Batley
Encyclopedia
Batley is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees
, in West Yorkshire
, England. It lies 7 miles (11 km) southeast of Bradford
, 7 miles (11 km) southwest of Leeds
and 1 miles (2 km) north of Dewsbury
, near the M62 motorway
. It has a population of 49,448 (including Birstall). Other nearby towns include Morley
to the northeast, Ossett
to the southeast and Brighouse
westsouthwest. After undergoing a period of major growth in the 19th century due to the success of the shoddy trade, Batley has more recently undergone a period of decline. Batley is part of a special EU transformation zone.
, meaning either valley or homestead of bat
s, or more likely, homestead of the locally prominent Batte family. It is recorded in the Domesday Book
as 'Bateleia'. After the Norman Conquest, the manor was granted to Ilbert de Lacy. It subsequently passed into the ownership of the de Batleys, and by the 12th century had passed by marriage to the Copley family. Their residence at Batley Hall was held directly from the Crown
; at this time the district fell within the Duchy of Lancaster
. The population at this time was 30 to 40 people. By the late 14th century, the population has increased to around 100.
There has been a church in Batley since the 11th century. The present Batley Parish Church was built in the reign of Henry VI
(1422–1461), and parts of the original remain. Despite Batley being an ancient settlement, this is all that remains of any great antiquity.
Howley Hall at Soothill was built during the 1580s by Sir John Savile, a member of the great Yorkshire landowners, the Savile family. The house was besieged during the Civil War
in 1643 before the Battle of Adwalton Moor
but appears to have sustained no serious damage. It continued to be occupied during the 17th century but fell into disrepair. Howley Hall was finally demolished in 1730. Many ruins exist including the cellars of its great hall.
Batley Grammar School
was founded in 1612 by the Rev. William Lee and is still in existence.
Methodism
came to Batley in the 1740s and took a strong hold in the town which continued into the 20th century. John Nelson from neighbouring Birstall
was a leading lay preacher in the early Methodist movement. Areas of the town, such as Mount Pleasant, were noted for their absence of pub
s due to the Methodist beliefs of their populations.
During the late 18th century the main occupations in the town were farming and weaving
. The Industrial Revolution
reached Batley in 1796 with the arrival of its first water powered mills for carding spinning. During the next half century the population grew rapidly, from around 2,500 at the start of the 19th century to 9,308 at the 1851 census
. The parish of Batley at this point included Morley
, Churwell
and Gildersome
, with a total population of 17,359.
A toll road
built in 1832 between Gomersal
and Dewsbury
included a branch to Batley (the present day Branch Road) which allowed for "the growing volumes of wool, cloth and coal" to be transported. Until then there had only been foot and cart tracks. Around the same time there were strikes
in the mills, which led to an influx of Irish
workers who settled permanently. Initially this led to some antagonism from residents, due to the cheaper wages demanded by the Irish workers and general anti-Roman Catholic sentiment, but this faded in time. By 1853 Catholic services were being held regularly in the town; its first Roman Catholic church, St Mary of the Angels, was not built until 1870 and is still in existence.
By 1848 there was a railway station
in Batley, and in 1853 Batley Town Hall was erected. It was enlarged in 1905, and is in the Neoclassical style
style, with a corbelled parapet
and pilaster
s rising to a centre pediment
. In 1868 Batley was incorporated as a municipal borough
, the former urban district
of Birstall
being added to it in 1937.
1853 also saw the establishment of a small confectionery
shop by Michael Spedding. His business would expand, moving to larger premises in 1927 and later becoming Fox's Biscuits. Today, along with Tesco
, it is one of the two largest employers in the town.
During the late 19th century, Batley was the centre of the "shoddy trade" in which wool
rags and clothes were recycled by reweaving them into blankets, carpets, uniforms. In 1861 there were at least 30 shoddy mills in Batley. The owners of the recycling businesses were known as the "shoddy barons". There was a "shoddy king" and a "shoddy temple", properly known as the Zion Chapel. This imposing building in the town centre was opened in 1870, and reflected the popularity of the Methodist movement in Batley. The library was built in 1907 with funds donated by the philanthropist
Andrew Carnegie
. The library has recently been modernised, with a new microfilm viewer, and reels of the Batley News dating back over 120 years. The paper was founded by James Fearnsides – a reputable local printer. His grandson Clement, later went on to become the mayor of Batley. There was also an active coal mining industry in Batley at this time. The first records of coal mining
in Batley date back to the 16th century at White Lee; the last pit in the town closed in 1973.
From the end of the 1950s onwards, the need for cheap labour in the town's textile industries drew in migrant labourers from Gujarat, Punjab
and other parts of modern day Pakistan
and India
. The South Asian population of Batley is now around 30%.
In 1974 responsibility for local government passed to Kirklees Metropolitan Council
, with its headquarters in Huddersfield
.
which is linked to the main shopping street by footbridge. There are several chain shops in the centre, including a Boots the Chemist and until the chains collapse, a Woolworth's
which still lies empty.
In the town centre is the Batley Shopping Centre, a small shopping centre which has become somewhat rundown since being acquired by Tesco. The supermarket signpost the shopping centre as a thoroughfare to their supermarket. The main retailer in the shopping centre is Iceland, they are currently surrounded by many vacant shops.
