurprisingly, Routledge booted young Catherine out of his house. In summarising the conclusion of the story, the Chronicle lamented that some of the locals now regarded her as a heroine who had outwitted all those gentlemen who had tried to identify the source of the noises.

Coda

What with the events of March 1855 and the bankruptcy, it is perhaps a surprise to learn Samuel Routledge decided to get married again. On 1 May 1856, he married Margaret Thompson at the Church of St. John, Newcastle-upon-Type. However, the marriage was short lived and he died only a few months later, aged 53. He was buried on 23 August 1856 at St. Paul’s in Huddersfield.1 He had previously married Elizabeth Mills in Sheffield on 24 February 1844 and she died not long after the birth of last daughter, Lucy, in 1849.

Lucy Routledge was born 1 February 1849 and was baptised on 8 March 1850 at St. Paul’s. Following her father’s death, she attended a boarding school for girls in East Keswick and eventually became a governess. By 1871, she was employed by the Lee family at Wester Hall, Haughton, Northumbia. The 1881 Census found her employed by the Bankes family of Willow Green, Little Leigh, Northwich, Cheshire. A decade later she was a governess for the Weeks family of Bedlington, Morpeth, Northumberland. By the time of the 1901 Census, 51-year-old Lucy was living with her sister Catherine at 34 Little Horton Lane, Bradford, Yorkshire. It seems likely that the sisters lived together for the rest of their lives, and Lucy passed away in 1930 in Bradford, aged 80.

Catherine Routledge was born 22 February 1846 and was baptised 1 May 1846 at St. Paul’s. She married sometime around 1886, although I haven’t been able to find details of the marriage. By 1901, when her sister Lucy was living with her, she was a widow and had reverted to her maiden name. The 1911 Census shows her occupation as “herbalist” at 36 Clive Place, Great Horton, Bradford, and Lucy was still living with her. She died in 1936 in Bradford, aged 90.

Annie Routledge was born 5 March 1847 and baptised 26 May 1847 at St. Paul’s. Following her father’s death, it seems she was made a ward of Huddersfield doctor John Moxon and his wife, Sarah. There are no obvious records for Annie after the 1861 Census, so she likely married.

As for the “Seed Hill Ghost”, Catherine Hayley, she was very likely born around 1842, the daughter of washerwoman Anne Hayley. Anne was born around 1821 and lived in Sligo, Ireland, where she had at least four children with her husband. What led the family to move to Huddersfield around 1850 is uncertain, but by the time of the 1851 Census, Anne’s husband had died, leaving her a widow at age 30 with four children to support. Her oldest daughter, 14-year-old Margaret, is named as a street hawker in the census. By 1861, six years after she had been fired by Samuel Routledge, Catherine was living with her mother on Kirkgate, Huddersfield. Anne eventually died in 1890, aged 67.

In the years after 1855, a number of other cases of young girls faking paranormal activity were recorded elsewhere in Yorkshire and, more often that not, their activities would be compared to those of the “Seed Hill Ghost”.

It should be noted that Catherine apparently found another job straight away at a local public house run by John Tasker. In May 1855, she was called before the magistrates as a witness in a case where the police alleged Tasker’s wife had been caught serving beer after 10pm. Under oath, Catherine swore that the pub had been empty at that time and that Mrs. Tasker had been bringing in glasses of undrunk ale from outside when she was spotted by the police. Given her notoriety, Superintendent Thomas asked Catherine whether or not she was capable of lying. To the amusement of the court, Catherine replied that she could if she had a mind to. The magistrate fined Mr. Tasker 10 shillings plus expenses.

The 1861 Census is the last definite record I could find of her life — she was definitely not the “Catherine Hayley” who died on 26 January 1862 in Huddersfield2 but perhaps she was the “Catherine Haley” who was married in Huddersfield in 1865, or perhaps she was “Kate Healey” who married locally in 1880?

Whatever became of Catherine, the fact remains that for nearly two weeks in March 1855, she fooled everyone in Huddersfield and her deeds were reported throughout the country!

Further Reading

Local newspaper reports:

For more things that went bump in the night locally, see Haunted Huddersfield (2012) by Kai Roberts.


In a future blog post, we’ll find out what happened the day THE GHOST came to Huddersfield…

ghosticoming

Accidents, injuries and deaths on the Meltham Branch Line: 1860-1869

It’s almost inevitable that the construction of a railway line results in injuries and even deaths, and the construction of the Meltham Branch Line in the 1860s was no different. There were also a number of accidents and at least two suicides once the trains started to run.

I’m sure some of the people named below have been lost to the mists of time, but hopefully the details given will help relatives who are researching their family tree. The date given is that of the event.

This blog post is primarily based on researching the Huddersfield Chronicle archives and will be split into three parts, the first of which covers the 1860s up to the start of regular passenger services on the line in July 1869.


15/Oct/1864: John Eastwood

At the southern end of Netherton Tunnel, temporary tracks had been lain so that horses could pull trucks of debris from the excavations. At around 8am on Saturday 15 October 1864, John Eastwood was using a horse to shunt empty trucks when the animal shied and he became pinned between the buffers of two of the trucks. He was carried unconscious back to his lodgings in Netherton where a surgeon from Lockwood attended to him. At first it was feared that Eastwood’s spine had been broken, but instead it was discovered his hip and groin had taken the force of the impact that and he was expected to slowly recover.1

Eastwood was named as being around 60 years old and from Hyde (presumably a reference to Hyde in Tameside, Manchester). Although his fate is unknown, there was a death of a John Eastwood recorded about the same time in Huddersfield.2

18/Oct/1864: Tunnel Collapse

Just a few days after John Eastwood’s accident, there was a partial collapse at the other end of Netherton Tunnel. It was reported several (unnamed) men barely escaped in time, having abandoned their tools and possessions.3

26/May/1865: “Johnny”

The Chronicle reported that an Irish labourer named “Johnny” had been working on scaffolding at the southern entrance to Butternab Tunnel when it collapsed. Part of the scaffolding fell onto him and he was swiftly taken to Huddersfield Infirmary where it was discovered that, among various injuries, both his legs were broken. Initially it was assumed he would die but the newspaper reported that he was now slowly recovering.4

01/Jun/1865: “Old Sam”

The Huddersfield Chronicle (03/Jun/1865) reported that a horse keeper known as “Old Sam” was walking a horse along a tram line at Meltham Station when he tripped backwards over some blocks of stone and his horse fell onto him. Although the weight had crushed his chest, it was not thought the injury would be serious.5

17/Jul/1865: James Phiney

A local labourer named as James Phiney was caught in a small landslip above Butternab Tunnel’s south entrance on the afternoon of 17 July 1865 and fell down onto the track bed (reportedly a fall over around 60 feet). He died en route to the Huddersfield Infirmary, leaving a wife and five young children.

