Place:Slaithwaite, West Riding of Yorkshire, England

the following text is based on an article in Wikipedia

Slaithwaite (locally Slawit) (from the Old Norse for a timber-fell clearing), is a village now within the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, in West Yorkshire, England. Before 1974 it was part of the West Riding of Yorkshire. From 1937 until 1974 it was situated in the Colne Valley Urban District, having had its own status of urban district abolished at the time of the merger. The town stretches across the River Colne and the Huddersfield Narrow Canal, approximately 5 miles (8.0 km) southwest of Huddersfield.

History

the following text is based on an article in Wikipedia

Between 1195 and 1205, Roger de Laci, Constable of Chester, gave the manor of Slaithwaite to Henry Teutonicus (Lord Tyas). It remained in the Tyas family until the end of the 14th century when it came into the Kaye family. It eventually joined the estates of the Earl of Dartmouth, a descendant of the Kayes, and was part of the upper division of the Agbrigg Wapentake. It included the township of Lingarths (Lingards) and constituted the Chapelry of Slaithwaite, in the Patronage of the Vicar of Huddersfield.

In the early 19th century, a local spring was discovered to contain sulphurous properties and minerals, similar to those found in Harrogate. Sometime after 1820 a bathing facility was built, along with a gardens and pleasure ground, with some visitor cottages. A free school was founded in 1721 and rebuilt twice: first in 1744, and again in 1842.

In the 1848 edition of A Topographical Dictionary of England, Samuel Lewis (the editor) wrote:

"the lands are in meadow and pasture, with a small portion of arable; the scenery is bold and romantic. In the quarries of the district are found vegetable fossils, especially firs and other mountain trees. The village is beautifully seated in the valley of the river Colne; the inhabitants are chiefly employed in the woollen manufacture, in the spinning of cotton and silk, and in silk-weaving."

Slaithwaite Hall, thought to date from the mid-15th century, is located on a nearby hillside. It is one of a number of cruck-framed buildings clustered in this area of West Yorkshire. After many years divided into cottages, the building has been extensively restored and is now a single dwelling.

Legend has it that local smugglers caught by the excise men tried to explain their nocturnal activities as 'raking the moon from the canal' and definitely not as 'fishing out smuggled brandy'. A "Moonraker" is now the nickname for a native of the village. Similar stories and nicknames exist for the neighbouring villages of Golcar ("Lillies"), Marsden ("Cuckoos") and Linthwaite ("Leadboilers").

The following description from John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales of 1870-72 is provided by the website A Vision of Britain Through Time (University of Portmouth Department of Geography).

"SLAITHWAITE, a village, a township, a chapelry, and a [registration] sub-district, in Huddersfield [registration] district, [West Riding of] Yorkshire. The village stands on the river Colne, the Huddersfield canal, and the Leeds and Manchester railway, 4½ miles WSW of Huddersfield; and has a station on the railway, a post-office‡ under Huddersfield, and two annual fairs.

"The township comprises 2,320 acres, and is in Huddersfield parish. Real property: £6,424; of which £13 are in quarries, and £120 in gasworks. Population: 2,932. Houses: 575. The manor belongs to the Earl of Dartmouth. [Slaithwaite] Hall includes remains of the ancient manorial residence. The railway, in its course through the township, traverses two viaducts of 18 and 19 arches. Mineral baths are here, with fine gardens, amid romantic scenery: and are much frequented in summer. The woollen manufacture is carried on.

"The chapelry contains also Lingards township, [which is] in Almondbury parish; and comprises 2,820 acres. Population: 3,715. Houses: 724. The living is a [perpetual] curacy in the diocese of Ripon. Value: £192. Patron: the Vicar of Huddersfield. The church was partly rebuilt in 1856. There are four national schools, and an endowed school with £42 a year."

Lingards

The following description from John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales of 1870-72 is provided by the website A Vision of Britain Through Time (University of Portmouth Department of Geography).

"LINGARDS, or LINGARTHS, a township in Almondbury parish, West Riding of Yorkshire; 3½ miles S of Huddersfield. Acres: 500. Population: 783. Houses: 149. The township forms part of Slaithwaite chapelry, and partakes in the interests of Slaithwaite village and township."

Lingards has always been linked to Slaithwaite, first as a chapelry and then as part of Slaithwaite urban district. It does not have an article in Wikpedia.

Research Tips

• GENUKI on Slaithwaite. The GENUKI page gives numerous references to local bodies providing genealogical assistance.
• The FamilySearch wiki on the ecclesiastical parish of Huddersfield provides a list of useful resources for the local area.
• A Vision of Britain through Time on Slaithwaite.
• A Vision of Britain through Time also provides links to three maps for what is now South Yorkshire, produced by the United Kingdom Ordnance Survey, illustrating the boundaries between the civil parishes and the rural districts at various dates. These maps all blow up to a scale that will illustrate small villages and large farms or estates.

• Ordnance Survey West Riding 1888. The "Sanitary Districts (which preceded the rural districts) for the whole of the West Riding.
• Ordnance Survey West Riding South 1900. The rural and urban districts, not long after their introduction. (the southern part of Bradford, the southern part of Leeds, the southern part of Tadcaster Rural District, the southern part of Selby, Goole Rural District, and all the divisions of Halifax, Huddersfield, Wakefield, Doncaster, Barnsley, Rotherham and Sheffield)
• Ordnance Survey West Riding 1944. The urban and rural districts of the whole of the West Riding after the revisions of 1935.