is a town in the
County of
West Yorkshire ,
England , to the west of
Wakefield , in the borough of
Kirklees . It lies by the
River Calder and the
Calder And Hebble Navigation . After undergoing a period of major growth in the
19th Century , Dewsbury has more recently gone under a period of decline. The year 2005 saw the town acquire a bad reputation nationally, due to a number of high-profile crimes and local activity by both the
BNP and
Islamist s. According to the 2001 census the Dewsbury urban sub-area had a population of 54,341.
In
Saxon times, Dewsbury was a centre of considerable importance. The
Parish of Dewsbury extended east of the
Pennines to encompass Huddersfield,
Mirfield and Bradford. Ancient legend records that in
627 Paulinus , the first bishop of York, preached in the church situated here. Numerous Saxon graves have been found in Dewsbury and Thornhill.
{Link without Title}
Dewsbury
Postage Stamp in
1986 .
{Link without Title}
Dewsbury market was established in the 14th century for local clothiers. Occurences of the
Plague in 1593 and 1603 closed the market until it was reopened in 1741.
Through the
Middle Ages Dewsbury retained a measure of importance in ecclesiastical terms, collecting tithes from as far away as
Halifax in the mid-14th century.
John Wesley visited the area five times in the mid-18th century, and the first
Methodist Society was established in
1746 . Centenary Chapel on Daisy Hill commemorates the
Centenary of this event, and the Methodist tradition remained strong in the town.
{Link without Title}
In
1770 , a short branch of the
Calder And Hebble Navigation canal was completed, linking Dewsbury to the main
Canal system and giving access to distribution centres in Manchester and Hull. By the time of the
Industrial Revolution , Dewsbury was one of the centres for the "
Shoddy " industry, the recycling of old woollen items by mixing them with new wool and making them into heavy blankets and uniforms. The town benefited economically from the canal, its location at the heart of the
Heavy Woollen District , and its proximity to the coal mines. The railways arrived in 1848 when three stations were opened in the town, including
Dewsbury Wellington Road , the only one which remains. This period saw a great increase in population, rising from 4,566 in 1801 to around 30,000 by 1890.
Dewsbury was incorporated as a being Dr George Farnley. The
1868 Reform Act constituted Dewsbury a
Parliamentary Borough , its first
MP being Mr Sergeant Simon. The fine
Victorian Town Hall that stands in front of the old marketplace was built in
1848 . Dewsbury was made into a
County Borough in
1913 . The covered market was opened in 1904 and during the 1920's trade moved from the original market place to the area around the covered market.
Starting in the late 1950s and continuing until the 1970s, many families from
South Asia , particularly
Pakistan , settled in Dewsbury. By 1966 around 2,000 immigrants from
Commonwealth countries had made Dewsbury their home. Many worked in the woolen mills, making good the labour shortage in that sector. The mills were still often run as family businesses, and continued manufacturing after the
Wool crisis in 1950-51, which saw
Australia n
Sheep Farmers begin to charge higher prices. However, the recovery of the late 1960s was reversed by the
1973 Oil Crisis , and the textile industry in Dewsbury declined, with only
Bed manufacturing remaining a large scale employer. According to the 2001 census, some 13,000 of the population of Dewsbury are of Asian descent.
In
1974 responsibility for local government passed to
Kirklees Metropolitan Council , with its headquarters in Huddersfield. Its population has remained broadly static over the past century - the 1911 census recorded 53,351 people
{Link without Title} .
In 2005, two high profile , one of the
July 7th London Bombers , had been living in Thornhill Lees, a suburb of Dewsbury.
The
Domesday Book of
1086 records the name of the town as Deusberia. There are a number of theories on the origin of the name. They are:
# An
Anglo-Saxon name referring to a watery "
Burg h", or fortified
Manor .
{Link without Title}
# A
Mercian name, after the founder of a fortified settlement in the area, named Dui, Dew or Deus - "beria" meaning strongold.
{Link without Title}
# "God's Hill", from the old British word "Duw", meaning God, and "burg", meaning a hill.
{Link without Title} {Link without Title}
# "
Tiu 's Hill", as above, but derived from the
Norse And Germanic god Tiu.
{Link without Title}
Dewsbury is situated between a number of larger towns and cities.
Leeds and
Bradford lie eight miles to the north,
Huddersfield a similar distance to the south west, and Wakefield some six miles east. In recent years its proximity to these major urban centres, the
M1 motorway and its position on the
Huddersfield Line , served by the
First TransPennine Express , have contributed to its rising popularity as a
Commuter town.
Dewsbury is part of the West Yorkshire
Connurbation , and the natural boundaries of the town are not well defined, with built up areas of the town running into neighbouring
Batley ,
Heckmondwike and
Ossett .
Geologically, the town is situated on rock dated to the
Carboniferous Period , consisting of
Coal Measure s and
Gritstone s.
Quaternary Period rock,
Glacial Deposits and
Gravel s exist in the
Calder Valley .
Coal ,
Stone and gravel have all been exploited commercially.
Average Rainfall is 100cm per annum.