I suspect the Chronicle may have recorded the man’s name incorrectly or that they were wrong in saying that he was local, as I could find no records for a local man of that name, nor a death registry entry in the area for anyone with a similar name. There are two recorded deaths of “James Finney”s in 1865, but neither near Yorkshire.

11/Aug/1865: Joseph Marriott

The accident which occurred to joiner Joseph Marriott in Butternab Tunnel is detailed in a previous blog post, so a summary will suffice…

On the afternoon of Friday 11 August 1865, Marriott’s actions led to an accident which trapped him under some heavy wooden beams and other debris in the southern end of Butternab Tunnel. His colleagues managed to drag him out but the Chronicle reported that he’d suffered internal injuries and “there is little hope of his recovery”. Thankfully for his wife Ellen, the newspaper was proved wrong — Marriott recovered and continued to work as a joiner in the Huddersfield area until his death in 1884.

19/Aug/1865: Tunnel Collapse

According to the Chronicle there were two incidents on Saturday 19 August 1865 in Netherton Tunnel which necessitated a complete rebuild.6 In the early hours, a portion of the side wall collapsed and, around noon, a more serious collapse occurred — around 15 men were working in the tunnel at the time but were able to escape without injury. The collapse was severe enough to cause subsidence in the village above and it was reported that the house and outbuildings of Jonathan Lund7 were so damaged that they had to be demolished.

The cause of the collapse was reported as being due to the shale strata running at an angle, which meant the vertical tunnel walls not only carried the weight of the tunnel above but were also being pushed sideways by the strata. The Chronicle stated that it had “now been decided by the contractors to take it down and substitute the barrel or egg-shaped tunnel, which is considerably stronger than the perpendicular walls.”

This photograph by James of the bricked-up southern entrance shows the unusual shape of Netherton Tunnel:

railway7b

By late September, the Chronicle reported that work on the new “egg-shaped tunnel” had been pushed “with such vigour” that the expected delay to the construction would not be as great as had originally been feared.8

Photographs taken more recently in the tunnel show one of the walls bulging inwards slightly, presumably due to the pressure of the shale.

30/Sep/1865: James Mace

MELTHAM. Fatal Accident on the Railway

A fatal accident occurred on the line in course of construction at Meltham, on Saturday morning, to a “tipper” named James Mace, or May, a native of Suffolk. The man had been employed on the works some short time, and on the previous night, after receiving his wages, indulged freely in drink. He went to his work as usual on Saturday morning, and about seven o’clock, or a little after, he drove his ballast waggon to the “tip.” Having yoked his horse to the empty truck to return, he — as he had frequently done before — whipped the animal into a running pace. In attempting to cross the line in order to turn the waggon on the right line he stumbled and fell across the rails, when the wheels of the truck passed over both legs and abdomen, killing him instantly. The body was removed to the King’s Life Guardsman Inn, Meltham Mills, where an inquest was held, before Mr. J.R. Ingram, deputy coroner, on Monday evening, and a verdict of “Accidental death” returned.

James Mace had married Mary Marshall in 1852 and they had one son, Caleb Mace (1854–1919). He was buried at Meltham Mills on 2 October.

04/Oct/1865: John Dillon

On the final stretch of the line running into Meltham, in a cutting at Hall Heys, an Irish labourer named John Dillon (who had only recently begun working on the line) was caught in a landslip and tumbled down onto the trackbed. Although he ended up with a broken leg, he was lucky not to have been struck by a large boulder weighing more than a ton which landed close to him.

It seems possible he may have been the Irish-born John Dillon listed in the 1871 Census as an 80-year-old stone breaker, so would have been in his mid-70s at the time of the accident. The census shows him living with his younger brother Thomas (aged 70) as a lodger on Castlegate in Hudddersfield.

18/Jan/1866

The Chronicle briefly reported that an unnamed miner had been injured after a small explosive charge had detonated prematurely whilst excavating Butternab Tunnel. The miner’s hand had been crushed between rocks and it was feared would have to be amputated.9

February 1866: Landslip

From the Huddersfield Chronicle (10/Feb/1866):

Slip of Foundations at Lockwood.

The occupants of the houses on the roadside at Dungeon, abutting the fields occupied by Mr. Haigh and others, have been alarmed for several days by the jeopardy in which their dwelling-houses have been placed. In some of the inner walls of the houses cracks and fissures half an inch in width have appeared, while the doors which before shut easily, have had to be altered in order to make them close as before. The toll-house at Dungeon bar has suffered greatly, the collector and others consider it unsafe to remain within. Both gable ends, as well as the front walls have opened, and there are large crevices in the adjoining ground. The new arch on the Meltham branch railway, opposite the houses, is also said to have sunk several inches. The cause of this damage seems inexplicable, some attributing it to the “shelving” nature of the foundations, acted upon by the great weight of the new line, which forced the ground outwards into the field. Others allege that it is the effect of the continued heavy rains.

Although repairs were made to the toll-house, apparently the toll collector steadfastly refused to use it again and it gradually fell into a state of disrepair. A few years later, the Chronicle (29/May/1869) reported that a “number of mischievous lads determined upon a lark” demolished part of the building’s roof which then caused it all to fully collapse “into the field of Mr. Haigh”.

17/Apr/1866: William Dyson

The Huddersfield Chronicle (21/Apr/1866) reported the following:

On Tuesday morning a severe accident occurred at the Butternab tunnel, on the Huddersfield and Meltham branch line of railway. A young man, named William Dyson, was working on this railway near the entrance to the above tunnel, when he accidentally fell among a heap of stones, by which his leg was fractured. He was removed to the Huddersfield Infirmary, where the fracture reduced, and he is progressing favourably.

