Dewsbury is a

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 rura ...

in the

Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees Kirklees is a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, England. The borough comprises the ten towns of Batley, Birstall, Cleckheaton, Dewsbury, Heckmondwike, Holmfirth, Huddersfield, Meltham, Mirfield and Slaithwaite. It is governed by Kirkle ...

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. It lies on the River Calder and on an arm of the

Calder and Hebble Navigation The Calder and Hebble Navigation is a broad inland waterway, with locks and bridge holes that are suitable for boats, in West Yorkshire, England. Construction to improve the River Calder and the River Hebble began in 1759, and the initial s ...

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 109,766 in the 2021 census, up from 99,251 in the 2011 census. The city is the administrative centre of the wider Metropolit ...

, east 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 ...

and south of

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

Historically History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some theorists categ ...

a part of the

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire was one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the riding was an administrative county named County of York, West Riding. The Lord Lieutenant of the West Riding of Yorkshire, lieu ...

, after undergoing a period of major growth in the 19th century as a

mill town A mill town, also known as factory town or mill village, is typically a settlement that developed around one or more List of types of mill#Manufacturing facilities, mills or factories, often cotton mills or factories producing textiles. Europe ...

, 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. The population of the built-up area was 63,722 at the 2021 Census.

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 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

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 , or ), 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 developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

''dēaw'' (genitive ''dēawes''), "

dew Dew is water in the form of droplets that appears on thin, exposed objects in the morning or evening due to condensation. As the exposed surface cools by thermal radiation, radiating its heat, atmospheric moisture condenses at a rate grea ...

", 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. In the past other origins were proposed, such as "God's fort", from Welsh ''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, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...

times, Dewsbury was a centre of considerable importance. The

ecclesiastical parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

of Dewsbury encompassed

Mirfield Mirfield () is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, West Yorkshire, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is on the A644 road (Great B ...

and

Bradford Bradford is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in West Yorkshire, England. It became a municipal borough in 1847, received a city charter in 1897 and, since the Local Government Act 1972, 1974 reform, the city status in the United Kingdo ...

. 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 t ...

, 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 t ...

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 Royal Mail Group Limited, trading as Royal Mail, is a British postal service and courier company. It is owned by International Distribution Services. It operates the brands Royal Mail (letters and parcels) and Parcelforce Worldwide (parcels) ...

postage stamp in 1986. In the Domesday Book 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 wape ...

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 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 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

, 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, Christian theology, theologian, and Evangelism, evangelist who was a principal leader of a Christian revival, revival movement within the Church of England known as Methodism. The societies ...

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

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

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

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 ...

system giving access to

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

and

Hull Hull may refer to: Structures * The hull of an armored fighting vehicle, housing the chassis * Fuselage, of an aircraft * Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds * Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a sea-going craft * Submarine hull Ma ...

. By the time of the

Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution, sometimes divided into the First Industrial Revolution and Second Industrial Revolution, was a transitional period of the global economy toward more widespread, efficient and stable manufacturing processes, succee ...

, Dewsbury was a centre for the

shoddy Recycled wool, also known as rag wool or shoddy is any Wool, woollen textile or yarn made by shredding existing fabric and re-spinning the resulting fibres. Textile recycling is an important mechanism for reducing the need for raw wool in manufact ...

and mungo industries which recycled woollen items by mixing them with new

wool Wool is the textile fiber 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 some properties similar to animal w ...

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 resource extraction, extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its Energy value of coal, energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to Electricity generation, generate electr ...

. 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 LNWR was the largest joint stock company in the world. Dubbed the "Premier Line", the LNWR's main line connec ...

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 History of rail transport in Great Britain, British railway company before the Railways Act 1921, 1923 Grouping. It was Incorporation (business)#Incorporation in the United Kingdom, incorpo ...

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 in rail transport, 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 ...

. 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. 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 members of a 19th-century movement of English textile workers who opposed the use of certain types of automated machinery due to concerns relating to worker pay and output quality. They often destroyed the machines in organ ...

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 Chartism, 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 ...

, a mob of between five and seven thousand people besieged the Dewsbury

Poor Law In English and British history, poor relief refers to government and ecclesiastical action to relieve poverty. Over the centuries, various authorities have needed to decide whose poverty deserves relief and also who should bear the cost of hel ...

