Dewsbury is a minster and

market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rural ...

in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...

, England. It lies on the River Calder and on an arm of the Calder and Hebble Navigation waterway. It is to the west of

Wakefield Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 99,251 in the 2011 census.https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/census/2011/ks101ew Census 2011 table KS101EW Usual resident population, ...

, east of

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a market town in the Kirklees district in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confluence i ...

and south of

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popul ...

Historically History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

a part of the

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county County of York, West Riding (the area under the control of West Riding County Council), abbreviated County ...

, after undergoing a period of major growth in the 19th century as a mill town, Dewsbury went through a period of decline. Dewsbury forms part of the

Heavy Woollen District The Heavy Woollen District is a region of textile-focused industrial development in West Yorkshire, England. It acquired the name because of the heavyweight cloth manufactured there from the early 19th century. The district is made up of parts o ...

of which it is the largest town. According to the 2011 census, Dewsbury had a population of 62,945.

History

Toponymy

The ''

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

'' of 1086 records the name as ''Deusberie'', ''Deusberia'', ''Deusbereia'', or ''Deubire'', literally "Dewi's fort", Dewi being an old Welsh name (equivalent to David) and "bury" coming from the old English word "burh", meaning fort. Other, less supported, theories exist as to the name's origin. For example, that it means "dew hill", from

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th ...

''dēaw'' (genitive ''dēawes''), " dew", and ''beorg'', "hill" (because Dewsbury is built on a hill). It has been suggested that ''dēaw'' refers to the town's proximity to the water of the River Calder. Historically other origins were proposed, such as "God's fort", from

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peopl ...

''Duw'', "God". "Antiquarians supposed the name, Dewsbury, to be derived from the original planter of the village, Dui or Dew, who … had fixed his abode and fortified his "Bury". Another conjecture holds, that the original name is Dewsborough, or God's Town" (1837)

Early history

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo-Saxons happened wit ...

times, Dewsbury was a centre of considerable importance. The ecclesiastical parish of Dewsbury encompassed

, Mirfield and

Bradford Bradford is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Bradford district in West Yorkshire, England. The city is in the Pennines' eastern foothills on the banks of the Bradford Beck. Bradford had a population of 349,561 at the 2011 ...

. Ancient legend records that in 627 Paulinus, the

Bishop of York The archbishop of York is a senior bishop in the Church of England, second only to the archbishop of Canterbury. The archbishop is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and the metropolitan bishop of the province of York, which covers ...

, preached here on the banks of the River Calder. Numerous Anglian graves have been found in Dewsbury and Thornhill.

Dewsbury Minster Dewsbury Minster, the Minster Church of All Saints is the parish church in Dewsbury, Kirklees, West Yorkshire, England. It dates from the 13th century and was rebuilt in 1895. It is situated on Vicarage Road and Church Street in the centre of ...

lies near the River Calder, traditionally on the site where Paulinus preached. Some of the visible stonework in the nave is Saxon, and parts of the church also date to the 13th century. The tower houses "Black Tom", a bell which is rung each Christmas Eve, one toll for each year since Christ's birth, known as the "Devil's Knell", a tradition dating from the 15th century. The bell was given by Sir Thomas de Soothill, in penance for murdering a servant boy in a fit of rage. The tradition was commemorated on a

Royal Mail , kw, Postya Riel, ga, An Post Ríoga , logo = Royal Mail.svg , logo_size = 250px , type = Public limited company , traded_as = , foundation = , founder = Henry VIII , location = London, England, UK , key_people = * Keith Williams ...

postage stamp in 1986. In the

of 1086, Dewsbury was in Morley wapentake but with a recorded population of only nine households it was a relatively small settlement at that time. The Agbrigg and Morley wapentakes were administratively combined into the

Agbrigg and Morley Agbrigg and Morley was a wapentake of the West Riding of Yorkshire, England. The main purpose of the wapentake was the administration of justice by a local court. At the time of the Domesday survey in 1086, Agbrigg and Morley were separate wap ...

wapentake in the 13th century. When they were separated for administrative purposes in the mid-19th century, Dewsbury parish had grown to straddle the border between both wapentakes, hence being mainly in the Lower Division of the Wapentake of Agbrigg. Dewsbury market was established in the 14th century for local clothiers. Occurrences of the

plague Plague or The Plague may refer to: Agriculture, fauna, and medicine *Plague (disease), a disease caused by ''Yersinia pestis'' * An epidemic of infectious disease (medical or agricultural) * A pandemic caused by such a disease * A swarm of pes ...

in 1593 and 1603 closed the market and it reopened in 1741. Throughout the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

, Dewsbury retained a measure of importance in ecclesiastical terms, collecting tithes from as far away as Halifax in the mid-14th century.

