Liversedge
Encyclopedia
Liversedge is a township
in the former parish of Birstall
, in the metropolitan borough
of Kirklees
, West Yorkshire
, England. Liversedge lies between Cleckheaton
and Heckmondwike
about 14 miles (22.5 km) southwest of Leeds
.
, originally called Dog gus (local dialect translating as "Dog House"), clings to one side of the Spen Valley, looking over the nearby town of Heckmondwike
. Roberttown
is on the other side of the A62
from here. Millbridge is the geographical centre of Liversedge and together with the neighbouring village of Flush is where the mills of the woollen industry stood. Towards Cleckheaton
are the settlements of Hightown
, Littletown
and Popeley Hill.
Liversedge has a Wakefield
postcode (WF15). Some areas have a Wakefield
dialing code (01924) while others have a Bradford
dialing code (01274). Council Tax
payers pay their bill to Kirklees
Council, whose headquarters are in Huddersfield
.
as Livresec, a manor belonging to Radulf, a vassal of Ilbert de Lacy. There are two possible etymologies for the name: from the Old English Lēofheres-ecg meaning 'a ridge or edge belonging to Lēofhere'; or, alternatively, the first element could have originally been *Lēfer-, related to the Old English word lifer
used in the sense of 'thick clotted water', and the second element secg, 'a bed of reeds or rushes'.
In the 15th century, the Lord of the manor was a member of the Neville family. At that time the manor of Liversedge was already involved in the rapidly advancing English woollen manufacture. This trade grew with the centuries and by the 19th century it was very busy in the manufacture of woollen goods. In 1812 it was the scene of a Luddite
riot at Rawfolds Mill when the local weavers attacked Edmund Cartwright who was in the process of developing his new power loom. See the entry on Cleckheaton
for more details.
Liversedge has a church that was built at the time of the Battle of Waterloo
. Nearby Healds Hall, formerly the Spenborough Museum, is now an hotel. In the days of Charlotte Brontë
it was home to Hammond Roberson whom she transformed into the Reverend Matthewman Helstone in her novel Shirley
.
A river known locally as the Spen Beck
and previously The Stink, runs through Liversedge.
, with no directions from either the Huddersfield
or Dewsbury
and Batley
sides of the settlement.
are a football club in the football league pyramid, playing in the Northern Counties East Football League Premier Division for the 10-11 season. They play at Clayborn, 1 km from Cleckheaton town centre.
There are also many Sunday League football teams in and around Liversedge playing in the Heavy Woollen Sunday League.
, and Robert "Bob" Wood
played rugby union for England
, and Liversedge FC, who were founded in 1877. When the rugby football
schism occurred in 1895, Liversedge FC became founder members of the Northern Rugby Football Union (now Rugby Football League
). Liversedge FC played for seven seasons from the 1895–96 season through to the end of 1901–02 season, they finished 15th of 22 in the initial combined league, and then 11th, 16th, 15th, 16th, and 16th of 16, and finally 14th of 14, in the Yorkshire Senior Competition, after which they withdrew from the Northern Rugby Football Union. Rugby league in the town is now represented by Liversedge ARLFC, who play behind Spenborough Swimming Pool off Bradford Road, currently play in the Third Division of the Pennine Amateur Rugby League pyramid.
Township
The word township is used to refer to different kinds of settlements in different countries. Township is generally associated with an urban area. However there are many exceptions to this rule. In Australia, the United States, and Canada, they may be settlements too small to be considered urban...
in the former parish 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...
, in the metropolitan borough
Metropolitan borough
A metropolitan borough is a type of local government district in England, and is a subdivision of a metropolitan county. Created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972, metropolitan boroughs are defined in English law as metropolitan districts, however all of them have been granted or regranted...
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...
, 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. Liversedge lies between 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 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...
about 14 miles (22.5 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...
.
Settlements within Liversedge
Liversedge comprises several smaller village like settlements that are all distinctive. NorristhorpeNorristhorpe
Norristhorpe is a village, in the Township of Liversedge in Kirklees, West Yorkshire, England.Until the 1880's Norristhorpe was called "Doggus" . But the building of a school prompted a name change as the thought Doggus School wasn't posh enough. So the name Norristhorpe was invented....
, originally called Dog gus (local dialect translating as "Dog House"), clings to one side of the Spen Valley, looking over the nearby town 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...
. Roberttown
Roberttown
Roberttown is a village, in the Township of Liversedge in Kirklees, West Yorkshire, England....
is on the other side of the A62
A62 road
The A62 is a major road in Northern England that runs between the two major cities of Manchester and Leeds.The road is approximately 40 miles long. It runs north east from Manchester through Failsworth and Oldham then Saddleworth before crossing the Pennines at Standedge into West Yorkshire...
from here. Millbridge is the geographical centre of Liversedge and together with the neighbouring village of Flush is where the mills of the woollen industry stood. Towards 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...
are the settlements of Hightown
Hightown, West Yorkshire
Hightown is a hamlet within Liversedge, West Yorkshire, England, with a diverse socioeconomic culture. To the north, neighbouring the border with Calderdale, is Windybank council estate...
, Littletown
Littletown, Liversedge, Kirklees
Littletown is a suburb of Liversedge, West Yorkshire, in the north of England. Much of the town centre was demolished in the 1960s for road widening....
and Popeley Hill.
