General View of Birstall

Not posted

The ancient parish of Birstall comprised the eight townships of Cleckheaton, Drighlington, Gomersal, Heckmondwike, Hunsworth, Liversedge, Tong and Wike. Although Tong was officially part of the parish its records were kept separately. In addition to the townships there were several villages or hamlets including, Adwalton, Birstall, Great and Little Gomersal, Stubley, Littletown, Robertown, Long Liversedge, Heaton, Okenshay, Moore Lawe, Doghouse, Scholes, and Berkonshay. While the village of Birstall gave its name to the parish, it was actually a part of the township of Gomersal.

The main church, St Peter's was situated on the eastern boundary of the parish close to Batley. The parish records started in 1558, the first year of the reign of Elizabeth. However, they are sparse and contain many gaps until the 1700s.

Based on a comparison of the numbers of baptisms, marriages and burials in the parish around 1650 the population of the parish is estimated to have been 2500 people. At the time of the Archbishop's visit to Birstall parish in 1743, there were 9000 people in the parish. It is believed that the increase in the population was partly due to an influx from other parishes.

Birstall church A.D. 1830

Birstall church A.D. before 1865

Birstall church A.D. before 1865

Not posted

Compare this photo with that of the print above and the postcard following. Notice the changes in the center window of the church.

Birstall Church after 1865

Posted 1906

The old church was repaired in 1851. In 1865 the need arose to enlarge the church.

"But a careful examination proved that the whole structure was too dilapidated for restoration. The fabric was unsafe. The ground had been shaken by the falling in of old coal workings; the pillars has sunk partly owing to the weight of the galleries, partly by the sinking of old burial vaults, with which the floor was honey-combed."

A History of the Ancient Parish of Birstall, H.C. Cradock, M.A. (1933)

This postcard was posted in 1908

Parish Chruch Birstall

Not posted.

The Church in August 2008 as photographed by David C. Beaumont

East Window, Birstall Church

Not posted.

The entrance is to the right of this photo.

Several of the Land/Sykes ancestors were baptized in the old church in Birstall Parish.

Notice that most of the tombstones visible in the 1928 photo are now missing. They were removed to the graveyard across the street. There were a few still remaining including the one in the foreground.

The church was closed when we visited in June 2002.

Postmarked 1905

1932

Compare with the next picture taken in 2002. The graves on this side of the church have also been moved.

No date

Parish Chruch Birstall, April 2008

(From a painting by the late Mr. T. P. Frost)

Interior of the parish church, Birstall. Not posted

Interior of the parish church, Birstall. Posted in Gomersal 1909

Interior of the parish church, Birstall. Not posted

The Black Bull Inn, August 2008 as photographed by David C. Beaumont.

The Blanck Bull Inn is on Kirkgate across from the church.

A grave marker from:

"The church yard on the left side of the church looking uphill to the Public House."

David C Beaumont, April 2008

A view of the graveyard from the west lawn of the parish church, 2002.

The church tower is in the background.

In the foreground are some of the stones that were moved from the east side of the church.

The stone closest to the bottom of the photo is the memorial stone of George Stell Sykes, his wife, Sarah Walker Sykes, and three of their children. To see a close-up of the stone go to The Sykes Memorial Stone

The old gate entrance to Birstall Cemetery.

The 1800' Cemetery Yard.

"This photo is was taken in late July 2008 from the old cemetery main path near the old gate enterance oposite the Birstall parish church. The older gate enterance is just below the entrance that is currently used. As one walks the path from the gate enterance you can visualize the old quality of those long forgotton days. Too the right of the path is where the locals say the old churchyard gravestones are buried. (Others say the old stones were sold.)"

David Beaumont

Market Place Birstall. Posted 1907 Birstall.

The Market Place, Village of Birstall, circa 1920

The Market Place, Village of Birstall, not dated

The statue of Joseph Priestley was erected in 1912. Joseph Priestley was a scientist and clergyman who discovered oxygen and invented soda water. Priestley, born in Birstall parish on March 13, 1733, was the eldest of six children of a local cloth dresser.

This photo was taken at the corner of the Market Place in village of Birstall looking in the same direction as the 1920 photo above.

Low Lane, Birstall

Posted 1910

Low Lane goes off to the left and Middlegate (in the center of the photo) heads towards the township of Drighlington and the village of Adwalton.

Middlegate is to the extreme left of the photo.

Low Lane continues from the village of Birstall across Bradford Road to Kirkgate, where the Birstall Parish church stands.

Cambridge Road, Birstall. Not posted

Cambridge Road does not appear on the 1908 Ordnance Survey map of Birstall. It is shown on a contemporary map of Birstall off Bradford Road Just west of Kirkgate.

Temperance Hall, Birstall

A & J Graham in Birstall Where they Ka Quite identifies this image as "looking towards Smithies from Temperance Chapel".

"Smithes" she says was at the the intersection of Bradford Road and Huddersfield Road and is now commonly called "Birstall Crossroads".