John Wesley John Wesley (; 2 March 1791) was an English cleric, theologian, and evangelist who was a leader of a revival movement within the Church of England known as Methodism. The societies he founded became the dominant form of the independent Meth ...

visited the area five times in the mid-18th century, and the first

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's ...

Society was established in 1746. Centenary Chapel on Daisy Hill commemorates the centenary of this event, and the Methodist tradition remained strong in the town.

Industrial Revolution

In 1770, a short branch of the Calder and Hebble Navigation was completed, linking Dewsbury to the

canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface f ...

system giving access to

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...

and

Hull Hull may refer to: Structures * Chassis, of an armored fighting vehicle * Fuselage, of an aircraft * Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds * Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a ship * Submarine hull Mathematics * Affine hull, in affi ...

. By the time of the

Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...

, Dewsbury was a centre for the shoddy and mungo industries which recycled woollen items by mixing them with new

wool Wool is the textile fibre obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have properties similar to animal wool. ...

and making heavy blankets and uniforms. The town benefited economically from the canal, its location at the heart of the

, and its proximity to

coal mines Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron fro ...

. The railway arrived in 1848 when Dewsbury Wellington Road railway station on the

London and North Western Railway The London and North Western Railway (LNWR, L&NWR) was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. In the late 19th century, the L&NWR was the largest joint stock company in the United Kingdom. In 1923, it became a constituent of the Lo ...

opened; this is the only station which remains open. Other stations were Dewsbury Central on the Great Northern Railway which closed in 1964 and Dewsbury Market Place on the

Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (L&YR) was a major British railway company before the 1923 Grouping. It was incorporated in 1847 from an amalgamation of several existing railways. It was the third-largest railway system based in northern ...

which closed in 1930; a fourth goods-only railway station was built in the early 20th century at Savile Town by the

Midland Railway The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had its headquarters. It ama ...

. In 1985 a bypass road was built on the site of Central Station and its adjacent viaduct, and nothing remains of Market Place railway station. The 19th century saw a great increase in population, rising from 4,566 in 1801 to around 30,000 by 1890. Steam engine, Providence Mills - geograph

Steam engine, Providence Mills - geograph

The town's rapid expansion and commitment to industrialisation resulted in social instability. In the early 19th century, Dewsbury was a centre of

Luddite The Luddites were a secret oath-based organisation of English textile workers in the 19th century who formed a radical faction which destroyed textile machinery. The group is believed to have taken its name from Ned Ludd, a legendary weaver ...

opposition to mechanisation in which workers retaliated against the mill owners who installed textile machinery and smashed the machines which threatened their way of life. In the 1830s, Dewsbury was a centre of Chartist agitation. In August 1838, after a speech by Chartist leader

Feargus O'Connor Feargus Edward O'Connor (18 July 1796 – 30 August 1855) was an Irish Chartist leader and advocate of the Land Plan, which sought to provide smallholdings for the labouring classes. A highly charismatic figure, O'Connor was admired for his ...

, a mob of between five and seven thousand people besieged the Dewsbury Poor Law Guardians in the town's Royal Hotel. The mob was dispersed by troops. Trouble flared in 1840 when radical agitators seized control of the town, and troops were stationed to maintain order. This radical tradition left a legacy in the town's political life: its first elected

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

(MP) in 1867 was John Simon, a Jewish lawyer from

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of Hispa ...

and a Liberal. The tradition of firing the "Ten o'Clock" gun dates from 1815 and was a hangover from the Luddite problems. It was fired from Wormald and Walker's Mill to reassure that all was well. It could be heard all over the area. Eventually the actual gun was replaced with a specially made firework but the tradition was discontinued in 1983 with the closure of the mill. The mills were family businesses and continued manufacturing after the wool crisis in 1950–51, which saw Australian sheep farmers begin to charge higher prices. However, the recovery of the late 1960s was reversed by the

1973 oil crisis The 1973 oil crisis or first oil crisis began in October 1973 when the members of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC), led by Saudi Arabia, proclaimed an oil embargo. The embargo was targeted at nations that had su ...

