| Dewsbury | |
|---|---|
 .jpg)  .jpg)  Clockwise from top: DewsburyTown Hall,Minster Church, Townscape,Markazi Masjid inSavile Town and Market Place | |
  Dewsbury Location withinWest Yorkshire | |
| Population | 61,035 (Wards, 2021 Census)[1] |
| OS grid reference | SE245225 |
| • London | 188 mi (SE) |
| Metropolitan borough | |
| Metropolitan county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Areas of the town | List
|
| Post town | DEWSBURY |
| Postcode district | WF12-13 |
| Dialling code | 01924 |
| Police | West Yorkshire |
| Fire | West Yorkshire |
| Ambulance | Yorkshire |
| UK Parliament | |
| 53°41′28″N1°37′59″W / 53.691°N 1.633°W /53.691; -1.633 | |
Dewsbury is amarket town in theMetropolitan Borough of Kirklees,West Yorkshire, England. It is sited on theRiver Calder and on an arm of theCalder and Hebble Navigation waterway. It lies to the west ofWakefield, east ofHuddersfield and south ofLeeds.Historically a part of theWest Riding of Yorkshire, after undergoing a period of major growth in the 19th century as amill town, Dewsbury went through a period of decline. It forms part of theHeavy Woollen District, of which it is the largest town. The population of the built-up area was 63,722 at the2021 Census.
TheDomesday Book of 1086 records the name asDeusberie,Deusberia,Deusbereia, orDeubire, literally "Dewi's fort", Dewi being an old Welsh name (equivalent to David) and "bury" coming from the old English word "burh", meaning fort.[2]
Other, less supported, theories exist as to the name's origin. For example, that it means "dew hill", fromOld Englishdēaw (genitivedēawes), "dew", andbeorg, "hill" (because Dewsbury is built on a hill). It has been suggested thatdēaw refers to the town's proximity to the water of theRiver Calder.[3]
In the past other origins were proposed, such as "God's fort", fromWelshDuw, "God". "Antiquarians supposed the name, Dewsbury, to be derived from the original planter of the village, Dui or Dew, who … had fixed his abode and fortified his "Bury". Another conjecture holds, that the original name is Dewsborough, or God's Town" (1837)[4]
InAnglo-Saxon times, Dewsbury was a centre of considerable importance. Theecclesiastical parish of Dewsbury encompassedHuddersfield,Mirfield andBradford. Ancient legend records that in 627Paulinus, theBishop of York, preached here on the banks of the River Calder. Numerous Anglian graves have been found in Dewsbury andThornhill.[5]
Dewsbury Minster lies near theRiver Calder, traditionally on the site wherePaulinus preached. Some of the visible stonework in the nave is Saxon, and parts of the church also date to the 13th century. The tower houses "Black Tom", a bell which is rung each Christmas Eve, one toll for each year since Christ's birth, known as the "Devil's Knell", a tradition dating from the 15th century. The bell was given by Sir Thomas de Soothill, in penance for murdering a servant boy in a fit of rage. The tradition was commemorated on aRoyal Mail postage stamp in 1986.[6]
In the Domesday Book of 1086, Dewsbury was in Morleywapentake, but with a recorded population of only nine households it was a relatively small settlement at that time.[7] The Agbrigg and Morley wapentakes were administratively combined into theAgbrigg and Morley wapentake in the 13th century. When they were separated for administrative purposes in the mid-19th century, Dewsbury parish had grown to straddle the border between both wapentakes, hence being mainly in the Lower Division of the Wapentake of Agbrigg.[8]
Dewsbury market was established in the 14th century for local clothiers. Occurrences of theplague in 1593 and 1603 closed the market and it reopened in 1741.[9]
Throughout theMiddle Ages, Dewsbury retained a measure of importance in ecclesiastical terms, collecting tithes from as far away asHalifax in the mid-14th century.John Wesley visited the area five times in the mid-18th century, and the firstMethodist Society was established in 1746. Centenary Chapel on Daisy Hill commemorates the centenary of this event, and the Methodist tradition remained strong in the town.[10]
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In 1770, a short branch of theCalder and Hebble Navigation was completed, linking Dewsbury to thecanal system giving access toManchester andHull.[11] By the time of theIndustrial Revolution, Dewsbury was a centre for theshoddy andmungo industries which recycled woollen items by mixing them with newwool and making heavy blankets and uniforms. The town benefited economically from the canal, its location at the heart of theHeavy Woollen District, and its proximity tocoal mines. The railway arrived in 1848 whenDewsbury Wellington Road railway station on theLondon and North Western Railway opened. This is the only station which remains open.