Renovated former textile mills now form the major part of shopping in Batley. The Mill, Batley The Mill Batley is one of the UK's largest retail mills and is essentially a factory outlet or shopping village with many national & independent fashion & homeware operators.
The conception of The Mill, Batley back in 2000 provided what has been a consistent contribution to the area's employment and economic status.
Other major retail offers include Redbrick Mill, housing many top end furniture retailers such as Heal's and Multi York as well as local textile manufacturers Skopos. Shackletons - famous for their 1970s TV ad selling high seat chairs for the older generation - also occupy one of the many former mills along Bradford Road. This 'golden mile' of retail is collectively known as the Yorkshire Mill Mile.
club Batley RLFC
And junior football club Batley Juniors FC (formely Carlinghow Boys F.C) Carlinghow is also located in Batley
Wilton Park (known locally as Batley Park) is a large park
between Batley town centre and Upper Batley
. In its grounds are a butterfly
house, the Milner K. Ford Observatory
(built in 1966 and home to the Batley & Spenborough Astronomical Society) and Bagshaw Museum. The museum is located in a house built by one of the original "shoddy barons", George Sheard, and features local history, natural history
, curios from around the world, and an Ancient Egyptian
exhibition. The museum (originally the Wilton Park Museum) is named after its first curator
Walter Bagshaw, a Batley councillor and extensive traveller.
Batley also hosts the Yorkshire Motor Museum, with a small but varied collection of cars dating back to 1885, and reflecting local car makers as well as more famous marques.
Batley Art Gallery, located in the Batley Library building, features contemporary art
, craft
and photography
.
Between 1966 and 1977 the Batley Variety Club
was frequented by many notable acts including Louis Armstrong
, Johnny Mathis
, Eartha Kitt
, The Bee Gees, Roy Orbison
, The Hollies
and Cliff Richard
, among others. For a brief period it was also named The Crumpet, after which it remained closed for four years surviving numerous applications to have the building demolished. It is now the Frontier nightclub, as it has been since the late 1970s, and hasn't had a refit since. The Frontier was sold to a group of local businessmen in April 2005 and continues to operate as a nightclub whilst also hosting a large number of variety shows and sporting events such as boxing, snooker and darts.
In cricket
, Batley has several local teams, and is also part of the cricket association for the Heavy Woollen District
. The original definition of the latter area was to within a six mile radius of Batley Town Hall. The Heavy Woollen Cup can now be entered by any team within 18 miles of Batley, but there is an upper limit of 64 teams.
Muslim
population made of people from Pakistan and the Indian state of Gujarat. The Gujarati community mainly live in the Mount Pleasant and Warwick Road areas of the town. Pakistani families live in Staincliffe
, Hanging Heaton
and Batley Carr
.
was attended by Sir Titus Salt
, an industrialist who founded the model village of Saltaire
, Joseph Priestley
, Josiah Wedgwood
and controversial writer Tim Fountain
.
Pop
singer Robert Palmer was also born in Batley.
Inventor and philanthropist Edward Ashton, who died in 1935, is buried in Batley.
Professional snooker
player Paul Hunter
lived in Batley until his death on 9 October 2006.
Louis Hall
born 1852 in Batley. He played cricket for Yorkshire
. The Hall family were local mill owners.
Matthew Hall born 1849 in Batley. He was a Music Hall entertainer, comic stage name Merry Matt Hall. Married Kathleen Geoghegan daughter of Joseph B Geogheagan song writer and music hall entertainer.
Arthur Roche
, Bishop of Leeds, was born in Batley Carr
.
Leigh Francis
, Comedian of Bo Selecta fame
Mohammed Bhana, Author of the Asian Liverbird book and journalist
, Carlinghow
, Cross Bank, Hanging Heaton
, Healey
, Lamplands, Carlton Grange Mount Pleasant
, Soothill, Staincliffe
, Upper Batley
and White Lee.
Birstall
is addressed for postal reasons as being part of Batley WF17, and has Batley telephone numbers, and for a time before the creation of Kirklees Council, it was part of the former Batley UDC. However, Birstall is generally considered to be a settlement in its own right; residents of Birstall tend to talk of Batley as being a separate place.
As Batley shares boundaries with both Dewsbury
and Heckmondwike
, parts of Batley Carr, Hanging Heaton and Staincliffe are part of Dewsbury, while part of White Lee is in Heckmondwike. There is an area of Ossett known as Healey, which is identical in name to the Batley district of Healey; the Ossett area is sometimes referred to as "Healey Mills" due to the very large congregation of mills that once existed in that area.
had a series of recurring sketches in which the members of the Batley Ladies Townswomen's Guild would present famous plays or musicals, or reenact various historical battles, simply by charging at each other, swinging purses and wrestling in the mud.
Batley is also the setting for the children's television programme My Spy Family
.
Batley was used for location filming of the fictional town of Barfield in the 1955 film "Value for Money", starring John Gregson
and Diana Dors
.