, and the textile industry in Dewsbury declined, with only bed manufacturing remaining a large scale employer.

Recent history

Massive immigration after 1960s left huge demographic impact on town, and it is ongoing today. Asian British and Muslims now make 1/3 of the population, and percentage is expected to grow in the coming years. After 2005, Dewsbury was labelled a troubled town after negative press reports and became "the town that dare not speak its name" after high-profile crimes brought it into the media spotlight. In June, a girl of 12 was charged with grievous bodily harm after attempting to hang a five-year-old boy from

Chickenley Chickenley is a suburban village in the Borough of Kirklees, West Yorkshire, England. It is part of Dewsbury after being originally a farming hamlet, half-way between Ossett and Dewsbury. The Chickenley name could derive from a family name ori ...

Mohammad Sidique Khan Mohammad Sidique Khan (Urdu: ; October 20, 1974 – July 7, 2005) was a Pakistani-British terrorist and the oldest of the four Islamist suicide bombers and believed to be the leader responsible for the 7 July 2005 London bombings, in which bom ...

, ringleader of the group responsible for the

7 July 2005 London bombings The 7 July 2005 London bombings, often referred to as 7/7, were a series of four coordinated suicide attacks carried out by Islamic terrorists in London that targeted commuters travelling on the city's public transport system during the mo ...

, lived in Lees Holm, Dewsbury. On 19 February 2008, Shannon Matthews, a nine-year-old girl from the Moorside Estate, was reported missing. After a 24-day hunt which attracted huge media and public attention nationally, she was found hidden in a flat in the

Batley Carr Batley Carr, West Yorkshire, England is a district partly in Dewsbury and partly in Batley, on the way to Dewsbury, along the A652, Bradford Road. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, the population is about 3,740. Crime is arou ...

area on 14 March 2008. Her mother Karen Matthews, along with Michael Donovan, the uncle of her step-father Craig Meehan, were later found guilty of abduction and false imprisonment and both jailed for eight years, as part of a plot to claim the reward money for her safe return by pretending to have solved her disappearance. In October 2010, the Dewsbury Revival Centre opened, in the refurbished former St Mark's Church on Halifax Road, the church attended by the ''

Titanic RMS ''Titanic'' was a British passenger liner, operated by the White Star Line, which sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on 15 April 1912 after striking an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, Unite ...

'' bandmaster

Wallace Hartley Wallace Henry Hartley (2 June 1878 – 15 April 1912) was an English violinist and bandleader on the on its maiden voyage. He became famous for leading the eight-member band as the ship sank on 15 April 1912. He died in the sinking. Life and ...

. In July 2014, Kirklees Council enforced a media ban covering the visit of

Princess Anne Anne, Princess Royal (Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise; born 15 August 1950), is a member of the British royal family. She is the second child and only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and the only sister of ...

, who was due to deliver a speech on the importance of restorative justice. Kirklees Council later responded that the highly unusual media ban had been insisted upon by the Royal Household. Buckingham Palace, however, was mystified over the ban, with a Royal spokesman stating: "This visit has been openly listed in the future engagements section on the Royal website for the last eight weeks. There are no restrictions on reporting on the event from the Royal Household."

Governance

Dewsbury was incorporated as a

municipal borough Municipal boroughs were a type of local government district which existed in England and Wales between 1835 and 1974, in Northern Ireland from 1840 to 1973 and in the Republic of Ireland from 1840 to 2002. Broadly similar structures existed in S ...

in 1862. Its first mayor was Dr George Fearnley. The

Reform Act In the United Kingdom, Reform Act is most commonly used for legislation passed in the 19th century and early 20th century to enfranchise new groups of voters and to redistribute seats in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. ...

of 1868 constituted Dewsbury a parliamentary borough, and Liberal candidate John Simon, serjeant-at-law, was returned as the borough's first MP. The Victorian town hall standing in front of the old marketplace dates from 1886 to 1889. Dewsbury's boundaries were expanded to include the

urban district Urban district may refer to: * District * Urban area * Quarter (urban subdivision) * Neighbourhood Specific subdivisions in some countries: * Urban districts of Denmark * Urban districts of Germany * Urban district (Great Britain and Ireland) (his ...

