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"Spen Valley, past and present"

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the Contents of the book

"Spen Valley, past and present"

by

Frank Peel

Please note that this index is given in good faith as a guide to the contents of the book, but there may be errors in both the original index and the transcription of the index.


Numbers in brackets give the number of pages referenced when greater than one.

CHAPTER I.
LIGHT FROM AFAR.
Spen Valley : its limits; Early History of Yorkshire and the District; The Britons; The Romans; The Saxons and the Danes; The Spen and its tributaries; Hustings Knowle; Open-air Courts; The Open Fields System; The Conqueror's desolating march; Extracts from Doomsday Book.

CHAPTER II.
EARLY OWNERS AND THEIR HOUSEHOLDS.
Origin of the place names Liversedge, Cleckheaton, and Heckmondwike; Early owners of the district and their surroundings; Liversedge's two Manors; A few old deeds; The DeTilleys and the De Heckmondwikes - Owners of the district at the time of Kirkby's inquest; Margaret de Neville and Cleckheaton

CHAPTER III.
THE LIVERSEDGES OF LIVERSEDGE ESSOLF.
Early history of the Hightown branch of the De Liversedges; Marriage of Peter and Isanda de Liversedge; Raidulf De Liversedge, vicar of Birstall; Richard Barrario de Liversedge, of Littletown; The Liversedge lands pass to the Shepherd family; Richard de Liversedge, vicar of Birstall, restores the fortunes of his house; Tragic death of William de Liversedge; Alice Posthuma de Liversedge.

CHAPTER IV.
THE POLL TAX.
Another peep at Spen Valley. The Poll Tax. The Liversedge List; Names and their Origins. The Cleckheaton List. What the Names teach us. Villanes-en-gross. The Heckmondwike List, John of the Royd. The probable population of Spen of Valley in 1379. Social condition of the inhabitants at this period. The Black Death.

CHAPTER V.
THE RAYNERS OF LIVERSEDGE.
Settlement of Flemish Cloth Workers in Hartshead and Liversedge. The Rayners increase and the De Liversedges decrease. William del Spen and his estate. Marriage of John Rayner and the daughter of William del Spen. Marriage of the heir of the Rayners and the heiress of the De Liversedges. Early death of John Rayner. The infant heir of Liversedge brought up at Stubley. Sheermancrafte and Webstercrafte. Death of old Rayner. William Rayner of Liversedge Place. His sudden death of the sweating sickness. Terrible state of the locality. Plots and counter plots. Sir John Neville and Batte of Oakwell. Marmaduke Rayner and his lawsuits. Batte's foul plot. Sir John Neville alarmed. Henry 8th's subsidy. Ancient commercial men of Spen Valley. Gibbet Law. Gifts to the Wakefield Chapel on the Bridge.

CHAPTER VI.
THE LIVERSEDGES AND NEVILLES OF LIVERSEDGE ROBERT.
The Liversedges of Liversedge Robert. Wytefield. The arms of the De Liversedges. Isolda de Liversedge marries Sir Edward Neville. The Scottish Invasion. William Neville. Sir John Neville. Sir Thomas Neville Sir Robert Neville marries the heiress of the Gascoignes. Erection of the old Baronial Hall of the Nevilles. Sir John Neville, the second of that name. Thomas Neville. Sir Robert Neville and the "Pilgrimage of Grace." The last of the Nevilles of Liversedge Hall. Wedding bells. The Rising of the North. Flight of Sir John Neville. His estates seized.

CHAPTER VII.
A NOTE OF EVERY MAN'S LANDS. THE CLECKHEATON PYGOTS.
Old men and old acres. Enduring character of field names. The Pygots of Cleckheaton and the Pygot acres The sale of the Manors. Fines.

CHAPTER VIII.
THE CAREYS OF LIVERSEDGE HALL.
Queen Elizabeth leases the Manor of Liversedge Robert to the Careys. The tenants on the Liversedge Hall estates and their holdings. Sir John Neville's Rent Roll. Singular rents. King James the First's Commission. The answers of the jury to His Majesty's questions. The possessions of the Hospital of St. John in this neighbourhood. Death of Margaret Rayner. Sir Philip Carey seizes the Common lands. He sells his Spen Valley and Hunslet estates. Suits and fines in the local law courts.

CHAPTER IX.
THE RISE OF THE GREENS OF LIVERSEDGE.
John Green, the head of another great commercial family. The seizure of the Common Lands. John Green's great prosperity. Ancient rogues. William Green, the successful merchant. Cleckheaton manufacturers. John Kitson of the Syke, and his compatriots The Cleckheaton youth who became Lord Mayor of York. The commercial men of Heckmondwike Robert Oldroyd, the trooper. The earners and the spenders. The Greens of Liversedge Hall and Lower Hall. Commercial element in the three townships.