The name William Dyson was extremely common, so it hasn’t been possible to identify who he may have been.

05/May/1866: James Sheard and James Hey

The Chronicle (12/May/1866) included the following article about a railway labourer who apparently enjoyed a spot of night poaching in the local woods. By now, delays in the construction of Netherton Tunnel meant that shift work had been introduced and work carried on through the night, with the tunnel lit by candlelight.

NETHERTON.

Singular Escapade — Two Men Shot in a Tunnel.

At half past two o’clock on Saturday morning Police-constable Yates, when on duty in the village of Netherton, met on the highway James Sheard, formerly game watcher for Geo. Armitage, Esq., of Milnsbridge, but who had latterly been working as a labourer in one of the tunnels on the Huddersfield and Meltham branch railway, at Netherton. Observing something bulky under Sheards coat, the officer enquired “Where are you going so late Jim?” After a little hesitancy, Sheard replied “I may as well tell you the truth at once, I’m going to have a shot.” Yates rejoined, “No, you’re not so give me the gun.” Sheard scampered off with the officer at his heels, in the direction of Delph wood. Finding the officer gained ground, and was within a few yards of him, Sheard suddenly turned and ran into the Delph end of Netherton tunnel where a number of men were working by candle light. On reaching the men, Sheard cried out to James Hey, a mason, “Here take this gun,” it was a double barrelled gun and doubtless it was his intention to conceal it. The gun was in two parts, and unfortunately the nipples struck against a stone and both barrels went off. The constable imagined at first that the shot had been levelled at him, but bearing a deep groan he went to the spot and found Sheard laid on his back bleeding from wounds about the face and head. Part of the contents of the gun had lodged in the head, and the flesh from the hand of Hey was completely shot away. Mr. Calvert, a medical practitioner at Netherton was sent for, and by his advice the officer moved Sheard in a cart to his residence at Swires-lane, Crosland Moor, where he still lies in a very feeble state. On Saturday Hey, who was in a very weak state was taken to the “Oldfield-lane doctor,” at Manchester, where his lacerated hand was examined and dressed. Sheard is now under the care of Mr. Roberts, surgeon.

The Leeds Times (12/May/1866) provided some further details:

Early on Saturday morning a man named James Sheard, who had with him a gun, was met by a police constable in the highway at Netherton, near Huddersfield. To escape being captured he rain into a tunnel now in course of formation on the Huddersfield and Meltham line, and in which a number of men were at work. He separated the barrel of the gun from the stock, and was handing the barrel to one of the men, named Hey, to have it concealed, when he struck the nipple against some hard substance, the cap exploded, and the charge blew away a portion of the fleshy part of Hey’s hand, and inflicted a serious wound on the forehead of Sheard, who was conveyed home in a dangerous condition.”

From the description, it sounds as though Sheard ran off down Nether Moor Road towards Delves Wood (sometimes marked on maps as being Round Wood or Butternab Wood) before veering onto the trackbed and into the northern end of Netherton Tunnel.

Various cases reported in the local newspapers attest to Sheard’s character and to his poaching activities…

Sheard appeared before the local magistrates’ court on 17 April 1860, alongside Thomas France, charged with “tresspassing in pursuit of game on land belonging to S.W. Haigh, Esq.” on 4 April. The two men had a dog and were seen walking on the edge of the land. As Mr S.W. Haigh was one of the magistrates that day, he stepped down from the bench during the hearing. Although Sheard was seen to trespass with the dog, it was felt there was not enough evidence to prove he intended to poach and the case was dismissed.10

Later on that year, Sheard was found guilty of poaching in Southowram, near Halifax. Also charged was a Seth Green, who was reported to be one of the “most hardened poachers in the district” and had only recently been released from prison for poaching.11

Sheard again appeared before the magistrates on 22 April 1862, this time having brought a charge of assault against a gamekeeper named Dan Fearnley. Sheard was leaving the Spinner’s Arms pub at Colne Bridge (near Cooper Bridge) with a hare which he claimed a Joseph France (presumably a relative of the previously mentioned Thomas France) had given him in his pocket. Fearnley, and his two sons, accosted Sheard, accused him of having poached the hare and wrestled him to the ground, pinning him down. The bench felt Sheard was unable to prove his allegation fully and he was awarded one shilling for the damage done to his coat and shirt in the fracas.12

September 1864 saw him charged with “riotous and drunken conduct at Moldgreen” in the early hours of a Sunday morning. This time, he had been accompanied by several men, including Samuel France and William Schofield. Schofield had thrown a rock at a police constable, severely injuring him. Sheard was fined a total of 22 shillings.13

In March 1965, Sheard was before the magistrates, charged with “wantonly and cruelly ill-treating a dog […] by allowing a larger dog to worry it” at Crosland Moor. By now Sheard was a gamekeeper in Milnsbridge. The bench heard that Sheard had a large bull mastiff dog which attacked a small terrier, giving it fatal injuries. The bench felt that it had been an accident and the case was dismissed.

There are no recorded deaths for a James Sheard or a James Hey in 1866, so they seemingly both survived the incident in Netherton Tunnel.

October & November 1866: Landslips

The deepest cutting on the line lies to the north of Butternab Tunnel and is above Woodfield House. On the morning of Monday 1 October 1866, it was noted that the larger of the supporting walls was beginning to collapse near the base and workmen spent much of the day removing equipment from the cutting. At around 7:45pm, the retaining walls collapsed over a length of 40 yards, filling the cutting with debris and causing a large landside which sent boulders crashing down towards Woodfield House — The Times reported that some of the rocks were 3 to 4 yards across.14 Fortunately the exterior boundary walls of the estate absorbed much of the impact, although they were demolished over a length of 50 yards.

On Wednesday 24 October, part of Meltham Road between Lockwood and the Dungeon toll-bar collapsed as a horse and cab was passing over it. The horse managed to free itself from the hole without injury and workmen soon arrived to carry out repairs. It was believed that the work on the railway have undermined the area and locals grew increasingly concerned that the defences against further landslips — which seem to have been built mostly from old railway sleepers — were wholly inadequate.15

Floods caused by heavy rain the following month resulted in damage throughout Huddersfield and an area around the southern end of Butternab Tunnel was washed away, blocking the existing stream which exacerbated the flooding below Netherton. At the southern end of Netherton Tunnel, a landslip buried a part of the station, which was currently under construction.