Kirklees
The Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees is a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, England. It has a population of 401,000 and includes the settlements of Batley, Birstall, Cleckheaton, Denby Dale, Dewsbury, Heckmondwike, Holmfirth, Huddersfield, Kirkburton, Marsden, Meltham, Mirfield and Slaithwaite...
, in West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire is a metropolitan county within the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England with a population of 2.2 million. West Yorkshire came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972....
, England. It lies 7 miles (11 km) southeast of Bradford
Bradford
Bradford lies at the heart of the City of Bradford, a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, in Northern England. It is situated in the foothills of the Pennines, west of Leeds, and northwest of Wakefield. Bradford became a municipal borough in 1847, and received its charter as a city in 1897...
, 7 miles (11 km) southwest of Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
and 1 miles (2 km) north of Dewsbury
Dewsbury
Dewsbury is a minster town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, in West Yorkshire, England. It is to the west of Wakefield, east of Huddersfield and south of Leeds...
, near the M62 motorway
M62 motorway
The M62 motorway is a west–east trans-Pennine motorway in Northern England, connecting the cities of Liverpool and Hull via Manchester and Leeds. The road also forms part of the unsigned Euroroutes E20 and E22...
. It has a population of 49,448 (including Birstall). Other nearby towns include Morley
Morley
- Places :United Kingdom* Morley, County Durham, England* Morley, Derbyshire, England* Morley, West Yorkshire, England* Morley Saint Botolph, Norfolk, England* Morley Saint Peter, Norfolk, EnglandUnited States* Morley, Iowa* Morley, Michigan...
to the northeast, Ossett
Ossett
Ossett is a market town within the metropolitan borough of the City of Wakefield, in West Yorkshire, England. It is located on junction 40 of the M1 motorway, half-way between Dewsbury, to the west, and Wakefield, to the east. In the 2001 census, it was classified as part of the West Yorkshire...
to the southeast and Brighouse
Brighouse
Brighouse is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Calderdale, in West Yorkshire, England. It is situated on the River Calder, east of Halifax in the Pennines. It is served by Junction 25 of the M62 motorway and Brighouse railway station on the Caldervale Line and Huddersfield Line. In the...
westsouthwest. After undergoing a period of major growth in the 19th century due to the success of the shoddy trade, Batley has more recently undergone a period of decline. Batley is part of a special EU transformation zone.
History
The name Batley is derived from DanishDanish language
Danish is a North Germanic language spoken by around six million people, principally in the country of Denmark. It is also spoken by 50,000 Germans of Danish ethnicity in the northern parts of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, where it holds the status of minority language...
, meaning either valley or homestead of bat
Bat
Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera "hand" and pteron "wing") whose forelimbs form webbed wings, making them the only mammals naturally capable of true and sustained flight. By contrast, other mammals said to fly, such as flying squirrels, gliding possums, and colugos, glide rather than fly,...
s, or more likely, homestead of the locally prominent Batte family. It is recorded in the Domesday Book
Domesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
as 'Bateleia'. After the Norman Conquest, the manor was granted to Ilbert de Lacy. It subsequently passed into the ownership of the de Batleys, and by the 12th century had passed by marriage to the Copley family. Their residence at Batley Hall was held directly from the Crown
The Crown
The Crown is a corporation sole that in the Commonwealth realms and any provincial or state sub-divisions thereof represents the legal embodiment of governance, whether executive, legislative, or judicial...
; at this time the district fell within the Duchy of Lancaster
Duchy of Lancaster
The Duchy of Lancaster is one of the two royal duchies in England, the other being the Duchy of Cornwall. It is held in trust for the Sovereign, and is used to provide income for the use of the British monarch...
. The population at this time was 30 to 40 people. By the late 14th century, the population has increased to around 100.
There has been a church in Batley since the 11th century. The present Batley Parish Church was built in the reign of Henry VI
Henry VI of England
Henry VI was King of England from 1422 to 1461 and again from 1470 to 1471, and disputed King of France from 1422 to 1453. Until 1437, his realm was governed by regents. Contemporaneous accounts described him as peaceful and pious, not suited for the violent dynastic civil wars, known as the Wars...
(1422–1461), and parts of the original remain. Despite Batley being an ancient settlement, this is all that remains of any great antiquity.
Howley Hall at Soothill was built during the 1580s by Sir John Savile, a member of the great Yorkshire landowners, the Savile family. The house was besieged during the Civil War
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
in 1643 before the Battle of Adwalton Moor
Battle of Adwalton Moor
-The Battlefield:The site of the battle is high ground in Adwalton near Bradford, which is now in an area of rural-urban fringe, . Parts of the site are protected as "green belt" or other types of open space...
but appears to have sustained no serious damage. It continued to be occupied during the 17th century but fell into disrepair. Howley Hall was finally demolished in 1730. Many ruins exist including the cellars of its great hall.
Batley Grammar School
Batley Grammar School
Batley Grammar School is a co-educational school located at Carlinghow Hill in Upper Batley, West Yorkshire, England. The school was founded in 1612 by the Rev. William Lee...
was founded in 1612 by the Rev. William Lee and is still in existence.