s of Ravensthorpe, Thornhill, and Soothill Nether, and part of Soothill Upper, in 1910, and in 1913 it was elevated to

county borough County borough is a term introduced in 1889 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, to refer to a borough or a city independent of county council control, similar to the unitary authorities created since the 1990s. An equivalent te ...

status. "Soothill Nether" refers to the current east end of the town, although at that time Chickenley and Chidswell were hamlets, and Earlsheaton contained the bulk of the area's population. In 1974, responsibility for local government passed to

Kirklees Metropolitan Council Kirklees Council is the local authority providing most local government services for the borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It is a metropolitan district council and one of five constituent councils of the West Yorkshire Combined Au ...

, with its headquarters in

. The population of Dewsbury has remained broadly static over the past century: the 1911 census recorded 53,351 people, and the 1971 census 51,326 people, making it the fourth least populous county borough in England (after

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the primate of t ...

Burton upon Trent Burton upon Trent, also known as Burton-on-Trent or simply Burton, is a market town in the borough of East Staffordshire in the county of Staffordshire, England, close to the border with Derbyshire. In 2011, it had a population of 72,299. The ...

and Great Yarmouth). The town's current MP is

Mark Eastwood Mark Simon Eastwood (born 14 March 1971) is a British Conservative Party politician who was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Dewsbury in the 2019 general election. Early life Eastwood grew up in Thornhill Lees, before moving ...

, a member of the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

, who was elected in the 2019 general election.

Geography

Dewsbury is situated between

and

to the north,

a similar distance to the south west, and Wakefield east. Its proximity to these major urban centres, the M1 and M62 motorways and its position on the Huddersfield Line, served by the TransPennine Express, have contributed to its growth. Junction of Northgate and Halifax Road, Dewsbury - geograph

Junction of Northgate and Halifax Road, Dewsbury - geograph

Dewsbury is part of the

West Yorkshire Urban Area The West Yorkshire Built-up Area, previously known as the West Yorkshire Urban Area is a term used by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) to refer to a conurbation in West Yorkshire, England, based on the cities of Leeds, Bradford and Wakefi ...

, although its natural boundaries are not well-defined, with built up areas of the town running into Batley, Heckmondwike and Ossett. Geologically, the town is situated on rocks of the

Carboniferous Period The Carboniferous ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic that spans 60 million years from the end of the Devonian Period million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Permian Period, million years ago. The name ''Carbonif ...

, consisting of

coal measure In lithostratigraphy, the coal measures are the coal-bearing part of the Upper Carboniferous System. In the United Kingdom, the Coal Measures Group consists of the Upper Coal Measures Formation, the Middle Coal Measures Formation and the Lower Coa ...

s and

gritstone Gritstone or grit is a hard, coarse-grained, siliceous sandstone. This term is especially applied to such sandstones that are quarried for building material. British gritstone was used for millstones to mill flour, to grind wood into pulp for ...

s. Quaternary Period rock, glacial deposits and

gravel Gravel is a loose aggregation of rock fragments. Gravel occurs naturally throughout the world as a result of sedimentary and erosive geologic processes; it is also produced in large quantities commercially as crushed stone. Gravel is classifi ...

s exist in the Calder Valley. Coal, sandstone and gravel have been exploited commercially. Average rainfall is 100 cm per annum. The town is dominated by hills, notably Earlsheaton, Dewsbury Moor, Staincliffe and Thornhill. The town centre is between above sea level, rising to at Earlsheaton and Batley Carr, and at Grange Moor. The approach from Earlsheaton through the Wakefield Road cutting, constructed in 1830 , is dramatic with the view of the town centre in the Calder Valley opening up.

Divisions and suburbs

Dewsbury has a number of districts with different geographical and socio-economic patterns, they are, Chickenley, Crackenedge, Dewsbury Moor, Earlsheaton, Eastborough, Eightlands, Flatts, Ravensthorpe,

Savile Town Savile Town is a suburb of Dewsbury, Kirklees, West Yorkshire, England, lying just to the south of the River Calder. It consists of late Victorian housing, which varies between long terraces, semi-detached and detached housing. The mil ...

, Shaw Cross, Scout Hill,

Thornhill Lees Thornhill Lees is a district of Dewsbury, which is a town within the borough of Kirklees in the county of West Yorkshire, England. The district lies to the south of Dewsbury Town Centre, between Savile Town and Thornhill. Thornhill Lees is ser ...