It wasn’t until March 1868 that the Chronicle was able to report that the cutting above Woodfield House had been fully cleared and all of the debris from this landslip — and the subsequent one in November 1867 — had been removed.16

15/Nov/1867: Landslip

The Chronicle (23/Nov/1867) reported that a “heavy slip” had occurred “at the deep cutting behind Woodfield House”. The report, which was printed over a week later, stated that 500 tons of debris were being removed from the cutting each day by a team of 60 men, but the clearing work would “yet take many days”.

01/Mar/1868: Patrick Pendrick

The Huddersfield Chronicle (09/Mar/1867) reported that navvy excavator Patrick Pendrick17 was injured in a landslip at Butternab cutting. Although it was reported that he had been “severely crushed about the chest” and that the “injuries are of a dangerous description”, it was expected Pendrick would recover.

16/Jan/1868: James Beaver

Arguably the most tragic death on the line occurred as a result of an incident on Thursday 16 January 1868. A young boy named James Beaver, living in Armitage Bridge, who had been employed to do help out with the work on the railway, tampered with one of the waggons loaded with debris at the southern end of Butternab Tunnel. Apparently the waggon began to move, James fell under it and one of the wheels rolled over his arm, crushing it.

The Chronicle initially reported on the incident saying that although the boy’s arm had been amputated at the shoulder, he was recovering well at Huddersfield Infirmary.18 Sadly, however, he died on Sunday 26 January.

At the subsequent inquest, a verdict of “accidental death” was recorded. It was noted that the accident was caused by James’ own actions and that he had previously been told off for playing with the waggons.

I’m extremely grateful to Shaun Beaver, whose great grandfather was James’ younger brother, for sharing details about his family history.

James Beaver was born 17 June 1856 in Rutland, the son of labourer Matthew Beaver and his wife Elizabeth (née Tyler). He was baptised in Oakham, Rutland, on 13 July 1856. Matthew had apparently been imprisoned for larceny and also fined in October 1857 for damaging a tree belonging to the local vicar, Rev. H. Finch.19 In fact, Matthew’s name appears in the local Petty Sessions listings several more times for minor offences.

The family moved to Huddersfield at some point after 1861 and it seems feasible that Matthew was a labourer working on the construction of the branch line, which would help explain why young James was given work. Apparently several boys were employed on the line and James had been beaten for a minor misdemeanour prior to the accident.

Young James Beaver was buried in the graveyard of St. Paul’s in Armitage Bridge on 30 January 1868.20 Sadly, James’ family could only afford the burial and his unmarked plot is shown in the centre of this photograph:

jb03

April 1868: Landslip

Although the exact date isn’t given by the Chronicle, an article published on 25 April 1868 detailed a landslip and rockfall which resulted in some heavy boulders rolling down and blocking the line near Woodfield House. Due to their size, it had been decided to resort to blasting the boulders into small rocks, but Bentley Shaw, the owner of Woodfield House, obtained an injunction to halt the work.

Unable to proceed with work, the railway company entered into negotiations with Shaw and it would seem they insured him against any damage to Woodfield House and paid for him to temporarily relocate his family to Harrogate. Blasting resumed on 21 April.

On 16 May, the Chronicle reported that work was nearing completion and that the side of the cutting was “being sloped off from the top, which it is expected will have the effect of stopping any more falls from the wood”.

22/Sep/1868: Derailment

The line had finally opened to goods traffic in August 1868 but would soon close temporarily. However, before the closure, an accident was reported at Meltham towards the end of September:21

RAILWAY ACCIDENT

A slight accident occurred at the Meltham Station on Tuesday. It seems a number of coal trucks were being moved on the line near the coal shoots, when the trucks being pushed too far several of them dropped off the line on to the road below and were smashed. No personal injury was sustained.

01/Oct/1868: Closure of the Line

Following another landslip in the cutting behind Woodfield House, goods trains were suspended on the line. Keen to ensure it could not happen again, the railway engineers proposed that a giant retaining wall should be constructed measuring 150 yards long and 40 feet high, with a thickness of 10 feet, to hold the hillside above the cutting in place. The Chronicle reported that it was doubtful the line would re-open until the end of the year.22

Nearly 150 years later, the impressive sloping retaining wall (seen on the left of this photograph) continues to hold the hillside, and Beaumont Park above it, in place:

railway3b

26/Nov/1868: Accident to Labourer

Around noon on Thursday 26 November 1868, an unnamed Irish labourer was working in the cutting behind Woodfield House, north of Butternab Tunnel, when he became accidentally trapped between two ballast wagons. He was taken to Huddersfield Infirmary where it was reported he was being treated for internal injuries.23

December 1868: Landslips

The Huddersfield Chronicle (12/Dec/1868) reported that “the heavy and incessant rains” had caused several landslips, including a serious one which appears to have occurred near to Folly Dolly Falls where much of the six foot high railway embankment had collapsed, leaving the rails hanging across the gap.


Having invested so much in the line, it seems the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway weren’t prepared to admit defeat and during the early part of 1869 redoubled their efforts to get the line open again.

Formal inspections in May and June 1869 proved favourable and, on 5 July 1869, the first passenger service to run on the line left Huddersfield Station.

It’s perhaps worth noting that this relatively short 3½ mile long branch line took 5 years to build — roughly the same length of time it took them to build the Huddersfield to Penistone Line, which was a roughly four times longer and required several viaducts and lengthy tunnels.

Details of the incidents that occurred during the 1870s and 1880s are covered in this blog post. Incidents from 1890 onwards are covered in this blog post.

Cutting the First Sod of the Meltham Branch Line (April 1864)

The ceremonial cutting of the first sod of the Meltham Branch Line occurred on 4 April 1864 at around 3pm on a miserable rainy afternoon in Meltham and took place at a location named as “Gill-up rudes”, which I’ve yet to find on any period map.

However, based on the description given below, it may have been somewhere near where Low Cote Mill once stood.1 I’m going to take a complete stab in the dark and say it may have happened somewhere around here…

According to the local newspaper write-up of the ceremony, around a thousand people attended the event, including a number of local dignitaries and business owners. The sod of earth was cut by Charles Brook, a well-known and much-liked local businessman who reportedly knew most of his 2,000 employees by sight.