Methodism
Methodism
Methodism is a movement of Protestant Christianity represented by a number of denominations and organizations, claiming a total of approximately seventy million adherents worldwide. The movement traces its roots to John Wesley's evangelistic revival movement within Anglicanism. His younger brother...
came to Batley in the 1740s and took a strong hold in the town which continued into the 20th century. John Nelson from neighbouring Birstall
Birstall, West Yorkshire
Birstall is a large village in the metropolitan borough of Kirklees, West Yorkshire, England and situated roughly 6 miles south-west of Leeds. It features a quaint triangular Victorian marketplace, which replaced an earlier market on High Street in the Georgian area of the village further up the hill...
was a leading lay preacher in the early Methodist movement. Areas of the town, such as Mount Pleasant, were noted for their absence of pub
Public house
A public house, informally known as a pub, is a drinking establishment fundamental to the culture of Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. There are approximately 53,500 public houses in the United Kingdom. This number has been declining every year, so that nearly half of the smaller...
s due to the Methodist beliefs of their populations.
During the late 18th century the main occupations in the town were farming and weaving
Weaving
Weaving is a method of fabric production in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads are interlaced at right angles to form a fabric or cloth. The other methods are knitting, lace making and felting. The longitudinal threads are called the warp and the lateral threads are the weft or filling...
. The Industrial Revolution
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...
reached Batley in 1796 with the arrival of its first water powered mills for carding spinning. During the next half century the population grew rapidly, from around 2,500 at the start of the 19th century to 9,308 at the 1851 census
Census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
. The parish of Batley at this point included Morley
Morley, West Yorkshire
Morley is a market town and civil parish within the metropolitan borough of the City of Leeds, in West Yorkshire, England. It lies approximately south-west of Leeds city centre. Together with Drighlington, Gildersome, Churwell, Tingley and East/West Ardsley, the town had a population of 47,579 in...
, Churwell
Churwell
Churwell is a small village in the City of Leeds metropolitan borough, West Yorkshire, England, between Leeds city centre and Morley. It is southwest of Leeds city centre and away from the Leeds United Elland Road Football Ground....
and Gildersome
Gildersome
Gildersome is a village and civil parish in the City of Leeds metropolitan borough 5 miles south west of Leeds city centre in West Yorkshire, England....
, with a total population of 17,359.
A toll road
Toll road
A toll road is a privately or publicly built road for which a driver pays a toll for use. Structures for which tolls are charged include toll bridges and toll tunnels. Non-toll roads are financed using other sources of revenue, most typically fuel tax or general tax funds...
built in 1832 between Gomersal
Gomersal
Gomersal is a village in the metropolitan county of West Yorkshire, England. It is south of Bradford, east of Cleckheaton, and north of Heckmondwike and close to the River Spen....
and Dewsbury
Dewsbury
Dewsbury is a minster town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, in West Yorkshire, England. It is to the west of Wakefield, east of Huddersfield and south of Leeds...
included a branch to Batley (the present day Branch Road) which allowed for "the growing volumes of wool, cloth and coal" to be transported. Until then there had only been foot and cart tracks. Around the same time there were strikes
Strike action
Strike action, also called labour strike, on strike, greve , or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became important during the industrial revolution, when mass labour became...
in the mills, which led to an influx of Irish
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
workers who settled permanently. Initially this led to some antagonism from residents, due to the cheaper wages demanded by the Irish workers and general anti-Roman Catholic sentiment, but this faded in time. By 1853 Catholic services were being held regularly in the town; its first Roman Catholic church, St Mary of the Angels, was not built until 1870 and is still in existence.
By 1848 there was a railway station
Batley railway station
Batley railway station serves the town of Batley in West Yorkshire, England. The station opened in 1848.The station is to the south west of Leeds...
in Batley, and in 1853 Batley Town Hall was erected. It was enlarged in 1905, and is in the Neoclassical style
Neoclassical architecture
Neoclassical architecture was an architectural style produced by the neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century, manifested both in its details as a reaction against the Rococo style of naturalistic ornament, and in its architectural formulas as an outgrowth of some classicizing...
style, with a corbelled parapet
Parapet
A parapet is a wall-like barrier at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony or other structure. Where extending above a roof, it may simply be the portion of an exterior wall that continues above the line of the roof surface, or may be a continuation of a vertical feature beneath the roof such as a...
and pilaster
Pilaster
A pilaster is a slightly-projecting column built into or applied to the face of a wall. Most commonly flattened or rectangular in form, pilasters can also take a half-round form or the shape of any type of column, including tortile....
s rising to a centre pediment
Pediment
A pediment is a classical architectural element consisting of the triangular section found above the horizontal structure , typically supported by columns. The gable end of the pediment is surrounded by the cornice moulding...
. In 1868 Batley was incorporated as a municipal borough
Municipal borough
Municipal boroughs were a type of local government district which existed in England and Wales between 1835 and 1974, in Northern Ireland from 1840 to 1973 and in the Republic of Ireland from 1840 to 2002...
, the former urban district
Urban district
In the England, Wales and Ireland, an urban district was a type of local government district that covered an urbanised area. Urban districts had an elected Urban District Council , which shared local government responsibilities with a county council....
of Birstall
Birstall, West Yorkshire
Birstall is a large village in the metropolitan borough of Kirklees, West Yorkshire, England and situated roughly 6 miles south-west of Leeds. It features a quaint triangular Victorian marketplace, which replaced an earlier market on High Street in the Georgian area of the village further up the hill...
being added to it in 1937.