Other stations were Dewsbury Central on theGreat Northern Railway which closed in 1964 and Dewsbury Market Place on theLancashire and Yorkshire Railway which closed in 1930. A fourth goods-only railway station was built in the early 20th century at Savile Town by theMidland Railway. In 1985 a bypass road was built on the site of Central Station and its adjacent viaduct, and nothing remains of Market Place railway station. The 19th century saw a great increase in population, rising from 4,566 in 1801 to around 30,000 by 1890.
The town's rapid expansion and commitment to industrialisation resulted in social instability. In the early 19th century, Dewsbury was a centre ofLuddite opposition to mechanisation in which workers retaliated against the mill owners who installed textile machinery and smashed the machines which threatened their way of life. In the 1830s, Dewsbury was a centre ofChartist agitation. In August 1838, after a speech by Chartist leaderFeargus O'Connor, a mob of between five and seven thousand people besieged the DewsburyPoor Law Guardians in the town's Royal Hotel. The mob was dispersed by troops.
Trouble flared in 1840 when radical agitators seized control of the town, and troops were stationed to maintain order. This radical tradition left a legacy in the town's political life: its first electedMember of Parliament (MP) in 1867 wasJohn Simon, aJewish lawyer fromJamaica and aLiberal. The tradition of firing the "Ten o'Clock" gun dates from 1815 and was a hangover from the Luddite problems. It was fired from Wormald and Walker's Mill to reassure that all was well, and could be heard all over the area. Eventually the actual gun was replaced with a specially made firework, but the tradition was discontinued in 1983 with the closure of the mill.[12]
The mills were family businesses and continued manufacturing after the wool crisis in 1950–51, which saw Australiansheep farmers begin to charge higher prices. The recovery of the late 1960s was reversed by the1973 oil crisis, and the textile industry in Dewsbury declined, with only bed manufacturing remaining a large scale employer.
Significant immigration from the 1960s onwards left a huge demographic impact on the town, which continues today. Asian British and Muslims now make up roughly 45 percent of the population, and the percentage is expected to grow in the coming years.
After 2005, following negative press reports, Dewsbury was labelled a troubled town[13] and became "the town that dare not speak its name"[14] after high-profile crimes brought it into the media spotlight. In June 2005, a girl of 12 was charged withgrievous bodily harm after attempting to hang a five-year-old boy fromChickenley.[15]Mohammad Sidique Khan, ringleader of the group responsible for the7 July 2005 London bombings, lived in Lees Holm, Dewsbury.
On 19 February 2008,Shannon Matthews, a nine-year-old girl from the Moorside Estate, was reported missing. After a 24-day hunt which attracted huge media and public attention nationally, she was found hidden in a flat in theBatley Carr area on 14 March 2008. Her mother Karen Matthews, along with Michael Donovan, the uncle of her stepfather Craig Meehan, were later found guilty of abduction and false imprisonment, as part of a plot to claim the reward money for her safe return by pretending to have solved her disappearance; both were jailed for eight years.
In October 2010, the Dewsbury Revival Centre opened, in the refurbished former St Mark's Church on Halifax Road, the church attended byWallace Hartley, bandmaster of theTitanic.[16]
In July 2014, Kirklees Council enforced a media ban covering the visit ofPrincess Anne, who was due to deliver a speech on the importance of restorative justice. Kirklees Council later responded that the highly unusual media ban had been insisted upon by the Royal Household.Buckingham Palace, however, was mystified over the ban, with a Royal spokesman stating: "This visit has been openly listed in the future engagements section on the Royal website for the last eight weeks. There are no restrictions on reporting on the event from the Royal Household."[17]
Dewsbury was incorporated as amunicipal borough in 1862.[18] Its first mayor was Dr George Fearnley. TheReform Act of 1868 constituted Dewsbury aparliamentary borough, and Liberal candidateJohn Simon, serjeant-at-law, was returned as the borough's first MP. TheVictoriantown hall standing in front of the old marketplace dates from 1886 to 1889.[citation needed] Dewsbury's boundaries were expanded to include theurban districts of Ravensthorpe, Thornhill, and Soothill Nether, and part of Soothill Upper, in 1910, and in 1913 it was elevated tocounty borough status. "Soothill Nether" refers to the current east end of the town, although at that time Chickenley and Chidswell were hamlets, and Earlsheaton contained the bulk of the area's population.[citation needed]
In 1974, responsibility for local government passed toKirklees Metropolitan Council, its headquarters being inHuddersfield. The population of Dewsbury has remained broadly static over the past century: the 1911 census recorded 53,351 people,[19] and the 1971 census 51,326 people, making it the fourth-least populous county borough in England (afterCanterbury,Burton upon Trent andGreat Yarmouth).