The article is of importance as it details the planned route of the branch line:

The contemplated line will be […] about 3½ miles long, and will be a single line, the total cost being estimated at £70,000, or £20,000 per mile. It will commence at the Huddersfield end of the Lockwood viaducts, passing behind Woodfield House, the residence of Bentley Shaw, Esq., by a deep cutting about half a-mile in length, the average depth of which is 40 feet, and then proceeding by a tunnel 200 yards long, through rock, under “Butternab.” This tunnel will be followed by an embankment 200 yards long and 80 feet deep, passing by a culvert over the stream that runs down to Armitage Fold, then passing through a small cutting and approaching Netherton through a small tunnel, from which it will emerge on to another embankment 60 feet high ; then through a tunnel of rock and shale 335 yards long, ending in a cutting a quarter of a mile in length. It then passes along an embankment the whole length of the “big valley,” behind Healey House. The average height of the embankment will be 20 feet, and it will be fully half a mile in length. It next traverses a small tunnel about 30 yards in length, under the grounds of Healey House, then through a shale cutting a third of a mile long, averaging 25 feet in depth, and then proceeds forward by an embankment half a mile long, averaging 20 feet high, crossing the Lockwood and Meltham turnpike road by a skew bridge 36 feet span and 16 feet high on to “Gill-up rudes,” the place where the sod was lifted, passing on to the terminus at Meltham proper, just below the church, where will be the station. A short branch will diverge at “Gill-up rudes,” passing under the grounds of Meltham Hall by an open cutting, winch will afterwards be arched over, then filled up level, then by small cuttings and embankments on to Meltham Mills, the whole length of the branch being 700 yards. The Railway Company will construct the first 300 yards of this line to the end of their boundary lines of deviation, and Messrs. Brook the remainder. Another short branch will join the main line near where the sod was taken up, and run to the silk mills at present occupied by Messrs. Ainley and Taylor. The gradients will be 1 in 60 at one part, 1 in 120 at another, the remaining small portion being level. It is expected that the line will be completed in less than two years, the company being compelled to have it working before the expiration of five years from obtaining the act, which received the royal assent in June, 1861.

As noted in the description, the original intention had been to have a spur branch off from the line — at the elusive “Gill-up rudes” — which would then run down to Meltham Mills. Ultimately this was abandoned, apparently due to the cost of the necessary earthworks.2

If anyone local knows where “Gill-up rudes” might have been, please leave a message! The mystery of “Glll-up rudes” has been solved — see below!

As a side note, almost exactly a year later, Charles Brook organised a large tea party for the navvies working on the line which ended with a magic lantern show presented by J.W. Carlile.


Update: 25 May 2015

When I posted this, I couldn’t find any references anywhere to the elusive “Gill-up Rudes” where the ceremony took place. I suspect now this is because the location retained its name to the locals but, over the years, the exact spelling was forgotten.

Joseph Hughes’ 1866 book, The History of the Township of Meltham, contains a description of the Meltham boundary:

First. The East end of one close called Bentylee and from the said Bentylee following the water to Gylloproyd Dyke, and from the said Gylloproyd Dyke unto the East end of old Helme, and from the said East end of old Helme unto Wykenforth ford…

From that, and an 1892 map of the area which shows the boundary line, the boundary description begins near Bent Ley Mills and goes anticlockwise up to Helme. Between those two particular locations is the stream which flows over Folly Dolly Falls and then runs into Hall Dyke, so it would seem that Gylloproyd Dyke is the old (and long forgotten) name for that stream.

Therefore, the elusive location of the sod cutting ceremony — and also that of the planned spur to Meltham Mills — was somewhere near to Folly Dolly Falls. That also happens to be near to where Meltham Mills Halt (also known as Spink Station) was later built when the spur was abandoned.

As for the name, “Gyllop” is sometimes used in old texts to mean “gallop”, and a “royd” is a cleared area of ground. So, perhaps this was once an area made suitable for galloping on horseback?

The Cost of Beaumont Park (December 1883)

beaumont4

After the formalities of handing over Dungeon Wood for the creation of Beaumont Park in May 1880, work began in earnest on planning and layout out the park, making safe the more dangerous parts of the wood, and constructing the various buildings and facilities.

beaumont4

Initially, a figure of around £5,000 was mooted as the total cost for opening the park. However, as work progressed, the costs kept on rising.

By July 1882, the Borough Accountant had submitted a statement of expenditure stating the sum spent to date was £9,418 11s. 1d.

By January 1884, it was reported at a Town Council meeting that the total costs were now £22,495 8s. 6d., and some Councillors voiced concerns that this was now in excess of £1,000 per acre of land.1

In December 1883, the Huddersfield Chronicle published a breakdown of the cost for the year ending 31 August 1883, as reported in the Borough Fund Account:2

£s.d.
W.J. Dunderdale, Charges, re Plan of Park12125
Tenants’ Compensation0146
Advertising and Cab Hire356
ROADS
Coventry Art Metal Co., Palisading (balance)32336
Manual Labour and Teamwork705115
Stone and Dross84159
Coal, Oil, and Sundries1497
LODGE
Manual Labour and Teamwork355
Stone and Bricks3102
Timber and Joiners’ Work123185
Plumbers’ Work3884
Plasterers’ Work7370
Spoating, £10 15s. 6d. ; Iron Fixtures, &c., £11 3s. 3d.2192
LAYING OUT
Manual Labour and Teamwork5,257102
Timber, Iron, Tools, &c.3231611
Joiners’ and Plumbers’ Work, &c.19123
Stone, Lime, Cement, &c.28802
Pot Pipes, £198 19s. ; Iron Pipes, &c., £17 8s. 7d.21677
Coal, Tar and Oil291710
Plants, £216 2s. 2d. ; Seats, £63 2s.27942
R.L. Lowe, Concreting Lakes (on account)16000
W. Goodwin and Sons, Slaters’ Work at Band Stand (on account)2800
T. Longbottom and Sons, Concreting at Band Stand (on account)7190
£8,197183

In modern terms, this reported annual cost was around £1,000,000.