"where they ka quite" means where they keep quite according to A & J Graham

To see more photos by Andy Graham go to THEURBANGLOW

Bristall Methodist Church

"This is the old nation school (not sure on date, will relook next visit. Think it is 1868). It is now used as an industrial store and its end wall is knock out.:

David Beaumont

Unknown House

Addressed to Mrs J Jubb, 69 Church Street, Birstall, but not posted.

The family of James Law and Susannah Crossley, the great-grandparents of Benjamin Law, lived in the village of Adwalton from 1693 to 1721.

Sykes ancestors were in Adwalton as far back as 1797. The censuses indicate that the Sykes lived on "Wakefield Turnpike Road" in an area "comprising all the Houses and cottages on both sides of the Turnpike leading from Adwalton to Gildersome Street".

The Walkers were in Adwalton by 1841, when their son, Jem, was baptized in the Birstall Parish Church. The census also indicate that they lived very near the Sykes also on the "Wakefield Turnpike Road" in an area "comprising all the Houses and cottages on both sides of the Turnpike leading from Adwalton to Gildersome Street".

Drighlington was mentioned in the Doomsday book (1086) as Drelintone. The villages of Adwalton and Drighlington date to Saxon times.

Adwalton

Not posted

A few miles north of the village of Birstall in the the township of Drighlington is the village of Adwalton.

As with everywhere else in the area, most of the house were new. There were, however, a few older looking places along Wakefield Road.

There was a sparse but continuous number of older looking houses along the way.

The next three photos were all taken on a stretch of the Wakefield Road that has become a dead-end. The road used to continue on to Wakefield. This is the point where the old road from Bradford to Wakefield crossed the old road from Huddersfield to Leeds. Today there is a Junction of the M62 Motorway.

This short section of the old Wakefield Road is now labeled "Bradford Road" on the map.

Less than a mile back up the Wakefield Road is the village of Adwalton. On the other side of the junction of M62 is the the village of Gildersome Street.

Since this group of houses are clearly older than most in the area and they lie exactly as described in the censuses, this could be the area of Adwalton where the Sykes and Walkers lived.

Adwalton Moor was site of a famous battle of the English Civil War on June 30th 1643.

Fairs

Adwalton was granted a charter to hold sheep and cattle fairs in Elizabethan times. The Adwalton cattle fairs were among the most important in Yorkshire until sometime after 1815 when the Wakefield Cattle Fair became more prominent. The fairs were originally held on 26th February, Thursdays in Easter and Whitsun weeks, and every alternate Thursday from then until September 29th. Later they were held on February 6, March 9, November 5, and December 23.

Note: Whitsunday is Pentecost (The seventh Sunday after Easter)

National Gazetteer 1868

"DRIGHLINGTON, a township or chapelry in the parish of Birstall, wapentake of Morley, in the West Riding of the county of York, 5 miles S.E. of Bradford, and 6 S.W. of Leeds, its post town. It contains the hamlet of Adwalton. The Leeds, Bradford, and Halifax Junction railway has stations both at Drighlington and Adwalton. The village is pleasantly situated on elevated ground, near the junction of the Leeds and Wakefield roads. There are malting, worsted, spinning, and cloth manufactories. The land is chiefly in pasture, and there are several collieries. The living is a perpetual curacy in the diocese of Ripon, value £84, in the patronage of J. Hague, Esq. The charities consist of an endowment of £60 per annum to the free school, founded by Archbishop Margetson, in 1678, who was a native of this place. The Wesleyans, Primitive Methodists, and New Connexion Methodists have each a chapel. John Hague, Esq., is lord of the manor. Fairs at Adwalton are held on the 6th February, 9th March, 5th November, 23rd December, and on the Thursday in Easter and Whitsun weeks, mostly for cattle."

www.genuki.org.uk BIRSTALL: Geographical and Historical information from the year 1868.

According to James Parker in Illustrated History from Hipperholme to Tong, 1904 there were two mills in Drighlington: Moorland Mill and New Mill both "cloth manufacturers". When did they open?

Julia Vaughn wrote in October 2005 to say that the 1894 Ordnance Survey map listed

1. Moorland Mill, worsted and corn
2. New Mill, worsted, located to the north west of Adwalton Moor between the moor and the turnpike road next to a place called Wasps nest.

Adwalton

For information on the village of Adwalton go to Adwalton , now or at the bottom of the page.

King Street Drighlington. Posted 1907

Wakefield Road, Drighlington. Not posted

Multi view post card Drighlington

Bell Chapel

The Bell Chapel or Chapel of Ease was located just south of the present parish church:

"James Sykes, the Lord of the manor, provided the first place of worship in Drighlington. The village, being a district within the Parish of Birstall, St. Peter, was served by the Incumbent of Birstall and his assistant, but there was no chapel of ease. From 1742 the Moravians had had a centre at Adwalton, and in 1783 the aforementioned James Sykes built a chapel for them which was used as a preaching place by the Moravians from Fulneck. It does not seemed to have prospered, as later, it was used by Baptists from Gildersome. Eventually, however, James Sykes became a churchman and he handed the chapel over to the Church of England in 1813 on condition that the advowson was vested in him and his heirs."