, Westborough, Westtown.

Hanging Heaton Hanging Heaton is a village in West Yorkshire, England. Partly in both Batley and Dewsbury, it is an historic village mentioned in the Domesday Book under the name 'Etun'. The prefix 'Hanging' refers to a steep hillside hanging above lower g ...

and

Staincliffe Staincliffe is a cross-over district of both Batley and Dewsbury, in West Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, the name is believed to derive from ''staine'', meaning stone and ''cliffe'', cliff. The area i ...

have areas which lie in both Dewsbury and neighbouring Batley. Thornhill, Briestfield and Whitley Lower are part of Dewsbury unparished area. Thornhill was annexed in 1910.

Demography and economy

The Westtown area has the large and imposing Our Lady and St. Paulinus

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

Church and its school, once run by the nuns of the area. The Irish National Club also is home to Dewsbury Celtic amateur

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

club.

Markazi Masjid - junction of Pentland Street & South Street (geograph 3932877)

The town has a large Muslim community.

and Ravensthorpe are populated mainly by

Muslims Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

and Pakistani origin. In recent years, there has also been an immigration of Iraqi

Kurds ug:كۇردلار Kurds ( ku, کورد ,Kurd, italic=yes, rtl=yes) or Kurdish people are an Iranian peoples, Iranian ethnic group native to the mountainous region of Kurdistan in Western Asia, which spans southeastern Turkey, northwestern Ir ...

and

Hungarians Hungarians, also known as Magyars ( ; hu, magyarok ), are a nation and ethnic group native to Hungary () and historical Hungarian lands who share a common culture, history, ancestry, and language. The Hungarian language belongs to the ...

into the town. Dewsbury has been accused of having a controversial Shariah arbitration court. Dewsbury Moor, Ravensthorpe and Chickenley are classed among the 10% most deprived areas in the UK. In contrast to some British towns and cities, the east side of the town is generally more affluent. The majority of houses in the town are in the cheapest band for council tax, for house prices are amongst the lowest in the country. Kingsway, Dewsbury (Taken by Flickr user 15th February 2015)

Kingsway, Dewsbury (Taken by Flickr user 15th February 2015)

The local market once consisted of 400 stalls and was one of the busiest in Yorkshire and in years gone by drew large numbers of visitors to the town. Wednesdays and Saturdays are the normal market days with the popular

flea market A flea market (or swap meet) is a type of street market that provides space for vendors to sell previously-owned (second-hand) goods. This type of market is often seasonal. However, in recent years there has been the development of 'formal ...

on Fridays. The town's mills were located just south of the River Calder in the town centre. As the mills closed this area became a large

brownfield site In urban planning, brownfield land is any previously developed land that is not currently in use. It may be potentially contaminated, but this is not required for the area to be considered brownfield. The term is also used to describe land prev ...

. However, many of the units have been reoccupied and the town's largest employer,

Carlton Cards Carlton Cards Limited (french: Cartes Carlton Limitée) is a greeting card company in Canada. Its lines of cards include Carlton, Gibson and Tender Thoughts. It also distributes the American Greetings line of cards in Canada. Since 2009, "Carlton ...

, is based in this area.

Ethnic groups

According to the 2011 census,

White British White British is an ethnicity classification used for the native white population identifying as English, Scottish, Welsh, Cornish, Northern Irish, or British in the United Kingdom Census. In the 2011 census, the White British population wa ...

people comprised 61.6% of Dewsbury's population.

Asian British British Asians (also referred to as Asian Britons) are British citizens of Asian descent. They constitute a significant and growing minority of the people living in the United Kingdom, with 6.9% of the population identifying as Asian/Asian Bri ...

were 35.9% of the population, and the majority of them are of Pakistani and Indian origin or descent. Others (Black, Arab and other ethnic groups) constitute 2.5% of population.

Religions

The 2011 census showed that Christians were largest religion in Dewsbury, with 45%. Muslims were second, at 36.5%, and unaffiliated at third place, with 17.6% of the population.

Other information

Percentages of Ethnic groups and religions vary between parts. Savile Town has 99% of Asians and Muslims. Ravensthorpe has Pakistani-Muslim majority, while other places, like Thornhill Lees have a larger percentage of White British population.

