Discovering Old Huddersfield, by Gordon and Enid Minter (with illustrations by J R Beswick) was published by the authors in five volumes from 1993 to 2002, and printed by Barden Press. Each booklet took the form of one or more itineraries through Huddersfield and the surrounding district, usually set out as driving tours but with walking routes in the town centre.
The books contain a wealth of historical information but offer no easy means of accessing this. By placing the texts on our website, however, they can now be searched by any chosen key word (for example a place name, personal name, building name or historical event). To facilitate this, the five volumes have been combined into one continuous PDF file. This enables a single search to be undertaken across the entire content [using Ctrl F within the PDF]. Please be patient if necessary as this large file opens.
Thanks to a generous volunteer, each Part is also now available as a .mobi e-book file suitable for a Kindle or Kindle app.
The routes taken in each Part are summarised below, which may help in browsing the PDF or selecting e-book files. However please be aware that routes overlap and intersect, so for a particular point of interest it is best to make a specific search.
PART AND TOUR | PAGES IN PDF |
Part 1, Tour 1 – Old London Road North from the town centre to Fixby, and SE to Almondbury and Kirburton. |
1-76 |
Part 1, Tour 2 – Mansions and Mills On the E side of town, from Kirkheaton round to Castle Hill. |
77-132 |
Part 2, Tour 1 – Palaces and pleasure grounds The Colne Valley upstream to Milnsbridge, especially the Northern slopes. |
133-188 |
Part 2, Tour 2 – The first turnpike road The southern side of the Colne Valley, up to Marsden |
189-262 |
Part 3 – Industries and institutions Downstream to Cooper Bridge, on both sides of the Colne. |
263-387 |
Part 4 – Benefactors and businessmen NW from the town centre, as far as Lindley and Salendine Nook, and West to Lockwood and Beaumont Park. |
388-504 |
Part 5, section 1 – In town The southern part of the town centre, from the market place to the Town Hall. |
505-563 |
Part 5, section 2 – Out of Town A final miscellany of sites of particular interest, in several directions. |
564-621 |
Download or Read Online
If you experience any problems viewing the PDF files with your web browser, please try downloading the ZIP file instead and then open the PDF using Acrobat Reader. The books can also be read and searched online.
File | MOBI | ZIP | online | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Parts 1 to 5 combined (PDF) | download | n/a | download | n/a |
Parts 1 to 5 separated (PDF & MOBI) | n/a | n/a | download | n/a |
Part 1 (PDF & MOBI) | download | download | n/a | view |
Part 2 (PDF & MOBI) | download | download | n/a | view |
Part 3 (PDF & MOBI) | download | download | n/a | view |
Part 4 (PDF & MOBI) | download | download | n/a | view |
Part 5 (PDF & MOBI) | download | download | n/a | view |
The text of Discovering Old Huddersfield is entirely the work of Gordon and Enid Minter. It is reproduced with the kind permission of Enid Minter, who has supported its publication here by a generous donation, in memory of her late husband Gordon.