Gomersal
Encyclopedia
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
.
Gomersal was originally 'Great Gomersal' according to historical maps – neighbouring village Little Gomersal has, however, retained its diminutive.
uprising of 1812 when riot
ers protested against the power loom
s. Many rioters were injured or killed and the ring leaders executed at York
.
The riots provided Charlotte Brontë
with material for her novel Shirley
. Gomersal was the hometown of her friend Mary Taylor, who lived at the Red House which is called Briarmains in the novel. The house is now Red House Museum
.
The Taylor Family also went on to live in Spen Hall, a former chemical works, which is a residence in the Lower Spen area of Gomersal on Spen Lane. Spen Hall is now split into several houses but still has many original features, such as a 16th century mullioned window, the original tennis lawn and a water spring which, according to myth, is a tunnel (now flooded) leading to the Old Saw public house cellar, further up Spen Lane. This cellar was apparently used to hide priests fleeing persecution and the public house has now been refurbished as bistro/bar and renamed 'The Saw'). The Old Saw itself used to be on further down Spen Lane (labelled on an Ordnance Survey map as 'Heygate'), which was renovated by its current owner due to instability of the property.
Clay pipes were found in the earlier Old Saw premises in the walls and chimneys but, once exhumed, disintegrated. A glazed drinking cup found in the foundations survives after being carefully reassembled and preserved by Harry King, the former owner of the cottage. The cup still requires dating. A hand-made brick-lined pit 2 foot (0.6096 m) deep was also discovered on the site. Its uses are disputed, with suggestions that it was a cock fighting pit or meat storage vessel.
Gomersal also has many fine and historic houses which climb the hill of Spen Lane and along Oxford Road towards Birkenshaw
. Houses such as Spen Hall, Spen House (now demolished and rebuilt, except the Coach House), High Rising (High Royd, another Taylor Household) now The Gomersal Hotel, Tanfield House, Firdene (currently on the market for £1.25 million), Hilltop House (now split into two homes with apartment buildings in the grounds), Gomers Hall (apparently, originally Gothmers Hall, which was demolished in order to build an electricity sub-station), Pollard Hall (home of the mill owner Thomas Burnley), Red House (now Red House Museum), Broadyards, Croft House, Sigston House, Gomersal Hall, Peel House, West House (the last three still privately owned).
The Roundhill Mill site in the Cliffe lane area of Gomersal is known for the sighting of the scratje , a legendary Norse spirit supposedly observed by a son prior to the death of his father and characterised by a cold and apparently sourceless light which moves erratically.The old name for Cliffe Lane was Scrat Lane.
Gomersal was heavily wooded up to the late 19th century with Swinley Great Wood, Lanes Wood, Scotland (Fusden) Wood containing the Taylor family burial ground, and Church Wood between the Hill Top and Monk Ings.
During World War II, Gomersal had a number of public air raid shelters, with quite a few remaining in 2007 at Birkenshaw roundabout Park, Gomersal First School, Hill Top. This was likely due to the semi-underground control bunker for the anti-aircraft guns in the West Riding, protecting Leeds, Bradford, Huddersfield and Halifax. The bunker was in the grounds of Oakroyd Hall, making this a target for the German Luftwaffe; Oakroyd Hall is now the headquarters of the West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service.
There was also a Royal Observer Corps
'Orlit' type surface observation post on the Popeley Fields around one third of a mile from the Gomersal Cricket ground. This was active throughout the war and manned day and night. In the 1960s on the same site a nuclear-blast-proof underground bunker was constructed as a monitoring post, one of over 1500 constructed in the UK, for use in measuring direction, strength of blast and fallout in the event of the UK coming under nuclear attack. The ROC stood down during the late 80s with the reduced threat of the Cold War and the bunkers were abandoned and sold or given back to the land owners.
and Manchester
and improving the main line capacity between Huddersfield
and Leeds. The line was constructed between 1894 and 1902 and opened fully to passengers in 1904. It had some spectacular civil engineering for the time, including rail viaducts at Mirfield
and Heckmondwike
, a 90 feet (27.4 m) high pedestrian road viaduct
linking Cleckheaton town centre with the station and goods yard. The Gomersal Tunnel is 890 yards (813.8 m) long and around 30 feet (9.1 m) deep, directly under the Shoulder of Mutton pub in Oxford Road at Great Gomersal (the LNWR bought the pub in 1897 in case it fell into the tunnel workings) and then the line opened into Gomersal Station in Moor Lane, a four minute train ride from Cleckheaton Spen.