The currentMember of Parliament (MP) forDewsbury and Batley isIqbal Mohamed, who has represented the constituency since the2024 general election. Mohamed was one of four independent candidates who won seats in heavily Muslim areas largely due to Labour's stance on theGaza war.[20]
Dewsbury is situated betweenLeeds andBradford 8 miles (13 km) to the north,Huddersfield a similar distance to the south west, and Wakefield 6 mi (10 km) east. Its proximity to these major urban centres, theM1 andM62 motorways and its position on theHuddersfield Line, served by theTransPennine Express, have contributed to its growth.
Dewsbury is part of theWest Yorkshire Urban Area, although its natural boundaries are not well-defined, with built up areas of the town running intoBatley,Heckmondwike andOssett.[citation needed]
Geologically, the town is situated on rocks of theCarboniferous Period, consisting ofcoal measures andgritstones.Quaternary Period rock,glacial deposits andgravels exist in theCalder Valley. Coal, sandstone and gravel have been exploited commercially.Average rainfall is 100 cm per annum.[21]The town is dominated by hills, notably Earlsheaton, Dewsbury Moor, Staincliffe and Thornhill. The town centre is between 130 and 180 feet (40 and 55 metres) above sea level, rising to 360 ft (110 m) at Earlsheaton and Batley Carr, and 755 ft (230 m) at Grange Moor. The approach from Earlsheaton through the Wakefield Road cutting, constructed in 1830[citation needed], is dramatic with the view of the town centre in the Calder Valley opening up.[citation needed]
Dewsbury has a number of districts with different geographical and socio-economic patterns, they are, Chickenley, Crackenedge,Dewsbury Moor, Earlsheaton, Eastborough, Eightlands, Flatts,Ravensthorpe,Savile Town, Shaw Cross, Scout Hill,Thornhill Lees, Westborough, Westtown.Batley Carr,Hanging Heaton andStaincliffe have areas which lie in both Dewsbury and neighbouring Batley.Thornhill,Briestfield andWhitley Lower are part of Dewsburyunparished area. Thornhill was annexed in 1910.[citation needed]
Places adjacent to Dewsbury | |
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The Westtown area has the large and imposing Our Lady and St. PaulinusRoman Catholic Church and its school, once run by the nuns of the area. The Irish National Club also is home toDewsbury Celtic amateurrugby league club.[citation needed]
The town has a large Muslim community.Savile Town andRavensthorpe are populated mainly byMuslims ofIndian andPakistani origin. In recent years, there has also been an immigration of IraqiKurds andHungarians into the town.[22] Dewsbury has been accused of having a controversial Shariah arbitration court.[23]Dewsbury Moor, Ravensthorpe and Chickenley are classed among the 10% most deprived areas in the UK.[24] In contrast to some British towns and cities, the east side of the town is generally more affluent. The majority of houses in the town are in the cheapest band for council tax, for house prices are amongst the lowest in the country.[25]
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The local market once consisted of 400 stalls and was one of the busiest[citation needed] in Yorkshire and in years gone by drew large numbers of visitors to the town. Wednesdays and Saturdays are the normal market days with the popularflea market on Fridays. The town's mills were located just south of theRiver Calder in the town centre. As the mills closed this area became a largebrownfield site. However, many of the units have been reoccupied and the town's largest employer,Carlton Cards, is based in this area.[citation needed]
As of 2021, Dewsbury's population was enumerated at 63,722, and its ethnic makeup was 50.8%White, 44.4%Asian, 2.3%Mixed, 0.8%Black, and 1.4% Other.[26]
As of the 2021 census, Dewsbury's religious makeup was 46.4%Muslim, 28.9%Christian, 23.7%no religion, and the town has smallHindu andSikh communities.[27]
Dewsbury bus station is managed byWest Yorkshire Metro; it was rebuilt in 1994 with a main passenger concourse and 19 bus stands. Services are operated primarily byArriva Yorkshire. Routes connect the town with Bradford, Huddersfield, Leeds, Morley and Wakefield.[28]
Dewsbury railway station is a stop on theHuddersfield line. It is served by twotrain operating companies:
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Dewsbury Rams, formerly Dewsbury R.L.F.C., plays inrugby league'sBetfred League One; it is based atCrown Flatt. Shaw Cross Sharks is an amateur Rugby League club, founded in 1947; it has produced several players into the professional game, includingMike Stephenson,Nigel Stephenson andDavid Ward. It operates from Shaw Cross Club for Young People and play their home fixtures at the adjacent Paul Lee Hinchcliffe Memorial Playing Fields.