Transport

Dewsbury bus station serves the town of Dewsbury. The bus station is managed and owned by

West Yorkshire Metro Metro is the passenger information brand used by the West Yorkshire Combined Authority in England. It was formed on 1 April 1974 as the West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive (WYPTE) at the same time as the metropolitan county of West Yor ...

. The bus station was rebuilt in 1994 with a main passenger concourse and 19 bus stands. The town is served on the railway network by

Dewsbury railway station Dewsbury railway station serves the town of Dewsbury in West Yorkshire, England. Situated south west of Leeds on the main line to Huddersfield and Manchester, the station was opened by the London and North Western Railway in 1848. The statio ...

, with services operated by

Northern Trains Northern Trains, branded as Northern, (legally Northern Trains Limited) is a publicly owned train operating company in England. It is owned by DfT OLR Holdings for the Department for Transport (DfT), after the previous operator Arriva Rail N ...

and TransPennine Express.

Sport

Dewsbury Rams, formerly Dewsbury R.L.F.C., play in

's Championship. They are based at

Crown Flatt Crown Flatt, currently known as the Tetley's Stadium for sponsorship purposes, is a rugby league stadium in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, England. It is the home of the Dewsbury Rams, who play in the Championship. The ground occupies the site of th ...

, on Owl Lane, towards Ossett, on the site of the old Savile & Shaw Cross Colliery. Shaw Cross Sharks is an amateur Rugby League club. The club was founded in 1947 and has produced several players into the professional game, including Mike Stephenson,

Nigel Stephenson Nigel Stephenson (born 12 October 1950), also known by the nicknames of "Nij", and "Stivvy", is an English former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, and coached in the 1980s and 1990s. He played at r ...

and David Ward. They operate from Shaw Cross Club for Young People and play their home fixtures at the adjacent Paul Lee Hinchcliffe Memorial Playing Fields. The open age first team is the National Conference League. Dewsbury Celtic play in National League 3; their ground is on the west side of the town, in Crow Nest Park. The club's headquarters are at the Dewsbury Irish National Club on Park Parade. Dewsbury is also the home of Dewsbury Rangers Football Club. With over 300 members from the ages of six through to the old boys' teams, it is one of the largest in the area.

Culture

Dewsbury Museum was located within the mansion house in Crow Nest Park, before it closed to the public in November 2016. Nearby attractions include the National Coal Mining Museum for England, located in Overton, Wakefield. Dewsbury Town Hall contains a 700-seater concert hall and regularly hosts concerts, exhibitions, live music, cabaret evenings and weddings. The town also has an annual event called Spirit, a street theatre show every winter which takes place in the town centre. 2018 comedy film Destination: Dewsbury was filmed and part set in the town. The production was shot in 2016 and premiered at the 2018

Beverly Hills Film Festival The Beverly Hills Film Festival (BHFF) is a film festival in the United States founded in 2001 by independent filmmaker Nino Simone. The festival is an international competition dedicated to showcasing the art and talent of emerging filmmakers ...

Education

Dewsbury Baptist Church - Manor Street - geograph

Dewsbury and District Technical School of Art and Science - Halifax Road - geograph

Dewsbury had two

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...

s – Wheelwright Grammar School for Boys and, further up the hill, Wheelwright Grammar School for Girls. The 1970s education reforms converted these two establishments to high schools and they were renamed Dewsbury College and

Birkdale High School Birkdale High School was a secondary school located in Kirklees, West Yorkshire, England. History The school's buildings were constructed in two distinct phases; the older building, comprising mainly the former Wheelwright Grammar School for ...

. Dewsbury College was merged with

Huddersfield Technical College Kirklees College is a further education college with two main centres in the towns of Dewsbury and Huddersfield in West Yorkshire, England. History The college was formed on 1 August 2008 after the Dewsbury College Dissolution order approved t ...

to become part of Kirklees College in 2008, and is now known by that name. Birkdale High School closed in July 2011. In the 2005 School League Tables, Dewsbury's Eastborough Junior, Infants and Nursery schools were reported to have the most consistently improved results over the past four years. However, the headteacher of the school, Nicola Roth, has been highly critical of School League Tables in the UK and has been reported to have said, "It would be better if league tables did not exist". Batley College of

Art and Design A design is a plan or specification for the construction of an object or system or for the implementation of an activity or process or the result of that plan or specification in the form of a prototype, product, or process. The verb ''to design' ...

