CHAPTER I.

Physical features - Some place names - The Brigantes - Evidences of their settlement - Celtic relics at Cupwith Hill - At Woodsome - At Pike-Law - At High-Flatts - Altar to God of the Brigantes - Of the Celts - Voyage of Pytheas - Expeditions of Julius Caesar - His account of the Celts - The Druids - The Triads - Dr. Nicholas on the Ancient Britons - Roman Rule in Britain - Agricola's account - Roman roads - Roman garrisons - Camp at West Nab - Roman altar discovered at Slack (Cambodunum) - Discoveries of Dr. Walker - Roman hypocaust at Slack - Explorations at Slack - Evidences of camp there - Schedule of coins found at Slack - Influence of Roman settlement - On government - On industries - On speech - Philological indications.

CHAPTER II.

The withdrawal of the Romans - Saxon influx - Evidences of Saxon settlement - Character of the Saxons - The Danes - Evidences of their settlement - Introduction of Christianity - Paulinus - Conversion of Edwin - Church at Cambodunum-Other Christian stations - Destruction of Church at Cambodunum - Of the Normans - Invasion of William the Conqueror - Ilbert de Laci - The feudal tenure - Domesday Book - Huddersfield and adjacent places in Domesday Book - Economic and social life of this period - The Villans - The Boardars - Common land - The descent of the Laci manor—The Earl of Lancaster - Richard Waley, Lord of Honley - The Elland Feud - Robin Hood - The Lord of Farnley and Slaithwaite - Execution of Earl of Lancaster Forfeiture of Laci Manors to the Crown - Acquisition by the Ramsden family - Other and part owners - Colinus de Damelvill Fules de Batona - John d' Eyville - Robert de Bellomonte - John del Cloghes - Richard de Byron - The Byron family in Huddersfield - Purchase by Gilbert Gerrard, temp. Elizabeth.

CHAPTER III.

The condition of the general people under the Normans - Norman castles - Baronial oppression - Almondbury Castle - The Lord's Hunting-ground at Marsden - Deanhead Chase - The Dog Kennels - Tragedy at Almondbury Castle - Inquisition of Edward I. - The unjust steward - The Constable of Almondbury - The Inquisition of Edward III. - Ancient dyehouse and fulling mill-Price of provisions-Wages-First traces of woollen industry- The free tenants - The villeins - The term tenants - Their services - The custom of Lytherwythe - Chevage—The Saxon hind - The Lord's Mill-Inquisition of Elizabeth - King's Mill - Encouragement of manufactures by Edward III. - Early weavers - The aulnager - Decay of villanage under commerce - Legislative protection of woollen industry-19 Eliz. 3 Carl II.: Burial in woollens - Statute of Philip and Mary—The wool-driver - Earnings of early weavers.

CHAPTER IV.

The Subsidy Roll of Richard II. (1379) - Population and Poll Tax of Hoderfeld, Almanbury, Ffarnelay Tyas, Whytelay, Byrton, Heton, North Crosseland, Crosseland fosse, Querenby, Hauneley, Meltham, Holmfirth, Slaxthwayt - Summary - The Subsidy Roll of Henry VIII. (1523) - Population and assessment of Huddersfield-cum-Bradley, Almondburry, Whitlay, Fernelay Tyas, Kirkburton, Kirkheaton, Crosland, Wharneby (Quarmby), Honlay, Meltham, Holmefyrth, Slaghtwatt, Marsden - Summary.

CHAPTER V.

The Parish Church of Almondbury, All Saints' - The Mother Church at Dewsbury, founded by Paulinus - All Saints' erected about 1100--The advowson in the Laci family - The College of Jesus at Rotherham - Will of Archbishop Scot - The tithes - The Parsonage House - Property of the Church - List of rectors and vicars - Certain extracts from the parish registers - The Plague - Extracts from churchwardens' accounts - Penance - Communion wine - The bells - Interior of the Church - The Kaye Chapel - The Beaumont Chapel - Monuments of the Fenay family--Of the Kaye family - Churches sprung from All Saints' - Controversy as to Vicarage of Meltham - The faculty for celebrating mass at Honley - The Church quartered. See also appendix.