1853 also saw the establishment of a small confectionery
Confectionery
Confectionery is the set of food items that are rich in sugar, any one or type of which is called a confection. Modern usage may include substances rich in artificial sweeteners as well...
shop by Michael Spedding. His business would expand, moving to larger premises in 1927 and later becoming Fox's Biscuits. Today, along with Tesco
Tesco
Tesco plc is a global grocery and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Cheshunt, United Kingdom. It is the third-largest retailer in the world measured by revenues and the second-largest measured by profits...
, it is one of the two largest employers in the town.
During the late 19th century, Batley was the centre of the "shoddy trade" in which wool
Wool
Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and certain other animals, including cashmere from goats, mohair from goats, qiviut from muskoxen, vicuña, alpaca, camel from animals in the camel family, and angora from rabbits....
rags and clothes were recycled by reweaving them into blankets, carpets, uniforms. In 1861 there were at least 30 shoddy mills in Batley. The owners of the recycling businesses were known as the "shoddy barons". There was a "shoddy king" and a "shoddy temple", properly known as the Zion Chapel. This imposing building in the town centre was opened in 1870, and reflected the popularity of the Methodist movement in Batley. The library was built in 1907 with funds donated by the philanthropist
Philanthropist
A philanthropist is someone who engages in philanthropy; that is, someone who donates his or her time, money, and/or reputation to charitable causes...
Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie was a Scottish-American industrialist, businessman, and entrepreneur who led the enormous expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century...
. The library has recently been modernised, with a new microfilm viewer, and reels of the Batley News dating back over 120 years. The paper was founded by James Fearnsides – a reputable local printer. His grandson Clement, later went on to become the mayor of Batley. There was also an active coal mining industry in Batley at this time. The first records of coal mining
Coal mining
The goal of coal mining is to obtain coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content, and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from iron ore and for cement production. In the United States,...
in Batley date back to the 16th century at White Lee; the last pit in the town closed in 1973.
From the end of the 1950s onwards, the need for cheap labour in the town's textile industries drew in migrant labourers from Gujarat, Punjab
Punjab region
The Punjab , also spelled Panjab |water]]s"), is a geographical region straddling the border between Pakistan and India which includes Punjab province in Pakistan and the states of the Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh and some northern parts of the National Capital Territory of Delhi...
and other parts of modern day Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
and India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. The South Asian population of Batley is now around 30%.
In 1974 responsibility for local government passed to Kirklees Metropolitan Council
Kirklees
The Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees is a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, England. It has a population of 401,000 and includes the settlements of Batley, Birstall, Cleckheaton, Denby Dale, Dewsbury, Heckmondwike, Holmfirth, Huddersfield, Kirkburton, Marsden, Meltham, Mirfield and Slaithwaite...
, with its headquarters in Huddersfield
Huddersfield
Huddersfield is a large market town within the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, in West Yorkshire, England, situated halfway between Leeds and Manchester. It lies north of London, and south of Bradford, the nearest city....
.
Schools
- The Batley village of Hanging Heaton is home to Mill Lane J, I & EY School.
- Batley Business And Enterprise College, formerly known as Batley High School for Boys, founded 1959 which was opened by Sir John Hunt
- Batley Girls' High School, a Visual Arts College since 2004
- Batley Grammar SchoolBatley Grammar SchoolBatley Grammar School is a co-educational school located at Carlinghow Hill in Upper Batley, West Yorkshire, England. The school was founded in 1612 by the Rev. William Lee...
, founded in 1612
Shopping
Batley is home to a modest commercial and retail centre. This is mostly situated along Commercial Street. The largest shop here is TescoTesco
Tesco plc is a global grocery and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Cheshunt, United Kingdom. It is the third-largest retailer in the world measured by revenues and the second-largest measured by profits...
which is linked to the main shopping street by footbridge. There are several chain shops in the centre, including a Boots the Chemist and until the chains collapse, a Woolworth's
Woolworths Group
Woolworths Group plc was a listed British company that owned the high-street retail chain, Woolworths, as well as other brands such as the entertainment distributor Entertainment UK and book and resource distributor Bertram Books...
which still lies empty.
In the town centre is the Batley Shopping Centre, a small shopping centre which has become somewhat rundown since being acquired by Tesco. The supermarket signpost the shopping centre as a thoroughfare to their supermarket. The main retailer in the shopping centre is Iceland, they are currently surrounded by many vacant shops.
Renovated former textile mills now form the major part of shopping in Batley. The Mill, Batley The Mill Batley is one of the UK's largest retail mills and is essentially a factory outlet or shopping village with many national & independent fashion & homeware operators.
The conception of The Mill, Batley back in 2000 provided what has been a consistent contribution to the area's employment and economic status.
Other major retail offers include Redbrick Mill, housing many top end furniture retailers such as Heal's and Multi York as well as local textile manufacturers Skopos. Shackletons - famous for their 1970s TV ad selling high seat chairs for the older generation - also occupy one of the many former mills along Bradford Road. This 'golden mile' of retail is collectively known as the Yorkshire Mill Mile.
