Place:Skelmanthorpe, West Riding of Yorkshire, England

the following text is based on an article in Wikipedia

Skelmanthorpe is a clustered village 8 miles (13km) southeast of Huddersfield in the administrative county of West Yorkshire, England. According to the 2011 census, the village had 4,549 inhabitants.

The village sits on the south (right) bank of the first river-like flow, from three small headwaters of the River Dearne which in the northwest corner of the parish. Since 1974 it is part of the civil parish of Denby Dale within the main local authority, the Kirklees Borough of West Yorkshire.

Similar to many village in the area, agriculture was the primary industry of Skelmanthorpe until the 19th century when weaving took over as the dominant occupation. Many of the older buildings in the village show signs of having been used as weavers' cottages in the past. As late as 1890, there were 200 hand looms in cottages in Skelmanthorpe.

For more information, see the EN Wikipedia article Skelmanthorpe.

Skelmanthorpe started out as a township divided between the ancient parishes of Emley and Hoyland in the Agbrigg and Morley Wapentake. In 1876 it was made into a separate civil parish and in 1894 it became an urban district. The urban district was abolished in 1938 when the area became part of the larger urban district of Denby Dale which also included the former urban districts of Clayton West, Denby and Cumberworth and Emley.

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).

"SKELMANTHORPE, a village in Emley and High Hoyland parishes, [West Riding of] Yorkshire; 6 miles SE by E of Huddersfield. It has a post-office under Huddersfield, and two Methodist chapels; and carries on a considerable fancy trade."

[NOTE: The "fancy trade" is an archaic description of weaving.]

Research Tips

Skelmanthorpe Experiment Reconstitution (in progress) 15,000 people.

"An experiment, using only FreeBMD, FamilySearch and Ancestry to establish interconnections between the families of Skelmanthorpe and the surrounding area. DO NOT treat what is included as fact, it is a work in progress!!!!!" Last update September 2009.

The settlements of the Parish with their population are:

• Skelmanthorpe, 4,188
• Denby Dale, 2,699
• Kitchenroyd with Denby Dale,
• Emley, 1,872
• Emley Moor With Emley,
• Birdsedge, 3,35
• High Flatts with Birdsedge
• Clayton West, 2,644
• Scissett, 1,336
• Upper Cumberworth, 760
• Lower Cumberworth, 460
• Upper Denby, 595
• Lower Denby with Upper Denby