A separate Chronicle opinion piece gave the total cost of Beaumont Park by 31 August 1883 as £18,328 18s. 11d. They then bemoaned the fact that the land value of Dungeon Wood was likely only £1,500.

Whilst this was indeed a sizable amount of money, they noted that the total expenditure on Greenhead Park so far was £37,338 16s. 6d.

From 1884 onwards, the Beaumont Park Committee came under increasing pressure from the Town Council — particularly Councillor Chrispin — to ensure the park was completed as prudently as possible.

The Beaumont Park Committee

Mr. Henry F. Beaumont (1833–1913), of the Whitley Beaumont estate and Crosland Hall, South Crosland, had initially offered in May 1879 an area of land around 30 acres in the Crosland Moor area for conversion into Huddersfield’s first public park.1

25, John William Street, Huddersfield, May 17th, 1879.

To Joseph Batley, Esq., Town Clerk.

Dear Sir.

I am directed by Henry Fredk. Beaumont, Esq. of Whitley Beaumont, to ask you whether or not the Corporation of Huddersfield are willing to accept from him the gift of a portion of Crosland Moor, containing an area of not less than 30 acres, for the purpose of a public park and recreation ground. Mr. Beaumont would offer the land in its present state, without contributing anything towards laying it out as a park, and would probably ask the Corporation to surround such park with a public road, where such public road does not now exist. If such a gift is acceptable to the Corporation, I will, on receiving your intimation to that effect, make you a more definite offer, and Mr. Beaumont will meet the Mayor and such committee or deputation as may be desirable upon the ground. Before receiving your reply it does not appear necessary to enter into details, and I shall, therefore, be glad to hear from you as soon as possible, whether or not Mr. Beaumont’s offer is entertained by the Corporation.

I am, dear sir, yours, respectfully,
W.J. DUNDERDALE.

The Huddersfield Chronicle provided much coverage of the offer and stated that, “May we not confidently assert that Huddersfield, for the first time since Doomsday, has had the gift of thirty acres of land?”

Although the Huddersfield Corporation were keen to take up the offer, and indeed toured the proposed site in early June, it was felt the location was too remote and inaccessible.2 The area of Dungeon Wood, a steep-sided wood which ran along the western side of Meltham Road towards Big Valley, had previously been mooted as a possible location for a park as early as 1866. By mid-July, the Corporation had persuaded Beaumont to donate that instead.3

At a meeting held on 8 August 1879, the mayor proposed that Beaumont’s offer be accepted:

MR. BEAUMONT’S OFFER OF A PARK FOR HUDDERSFIELD.

ACCEPTANCE BY THE CORPORATION.

A committee of the whole Council was held last evening, under the presidency of the Mayor, when the offer of H.F. Beaumont, Esq., J.P., of Whitley Beaumont, of a Park at Dungeon Wood, Lockwood, was brought forward, on the report of the special sub-committee appointed to consider the offer. Upon the motion of the Mayor, seconded by the ex-Mayor, It was almost unanimously resolved to accept Mr. Beaumont’s offer. The land which will be thus acquired by the Corporation covers 25½ acres, of which five will be required for roads. The whole of Dungeon Wood will be taken in from the commencement of Starling End to the end of Butter Nab. It is proposed to bound the upper side of the new Park with a road ten yards wide, which will extend from Starling End to Butternab. Butternab Lane will be widened from six to ten yards, from its junction with Woodside Road to its termination at Batternab. Other roads will be constructed upon the property effecting junctions with Dryclough Lane and Moorend Road. A portion of the site is in the township of South Crosland and the rest is in Lockwood. With the exception of four fields the whole of the site is woodland, and from the terrace overlooking the Meltham branch line of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway a magnificent view may be obtained. The entire coat to the Corporation of making the roads. &c., stipulated for will be £4,153, which it is estimated will be covered by an annual rate of one-sixth of a penny in the pound, spread over the whole co the borough.

We cordially congratulate the inhabitants of Huddersfield upon the acquisition of a Park, and doubt not that they will duly appreciate the generosity of the donor, as well as approve of the stops taken by their municipal representatives.

Huddersfield Chronicle (09/Aug/1879)

By November that year, a Deed of Conveyance had been signed and a ceremonial handover took place on Saturday 29 May 1880 in which Mrs. Beaumont cut the first sod of earth. A council meeting which occurred previously on Wednesday 19 May 1880 had confirmed that the park would be named the “Beaumont Park” and a rather flowery opinion piece in the Chronicle (21/May/1880) lamented that apparent delays between Beaumont’s offer and the handover, although the newspaper’s claim that the park could have been ready and opened for the summer of 1880 was certainly naïve!4

As soon as Beaumont made his initial offer, the Town Council had appointed a subcommittee to liaise with him and to progress the project. With the handover ceremony complete, the Beaumont Park Committee was formed (by a resolution passed by the council on 16 June) to oversee the planning and development of Dungeon Wood.

A meeting of the committee took place on 22 June 1880 and the minutes recorded that the members were “the Mayor, Aldermen Woodhead, Brigg, Denham, Crossland, J. Vickerman, J. Haigh, W. Hirst, Marriott, Sykes, and Schofield (S)”, with the Mayor presiding. It was reported that Mr. Beaumont’s estate agent, Mr. Dunderdale, had a recent large-scale survey of Dungeon Wood in his possession and the committee resolved to obtain a copy so that they could begin planning roads, paths and fences.

As the work progressed over the following months and years, concerns began to increase over the total cost of the park to the town and this became a contentious issue between some of the councillors at the Town Council meetings. Councillor Chrispin, in particular, was an outspoken critic of what he regarded as the excesses of the Beaumont Park Committee and their inability to reign in the costs of developing the park. However, the Chronicle did later note that the expenditure to date on Greenhead Park had exceeded £32,000.5

The Huddersfield Chronicle regularly summarised the meetings and the following gives an overview of the issues and progress, along with other notable events. The date shown is that of the meeting or event.

26/Sep/1880

The area that had been previously cleared and laid out for the sod cutting ceremony was used again on the morning of Sunday 26 September 1880 for the commencement of the annual Honley Feast.6 The temporary stand housed around 250 vocalists and 50 musicians, and it was estimated some 5,000 people attended the event. The event began at 7:15am with the singing of the hymn “Come Let Us Join Our Cheerful Songs” and was followed by a selection of choruses from Handel’s “Messiah”. Afterwards, the choir and musicians were given refreshments in Lockwood Town Hall.7

18/Mar/1881

Plans were considered for how existing roads would be affected by the park, particularly Hanson Lane and Moor End Road.

