Birdsedge is a small village in the borough of Kirklees

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

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, on the edge of Yorkshire

Yorkshire

Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...

's Pennine hills

Pennines

The Pennines are a low-rising mountain range, separating the North West of England from Yorkshire and the North East.Often described as the "backbone of England", they form a more-or-less continuous range stretching from the Peak District in Derbyshire, around the northern and eastern edges of...

, standing just below one thousand feet above sea level. It is located on the A629 about nine miles south of 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....

 and about four miles north of Penistone

Penistone

Penistone is a small town market town and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley, in South Yorkshire, England, with a population of 10,101 at the 2001 census. It lies west of the town of Barnsley and north east of Glossop, in the foothills of the Pennines...

. It is situated between the villages of Shepley

Shepley

Shepley is a village in the civil parish of Kirkburton, in Kirklees, West Yorkshire, England, and in the Diocese of Wakefield. It lies south south east of Huddersfield and north west of Penistone....

 and Upper Cumberworth

Upper Cumberworth

Upper Cumberworth is a small village in West Yorkshire, England, within the Civil parish of Denby Dale and the Diocese of Wakefield. It is between the villages of Denby Dale and Shepley, above the village of Lower Cumberworth...

 and is linked with the neighbouring hamlet of High Flatts, a former Quaker settlement (and still home to a Friends' Meeting House).

Though originally an area of upland farms, woollen weaving and stone quarries, it is now a dormitory village for nearby towns and cities of Huddersfield, Barnsley

Barnsley

Barnsley is a town in South Yorkshire, England. It lies on the River Dearne, north of the city of Sheffield, south of Leeds and west of Doncaster. Barnsley is surrounded by several smaller settlements which together form the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley, of which Barnsley is the largest and...

, Sheffield

Sheffield

Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...

, Wakefield

Wakefield

Wakefield is the main settlement and administrative centre of the City of Wakefield, a metropolitan district of West Yorkshire, England. Located by the River Calder on the eastern edge of the Pennines, the urban area is and had a population of 76,886 in 2001....

 and 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...

.
Although the village has no shops and no pubs it has a thriving school (Birdsedge First School) and a Wesleyan Reform Union

Wesleyan Reform Union

The Wesleyan Reform Union is an Independent Methodist Connexion based in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1859 by the members of the Wesleyan Reform movement who did not join the United Methodist Free Churches-Statement of Faith:...

 church (Birdsedge Wesleyan Reform Church) and a small commumity hall, (Birdsedge Village Hall). There is still a working mill in the village, though this is part of the Z Hinchliffe mill complex located in the nearby village of Denby Dale

Denby Dale

Denby Dale is a village and civil parish in the metropolitan borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England, to the South East of Huddersfield. As a civil parish it covers the villages of Denby Dale, Lower Denby, Upper Denby, Upper Cumberworth, Lower Cumberworth, Skelmanthorpe, Emley, Emley...

.

Name

There is some controversy about the name of the village. Long-term residents spell it Birdsedge while Kirklees

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...

 local authority insists on calling it 'Birds Edge'. Until the 1980s the road sign at the north end of the village proclaimed Birds Edge, while approaching from the south, although there was no village sign, the road sign on the A629 proclaimed Birdsedge. In the Post Office's guide: 'Postal Addresses and Index to Postcode Directories' of May 1983, it is listed as Birdsedge. Whichever spelling is used, the mail gets through.

History

Historically the village was little more than a collection of isolated farms until the 17th century when a group of local Quakers founded a Meeting in High Flatts, renovating a pre-existing barn for their Meeting House and building several houses in the immediate vicinity. The Dickinson family prospered and the community developed under the guiding hand of the diligent Quakers for the next 200 years. The last of the Dickinsons died without heirs in 1875, by that time, the mill at Birdsedge was a major employer in the area and the majority of the stone cottages - erected in the 19th century - were housing workers who had moved from outlying areas such as Fulstone to find employment. At this time there were also several shops, including a post office, and two or three pubs. The school (then in the building that is now the village hall) was founded in the 1870s by members of the Quaker community. It was replaced by the new council school (now the First School) in 1911.

Today the village has about 170 houses and a population of 350, and has an active community based around the Village Hall and the Church.

Culture

Birdsedge hosts a successful (and disproportionately large) annual festival on the first Saturday in July featuring a broad range of family entertainment plus music and dance performers from the national and international folk scene. It also hosts a series of folk concerts in the Village Hall which have been successfully bringing in national and international guests since 1983 and continuing to the present day.