CHAPTER VI.

The foundation of the Parish Church of Huddersfield by Walter de Laci - Advowson granted to Nostell Priory - Deed of Ordination of Michael de Wakefield - Its confirmation - Valuation temp. Edw. I. - Visitation temp. Henry VIII - The Chantries - Early valuation - Dissolution of the Monasteries - Advowson acquired by William Ramsden - List of vicars - The Rev. Henry Venn - The Rev. Harcar Crook - The Highfield Schism - Monuments in the Church - Mr. Coates's School - Population in 1819 - The Rev. Gabriel Raynes - The Rev Edmund Hill - The Rev. Thomas Clarke - The Rev. Josiah Bateman - The vicarage - The Church of St. Thomas - The consecration and non-consecration of the Cemetery - Certain monuments and inscriptions - The Brookes of Newsome - The Wilkinsons of Greenhead Sir J. L. Kaye - Extracts from the parish registers - The first Huddersfield Pauper (n ) - Visit of the Somerset Herald - Of the Rev. Joseph Hunter - Re-erection in 1836 - The value of the living - The late G W. Tomlinson.

CHAPTER VII.

The Priory of Kirklees - The Cistercian Order - Their habit and discipline - Grant by Rayner le Fleming - Elizabeth de Staynton - List of Lady Superiors - Their oath - Various endowments - The advowson of Mirfield Church - Grant of a female serf - Survey of Henry VIII.—Robin Hood - Dissolution of the Priory - Papist Hall - The Armytage family.

CHAPTER VIII.

Education in early times - Establishment and endowment of Grammar Schools - The Kaye grant - The Chapel of St. Helen - The Charter of King James I. to the Almondbury Grammar School - Statutes of the governors - Course of study Other benefactors - The Nettleton Trust - Robert Nettleton - Monument and residence - The Wormald Trust - Israel Wormald - His house - Present scheme of government - Visitor and governors - Scholarships - Petition for original Charter - List of governors - List of head masters - Some scholars.

CHAPTER IX.

The Beaumont family - Whitley-Beaumont - William de Bellomonte - Sir Richard de Bellomonte - Sir Robert de Bellomonte - Sir John de Bellomonte - John de Bellomonte - Robert de Bellomonte - Henry de Bellomonte - Henry Beaumont - Richard Beaumont - His will - Thomas Beaumont - Richard Beaumont - Richard Beaumont - Edward Beaumont - Sir Richard Beaumont - Monuments in Kirkheaton Church - Sir Thomas Beaumont-The Civil War - Siege of Sheffield Castle - Adam Beaumont - Richard Beaumont - Richard Beaumont - Richard Beaumont - Henry Beaumont - Richard Beaumont - Richard Henry Beaumont - John Beaumont - Charles Henry Beaumont - Richard Henry Beaumont - Henry Frederick Beaumont - Beaumont Park - Woodsome Hall - Henricus Teutonicus - Sir Baldwin Teutonicus Sir Francis Tyas—Laurence Kay - Lawsuit for Manor of Slaithwaite - The Finchenden family - Pedigree of the Kayes of Woodsome - The Woodsome manuscript - Arthur Kaye - Denby Grange - Slaughwaite Hall - The Manor House at Slaithwaite - Pole Chapel - John Kaye of Woodsome - Robert Kaye - John Kaye - Sir John Kaye - The Civil Wars - Sir John Kaye - Parliamentary elections - Sir Arthur Kaye - His marriage - Sir John Lister-Kaye - Sir John Lister-Kaye of Denby Grange- John Lister-Kaye - Sir John Lister Lister-Kaye - Sir John Pepys Lister-Kaye - The Legge family - William Legge - The Civil Wars - Honest Will Legge - Baron Dartmouth - William Legge, second Baron and first Earl - Marriage of Viscount Lewisham and daughter of Sir Arthur Kaye - William, second Earl of Dartmouth - His friendship with John Wesley - George, third Earl - William, fourth Earl - Some correspondence of William Walter, fifth Earl - Enfranchisement of Slaithwaite estates - The present Earl - Woodsome Hall.