05/Jul/1881

The Districts, Highways and Improvements Committee accepted a proposal to name the road which was to be built at the top of the park, “Beaumont Park Road”.

11/Aug/1881

Plans for an entrance at Dryclough were abandoned and a new site was chosen for the main entrance gate and lodge house.8 The committee visited Butternab Road to view progress. It was agreed that they would advertise for “competitive designs” for the layout of the park.

13/Dec/1881

The Borough Surveyor reported that the building of Beaumont Park Road was nearing completion and that the project to widen Butternab Road was progressing well.

10/Jan/1882

The Borough Surveyor reported that he felt all the roads for the park would be completed by June.

07/Feb/1882

It was reported workmen had begun fixing the balustrade along the Butternab Road frontage. The Borough Surveyor stated that he was nearly ready to submit his layout for the park.

23/Feb/1882

A deputation from the Huddersfield Naturalists’ Society attended and applied for “some part of the Park to be reserved for the society as a section for the culture of aquatic and other plants”. This was agreed and suitable spaces were marked on the map.

A small group, including the Mayor and Borough Surveyor, were deputised to visit a park in Rotherham which was reported to be “composed to a certain extent of rocks”.

Finally, it was agreed to approach the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company to see if the land above the northern entrance to Butternab Tunnel could be used as part of the Park.

13/Apr/1882

It was resolved that “the fence forming the boundary the boundary of the park along the lower or deferred line of road from Butternab to the tunnel be a dry stone wall with lined tops instead of palisading.”

09/May/1882

The Borough Surveyor reported that good progress had been made on laying out the park and that 36 men were currently employed on the work.

05/Jul/1882

The Executive Subcommittee paid a visit to the park and inspected work on the new entrance lodge before walking over to the Butternab end of the park where they found that work laying out the artificial lake was progressing well. The Borough Surveyor submitted a plan for the proposed band pavilion and it was approved.

11/Jul/1882

The Borough Accountant submitted a statement of expenditure which showed the amount spent to date was £9,418 11s. 1d. An article in the Chronicle (29/Jul/1882) raised concerns that so much had been spent yet very little of the appeared to have been in layout of the various paths and areas for the public.

08/Aug/1882

The Borough Surveyor reported good progress and that the roof was currently being added to the entrance lodge. The number of men employed was now 40.

11/Sep/1882

Having been granted space in the park, the Huddersfield Naturalists’ Society met at Victoria Hall to discuss how they should proceed with the proposed botanic garden.

29/Sep/1882

The committee met at the park where they were pleased with the progress at the Butternab entrance. It was reported that Messrs. R. Whiteley and Nephew had tendered for the construction of the band stand at a cost of £139.9

10/Oct/1882

The District Surveyor reported that he had purchased 250 rhododendron trees at cost of just over 82 shillings from Mr. Lister Kershaw.10 It was also reported that the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company had agreed to lease the land above Butternab Tunnel to the Huddersfield Corporate at a cost of £1 per year.

95 men were now employed to work on the park.

The Tramway

A new tramway from Huddersfield to Lockwood was opened on 11 January 1883. Rather than terminate at Lockwood Bar, the line ran a further half mile along Meltham Road to a terminus at Dungeon Cottages, where a route up to a lower park entrance was planned. Although this proved popular and meant that a Meltham Branch Line station in Dungeon Wood was superfluous, a decision was taken in 1901 to dismantle the extension and site the terminus back in Lockwood.

10/Jul/1883

It was resolved to purchase 20 extras seats for the park, along with iron vases.

122 men where now employed in the park.

13/Oct/1883: The Official Opening

The official opening ceremony for Beaumont Park was conducted by the youngest son of Queen Victoria, HRH Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany, and his wife Princess Helene, Duchess of Albany.11

A formal procession of around 4,000 people, which stretched for a mile and half, travelled from Huddersfield to the park, although the combination of cars, elaborate floats, horses, marching bands and people walking meant that parts of the parade moved at different speeds. Soon the carefully planned procession had descended into chaos, much to the delight of the thousands of spectators lining the route.

The most detailed newspaper description of the event was printed in the Huddersfield Chronicle (15/Oct/1883).

07/Dec/1883

The release of the Borough Fund Accounts gives the Chronicle the opportunity to show the annual breakdown of costs for Beaumont Park.

16/Jan/1884

At the monthly meeting of the Town Council, Councillor Crispin raised concerns at the amount of money thus far spent on Beaumont Park — £22,495 8s. 6d. — and the negative publicity this was generating, given that only two-thirds of the work was complete. After much debating, it was finally agreed that a sum of £2,500 would be made available to finish the work.

It also was noted that the spend equated to over £1,000 per acre of park. In today’s terms, that equates to over £100,000 per acre with a total cost in excess of £2,000,000.

12/Feb/1884

It was reported that Mr. Gilbert D. Winter had made a gift of two swans for the lake in the park, and that they had been received since the last meeting and were doing well.12

21/Feb/1884

It was resolved that the balustrade “which had been constructed near the lake, and overlooking the railway tunnel” be extended to prevent accidents.

The Borough Surveyor was instructed to procure 20,000 primroses and 5,000 daffodils for planting in the park and to erect signs prohibiting dogs from entering the park unless they were under control.

45 men were working on the site.

09/Apr/1884

It was agreed to purchase a roller and lawn mower for the park and a resolution banning the sale of refreshments in the park on Sundays was passed.

In a separate Town Council meeting, letters of condolence to Queen Victoria and to the Duchess of Albany on the event of the death of HRH Prince Leopold, who had opened the park only a few months before, were drafted and approved.

13/Jun/1884

69 men were now employed at the park and their average weekly wages amounted to £71.

It was resolved to obtain tenders for 50 more seats and benches for the park and a letter from the Huddersfield Temperance Brass Band offering to play in the park during the summer evenings was considered.