The railway closed to passengers in 1964 and goods in 1966, having had all the buildings and structures repainted and new track in 1963. Sir Winston Churchill
, then Prime Minister
, slept at Cleckheaton Spen sidings overnight in a special train with a heavy security cordon in 1952 during election campaigning.
John Wesley
Harding preached in Gomersal, one of his closest lay assistants John Nelson was involved with lay preacher Edward Brooke who initiated the construction in 1827 of the Wesleyan Chapel in Latham lane with an unusual bow front, which became known as the "pork pie chapel".
Pubs include The Peacock (demolished for the M62 Motorway), The Scotland, The Bankfield, The West End, Shoulder of Mutton, White Horse, The Wheatsheaf, Bulls Head, The Old Saw (The Saw), and The California.
Clubs include Gomersal Cricket Club, Spen Victoria Cricket and Bowling Club, and Drub Working Men's Club.
Gomersal also has a football club, Gomersal & Cleckheaton F.C., ranging from ages 6 to 17 and their traditional colours are red and black stripes.
Gomersal was once home to Burnleys Textile Mill, which was a landmark in the Spenborough
area. However, this has been demolished to make way for a new housing development of up to 300 homes. Gomersal has two primary schools; Gomersal First School and St Mary's First School, and one middle school; Gomersal Middle School.
Metropolitan county
The metropolitan counties are a type of county-level administrative division of England. There are six metropolitan counties, which each cover large urban areas, typically with populations of 1.2 to 2.8 million...
of 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 is south of Bradford, east of Cleckheaton
Cleckheaton
Cleckheaton is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, in West Yorkshire, England, situated south of Bradford, east of Brighouse, west of Batley and south-west of Leeds...
, and north of 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...
and close to the River Spen
River Spen
The River Spen is a river in the county of West Yorkshire, England and is a tributary of the River Calder. It rises north of Cleckheaton, runs through Liversedge and flows into the River Calder, West Yorkshire south of Dewsbury at Ravensthorpe. The average rainfall for the river valley is between...
.
Gomersal was originally 'Great Gomersal' according to historical maps – neighbouring village Little Gomersal has, however, retained its diminutive.
History
Gomersal is known for the LudditeLuddite
The Luddites were a social movement of 19th-century English textile artisans who protested – often by destroying mechanised looms – against the changes produced by the Industrial Revolution, which they felt were leaving them without work and changing their way of life...
uprising of 1812 when riot
Riot
A riot is a form of civil disorder characterized often by what is thought of as disorganized groups lashing out in a sudden and intense rash of violence against authority, property or people. While individuals may attempt to lead or control a riot, riots are thought to be typically chaotic and...
ers protested against the power loom
Power loom
A power loom is a mechanized loom powered by a line shaft. The first power loom was designed in 1784 by Edmund Cartwright and first built in 1785. It was refined over the next 47 years until a design by Kenworthy and Bullough, made the operation completely automatic. This was known as the...
s. Many rioters were injured or killed and the ring leaders executed at York
York
York is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence...
.
The riots provided Charlotte Brontë
Charlotte Brontë
Charlotte Brontë was an English novelist and poet, the eldest of the three Brontë sisters who survived into adulthood, whose novels are English literature standards...
with material for her novel Shirley
Shirley (novel)
Shirley is an 1849 social novel by the English novelist Charlotte Brontë. It was Brontë's second published novel after Jane Eyre . The novel is set in Yorkshire in the period 1811–12, during the industrial depression resulting from the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812...