CHAPTER X.

The Ramsden family - Robertus de Wodde - The Woddes of Longley - John Ramsden of Longley Hall - William Ramsden - Deed of Purchase of the Huddersfield Estates - Bay Hall - Sir John Ramsden - The Civil Wars - William Ramsden - Sir John Ramsden - Charter of market at Huddersfield - Sir William Ramsden - Sir John Ramsden - The Huddersfield Cloth Hall - Sir John Ramsden - The Huddersfield Enclosure Act - Sir John William Ramsden - The Huddersfield Tenant—Right Case.

CHAPTER XI.

The Civil Wars - Catholic families of the district - Muster at Almondbury for the Parliament - At Doncaster for the King - Major Beaumont drowned - The defences of Almondbury - Sir John Ramsden at Selby - Charles Nettleton of Honley - Captain Horsfall of Storthes Hall - Defence of Sheffield by Sir Thomas Beaumont - Kaye of Woodsome fined by Parliament - Thomas Hirst of Greenhead fined - The Rev. Richard Sykes expelled his cure - The Rev. Christopher Richardson - Lascelles Hall - The Rev. Abraham Woodhead of Meltham - His endowment of the Church at Meltham—Sir Thomas Hoyle of Linthwaite - Resistance of James II. by local gentry - Resistance of the Pretender - The Young Pretender's Army at Scot Head - The Huddersfield Yeomanry.

CHAPTER XII.

Huddersfield in 1800 - A description of the town - The government of the town - The office and duties of the constable - The Cuck Stool - The Whipping Post - The Court Leet - Petition for appointment of constable - The surveyor of highways - The water supply - Public lighting - Introduction of gas - Early magistrates - The Marsh Prosecution Society - County Court - The Riding School - The playhouse - The Cloth Hall - Private schools - The police - Some private residences - Popular pastimes - Bull baiting - Costumes of the period - The stage coaches - The pack horses-Coaching accidents-The state of the Highways-General distress-Wages—Statute of labourers-Hand-loom weavers-Merry Dale Mill-Legislative protection of woollen industry - Resistance to union with Ireland - Some early worthies of the town.

CHAPTER XIII.

The introduction of machinery - Riots - The Croppers - Their earnings - Restrictions on exportation - Industrial distress - Petition for Peace - E. and J Taylor of Marsden - The Luddites Attack on Bradley Mills - Soldiery at Marsden - Cartwright's mill at Rawfolds - The Luddites at Longroyd Bridge - George Mellor - Ben o' Bucks - The oath of the Luddites - Attack on Cartwright's mill - The murder of William Horsfall - The panic in the district - Activity of the magistrates - Treachery of Walker Arrest and trial of the Luddite leaders - Their execution—Sentences on other Luddites - End of Walker - Reward of Justice Radcliffe - The Radcliffe family.

CHAPTER XIV.

Continued distress - Price of provisions - Bank failures - General disaffection - The Folly Hall fight - The services of the Yeomanry Reform meetings on Almondbury Bank - Plot to seize the town A state of siege - Trial of the conspirators - The Chartist agitation - The Plug Riots - Local Chartists - Joshua Hobson - William Armitage - The Factory Acts - Child labour - The system of apprenticeship - A Parliamentary Commission - Evidence of Joseph Habergam - Of Abraham Whitehead - The fire at Atkinson's Mills - Monument to the victims - Elizabeth Barrett Browning's plea - Richard Oastler - The Huddersfield Short-time Committee - The manufacturers' petition - Great demonstration at York-Death of Oastler-The Holmfirth Flood- Memorial at Holmfirth.

CHAPTER XV.

