Shibden
| Shibden | |
| Yorkshire West Riding | |
|---|---|
 Shibden Hall | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SE107255 |
| Location: | 53°43’35"N, 1°50’19"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 300 (est) |
| Post town: | Halifax |
| Postcode: | HX3 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Calderdale |
Shibden is a small, dispersed community in the West Riding of Yorkshire. Shibden Hall has a north-west driveway to its lake, café and miniature railway; an adjoining driveway runs up a landscaped garden to the hall which hosts the West Yorkshire Folk Museum. The land sits on a gentle north–south escarpment between deep brooks, shared with more populous Southowram to the south.
The name of the Shibden valley and village is a simplification from the Old English sceap denu (sheep dene). A brief mention in Edward III of England's Calendar of Close Rolls has the place as Shipen.[1] It has, as manorial records equally attest, long been farmed. In the many centuries of the main wool trade the manor prospered from wool production, with incident (largely subsistence) crop farming and offshoot lamb and mutton meat produce.
History
Halifax's own, chief, highly skilled manufacture of wool products began in 1414 ascribed to the settlement of certain emigrants from the Spanish Netherlands, who sought refuge from the persecutions under the government of the Duke of Alva. At this time there were about 13 houses in Halifax, but it soon began to increase in extent and population; in 1540 it contained 520 houses, and it has progressively advanced to its 18th century and early 19th century level of importance, as one of the main global sites of woollen manufacture (woollen-cloths, kerseymeres, shags, coatings, baizes, carpets, shalloons, tammies, corduroys, calimancoes, everlastings, moreens, crapes, bombasines, and damasks).[2]
Under the manor park passes an early 19th century-built regular line rail tunnel. At a similar time parts of the wider manorial land were dug for underlying coal seams, which after some stealing from the owner were successfully tapped by contractors appointed by landowner, entrepreneur and private diarist Anne Lister (1791–1841) of Shibden Hall, after whom a local nickname of the time "Gentleman Jack" arose.
In 1600 a house with lands straddling Northowram and Shibden passed from Richard Northend to his kinsmen of the same surname (with usual fines being paid to the Crown).[3]
Ecclesiastically in the Church of England, Shibden remains an eastern manor (with hamlet) in parishes of Halifax, which Minster church is the place of worship for the northern corners of the park and few adjoining buildings,[4] including petrol service station which proliferate beyond Shibden Brook to the east, but which marks the western limit of Northowram (but not of Southowram to the south, being on the Shibden side of that powerful brook). Most of the buildings are today in the Halifax daughter parish of St Anne-in-the-Grove, Halifax, the church of which is in Southowram.[5] The brook has been dammed and tapped much further north for a reservoir.
About the village
Scout Hall, a subinfeudated manor house, was built in 1681. Shibden Hall, the parent manor house, was built in the 15th century. The Hall hosts the West Yorkshire Folk Museum[6] and has a lakeside café and miniature railway.
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Shibden) |
References
- ↑ "Index: S". British History Online. https://www.british-history.ac.uk/cal-close-rolls/edw3/vol12/pp632-649.
- ↑ 'Halberton – Hall-Green', in A Topographical Dictionary of England, ed. Samuel Lewis (1848), pp. 372–379. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/topographical-dict/england/pp372-379
- ↑ "Yorkshire Fines: 1600". British History Online. https://www.british-history.ac.uk/feet-of-fines-yorks/vol4/pp136-159.
- ↑ https://www.achurchnearyou.com/search/?lat=53.73&lon=-1.84 Church of England parish finder: Halifax Minster
- ↑ https://www.achurchnearyou.com/search/?lat=53.72&lon=-1.84 Church of England parish finder: St Anne-in-the-Grove, Southowram
- ↑ Emery pp726
- Emery, Anthony (2006) Greater Mediæval Houses of England and Wales, 1300–1500: Southern England V3 Cambridge University Press ISBN 978-0-521-58132-5
