Berry Brow is a semi-rural village in

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a Metropolitan counties of England, metropolitan and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and east, South Yorkshire and De ...

, England, situated about south of

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees 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 confl ...

. It lies on the eastern bank of the

Holme Valley Holme Valley, formerly Holmfirth is a large civil parish in the metropolitan borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It has a population of 25,049 (2001 census), increasing to 34,680 for the two wards in the 2011 Census. Its administrat ...

and partially straddles the

A616 road The A616 is a road that links Newark-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire, to the M1 motorway at Junction 30, then reappears at Junction 35A and goes on to Huddersfield, West Yorkshire. The road originally ran continuously from Newark to Huddersfield, vi ...

Honley __NOTOC__ Honley is a village in the Holme Valley civil parish in Kirklees, West Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is situated near to Holmfirth and Huddersfield, and on the banks of the River Holme. Acc ...

and

Penistone Penistone ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England, which had a population of 13,270 at the 2021 census. Historic counties of England, Historically in ...

. The village has a

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literatur ...

infants' and nursery school, some shops and a

railway platform A railway platform is an area in a train station alongside a railway Track (rail transport), track providing convenient access to trains. Almost all stations have some form of platform, with larger stations having multiple platforms. Grand Cen ...

on the Penistone Line. It lies between Armitage Bridge, Taylor Hill and Newsome. Berry Brow is served by two

public house A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption Licensing laws of the United Kingdom#On-licence, on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the ...

s (The Railway and The Golden Fleece) and a liberal club. The site of a third public house, The Black Bull, was converted into an

Indian restaurant Indian cuisine consists of a variety of regional and traditional cuisines native to the Indian subcontinent. Given the diversity in soil, climate, culture, ethnic groups, and occupations, these cuisines vary substantially and use locally av ...

in 1994, and received planning permission to expand capacity in 2011. In the bottom of the

valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains and typically containing a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams over ...

are two high rise buildings, built in the 1960s in an attempt to modernise the village. These reached public notoriety in the 1980s when they were found to contain high levels of

asbestos Asbestos ( ) is a group of naturally occurring, Toxicity, toxic, carcinogenic and fibrous silicate minerals. There are six types, all of which are composed of long and thin fibrous Crystal habit, crystals, each fibre (particulate with length su ...

, which had been built into the fabric of the building, under the regulations in force at that time. A request by Kirklees Council for money from central Government to assist with the predicted £1 million cost of removing the asbestos was rejected in February 1991. Expecting to take approximately 6 months to complete the task of removing the asbestos,

Kirklees Council Kirklees Council, also known as Kirklees Metropolitan Borough Council, is the local authority for the metropolitan borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. As a metropolitan borough council it provides the majority of local government ser ...

temporarily re-housed the tenants in other areas, the majority of whom consisted of mature and elderly residents. As the 6 months dragged on into three years, the tenants were offered more permanent housing elsewhere. The two blocks were eventually refurbished at a cost in excess of £6,000,000. They were then used to house younger single people and

asylum seeker An asylum seeker is a person who leaves their country of residence, enters another country, and makes in that other country a formal application for the right of asylum according to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights Article 14. A per ...

s from other countries. As part of the refurbishment a 'State-of-the Art' CCTV security system was installed in 2009 to cover both buildings, as well as other locations in

Dewsbury Dewsbury is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It lies on the River Calder, West Yorkshire, River Calder and on an arm of the Calder and Hebble Navigation waterway. It is to the west of Wakefield, ...

and

Batley Batley is a market town in the Kirklees district, in West Yorkshire, England, south-west of Leeds, north-west of Wakefield and Dewsbury, south-east of Bradford and north-east of Huddersfield, in the Heavy Woollen District. In 2011, the popu ...

Early history

The oldest part of the village is Deadmanstone. Originally known as Dudmanstone, Dudmanstone House is situated above Berry Brow. In 1584 the estate was recorded as belonging to the Lockwood family:

Thomas Lockwood holdeth a messuage called Dudmanstone, now made into two ; two gardens ; one little croft, called Tenter Croft ; two closes, called Cockshutts ; two closes, called Ouroyds ; one close, called Sykes ; third part of one called William Croft ; one little meadow, called Calf Croft ; one other meadow, called the Lime Croft ; four closes called the Lees, &c. One house, called the Forward House ; one garden and one close to the same belonging. One house called Budge Royd. One house and one garden in the tenure of one Shaw ; and one meadow to the same adjoining. One messuage, called Stirley ; one garden and one croft to the same belonging. Annals of the Parish of Almondbury by Charles Augustus Hulbert - Armitage Family .237 (Page 21)
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References

External links

* {{authority control Holme Valley Areas of Huddersfield Villages in West Yorkshire