Sport and culture
The town is home to the professional rugby leagueRugby league
Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...
club Batley RLFC
Batley Bulldogs
Batley Bulldogs are an English professional rugby league club from Batley, West Yorkshire. They currently play in the Co-operative Championship. Batley is one of the original twenty-two rugby football clubs that formed the Northern Rugby Football Union in 1895...
And junior football club Batley Juniors FC (formely Carlinghow Boys F.C) Carlinghow is also located in Batley
Wilton Park (known locally as Batley Park) is a large park
Park
A park is a protected area, in its natural or semi-natural state, or planted, and set aside for human recreation and enjoyment, or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. It may consist of rocks, soil, water, flora and fauna and grass areas. Many parks are legally protected by...
between Batley town centre and Upper Batley
Upper Batley
Upper Batley is an area of Batley in West Yorkshire, England.It was popular with the millowners of Batley in the 19th century as a place to build their family homes. There are many fine stone built villas in the area. Batley Hall, a two storey, oak and stone building, was originally built in 1370...
. In its grounds are a butterfly
Butterfly
A butterfly is a mainly day-flying insect of the order Lepidoptera, which includes the butterflies and moths. Like other holometabolous insects, the butterfly's life cycle consists of four parts: egg, larva, pupa and adult. Most species are diurnal. Butterflies have large, often brightly coloured...
house, the Milner K. Ford Observatory
Observatory
An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geology, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed...
(built in 1966 and home to the Batley & Spenborough Astronomical Society) and Bagshaw Museum. The museum is located in a house built by one of the original "shoddy barons", George Sheard, and features local history, natural history
Natural history
Natural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards observational rather than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, natural history is the systematic study...
, curios from around the world, and an Ancient Egyptian
History of Ancient Egypt
The History of Ancient Egypt spans the period from the early predynastic settlements of the northern Nile Valley to the Roman conquest in 30 BC...
exhibition. The museum (originally the Wilton Park Museum) is named after its first curator
Curator
A curator is a manager or overseer. Traditionally, a curator or keeper of a cultural heritage institution is a content specialist responsible for an institution's collections and involved with the interpretation of heritage material...
Walter Bagshaw, a Batley councillor and extensive traveller.
Batley also hosts the Yorkshire Motor Museum, with a small but varied collection of cars dating back to 1885, and reflecting local car makers as well as more famous marques.
Batley Art Gallery, located in the Batley Library building, features contemporary art
Art
Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect....
, craft
Craft
A craft is a branch of a profession that requires some particular kind of skilled work. In historical sense, particularly as pertinent to the Medieval history and earlier, the term is usually applied towards people occupied in small-scale production of goods.-Development from the past until...
and photography
Photography
Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...
.
Between 1966 and 1977 the Batley Variety Club
Batley Variety Club
The Batley Variety Club was a variety club in Batley, West Yorkshire, England. It was financed and co-founded by the late Yorkshire showman and businessman Peter Fleming, and James Corrigan. It had a cparity of around 1600 people, and when it opened offered cabaret and a dinner for 6s6d . At the...
was frequented by many notable acts including Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana....
, Johnny Mathis
Johnny Mathis
John Royce "Johnny" Mathis is an American singer of popular music. Starting his career with singles of standards, he became highly popular as an album artist, with several dozen of his albums achieving gold or platinum status, and 73 making the Billboard charts...
, Eartha Kitt
Eartha Kitt
Eartha Mae Kitt was an American singer, actress, and cabaret star. She was perhaps best known for her highly distinctive singing style and her 1953 hit recordings of "C'est Si Bon" and the enduring Christmas novelty smash "Santa Baby." Orson Welles once called her the "most exciting woman in the...
, The Bee Gees, Roy Orbison
Roy Orbison
Roy Kelton Orbison was an American singer-songwriter, well known for his distinctive, powerful voice, complex compositions, and dark emotional ballads. Orbison grew up in Texas and began singing in a rockabilly/country & western band in high school until he was signed by Sun Records in Memphis...
, The Hollies
The Hollies
The Hollies are an English pop and rock group, formed in Manchester in the early 1960s, though most of the band members are from throughout East Lancashire. Known for their distinctive vocal harmony style, they became one of the leading British groups of the 1960s and 1970s...
and Cliff Richard
Cliff Richard
Sir Cliff Richard, OBE is a British pop singer, musician, performer, actor, and philanthropist who has sold over an estimated 250 million records worldwide....
, among others. For a brief period it was also named The Crumpet, after which it remained closed for four years surviving numerous applications to have the building demolished. It is now the Frontier nightclub, as it has been since the late 1970s, and hasn't had a refit since. The Frontier was sold to a group of local businessmen in April 2005 and continues to operate as a nightclub whilst also hosting a large number of variety shows and sporting events such as boxing, snooker and darts.
In cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
, Batley has several local teams, and is also part of the cricket association for the Heavy Woollen District
Heavy Woollen District
The Heavy Woollen District is named because of the heavyweight cloth manufactured in an area of West Yorkshire, England. Dewsbury, Batley, Heckmondwike and Ossett are the core of the area. Liversedge, Gomersal, Gildersome, Birkenshaw, Mirfield, Cleckheaton, Morley, Tingley, East Ardsley, Birstall...