St Paul's Drighlington Centenary 1878-1978

The chapel had one aisle, a nave and chancel and one bell.

The population was 2,740; acreage 1,130; chief landowner John Hague. The principal trades were shoemaking, worsted spinning, brickmaking, brass-refining, machine card making, matting and coal-mining..... There was no Sunday School.

St Paul's Drighlington Centenary 1878-1978

Drighlington Church from Whitehall Road

Consecrated Friday April 26, 1878.

St Paul's Church of England, Drighlington Church from the multi view post card Drighlington. St Pauls is located on Back Lane just off Whitehall Road.

From the multi view post card Drighlington

Whitehall Road, Drighlington - from the multi view post card Drighlington

Whitehall Raod - from the multi view post card Drighlington

Whitehall Road - from the multi view post card.

Adwalton Junction.

See Lost Railways of West Yorkshire for more images of trains and for the routes of the various lines in West Yorkshire.

Gomersall was a township that included several hamlets or villages. The parish records list the following sections for Gomersall: Gomersall, Little Gomersall, Gomersall Hill Top, and Popeley.

Gomersall Hill Top is a village located in the parish of Birstall about a mile west (Up Church Lane) from the parish church in the village of Birstall and about a mile and a half from the town of Batley.

Popeley lies on the slope between the Birstall parish church and Gomersall Hill Top.

The village of "Gomersall" is down the hill just north of Gomersall Hill Top.

Gomersall, as listed by the parish clerk, could also have stood for someone living in the "township" of Gomersall versus someone living in the townships of Cleckheaton, Drighlington, Gomersal, Heckmondwike, Hunsworth, Liversedge, and Wike

I do not know where "Little Gomersall" was.

The Laws were in the parish of Birstall from at least 1665. James Law and Alice Rawse were listed in "Gomersall" between 1665 and 1707. Their son James and his wife, Susannah Crossley lived in the village of Adwalton between 1693 and 1721. Their son William and his wife, Hannah Raynor, lived in "Great Gomersall" between 1730 and 1746. Their son, George and his wife, Mary Wilby, were listed between 1763 and 1788 in "Great Gomersall", "Gomersall", "Gomersall Hill Top" and "Popeley". George Law of Popeley died in 1788. Shortly after that his son, Benjamin Law, moved to Batley.

The Sheards were in the parish of Birstall from at least 1713. Michael Sheard and his wife, Abigail Healy, lived in "Gomersall" between 1713 and 1725. Their son, Jonas, and his wife, Dinah Kirk, lived in "Great Gomersall" from 1740 to 1748. Their son, Michael, and his wife, Sarah Barber, lived in "Great Gomersall" from 1768 to 1772. Michael and Sarah were in Batley by 1777. Jonas Sheard also moved to Batley where he died in 1789.

Moravian Church Gomersall Birstall Parish. Posted 1905

Sue Newton, January 2008

Gomersall Hill Top is at the crossroads of Oxford Road (North/South) and Church Lane (East), which turns into Spen Lane (West) on the west side of Oxford Road.

The oldest looking section of the "hill top" is right at the crossroads. There is a relative short stretch of buildings, (see the above photo), going south on Oxford Road. then the buildings thin out.

This building is on the northwest corner of the intersection.

Except for the buildings in these photos, all of the buildings on the "hill top" are "new".

Down the hill to the north is Red House, the home of Charlotte Bronte's friends, the Taylors. This house appears as "Briarmains" in her novel "Shirley". This overly romantic novel is set during the Luddite uprisings. The house dates to 1830.

"Fieldhead " in the novel Shirley by Charlotte Bronte

(Fieldhead of "Shirley" by Charlotte Bronte)

Going north from Red House along Oxford Road were a few more buildings that looked older than most. There was no place to park on the narrow road so I just took two quick shots in either direction. Looking north.

Looking south.

The photo shows the intersection of Spen Land, West Gate, and Bradford Roads. Bradford Road going southeast leads to Batley.

Very few of the church graveyards are intact. Everywhere we went we saw the gravestones used as pavers. The graveyard at the White Chapel shows how the graves with there markers were set up.

Most parishes did not record a cause of death with the records. The White Chapel in Cleckheaton recorded causes of deaths from 1793 to 1813. These records give an indication of the fatal illnesses in the area for that time period. For more information on the causes of death in Cleckheaton go to Causes of Death

Interior of the Cleckheaton Church. Not posted.

Owlet Hurst, Liversedge.

Posted 1927

Hare Park Lane, Hightown, Liversedge

Best of Luck from Liversedge. Not posted.

Click on the photo of Gomersal Hill Top

Kirklees Image Archive IMAGES OF BATLEY

Fred Marriott Batley Reporter 29th December 1888 Terrific Mill Fire at Birstal