. Gomersal was the hometown of her friend Mary Taylor, who lived at the Red House which is called Briarmains in the novel. The house is now Red House Museum
Red House Museum
Red House Museum is a historic house and museum in Gomersal, West Yorkshire, England.Red House was built by William Taylor in 1660, and the Taylor family owned it until 1920. The house had a number of famous visitors. One was Charlotte Brontë, who had been a pupil at Roe Head with Mary Taylor, the...
.
The Taylor Family also went on to live in Spen Hall, a former chemical works, which is a residence in the Lower Spen area of Gomersal on Spen Lane. Spen Hall is now split into several houses but still has many original features, such as a 16th century mullioned window, the original tennis lawn and a water spring which, according to myth, is a tunnel (now flooded) leading to the Old Saw public house cellar, further up Spen Lane. This cellar was apparently used to hide priests fleeing persecution and the public house has now been refurbished as bistro/bar and renamed 'The Saw'). The Old Saw itself used to be on further down Spen Lane (labelled on an Ordnance Survey map as 'Heygate'), which was renovated by its current owner due to instability of the property.
Clay pipes were found in the earlier Old Saw premises in the walls and chimneys but, once exhumed, disintegrated. A glazed drinking cup found in the foundations survives after being carefully reassembled and preserved by Harry King, the former owner of the cottage. The cup still requires dating. A hand-made brick-lined pit 2 foot (0.6096 m) deep was also discovered on the site. Its uses are disputed, with suggestions that it was a cock fighting pit or meat storage vessel.
Gomersal also has many fine and historic houses which climb the hill of Spen Lane and along Oxford Road towards Birkenshaw
Birkenshaw, West Yorkshire
Birkenshaw is a village in the county of West Yorkshire, England. It lies at the crossroads between the A58 Leeds to Halifax road and the A651 Bradford to Heckmondwike road....
. Houses such as Spen Hall, Spen House (now demolished and rebuilt, except the Coach House), High Rising (High Royd, another Taylor Household) now The Gomersal Hotel, Tanfield House, Firdene (currently on the market for £1.25 million), Hilltop House (now split into two homes with apartment buildings in the grounds), Gomers Hall (apparently, originally Gothmers Hall, which was demolished in order to build an electricity sub-station), Pollard Hall (home of the mill owner Thomas Burnley), Red House (now Red House Museum), Broadyards, Croft House, Sigston House, Gomersal Hall, Peel House, West House (the last three still privately owned).
The Roundhill Mill site in the Cliffe lane area of Gomersal is known for the sighting of the scratje , a legendary Norse spirit supposedly observed by a son prior to the death of his father and characterised by a cold and apparently sourceless light which moves erratically.The old name for Cliffe Lane was Scrat Lane.
Gomersal was heavily wooded up to the late 19th century with Swinley Great Wood, Lanes Wood, Scotland (Fusden) Wood containing the Taylor family burial ground, and Church Wood between the Hill Top and Monk Ings.
During World War II, Gomersal had a number of public air raid shelters, with quite a few remaining in 2007 at Birkenshaw roundabout Park, Gomersal First School, Hill Top. This was likely due to the semi-underground control bunker for the anti-aircraft guns in the West Riding, protecting Leeds, Bradford, Huddersfield and Halifax. The bunker was in the grounds of Oakroyd Hall, making this a target for the German Luftwaffe; Oakroyd Hall is now the headquarters of the West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service.
There was also a Royal Observer Corps
Royal Observer Corps
The Royal Observer Corps was a civil defence organisation operating in the United Kingdom between 29 October 1925 and 31 December 1995, when the Corps' civilian volunteers were stood down....
'Orlit' type surface observation post on the Popeley Fields around one third of a mile from the Gomersal Cricket ground. This was active throughout the war and manned day and night. In the 1960s on the same site a nuclear-blast-proof underground bunker was constructed as a monitoring post, one of over 1500 constructed in the UK, for use in measuring direction, strength of blast and fallout in the event of the UK coming under nuclear attack. The ROC stood down during the late 80s with the reduced threat of the Cold War and the bunkers were abandoned and sold or given back to the land owners.
