Place:Lockwood, West Riding of Yorkshire, England

the following text is based on an article in Wikipedia

Lockwood is now an area of Huddersfield, in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, West Yorkshire, England. It is to the southwest of Huddersfield town centre, and to the west of the River Holme.

Lockwood was originally called North Crosland and was part of the Crosland family estate. However, it was taken over by the Lockwood family after a series of disputes between the dynasties. Parts of the area are still known as North Crosland.

Lockwood railway station is on the Penistone Line between Huddersfield and Sheffield. It is situated in Swan Lane, just before the Grade II-listed, 32-arched Lockwood viaduct, which spans the valley and connects the line to the village of Berry Brow. Prior to the mid-1970s it had its own extensive goods yard, coal yard, and sidings.

The goods yards were used to service and supply raw materials to the former engineering works of David Brown Ltd. This particular division of David Brown's produced gearboxes for industrial machinery and hydraulic drives and some military armoured vehicles. The gear box that turns the top of the Post Office Tower in London was designed and built there, whilst the electric motors that drives the gearing were manufactured by Brook (Electric) Motors, based in Brockholes.

A branch line from the station, just before the railway viaduct, went via Armitage Bridge and Netherton to Meltham. This passed Meltham Mills, where David Brown Ltd. had a tractor manufacturing facility. The former station master's house is now a private residence and the goods yards are part of a timber merchants.

Lockwood has been part of Huddersfield since 1868. It is 0.9 miles (1.4 km) to the southwest of Huddersfield Town Centre, to the west of the River Holme. It was previously a township (named North Crosland) in the ancient parish of Almondbury in the Agbrigg and Morley Wapentake.

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

• British History Online (Victoria County Histories) do not cover the West Riding of Yorkshire
• GENUKI has a page on all three ridings of Yorkshire and pages for each of the ecclesiastical parishes in the county. Under each parish there is a list of the settlements within it and brief description of each. The list is based on a gazetteer dated 1835 and there may have been a number of alterations to the parish setup since then. However, it is worthwhile information for the pre civil registration era. GENUKI provides references to other organizations who hold genealogical information for the local area. There is no guarantee that the website has been kept up to date and the submitter is very firm about his copyright. This should not stop anyone from reading the material.
• The FamilyTree Wiki has a series of pages similar to those provided by GENUKI which may have been prepared at a later date from more recent data. The wiki has a link to English Jurisdictions 1851 which gives the registration district and wapentake for each parish, together with statistics from the 1851 census for the area.
• A Vision of Britain through Time, Yorkshire West Riding, section "Units and Statistics" leads to analyses of population and organization of the county from about 1800 through 1974. There are pages available for all civil parishes, municipal boroughs and other administrative divisions. Descriptions provided are usually based on a gazetteer of 1870-72.

• Map of the West Riding divisions in 1888 produced by UK Ordnance Survey and provided online by A Vision of Britain through Time
• Map of West Riding divisions in 1917 produced by UK Ordnance Survey and provided online by A Vision of Britain through Time. In other counties, the map for 1900 has been used, but it is not coming up in Vision of Britain's list.
• Map of West Riding divisions in 1944 produced by UK Ordnance Survey and provided online by A Vision of Britain through Time

• The above three maps indicate the boundaries between parishes, etc., but for a more detailed view of a specific area try a map from this selection. The oldest series are very clear at the third magnification offered. Comparing the map details with the GENUKI details for the same area is well worthwhile.
• Yorkshire has a large number of family history and genealogical societies. A list of the societies will be found on the Yorkshire, England page.
• In March 2018 Ancestry announced that its file entitled "Yorkshire, England: Church of England Parish Records, 1538-1873" has been expanded to include another 94 parishes (across the three ridings) and expected it to be expanded further during the year. The entries are taken from previously printed parish registers.