. The original definition of the latter area was to within a six mile radius of Batley Town Hall. The Heavy Woollen Cup can now be entered by any team within 18 miles of Batley, but there is an upper limit of 64 teams.
Demographics
Batley has an AsianAsian people
Asian people or Asiatic people is a term with multiple meanings that refers to people who descend from a portion of Asia's population.- Central Asia :...
Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
population made of people from Pakistan and the Indian state of Gujarat. The Gujarati community mainly live in the Mount Pleasant and Warwick Road areas of the town. Pakistani families live in Staincliffe
Staincliffe
Staincliffe is a cross-over district of both Batley, West Yorkshire, England and Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, England; the name is believed to derive from staine, meaning stone and cliffe, cliff...
, Hanging Heaton
Hanging Heaton
Hanging Heaton is a large village in West Yorkshire, England. Partly in both Batley and Dewsbury it is a historic village mentioned in the Domesday Book under the name 'Etun'. The prefix 'Hanging' refers to a steep hillside hanging above lower ground...
and Batley Carr
Batley Carr
Batley Carr, West Yorkshire, England is primarily a council estate in Batley, on the way to Dewsbury, along the A652, Bradford Road. The population is about 3,740. Crime is around the national average....
.
Notable people
Batley Grammar SchoolBatley Grammar School
Batley Grammar School is a co-educational school located at Carlinghow Hill in Upper Batley, West Yorkshire, England. The school was founded in 1612 by the Rev. William Lee...
was attended by Sir Titus Salt
Titus Salt
Sir Titus Salt, 1st Baronet , born in Morley, near Leeds, was a manufacturer, politician and philanthropist in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. His father Daniel Salt was a businessman and was sent Titus to Batley Grammar School...
, an industrialist who founded the model village of Saltaire
Saltaire
Saltaire is a Victorian model village within the City of Bradford Metropolitan District, West Yorkshire, England, by the River Aire and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal...
, Joseph Priestley
Joseph Priestley
Joseph Priestley, FRS was an 18th-century English theologian, Dissenting clergyman, natural philosopher, chemist, educator, and political theorist who published over 150 works...
, Josiah Wedgwood
Josiah Wedgwood
Josiah Wedgwood was an English potter, founder of the Wedgwood company, credited with the industrialization of the manufacture of pottery. A prominent abolitionist, Wedgwood is remembered for his "Am I Not A Man And A Brother?" anti-slavery medallion. He was a member of the Darwin–Wedgwood family...
and controversial writer Tim Fountain
Tim Fountain
Tim Fountain is a British writer.-Life:An only child, Tim Fountain was brought up in a pub in the village of West Ardsley, West Yorkshire, where he lived with his parents and two goats, one of which had only three legs...
.
Pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
singer Robert Palmer was also born in Batley.
Inventor and philanthropist Edward Ashton, who died in 1935, is buried in Batley.
Professional snooker
Snooker
Snooker is a cue sport that is played on a green baize-covered table with pockets in each of the four corners and in the middle of each of the long side cushions. A regular table is . It is played using a cue and snooker balls: one white , 15 worth one point each, and six balls of different :...
player Paul Hunter
Paul Hunter
Paul Alan Hunter was an English professional snooker player. His media profile developed swiftly and he became known as the "Beckham of the Baize" because of his good looks and flamboyant style....
lived in Batley until his death on 9 October 2006.
Louis Hall
Louis Hall
Louis Hall was an English first-class cricketer.Born in Batley, Yorkshire, England, Hall made his debut in 1873, and came of age with an innings of 78 for a local Eighteen against the Australian XI in 1878...
born 1852 in Batley. He played cricket for Yorkshire
Yorkshire County Cricket Club
Yorkshire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Yorkshire as one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure....
. The Hall family were local mill owners.
Matthew Hall born 1849 in Batley. He was a Music Hall entertainer, comic stage name Merry Matt Hall. Married Kathleen Geoghegan daughter of Joseph B Geogheagan song writer and music hall entertainer.
Arthur Roche
Arthur Roche
Arthur Roche is an English prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He is the ninth and current Bishop of Leeds.-Early life and ministry:...
, Bishop of Leeds, was born in Batley Carr
Batley Carr
Batley Carr, West Yorkshire, England is primarily a council estate in Batley, on the way to Dewsbury, along the A652, Bradford Road. The population is about 3,740. Crime is around the national average....
.
Leigh Francis
Leigh Francis
Leigh Szaak Francis is an English impressionist born in Leeds. He is best known for his work as the creator of Channel 4's Bo' Selecta!, and for his portrayal of Keith Lemon for several ITV programmes. Francis lives in Camden Town, London, and on October 31, 2003, at Allerton Castle, North...
, Comedian of Bo Selecta fame
Mohammed Bhana, Author of the Asian Liverbird book and journalist
Districts
Batley CarrBatley Carr
Batley Carr, West Yorkshire, England is primarily a council estate in Batley, on the way to Dewsbury, along the A652, Bradford Road. The population is about 3,740. Crime is around the national average....