, which is part of Kirklees College (Dewsbury Centre), has a strong reputation for print and textile-based art work, whilst

St John Fisher Catholic Voluntary Academy St John Fisher Catholic Voluntary Academy (formerly St John Fisher Catholic High School) is a Roman Catholic Mixed Comprehensive in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, England. St John Fisher was opened in 1958 under the trusteeship of the Roman Catholic ...

is a specialist Sports College and is one of the few schools in the area with a Sixth Form.

Notable people

:''Due to the placement of Dewsbury and District Hospital, many notable people have been born in the town. For a fuller list, see :People from Dewsbury'' The following people were from Dewsbury: *Sir Thomas Clifford Allbutt (1836–1925), physician; inventor of the

medical thermometer A medical thermometer (also called clinical thermometer) is a device which is used for measuring human or animal body temperature. The tip of the thermometer is inserted into the mouth under the tongue (''oral'' or ''sub-lingual temperature''), ...

. *

Betty Boothroyd, Baroness Boothroyd Betty Boothroyd, Baroness Boothroyd (born 8 October 1929) is a British politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for West Bromwich and West Bromwich West from 1973 to 2000. From 1992 to 2000, she served as Speaker of the House of ...

(born 1929), politician; first female Speaker of the House of Commons between 1992 and 2000. *

Leigh Bromby Leigh David Bromby (born 2 June 1980) is an English retired footballer who played as a defender. He is currently employed as the Head of Football Operations at Huddersfield Town. Bromby primarily played for Sheffield Wednesday and Sheffield Un ...

(born 1980),

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugb ...

for Leeds United. *

Alistair Brownlee Alistair Edward Brownlee MBE (born 23 April 1988) is a British triathlete. He is the only athlete to hold two Olympic titles in the triathlon event, winning gold medals in the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games. He is also a four-time World Champion ...

, British triathlete, having won the gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics and the 2014 Commonwealth Games. * George Burgess (born 1992), English professional

player for South Sydney Rabbitohs of the National Rugby League and for

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

* Luke Burgess (born 1987), English former professional rugby league footballer * Sam Burgess (born 1988), English professional

player for South Sydney Rabbitohs of the National Rugby League and for

, he is a dual-code rugby international. * Tom Burgess (born 1992), English professional

player for South Sydney Rabbitohs of the National Rugby League and for

* Roger Burnley (born 1966), businessman, CEO of Asda * Francis Cummins (born 1976) is an English professional

coach and former player. He played for Leeds Rhinos and represented

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It ...

and

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

at international level. *

Matt Diskin Matt Diskin (27 January 1982) an English professional rugby league coach was the head coach of Oldham in the Betfred Championship, and a former professional rugby league footballer who played as a in the 2000s and 2010s. He played at represen ...

(born 1982), rugby league footballer for

; his career began at the amateur Dewsbury Moor ARLFC. * Tim Fountain (born 1967), playwright and author. *

Andrew Gale Andrew William Gale (born 28 November 1983) is an English cricket coach and former first-class cricketer, who was first XI coach of Yorkshire County Cricket Club from 2016 to 2021. He also co-owns Pro Coach Cricket Academy, with his business par ...

(born 1983), cricketer and captain for

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

. * Joel Graham (born 1977), bassist for

thrash metal Thrash metal (or simply thrash) is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music characterized by its overall aggression and often fast tempo.Kahn-Harris, Keith, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'', pp. 2–3, 9. Oxford: Berg, 2007, . ...

band Evile. * Brendon Grimshaw, (1925–2012), managing editor, the Standard, Dar es salaam, Tanzania. * Bob Hardy (born 1980), bassist for popular Scottish post-punk revival band, Franz Ferdinand. *

Tom Kilburn Tom Kilburn (11 August 1921 – 17 January 2001) was an English mathematician and computer scientist. Over the course of a productive 30-year career, he was involved in the development of five computers of great historical significance. With ...

(1921–2001), computer engineer; co-inventor of the first

stored-program computer A stored-program computer is a computer that stores program instructions in electronically or optically accessible memory. This contrasts with systems that stored the program instructions with plugboards or similar mechanisms. The definition ...

. * Betty Lockwood, Baroness Lockwood (1924-2019), politician and activist for women's rights. * Keith Mason (born 1982) is an actor and former rugby league footballer. He represented

(Under-21) and

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

at international level. * Tymal Mills (born 1992), cricketer for

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the Englis ...

