Place:Longwood, West Riding of Yorkshire, England

Longwood is a village and suburb of the town of Huddersfield since 1974 in the English county of West Yorkshire. It is situated some 2.5 miles (4.0 km) west of Huddersfield town centre, in the valley of the Longwood Brook, a tributary of the River Colne.

The village is the home of the "Longwood Sing", an annual event, where choirs from around the area gather to sing hymns and songs. Near the amphitheatre, where the sing takes place, the folly Nab End Tower can be found. The tower was built in 1861 by unemployed local woollen mill workers. In 2008 it was restored by Kirklees Metropolitan Borough Council at a cost of £200,000.

There are also three reservoirs that supply Huddersfield. They were built around 1840, although strengthening work in the 1930s makes them appear newer. One now covered and the lower reservoir looking more like a natural lake that is called a compensation reservoir - 'Compensation' as it was set up to compensate the mill owner for water lost from natural sources that now went to the main reservoirs to be distributed by the water corporation under 'rates' systems - although the mill owner was most likely the owner of the main reservoir too.

During the 1840s, Longwood was the home to the Hanson family of Ballroyd. Mary Hanson set up a carrying business to supplement her husband's income from farming and soon the Hanson wagons were seen taking the Great North Road to London. James Hanson, founder and former chairman of Hanson plc, is a direct descendant of the Ballroyd family. When he was made a life peer, he took the title Baron Hanson of Edgerton after the nearby suburb of Edgerton.

Longwood was built up around the woollen industry and its mills, most of which have now been demolished and replaced by housing. As a result of this the village has recently seen an influx of new inhabitants.

In 2005, a campaign was mounted to save the Longwood allotment plots (situated behind the Mechanics' Institute) from being developed into housing.

Longwood Church is dedicated to St. Mark, and is in the Church of England parish of Huddersfield, being a perpetual curacy.

The name Longwood derives from Old English Lang wudu, meaning "The Long Wood".

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.