Railway
The Lower Spen area of Gomersal had a railway station, Cleckheaton Spen on the LNWR railway line diversion loop linking LeedsLeeds
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 Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
and improving the main line capacity between 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 Leeds. The line was constructed between 1894 and 1902 and opened fully to passengers in 1904. It had some spectacular civil engineering for the time, including rail viaducts at Mirfield
Mirfield
Mirfield is a small town and civil parish within the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, in West Yorkshire, England. It is located on the A644 road between Brighouse and Dewsbury...
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...
, a 90 feet (27.4 m) high pedestrian road viaduct
Viaduct
A viaduct is a bridge composed of several small spans. The term viaduct is derived from the Latin via for road and ducere to lead something. However, the Ancient Romans did not use that term per se; it is a modern derivation from an analogy with aqueduct. Like the Roman aqueducts, many early...
linking Cleckheaton town centre with the station and goods yard. The Gomersal Tunnel is 890 yards (813.8 m) long and around 30 feet (9.1 m) deep, directly under the Shoulder of Mutton pub in Oxford Road at Great Gomersal (the LNWR bought the pub in 1897 in case it fell into the tunnel workings) and then the line opened into Gomersal Station in Moor Lane, a four minute train ride from Cleckheaton Spen.
The railway closed to passengers in 1964 and goods in 1966, having had all the buildings and structures repainted and new track in 1963. Sir Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
, then Prime Minister
Prime minister
A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...
, slept at Cleckheaton Spen sidings overnight in a special train with a heavy security cordon in 1952 during election campaigning.
Places of worship
Gomersal had quite a number of places of worship given the size of population, including Gomersal St Mary C of E Church (1851), the Methodist Wesleyan Chapel, Latham Lane 1827 (the famous Pork Pie Chapel) the Grove Congregational Chapel in Oxford Road, the Methodist Free United chapel (off Reform Street), the Primitive Methodist Chapel in Moor Lane, and the Moravian Chapel in Little Gomersal. Most of these are still in use today.John Wesley
John Wesley
John Wesley was a Church of England cleric and Christian theologian. Wesley is largely credited, along with his brother Charles Wesley, as founding the Methodist movement which began when he took to open-air preaching in a similar manner to George Whitefield...
Harding preached in Gomersal, one of his closest lay assistants John Nelson was involved with lay preacher Edward Brooke who initiated the construction in 1827 of the Wesleyan Chapel in Latham lane with an unusual bow front, which became known as the "pork pie chapel".
Street and locality names
Gomersal also has some interesting street and place names, for example Mazy Brook (Mazebrook), Drub, Birdacre, Bleak Street, Wood Nook, Throstle Nest, Egypt, Worlds End, Fusden Lane, Monk Ings, Nutter Lane, Muffit Lane, Garfit Hill, Nibshaw Lane to name a few.Pubs include The Peacock (demolished for the M62 Motorway), The Scotland, The Bankfield, The West End, Shoulder of Mutton, White Horse, The Wheatsheaf, Bulls Head, The Old Saw (The Saw), and The California.
Clubs include Gomersal Cricket Club, Spen Victoria Cricket and Bowling Club, and Drub Working Men's Club.
Gomersal also has a football club, Gomersal & Cleckheaton F.C., ranging from ages 6 to 17 and their traditional colours are red and black stripes.
Gomersal was once home to Burnleys Textile Mill, which was a landmark in the Spenborough
Spenborough
Spenborough was, from 1915 to 1974, a local government district in the administrative county of Yorkshire, West Riding.Spenborough was created as an urban district in 1915 by the merger of Cleckheaton, Gomersal and Liversedge urban districts...
area. However, this has been demolished to make way for a new housing development of up to 300 homes. Gomersal has two primary schools; Gomersal First School and St Mary's First School, and one middle school; Gomersal Middle School.