Nonconformist Churches - Salendine Nook Baptist Chapel - Rev. Henry Clayton - The mother church at Rodhillend - Sallindon Nook licensed - Act of Toleration - Letters dismissory - Declaration of Faith - Covenant of Communion - First Subscribers - Rev. Joshua Wood - Rev. Robert Hyde-Rev. James Macpherson - Rev. Thomas Lomas - Rev. David Crompton - Rev. James Parker - Rev. Dr. Stock - Rev. John Thomas - Rev. D. Wilton Jenkins - Baptist Churches derived from Salendine Nook - Pole Moor Chapel - Slaithwaite Baptists - Rev. Henry Wilcock Holmes - The Independents, Highfield - Secession from the Parish Church - Rev. Henry Venn - First members of Highfield - The Trust deed - Church discipline - Rev. William Moorhouse - Rev. Benjamin Boothroyd, D.D., LL.D. - His conversion - His literary pursuits - The Bibliae Hebraica - Monument to - Rev. John Glendenning - The Rev. Dr. Bruce - Churches derived from Highfield - Ramsden St Chapel - The Trust Deed - The Rev. J T. Stannard Jones v. Stannard - Milton Church - The Wesleyans - John Wesley in Huddersfield - His opinion of the country and people - At Honley - Dean-house Chapel - Almondbury Methodists - " The Weeping Prophet " - Abraham Moss - Old Bank Chapel - First trustees - Trust Deed - Constitution of circuit - First ministers - The Rev. Alexander Kilham - The New Connexion - High Street Chapel - Queen Street Chapel - Churches derived from Buxton Road - Local preachers - Squire Brooke.

CHAPTER XVI.

Parliamentary History. Early elections - Lord Brougham - Captain Lewis Fenton - Captain Joseph Wood - Riots - Michael Thomas Sadler - John Blackburn, K C - " Bulls, tigers, serpents " - General Johnson - Edward Ellis, Jun - Richard Oastler - The New Poor Law - Rev. Joseph Rayner Stephens - The Leeds Mercury on the candidates - W. R. C. Stansfield - Electioneering tactics - The Liberal Party - John Cheetham - William Willans - Viscount Goderich - Joseph Starkey - Edward Akroyd—Richard Cobden - E. A. Leatham - T. P. Crosland - W. C. Sleigh - W. A. Lindsay - Sir Joseph Crosland - William Summers - Thomas Brooke - Some account of the Brooke family - Elections since 1865 - Joseph Woodhead - The Colne Valley Division - The Holmfirth Division - Walter Armitage - John Sugden.

CHAPTER XVII

Municipal government - The Court Leet - The Chief Constable - The Vestry - Act for lighting, watching, &c. - First Board of Commissioners - Huddersfield a pocket borough - The patrolmen- Their duties - The Pindar - Introduction of gas - The Huddersfield Gas Works - Board of Highway Surveyors-Development of the town in this period - Banking companies - Churches - Petition for incorporation - Improvement Commissioners - First Board of - The cemetery - Church rates - Model lodging house - Market rights - Renewed agitation for incorporation - Government inquiry - Charter of incorporation granted - The first Council - Population and rateable value of borough at incorporation - C H. Jones - The Mayors of Huddersfield - Honorary Freemen - Longwood included—Present population and rateable value - Covered markets - Gas - Electricity - Tramways-Tramway fatality-Artizans' dwellings-Mechanics' home - The police - The fire brigade - St. John Ambulance - The water supply - The reservoirs - Lead poisoning - Baths - Beaumont Park-Greenhead Park-The Lindley Moor ground-Free library - Municipal buildings - Town Hall - Borough debt - The Poor Law burdens - Riots - Formation of the Huddersfield Union - Chairman of the Board of Guardians - The Huddersfield Infirmary - The Meltham Convalescent Home - Honorary physicians and surgeons - Presidents - William Mallinson - The Industrial Home - The Charity Organisation Society - The Slaithwaite Free School - The Fartown Grammar School - The Longwood Grammar School - Some private schools—The Huddersfield College - The Collegiate - Sunday schools - The Mechanics' Institute - The Technical College - The School Board - Chairmen and vice-chairmen - Church schools - Sir C. W. Sikes - Industrial development - The Weavers' Strike - General Survey.