{Link without Title}
The town is dominated by hills, notably Earlsheaton, Dewsbury Moor and
Thornhill . The town centre is at 40m-55m above
Sea Level , rising to 110m at Earlsheaton and Batley Carr, and 230m at Grange Moor. The approach down from Earlsheaton through the Wakefield Road cutting, constructed in 1830, is dramatic with the view of the town centre nestling in the Calder Valley opening up as you descend.
The majority of the older buildings were built in Yorkshire stone, many of which have recently been restored by
Sandblasting . Notable structures include the railway
Viaduct , and
Machell's Shoddy and Mungo mill , converted into apartments but still bearing the famous slogan of its original occupants.
The town now has a large Asian community - making up over 30% of the town's population. Savile Town and Ravensthorpe are populated mainly by people of
India n and
Pakistan i origin. Other areas of the town are mainly white, such as
Chickenley and Earlsheaton. Race relations have been volatile at times, but there have been no major disturbances since the Asian riot of 1989. Local elections in 1999 sparked controversy, when it appeared that a section of the Asian community in
Ravensthorpe had arranged so that several dead voters were down as having voted Labour, but the police abandoned the investigation. The
BNP has often polled around 15-35% of the vote in the town's wards, but have yet to win a seat. The
British centre of the
Islamic missionary organisation
Tablighi Jamaat is located in Dewsbury.
The town is listed as one of the most deprived areas of
West Yorkshire by the government and the
EU has made Dewsbury and its neighbour
Batley into a "transformation zone". Some of the worst problems include housing, education and unemployment. Official government statistics estimate that almost a third of the houses in the town lack
Central Heating .
The Dewsbury Moor, Ravensthorpe and Chickenley areas are classed among the 10% worst deprived areas in the UK.
{Link without Title} . In contrast to some UK towns and cities, the east side of the town is generally more affluent.
The town centre is starting to see a revival, and large retailers such as
Sainsbury's and Halford's and
Next . The local market comprising 400 stalls is one of the busiest in Yorkshire and today draws coach loads of visitors into the town. Wednesdays and Saturdays are open market days.
The
Dewsbury Rams rugby league team play in National League 2. They play on Owl Lane, towards
Ossett , on the site of the old Savile & Shaw Cross colliery. Their original and famous ground
Crown Flatts stood on Leeds Road at Earlsheaton for many years until it was burned down by arsonists in the late 1980's. It has been replaced with a modern housing estate.
Dewsbury Museum in Crow Nest Park features a permanent children's history section, including a 1940s classroom and an extensive
Toy collection, alongside temporary exhibits.
Nearby attraction include the
National Coal Mining Museum For England and
Bagshaw Museum in neighbouring
Batley .
In the recently released 2005 School League Tables Dewsbury's Eastborough Junior Infant and Nursery School was reported to have the most consistently improved results over the past four years. However, the head of the school, Nicola Roth, has been highly critical of School League Tables in the UK and has been reported to have said "It would be better if league tables did not exist".
Batley College of Art and Design, which is part of Dewsbury College, has a strong reputation for print and textile-based art work.
The actor to raise money for charity.
The Reverend Patrick Brontë, the father of
Anne Brontë ,
Charlotte Brontë and
Emily Brontë , was
Rector of the parish church from 1809 to 1811. In Charlotte Brontë's novel "
Shirley ", Dewsbury features as Whinbury.
John Rudd , the
Tudor Cartographer , was
Vicar of Dewsbury and rector of Thornhill. His apprentice in map making was
Christopher Saxton , who lived with Rudd in Dewsbury as his servant while a young man, and went on to complete the mapping of England.
John Michell , the 18th century scientist known for his pioneering work on
Magnetism ,
Geology , and astronomy, especially his early postulation of the possibility of
Black Holes , was rector of Thornhill from 1767 until his death in 1793.
Dewsbury was also the birth place of actors
Frank Crawshaw ,
Valentine Pelka ,
Kazia Pelka ,
Mary Tamm ,
Rebecca Callard .
Tom Kilburn , a
Computer Engineer and the co-
Inventor of the first stored-program
Computer , and
Thomas Clifford Allbutt , inventor of the
Clinical Thermometer , were both born in Dewsbury.
Sir Owen Willans Richardson ,
Physicist ,
Professor and
Nobel Prize winner was born in Dewsbury.
Wallace Hartley , bandmaster on the
RMS ''Titanic'' when it sank in
1912 , called Dewsbury his home at the time of his death. A
Blue Plaque marks the house on West Park Street he lived in.
Rugby league commentator
Eddie Waring , former
Speaker Of The British House Of Commons ,
Betty Boothroyd and
Andrew Morton , the biographer of
Diana, Princess Of Wales , were born in Dewsbury.
Betty Lockwood , Baroness Lockwood of Dewsbury, was born in the town in 1924 and attended Eastborough Girls School. She went on to become the first chair of the
Equal Opportunities Commission and later Chancellor of the
University Of Bradford .
Sheffield United footballer,
Leigh Bromby , was born in Dewsbury, as was
Neil Redfearn , journeyman footballer with a 24 year playing career and 5th on the all time records for number of
Football League matches played (790).