The open age first team is the National Conference League.Dewsbury Celtic play inNational League 3; their ground is on the west side of the town, in Crow Nest Park. The club's headquarters are at the Dewsbury Irish National Club on Park Parade. Dewsbury is also the home of Dewsbury Rangers Football Club. With over 300 members from the ages of six through to the old boys' teams, it is one of the largest in the area.
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Dewsbury Museum was located within the mansion house inCrow Nest Park, before it closed to the public in November 2016. Nearby attractions include theNational Coal Mining Museum for England, located inOverton, Wakefield.
Dewsbury Town Hall contains a 700-seater concert hall and regularly hosts concerts, exhibitions, live music, cabaret evenings and weddings.
The town also has an annual event called Spirit, a street theatre show every winter which takes place in the town centre.
The comedy filmDestination: Dewsbury was filmed and partly set in the town. The production was shot in 2016 and premiered at the 2018Beverly Hills Film Festival.
Local news and television programmes are provided byBBC Yorkshire andITV Yorkshire. Television signals are received from theEmley Moor TV transmitter.[31]
Dewsbury's local radio stations areBBC Radio Leeds on 92.4 FM,Heart Yorkshire on 106.2 FM,Capital Yorkshire on 105.6 FM,Greatest Hits Radio Yorkshire on 96.3 FM,Hits Radio West Yorkshire on 102.5 FM, andBranch Radio, a community based radio station that broadcast from the town on 101.8 FM.[32]
TheDewsbury Reporter is the town's local weekly newspaper.[33]
Dewsbury had twogrammar schools:Wheelwright Grammar School for Boys andWheelwright Grammar School for Girls further up the hill. The 1970s education reforms converted these two establishments to high schools and they were renamedDewsbury College andBirkdale High School. Dewsbury College was merged withHuddersfield Technical College to become part ofKirklees College in 2008, and is now known by that name.[34]
Birkdale High School closed in July 2011. In the 2005 School League Tables, Dewsbury's Eastborough Junior, Infants and Nursery schools were reported to have the most consistently improved results over the past four years. However, the headteacher of the school, Nicola Roth, has been highly critical of School League Tables in the UK, and has been reported to have said, "It would be better if league tables did not exist".[35]
Batley College ofArt and Design, which is part of Kirklees College (Dewsbury Centre), has a strong reputation[citation needed] for print and textile-based art work, whilstSt John Fisher Catholic Voluntary Academy is a specialist Sports College and is one of the few schools in the area with a Sixth Form.
The following people are or were from Dewsbury:
Dewsbury is referenced inthe Beatles' 1967 filmMagical Mystery Tour. A line of dialogue in the film has one of the magicians (all portrayed by the Beatles themselves) – who are keeping an eye on the whereabouts of the bus that is taking its passengers on the journey of the film's title – exclaim: "The bus is 10 miles [16 km] north on the Dewsbury road and they're having a lovely time!"[38] Dewsbury is also referenced in the 1991 single "It's Grim Up North" by theJustified Ancients of Mu Mu (also known asthe KLF).
The 1960 bookA Kind of Loving is set in a fictional city named "Cressley", but its description was based upon Dewsbury. The author,Stan Barstow, was born inHorbury and grew up in Ossett – both of which are just to the east of Dewsbury.
More recently, the phrase "Dewsbury noir" has been used to describe the violent novels ofDavid Peace, who was born in Dewsbury but lives in neighbouring Ossett.[39]
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