Liversedge has a 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....
postcode (WF15). Some areas have a 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....
dialing code (01924) while others have a 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...
dialing code (01274). Council Tax
Council tax
Council Tax is the system of local taxation used in England, Scotland and Wales to part fund the services provided by local government in each country. It was introduced in 1993 by the Local Government Finance Act 1992, as a successor to the unpopular Community Charge...
payers pay their bill to 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...
Council, whose headquarters are 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....
.
History
Liversedge is recorded in the Domesday BookDomesday 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 Livresec, a manor belonging to Radulf, a vassal of Ilbert de Lacy. There are two possible etymologies for the name: from the Old English Lēofheres-ecg meaning 'a ridge or edge belonging to Lēofhere'; or, alternatively, the first element could have originally been *Lēfer-, related to the Old English word lifer
Liver
The liver is a vital organ present in vertebrates and some other animals. It has a wide range of functions, including detoxification, protein synthesis, and production of biochemicals necessary for digestion...
used in the sense of 'thick clotted water', and the second element secg, 'a bed of reeds or rushes'.
In the 15th century, the Lord of the manor was a member of the Neville family. At that time the manor of Liversedge was already involved in the rapidly advancing English woollen manufacture. This trade grew with the centuries and by the 19th century it was very busy in the manufacture of woollen goods. In 1812 it was the scene of a Luddite
Luddite
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...
riot at Rawfolds Mill when the local weavers attacked Edmund Cartwright who was in the process of developing his new power loom. See the entry on 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...
for more details.
Liversedge has a church that was built at the time of the Battle of Waterloo
Battle of Waterloo
The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815 near Waterloo in present-day Belgium, then part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands...
. Nearby Healds Hall, formerly the Spenborough Museum, is now an hotel. In the days of 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...
it was home to Hammond Roberson whom she transformed into the Reverend Matthewman Helstone in 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...
.
A river known locally as the Spen Beck
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...
and previously The Stink, runs through Liversedge.
Transport
There is only one road sign in the whole area directing motorists towards Liversedge: on the A649 Halifax Road from Bailiff BridgeBailiff Bridge
Bailiff Bridge is a village north of Brighouse, West Yorkshire, England and from Huddersfield and from Bradford.The village is served by the A641 main road which connects it to the nearby towns and cities.-History:...
, with no directions from either the 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....
or 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 Batley
Batley
Batley is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, in West Yorkshire, England. It lies southeast of Bradford, southwest of Leeds and north of Dewsbury, near the M62 motorway. It has a population of 49,448 . Other nearby towns include Morley to the northeast, Ossett to the southeast...
sides of the settlement.
Politics
Politically, for Kirklees Council, the Leeds/Huddersfield Road acts as a boundary between electoral wards. Roberttown, Hightown and Littletown are within the Liversedge and Gomersal ward, while Norristhorpe and Flush are part of the Heckmondwike ward.Football
Liversedge F.C.Liversedge F.C.
Liversedge F.C. are a football club based in Cleckheaton, England, on the border with Hightown in Liversedge and members of the Northern Counties East Football League Premier Division for the 2011–12 season....
are a football club in the football league pyramid, playing in the Northern Counties East Football League Premier Division for the 10-11 season. They play at Clayborn, 1 km from Cleckheaton town centre.
There are also many Sunday League football teams in and around Liversedge playing in the Heavy Woollen Sunday League.
Cricket
Liversedge Cricket Club play at Roberttown Lane near to the New Inn and play in the Central Yorkshire League.Rugby league
In the late 19th century, and prior to the 1895 schism, Harry VarleyHarry Varley
Henry "Harry" Varley was a rugby union and professional rugby union footballer of the 1890s who at representative level played rugby union for England, and at club level for Liversedge, playing Scrum-half, i.e...
, and Robert "Bob" Wood
Robert Wood (rugby)
Robert "Bob" Wood was a rugby union footballer of the 1890s who at representative level played for England, and at club level for Liversedge, playing Half-back, i.e. number 9, or 10...
played rugby union for England
England national rugby union team
The England national rugby union team represents England in rugby union. They compete in the annual Six Nations Championship with France, Ireland, Scotland, Italy, and Wales. They have won this championship on 26 occasions, 12 times winning the Grand Slam, making them the most successful team in...
, and Liversedge FC, who were founded in 1877. When the rugby football
Rugby football
Rugby football is a style of football named after Rugby School in the United Kingdom. It is seen most prominently in two current sports, rugby league and rugby union.-History:...
schism occurred in 1895, Liversedge FC became founder members of the Northern Rugby Football Union (now Rugby Football League
Rugby Football League
The Rugby Football League is the governing body for professional rugby league football in England. Based at Red Hall in Leeds, it administers the England national rugby league team, the Challenge Cup, Super League and the Rugby League Championships...
). Liversedge FC played for seven seasons from the 1895–96 season through to the end of 1901–02 season, they finished 15th of 22 in the initial combined league, and then 11th, 16th, 15th, 16th, and 16th of 16, and finally 14th of 14, in the Yorkshire Senior Competition, after which they withdrew from the Northern Rugby Football Union. Rugby league in the town is now represented by Liversedge ARLFC, who play behind Spenborough Swimming Pool off Bradford Road, currently play in the Third Division of the Pennine Amateur Rugby League pyramid.