Place:Kirklees (metropolitan borough), West Yorkshire, England

source: Family History Library Catalog

the following text is based on an article in Wikipedia

The Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees is a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, England. It has a population of 401,000 and includes the large settlements of

• Batley,
• Birstall,
• Cleckheaton,
• Denby Dale,
• Dewsbury,
• Heckmondwike,
• Holmfirth,
• Huddersfield,
• Kirkburton,
• Marsden,
• Meltham,
• Mirfield and
• Slaithwaite.

Huddersfield is the largest settlement of the district, and its centre of administration. Most of the above settlements were previously urban districts within the West Riding of Yorkshire. Each had villages and small towns within them.

History

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

The borough was formed on 1 April 1974 by the provisions of the Local Government Act 1972 as part of a reform of local government in England. Eleven former local government districts were merged: the county boroughs of Huddersfield and Dewsbury, the municipal boroughs of Batley and Spenborough and the urban districts of Colne Valley, Denby Dale, Heckmondwike, Holme Valley, Kirkburton, Meltham and Mirfield.

The name Kirklees was chosen by the merging councils from more than fifty suggestions, including Upper Agbrigg, Brigantia and Wooldale. It was named after Kirklees Priory, which is claimed to be the burial place of Robin Hood , situated midway between Huddersfield and Dewsbury. The priory was located within the present-day Kirklees Park estate, most of which actually lies in the neighbouring borough of Calderdale.^[1]

Under the original draft of the Act, the district would have included Ossett, part of the Dewsbury Parliamentary constituency at that time. It was eventually decided that Ossett was too remote to be governed from Huddersfield and the town was included within the Wakefield district instead.

Kirklees Abbey

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Kirklees was the site of a 12th-century Cistercian Priory north of Mirfield, in what is now West Yorkshire, in the metropolitan Borough of Calderdale, and is close to the current route of the M62 motorway. The priory no longer exists, although the name was reused in 1974 for the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees.

In the 12th century, the Cistercian monks built Kirklees Priory. The former gatehouse can still be seen, though the site is on private land. There is a legend about Robin Hood who was supposed to be the nephew of the prioress, who sheltered him when he was fleeing from the Sheriff of Nottingham, but bled him to death. There is still a "Robin Hood's Grave" on the local Ordnance Survey map.

The Jacobean Kirklees Hall was built in the late 16th century.

Research Tips

• Kirklees office of the West Yorkshire Archives Service (WYAS) includes archives for the whole of the area now in Kirklees Metropolitan Borough including Huddersfield

Address: WYAS Kirklees, Central Library, Princess Alexandra Walk, Huddersfield HD1 2SU

Telephone: +44 (0)1484 221966

Email: kirklees@wyjs.org.uk

Maps

The Wikipedia page for Kirklees has a sketchmap placing the district in West Yorkshire. The Wikipedia page for Holme Valley has a sketchmap outlining all the civil parishes in Kirklees. Unfortunately, with the exception of Holme Valley, these are not identified by name.