CHAPTER X.
SPEN VALLEY AT THE CLOSE OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.
Curious hand writing in the Towns' Books. Early officials in the three townships. "Vagrom men." Richard Green and Low Fold Hall. Joseph Swallow, the Heckmondwike dyer, and "Swallow's nest. " Sports on the village greens. Puritan martyrs. Curious entries in the Towns' Books. Watch and-ward in Spen Valley. Beacons and bonfires. The Cucking stool. A great storm. Stocks and whypping posts. The Walkers of Liversedge and their benefactions. " Torkes " and "Egyptians." Hue and cry. The Packhorses. Ancient highways. The Beevors of Heckmondwike. Subsidy of 1693. Burial in woollen. The village butts. The Farrars of Headlands.

CHAPTER XI.
SPEN VALLEY IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
Opening of the Century Thomas Green of New House. The Pretender and his adherents. Disappearance of the Greens from Liversedge. Ancient Cleckheaton Worthies. Enclosure of the waste lands of Cleckheaton. The Shipley Dole. Wood's Bequest. Prices of necessaries in the good old times. Workhouse life. Kilpin, the pack horse carrier. Thomas Wright of Lower Blacup. The Biltons, A group of commercial men of Spen Valley in the Eighteenth Century. The Romance of the Wilcocks. Tommy Hirst and his descendants. Abm. Naylor, the merchant. Old Cleckheaton Manufacturers.

CHAPTER XII.
SPEN VALLEY IN THE FIRST QUARTER OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
Opening of the century. Rev Hammond Roberson. Cleckheaton in 1801 and 1811. The Croppers. How Spen Valley became connected with the movement. Attack on Rawfolds Mill and the collapse of the conspiracy. The new bridge at Littletown. Spen Valley and the Grange Moor riots. Census of 1821. Disturbed state of the district Commercial men about 1820. Heckmondwike Blanket Hall and its frequenters.

CHAPTER XIII.
SPEN VALLEY IN THE SECOND QUARTER OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
Spen Valley sixty years ago. Changes in Commercial and Social Life. Our Superstitous Forefathers. Little Town, Mill Bridge, Hightown, and Robert Town about 1825. Old Liversedge Worthies. Ye touchynge Ballad of "Creepynge Jayne." Oakenshaw, Scholes, and Cleckheaton in the last Generation. Old Cleckheaton Townsmen. Heckmondwike about 183o. Local Worthies.

CHAPTER XIV.
POLITICAL MOVEMENTS IN SPEN VALLEY IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
The Great historical West Riding contest of 1807. List of Spen Valley Voters. " Church and King " men and " Tom Painers. "; The Rev. Benj. Firth of Cleckheaton. The Chartist movement. Elections of 1835, 1837, and 1841,; The battle at the Wakefield nomination, and the attack on the George at Heckmondwike by the Cleckheaton contingent ; Physical force. Chartists preparing for a rising. Curious Chartist services. Medley the Millbridge saddler, and Joseph Barker. Great meeting at Peep Green. The Cleckheaton Chartists. The Plug Riots. Further election contests.

CHAPTER XV.
COIfMERCE IN THE SPEN VALLEY DURING THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
Cotton weaving in Spen Valley. The blanket and woollen trades. The two Blanket Halls. Rise and progress of the carpet trade. Cardmaking trade; Worsted spinning. Other industries.

CHAPTER XVI.
ECCLESIASTICAL.
The Established Church in Spen Valley. The Old Whitechapel in the North. The Church of St. Philip and St. James at Scholes; Christ Church, Liversedge; The Rev. Hammond Roberson; Church of St. Barnabas, Hightown; St John's, Cleckheaton; St. James's, Heckmondwike; St. Luke's, Cleckheaton; Oakenshaw Church.

CHAPTER XVII.
ECCLESIASTICAL.
The Nonconformist Churches; Rise of Nonconformity at Heckmondwike; The Upper Independent Chapel and its Pastors; The Church at "Ye Closes "; The Old Red Chapel and Providence Place; The Lower Chapel and Westgate Congregational Chapel, Heckmondwike; George Street Congregational Chapel, Heckmondwike; Westgate Congregational Chapel, Cleckheaton; Rise and Progress of Methodism and its Offshoots in Spen Valley; The Smaller Churches.


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