, Carlinghow
Carlinghow
Carlinghow is a district of Batley, West Yorkshire, England.It lies west of Batley Town Centre, and stretches up towards White Lee and Birstall, along Carlinghow Lane and Bradford Road....
, Cross Bank, Hanging Heaton
Hanging Heaton
Hanging Heaton is a large village in West Yorkshire, England. Partly in both Batley and Dewsbury it is a historic village mentioned in the Domesday Book under the name 'Etun'. The prefix 'Hanging' refers to a steep hillside hanging above lower ground...
, Healey
Healey, Kirklees
Healey is a district of Batley, which is part of the Kirklees district, West Yorkshire, England.Healey is located between Batley and Heckmondwike...
, Lamplands, Carlton Grange Mount Pleasant
Mount Pleasant, Batley
Mount Pleasant is a rugby league stadium in Batley, West Yorkshire, England. It is the home of Batley RLFC.Renowned for its famous slope, Mount Pleasant is situated at the top of the hill that overlooks the town of Batley. The end of the ground at the top of the hill is surrounded by three...
, Soothill, Staincliffe
Staincliffe
Staincliffe is a cross-over district of both Batley, West Yorkshire, England and Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, England; the name is believed to derive from staine, meaning stone and cliffe, cliff...
, Upper Batley
Upper Batley
Upper Batley is an area of Batley in West Yorkshire, England.It was popular with the millowners of Batley in the 19th century as a place to build their family homes. There are many fine stone built villas in the area. Batley Hall, a two storey, oak and stone building, was originally built in 1370...
and White Lee.
Birstall
Birstall, West Yorkshire
Birstall is a large village in the metropolitan borough of Kirklees, West Yorkshire, England and situated roughly 6 miles south-west of Leeds. It features a quaint triangular Victorian marketplace, which replaced an earlier market on High Street in the Georgian area of the village further up the hill...
is addressed for postal reasons as being part of Batley WF17, and has Batley telephone numbers, and for a time before the creation of Kirklees Council, it was part of the former Batley UDC. However, Birstall is generally considered to be a settlement in its own right; residents of Birstall tend to talk of Batley as being a separate place.
As Batley shares boundaries with both Dewsbury
Dewsbury
Dewsbury is a minster town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, in West Yorkshire, England. It is to the west of Wakefield, east of Huddersfield and south of Leeds...
and Heckmondwike
Heckmondwike
Heckmondwike is a small town in the metropolitan borough of Kirklees, which is located geographically at the centre of West Yorkshire, England, south west of Leeds. Close to Cleckheaton and Liversedge, it is part of Cleckheckmondsedge, a name invented by J.B. Priestley to represent a West Riding...
, parts of Batley Carr, Hanging Heaton and Staincliffe are part of Dewsbury, while part of White Lee is in Heckmondwike. There is an area of Ossett known as Healey, which is identical in name to the Batley district of Healey; the Ossett area is sometimes referred to as "Healey Mills" due to the very large congregation of mills that once existed in that area.
Location grid
In popular culture
Monty Python's Flying CircusMonty Python's Flying Circus
Monty Python’s Flying Circus is a BBC TV sketch comedy series. The shows were composed of surreality, risqué or innuendo-laden humour, sight gags and observational sketches without punchlines...
had a series of recurring sketches in which the members of the Batley Ladies Townswomen's Guild would present famous plays or musicals, or reenact various historical battles, simply by charging at each other, swinging purses and wrestling in the mud.
Batley is also the setting for the children's television programme My Spy Family
My Spy Family
My Spy Family is a live action children's comedy series created by Paul Alexander that is currently being aired on the Qubo blocks in the USA, Boomerang in the UK, on Cartoon Network in South Africa, Poland, Italy, Hungary, Romania, Iceland and Denmark and on TG4 in Ireland. It is produced by...
.
Batley was used for location filming of the fictional town of Barfield in the 1955 film "Value for Money", starring John Gregson
John Gregson
John Gregson was an English actor.He was born Harold Thomas Gregson, of Irish descent, and grew up in Wavertree, Liverpool, where he was educated at Greenbank Road primary school, later St Francis Xavier School...
and Diana Dors
Diana Dors
Diana Dors was an English actress, born Diana Mary Fluck in Swindon, Wiltshire. Considered the English equivalent of the blonde bombshells of Hollywood, Dors described herself as: "The only sex symbol Britain has produced since Lady Godiva."-Early life:Diana Mary Fluck was born in Swindon,...
.
External links
- Portal for general information about Batley
- Maggie Blanck's family history site, includes a history of Batley and good source material
- Batley & Dewsbury Towns' Management Association
- Visitors to Dewsbury
- The Ancient Parish of Batley at GENUKIGENUKIGENUKI is a genealogy web portal, run as a charitable trust. Its aim is "to serve as a "virtual reference library" of genealogical information that is of particular relevance to the UK & Ireland"...
- Website of Mike Wood, the town's Member of Parliament
- Website of Batley Ladies CircleLadies Circle a club for women aged 18 to 45
- Website of Batley & Spenborough Astronomical Society