Welcome to the first newsletter of the new season. The next one will be out in a month. Please send us any local history news you’d like to see included by 16 October.
Our next meeting
King George V & Queen Mary’s visit to the West Riding in July 1912
The first meeting of 2026/27 is on Monday 28 September at 7.30 pm at the Oastler Building room OA4/02, University of Huddersfield (overlooking Shorehead roundabout), when Christine Leveridge will speak about Huddersfield’s first visit from a reigning monarch. This included a half day in the Huddersfield area, with visits to Wellington Mills at Oakes, Greenhead Park and the Infirmary, moving on to the Colne and Holme Valleys. The image below shows the Royal party passing through Honley.
Image courtesy of Christine Leveridge.
For information about parking options, see here, but note that the Kingsgate shopping centre car park is now open in the evening as well.
Annual General Meeting
The next talk, on Monday 26 October, will be preceded by our AGM, with brief reports on the past year’s activities, the financial position and election of the committee for 2026/27. Volunteers to join the committee are most welcome – if you are interested, please contact us for more information at chair@huddersfieldhistory.org.uk The 2025/26 accounts will be available at the meeting – if you would like an advance copy, please contact treasurer@huddersfieldhistory.org.uk
Subscriptions now due!
Many thanks to those of you who have already renewed your subs for 2026/27, which remain £10 for one person, or £15 for two persons at one address. If not, we look forward to your payment and you’ll then receive your membership card. Please check whether you have a Standing Order in place already. If not, details of how to set one up, or to pay securely online, are on the Membership page of our website. You can also pay by cheque (payable to Huddersfield Local History Society), sent to the Membership Secretary at 21 Glebe Street, Marsh, Huddersfield, HD1 4NP, or by cash, cheque or card at our monthly meetings.
The Millworkers of Lockwood – now launched and selling well
Our new book by Keith Robinson is now available, priced at £10, on the website, in the shops and of course at our forthcoming meetings. Keith will be speaking about the millworkers’ stories at our November meeting.
Cowcliffe history walk
The last Discover Huddersfield walk for 2026 is on Sunday 4 October at 2.30 pm, when you can join Lorna Brooks and Melinda Sharpe for a scenic history walk, exploring the sites of old farms, quarries, schools, a factory and churches, and discovering interesting former Cowcliffe residents. Walks are £5.00 per head and you can book online.
New book celebrates a leading Yorkshire architect
A new book, to be published in 2027, offers a significant reappraisal of the architect Charles Watson (1771-1836), whose partner was James Pigott Pritchett, of Huddersfield Station fame. Watson was one of the most successful of the country’s late-Georgian provincial architects and some of his buildings are now considered to be of national importance. Below the author, architectural historian Christopher Webster, outlines Watson’s work in Huddersfield.
In the early 19th century, at a time when Huddersfield had no resident architect despite its prosperity and rapid expansion, Charles Watson was able to secure a number of significant commissions in the town.
The earliest building confidently attributed to Watson is Springwood Hall (c.1805-pre 1810), a handsome suburban villa commissioned by Joseph Haigh, a very successful Huddersfield merchant, and now sadly demolished. However, useful images of the building survive and helpfully reveal a succession of obviously Watson details. Furthermore, we know that Watson designed Haigh’s retirement home at Whitwell-on-the-Hill, North Yorkshire (1829-c.31).
Watson was also responsible for Ramsden Street Chapel (c.1824-6, demolished), with J.P. Pritchett responsible for site supervision.
However, many in Huddersfield will find the substantial section dealing with the Queen Street Wesleyan Chapel (1817-19) the most interesting. Drawing on reliable mid-20th century evidence from a dissertation by Clifford Kaye, the long-standing question of who was appointed to design it and supervise construction can now be settled: it was Watson and Pritchett. However, while the interior and rear elevation are obviously Watson, the front elevation – criticised by several recent commentators as ‘incoherent’, ‘curiously proportioned’ or ‘uneasily balanced’ – suggest something very strange went on during construction, and this almost certainly involved Joseph Kaye, the chapel’s builder.
All these projects are discussed in the book’s chapters and at length in the book’s Gazetteer.
The above photograph of Springwood Hall is courtesy of the Kirklees Image Archive website (ref. no. k004215).
The book will be published in hardback, with an estimated 300 pages and over 200 illustrations, mostly in colour. Advance subscribers have the opportunity to receive a signed copy with their name included in the book as a subscriber. This will be at a subsidised price of £29.50 including UK postage. To reserve a copy, email the publisher at john@johnhudsonpublishing.com requesting details for bank transfer, or to receive a secure link to pay by credit or debit card.