24/Jul/1884

The committee met at the Town Hall and proceeded by special tram car to the stop at Dungeon Wood. From there, they walked up the path to entrance next to the Meltham Branch Line bridge. They found considerable progress had been made and the work was of a satisfactory nature.

They than considered a proposal to build a refreshment room in the park and it was proposed the Borough Surveyor draw up a plan for their approval.

Concerns were raised at the number of “rabbits and other ground game” in the park and the damage they were doing. It was proposed that a “gun be purchased and a licence procured for the purpose of killing the ground game”.

The committee also agreed to the purchase of music stands for the band stand and that glasshouses be erected for the propagating of plants.

15/Aug/1884

Initial plans for the refreshment rooms were approved and the Borough Surveyor was asked to complete them and estimate the costs.

10/Oct/1884

57 men were now working in the park.

The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company had consented to greenhouses being built on a strip of their land, at a cost of 5 shillings a year. However, the company had also complained that water was flowing from the park onto their railway line and the Borough Surveyor was asked to investigate.

16/Oct/1884

The site for the refreshment rooms was agreed and it was resolved that they should cost no more than £800.

12/Jun/1885

Six tenders had been submitted for the concrete work required to “complete the roof and floors” of the refreshment rooms. They were considered and John Cooke of Folly Hall was awarded the job.13

A discussion took place around the issue of asking the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company to consider building a station “at a place convenient to the park”.14

16/Dec/1885

Once again the issue of the cost of Beaumont Park was raised at a Town Council meeting. Previously, it had been agreed that a limit of £2,500 was to be placed on completing the park and later the sum of £800 had been approved for the refreshment rooms. However, it was reported that a further £4,234 had been spent to date, although this figure was later contested.

Councillor Chrispin was particularly critical of what he saw as being the excesses of the Beaumont Park Committee and the heated debate appears to have tried the patience of the Mayor.

12/Mar/1886

It was agreed that park gardener be allowed the sum of £4 a year to purchase seeds.

26/May/1886

Tenders were accepted for various jobs required to finish the refreshment rooms.

11/Jun/1886

Arrangements were made for live music in the park every Thursday evening and a request for a pay rise from the park superintendent, Andrew Paterson, was turned down.

29/Jul/1886

The refreshment rooms — now dubbed “The Castle” — inspected and found satisfactory, although it was proposed that a lightning conductor should be fitted to the building.

It was noted that members of the public had been damaging plants and flowers in the park and that notices should be posted to discourage such behaviour.

04/Mar/1887

A gift of two swans from the Central Wards Committee were accepted with thanks.

07/Apr/1887

A tender from Mr. F. Maffin for the erection of a propagating house and potting shed (“not including heating apparatus”) was accepted.15

08/Jul/1887

The park superintendent, Andrew Paterson, had again applied for a pay rise and this time it was accepted. His salary was increased from 25 to 30 shillings a week and he was allowed to continue to live rent-free at the park’s entrance lodge.

03/Aug/1888

The tender of Mr. C.H. Carney “for the supply and fixing of the iron gates for the entrance to the park near Meltham Road” was accepted.

These are presumably the gates which still exist at the park’s lower entrance:

beaumont2

06/Sep/1888

It was recommended that the Town Clerk write to the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company to inform them that water was dripping from the railway bridge onto the path near the Meltham Road park entrance. It was also suggested that the company may wish to plant flowers on the railway embankment to make it more attractive to park visitors.

A tender from Messrs. H. Cross and Son for the painting the iron palisading gates in the park was approved

Finally, it was resolved that a fence should be placed around the tree planted by the Duchess of Albany at the park’s opening ceremony and a “brass plate or painted board” be fixed to indicate the importance of said tree.

07/Dec/1888

Purchase of six iron plates detailing the bye-laws for the park were approved, to be fixed in suitable locations.

08/Feb/1889

It was agreed that the Town Clerk should write to Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company and to Mr. H.F. Beaumont “as to the desirability of planting with trees the railway embankment abutting Meltham Road, and the land on each side of the roadway leading from Meltham Road to the park entrance”.

This was seemingly agreed by the parties involved, as the route is indeed lined by trees:

beaumont3

03/Apr/1890

The estimate for the annual cost of running the park, submitted by the Borough Accountant, was agreed and the Finance Committee was requested to include the sum of £550 in their budget for the next financial year.

06/Jun/1890

The tender of Mr. H.B. Kendall for “painting and varnishing seats” in the park was approved.16

07/Aug/1890

The committee approved a plan to lay a pipe to provide a drinking water fountain near the children’s playground.

18/Jun/1891

The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company was once again approached regarding the planting of trees near the Meltham Road entrance and a previous decision to plant the railway embankment with shrubs was changed to the planting of seeds instead.

The park superintendent, Andrew Paterson, received a pay increase from 30 to 35 shillings a week.

Decisions were also made to approach the railway company with the suggestion of building a station at the western end of the park and to engage bands to play one evening a week during the summer months. The Payments Committee later agreed to that, on the proviso that not more than £30 should be spent per annum on live music in each park.

It was later reported that the railway company replied on 15 July to say that they were considering the suggestion.

16/Dec/1891

At a Town Council meeting, it was apparently decided that the Beaumont Park Committee should be combined with the Greenhead Park Committee to form a general committee responsible for the town’s parks and this appears to be the last reference in the Chronicle to the Beaumont Park Committee.

In one final swan song (apologies for the pun!), it was noted at the same meeting that two swans from Greenhead Park were to be transferred to Beaumont Park and that one of the swans from the latter should be sold.


Andrew Paterson, who is mentioned above, was born around 1836 in Scotland. His wife, Margaret, was born in Durham and they married sometime around 1869. She died between the 1901 and 1911 Censuses.

Andrew’s name was recorded by local newspapers as both “Patterson” and “Pattison” and the 1871 Census names him as “Abraham Patterson” — at that time, he was a domestic gardener at Dog Kennels (this is a house situated on Dog Kennel Bank Lane, Almondbury, where it is believed the hunting dogs of Longley Hall were looked after).

They had one daughter, Mary Ellen Paterson, who was born around 1871 in Kirkheaton and was living with her father as a spinster in the lodge at the park when then the 1911 Census was taken. Mary Ellen worked as a dressmaker. It is currently unknown what happened to Mary Ellen after her father’s death.


Sources and Further Reading: