Liversedge
| Liversedge | |
| Yorkshire West Riding | |
|---|---|
 Sparrow Park and the Old Town Hall | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SE186240 |
| Location: | 53°42’24"N, 1°41’24"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 19,420 |
| Post town: | Liversedge |
| Postcode: | WF15 |
| Dialling code: | 01274 / 01924 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Kirklees |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Batley and Spen |
Liversedge is a town in the West Riding of Yorkshire, now attached to the unbroken conurbation stretcing westward from Dewsbury. Liversedge stands between Cleckheaton and Heckmondwike. It forms part of the Heavy Woollen District.
Liversedge comprises several settlements that are all distinctive. Norristhorpe clings to one side of the Spen Valley, looking over the town of Heckmondwike. Roberttown is on the opposite side of the A62. Millbridge is the geographical centre of Liversedge and, with the neighbouring village of Flush, is the place the mills of the woollen industry stood. Towards Cleckheaton are Hightown, Littletown and Popeley Hill.
The Spen Beck runs through Liversedge.
Contents
History
Liversedge is recorded in the Domesday Book as Livresec, a manor belonging to Radulf, a vassal of Ilbert de Lacy. There are two possible etymologies for the name: from the Old English Lēofheres-ecg meaning 'a ridge or edge belonging to Lēofhere';[1][2][3] or, alternatively, the first element could have originally been *Lēfer-, related to the Old English word lifer used in the sense of 'thick clotted water', and the second element secg, 'a bed of reeds or rushes'.
In the 15th century, the lord of the manor was a member of the Neville family and Liversedge was already involved in woollen manufacture. The trade grew and by the 19th century the town was busy in the manufacture of woollen goods.
In 1812, the town was the scene of a Luddite attack[4] on Rawfolds Mill when approximately two hundred armed weavers, croppers and other artisans attempted to destroy cropping frames at a mill operated by William Cartwright. Two Luddites were killed and some were injured by four soldiers and armed workmen defending the mill, with no losses on Cartwright's side.
The Old Town Hall at the top of Knowler Hill was built for Liversedge Local Board and completed in around 1880.[5]
In 2012, Sparrow Park was constructed outside the Old Town Hall in commemoration of the 200th anniversary of the uprising and attack on Rawfolds Mill, which began just up the road from the monument in the still-operational "Shears" pub.[6]
Liversedge has a church that was built at the time of the Battle of Waterloo. Healds Hall, formerly the Spenborough Museum, is now a hotel. In the days of Charlotte Brontë it was home to Hammond Roberson whom she transformed into the Reverend Matthewman Helstone in her novel Shirley.[7]
Sport
- Cricket: Liversedge Cricket Club play at Roberttown Lane near to the New Inn
- Football: Liversedge F.C.
- Rugby League: Liversedge ARLFC, who play behind Spenborough Swimming Pool off Bradford Road
There are also many Sunday League football teams in and around Liversedge playing in the Heavy Woollen Sunday League.
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Liversedge) |
References
- ↑ Mills, Anthony David: 'A Dictionary of British Place-Names' (Oxford University Press, 2003) ISBN 978-0-19-852758-9
- ↑ Hanks, Patrick (2002). The Oxford names companion. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-860561-7.
- ↑ Smith, A.H.: 'Place-Names of West Riding of Yorkshire , Part' (English Place-Names Society, 1961-3)
- ↑ Thompson 1968, p. 612.
- ↑ "Tenders". The Leeds Mercury. 21 November 1878. https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/390312732/. "the erection of public offices, house, stabling, outbuildings, and boundary walls, at Hightown, Liverseage for the Liversedge Local Board"
- ↑ "Memorial to Luddites to be unveiled in Liversedge". http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/9611686.Memorial_to_Luddites_to_be_unveiled_in_Liversedge/.
- ↑ "Healds Hall". Brontë Society Transactions. 1897. doi:10.1179/030977697796584715.
- Thompson, E. P.: 'The Making of the English Working Class' (Pelican Books, 1968)