. * Andrew Morton (born 1953), writer, journalist and biographer of royalty and celebrities. * Hafiz Patel (1926–2016), Muslim religious leader who founded the Markazi Masjid * Kazia Pelka (born 1960), actress famous for roles in soap-operas. *

Valentine Pelka Valentine Pelka (born 23 February 1956) is an English actor who has starred in film and on television. Biography Pelka was born in Dewsbury, West Riding of Yorkshire, to a Polish civil engineer father and an Irish actress mother, and attend ...

(born 1956) is an English actor who has starred in film and on television * John Pitt (born 1939), first-class cricketer *Sir

Owen Willans Richardson Sir Owen Willans Richardson, FRS (26 April 1879 – 15 February 1959) was a British physicist who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1928 for his work on thermionic emission, which led to Richardson's law. Biography Richardson was born in Dew ...

(1879–1959),

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

, won the

Nobel Prize in Physics ) , image = Nobel Prize.png , alt = A golden medallion with an embossed image of a bearded man facing left in profile. To the left of the man is the text "ALFR•" then "NOBEL", and on the right, the text (smaller) "NAT•" then " ...

in 1928 for his work of thermionic emission. * Mike "Stevo" Stephenson (born 1947),

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...

commentator and former rugby league footballer. *

Gary Sykes Gary Sykes (born 13 February 1984) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 2006 to 2016. He held the British super-featherweight title twice between 2010 and 2014, and challenged for the Commonwealth super-featherweight and lig ...

(born 1984), former

super featherweight Super featherweight, also known as junior lightweight, is a weight division in professional boxing, contested between and . The super featherweight division was established by the New York Walker Law in 1920, although first founded by the New ...

boxing champion. * Richard Tracey (born 1979), footballer. * Eddie Waring (1910–1986),

coach, commentator and television presenter. *

Sayeeda Warsi, Baroness Warsi Sayeeda Hussain Warsi, Baroness Warsi, (; born 28 March 1971) is a British lawyer, politician, and member of the House of Lords who served as co-Chairwoman of the Conservative Party from 2010 to 2012. She served in the Cameron–Clegg coalit ...

of Dewsbury (born 1971), Conservative politician. * Tommy Weston (1902–1981), jockey who rode eleven English Classic winners and was Champion Jockey in 1926.

References in popular culture

Dewsbury is referenced in

the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

' 1967 film '' Magical Mystery Tour''. A line of dialogue in the film has one of the magicians (all portrayed by the Beatles themselves) – who are keeping an eye on the whereabouts of the bus that is taking its passengers on the journey of the film's title – exclaim: "The bus is north on the Dewsbury road and they're having a lovely time!" Dewsbury is also referenced in the 1991 single "

It's Grim Up North "It's Grim Up North" is a song by The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu (The JAMs). The song was originally released as a limited edition "Club Mix" in December 1990 with Pete Wylie on vocals. A re-recorded version with Bill Drummond on vocals was rele ...

" by the Justified Ancients of Mu Mu (also known as the KLF). The 1960 book '' A Kind of Loving'' is set in a fictional city named "Cressley", but its description was based upon Dewsbury. The author, Stan Barstow, was born in

Horbury Horbury is a town in the City of Wakefield in West Yorkshire, England. Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is situated north of the River Calder about three miles (5 km) south west of Wakefield and two miles (3 km) to th ...

and grew up in Ossett – both of which are just to the east of Dewsbury. More recently, the phrase "Dewsbury noir" has been used to describe the violent novels of David Peace, who was born in Dewsbury but lives in neighbouring Ossett.

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

documentary '' Educating Yorkshire'' followed the everyday lives of the staff and students of Thornhill Community Academy, a secondary school in Thornhill. In 2014, the show won best Documentary Programme at the National Television Awards.

References

External links

Area profile and statistics
{{authority control Towns in West Yorkshire Market towns in West Yorkshire Unparished areas in West Yorkshire Heavy Woollen District Geography of Kirklees

History

Toponymy

Early history

Industrial Revolution

Recent history

Governance

Geography

Divisions and suburbs

Demography and economy

Ethnic groups

Religions

Other information

Transport

Sport

Culture

Education

Notable people

References in popular culture

See also

References

External links