is a small town in
Kirklees Metropolitan Borough, in the
County of
West Yorkshire ,
England . It lies north of
Dewsbury , just off the
M62 . 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.
The name Batley is derived from
Anglo-Saxon meaning either valley or homestead of
Bat s, or alternatively homestead of a person name Batt. It is recorded in the
Domesday Book as 'Bathelie'. 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 twelth century. The present Batley Parish Church was built in the reign of
Henry VI (1422-1461), and parts of the original remain. Although Batley is an ancient settlement, this is all that remains of any great antiquity.
Howley Hall at Soothill was built in the 1580's by Sir John Savile, a member of the great Yorkshire landowners, the Savile Family. The house was beseiged during the
Civil War in 1643 prior to the
Battle Of Adwalton Moor but appears to have sustained no serious damage at the time. It continued to be occupied during the 17th century but fell into disrepair. Howley Hall was finally demolished in 1730.
Batley Grammar School was founded in
1612 by the Rev. William Lee and is still in existence today.
Methodism came to Batley in the 1740s and took a strong hold in the town which continued into the twentieth 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
Public House s due to the Methodist leaning of the local population.
In the late
18th Century the main occupations in the town were
Farming and
Weaving . The
Industrial Revolution came to Batley in
1796 with the arrival of the first water powered mills for carding spinning. Over the next half century the population grew rapidly, from around 2,500 at the turn 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.
