Society members will undoubtedly be familiar with — and probably own a copy of — David Griffith’s well-received The Villas of Edgerton: Home to Huddersfield’s Victorian Elite (2017).

Huddersfield Civic Society has now published a companion book…

Press Release

The story behind the development of Highfields, Huddersfield first suburb, has been told in a new publication, written by one of Huddersfield’s most knowledgeable local historians, David Griffiths, and published by Huddersfield Civic Society.

Highfields – a Most Handsome Suburb has been written as a companion to The Villas of Edgerton and author David Griffiths again paints a picture of a distinctive and architecturally significant area, acknowledged today by its Conservation Area designation. The text has, once more, been complemented by the photography of Andrew Caveney of Creative Digital Photography, and a variety of images, maps and photographs, sourced from local and national archives.

The book traces Highfields’ development which, in the early nineteenth century, became the favoured residential location for Huddersfield’s business and professional class. Their handsome Georgian houses were followed by the architectural showcase of New North Road where, amid a wealth of Victorian residences, significant educational and religious establishments, some by distinguished architects, were constructed. The architectural quality of the area was recognised nationally by the 1860’s and poet laureate, John Betjeman was, similarly, impressed when he visited the town in 1964.

David, author of several books and contributor to many other local publications, has previously led guided tours around the area about which he says: ‘Highfields is a stone’s throw from the town centre and deserves greater recognition. Its streets and lanes offer up rich rewards, and the book includes numbered maps from which individual buildings can be discovered on foot’.

The book is available to purchase online on the Huddersfield Civic Society’s web site:

• https://www.huddersfieldcivicsociety.org.uk/publications

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Press Release

How Huddersfield bought itself!

Huddersfield made history a hundred years ago this month when its Corporation agreed to buy the Ramsden estate, which included the whole of the town centre and over half of the land within the Borough boundary, for £1.3 million.

The Ramsden family’s association with Huddersfield began in 1542 when William Ramsden bought his wife’s home at Longley and ended in 1920. To commemorate the centenary of the purchase of the Ramsdens’ Huddersfield estate by the Corporation, Huddersfield Local History Society has brought together a series of original essays on the family’s role in shaping the town, resulting in an extensively illustrated new book, Power in the Land, published by the University of Huddersfield Press.

Edited by Edward Royle, Emeritus Professor of History at the University of York and a long-standing member of the Society, the seven essays by local historians not only explore the relationship between the Ramsden family with the town and its people, but also throw new light on the somewhat mysterious circumstances surrounding the purchase of the estate in 1920.

Huddersfield Local History Society is also pleased to announce that, while it is not possible to provide its 2020-2021 season of monthly talks in the usual way, it will instead be presenting a series of recorded virtual talks on the Society website (www.huddersfieldhistory.org.uk). It seems only appropriate that Professor Royle kicked off the series of monthly lectures with his talk, ‘The town that bought itself’? New light on 1920. This is available for viewing from Monday 28 September, the eve of the centenary of the purchase of the Ramsden estate by Huddersfield Corporation. Please keep an eye on the Society’s website for information about future talks.

And while this new publication is a joint venture between Huddersfield Local History Society and the University of Huddersfield, other organisations in the town also plan to commemorate the centenary in different ways, details of which will be made available on a dedicated website (https://thetownthat.uk).

Edward Royle (ed.) Power in the Land: The Ramsdens and their Huddersfield estate 1542-1920 is published by the University of Huddersfield Press on 26 September 2020. ISBN: 9781862181762. For those who would like to purchase the book and are not able to get to the Pop-Up Shop, it can be purchased through https://www.gazellebookservices.co.uk for the RRP price of £30.

Huddersfield Local History Society is a membership organisation for anybody and everybody interested in the history of the town. Find out more at http://www.huddersfieldhistory.org.uk

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The press release is available as a PDF document.

We are pleased to announce that a newly revised edition of Pamela Cooksey’s Public Lives: The Woodheads – A Notable Family of Huddersfield is now available to purchase for £1.00 as a downloadable 74-page PDF e-book.

The work was originally published by the Society in 1999 as a paperback booklet.

Contents

• Introduction — page v
• The Woodhead Families of Pog Ing and Ridings — page 1
• The Newspaper Proprietor: Joseph Woodhead — page 11
• The Medical Pioneer: German Sims Woodhead — page 27
• The Editor: Ernest Woodhead — page 33
• The Medical Officer of Health: Herbert Miall Woodhead — page 40
• The Businessman: Arthur Longden Woodhead — page 42
• The Sportsman: Frank Ellis Woodhead — page 49
• Additional material on the family of Joseph Woodhead — page 51
• Additional material on the family of Catherine Woodhead — page 53
• Sources — page 58
• The Family Tree — page 61

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