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 (MP) in 1867 was John Simon, a

Jew Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...

ish lawyer from

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

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, and 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. The recovery of the late 1960s was reversed by the

1973 oil crisis In October 1973, the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) announced that it was implementing a total oil embargo against countries that had supported Israel at any point during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, which began after Eg ...

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

Recent history

Significant immigration from the 1960s onwards left a huge demographic impact on the town, which continues today. Asian British and Muslims now make up roughly 45 percent of the population, and the percentage is expected to grow in the coming years. After 2005, following negative press reports, Dewsbury was labelled a troubled town 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 Assault occasioning grievous bodily harm (often abbreviated to GBH) is a term used in English criminal law to describe the severest forms of battery. It refers to two offences that are created by sections 18 and 20 of the Offences against the ...

after attempting to hang a five-year-old boy from Chickenley. Mohammad Sidique Khan, ringleader of the group responsible for the

7 July 2005 London bombings The 7 July 2005 London bombings, also referred to as 7/7, were a series of four co-ordinated suicide attacks carried out by Islamist terrorists that targeted commuters travelling on Transport in London, London's public transport during the ...

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

Titanic RMS ''Titanic'' was a British ocean liner that sank in the early hours of 15 April 1912 as a result of striking an iceberg on her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, United States. Of the estimated 2,224 passengers a ...

''. 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 King ...

, 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 Buckingham Palace () is a royal official residence, residence in London, and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and r ...

, 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 A municipal borough was a type of local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of governance or public administration within a particular sovereign state. Local governments typically constitute a subdivision of ...

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

Reform Act The Reform Acts (or Reform Bills, before they were passed) are legislation enacted in the United Kingdom in the 19th and 20th century to enfranchise new groups of voters and to redistribute seats in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the U ...

of 1868 constituted Dewsbury a

parliamentary borough A borough is an administrative division in various English language, English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History ...

, and Liberal candidate John Simon, serjeant-at-law, was returned as the borough's first MP. The

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 ...

town hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or municipal hall (in the Philippines) is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses the city o ...

standing in front of the old marketplace dates from 1886 to 1889. Dewsbury's boundaries were expanded to include the

urban district An urban district is a division generally managed by a local government. It may also refer to a city district, district, urban area or quarter Specific urban districts in some countries include: * Urban districts of Denmark * Districts of Germa ...

s of Ravensthorpe, Thornhill, and Soothill Nether, and part of Soothill Upper, in 1910, and in 1913 it was elevated to county borough 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, also known as Kirklees Metropolitan Borough Council, is the Local government in England, local authority for the metropolitan borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. As a metropolitan borough council it provides the maj ...

, its headquarters being 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 City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...

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. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 censu ...

and

Great Yarmouth Great Yarmouth ( ), often called Yarmouth, is a seaside resort, seaside town which gives its name to the wider Borough of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, England; it straddles the River Yare and is located east of Norwich. Its fishing industry, m ...

). The current Member of Parliament (MP) for Dewsbury and Batley is Iqbal Mohamed, who has represented the constituency since the

2024 general election This is a list of elections that were held in 2024. The National Democratic Institute also maintains a calendar of elections around the world. * 2024 United Nations Security Council election * 2024 national electoral calendar * 2024 local electo ...

. Mohamed was one of four independent candidates who won seats in heavily Muslim areas largely due to Labour's stance on the

Gaza war The Gaza war is an armed conflict in the Gaza Strip and southern Israel fought since 7 October 2023. A part of the unresolved Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Israeli–Palestinian and Gaza–Israel conflict, Gaza–Israel conflicts dating ...

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 TransPennine Trains Limited, trading as TransPennine Express (TPE), is a British train operating company that has operated passenger services in the TransPennine Express franchise area since May 2023. It runs regional and inter-city rail ser ...

, have contributed to its growth. 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 Wakef ...

, although its natural boundaries are not well-defined, with built up areas of the town running into

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 ...

Heckmondwike Heckmondwike is a town in the Kirklees district, West Yorkshire, England, south west of Leeds. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is close to Cleckheaton and Liversedge. It is in the Spen Valley parliamentary constituency ...

and

Ossett Ossett is a market town in the Wakefield district, in the county of West Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is situated between Dewsbury, Horbury and Wakefield. At the 2021 census, the town had a po ...

. Geologically, the town is situated on rocks of the

Carboniferous Period The Carboniferous ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic era that spans 60 million years, from the end of the Devonian Period Ma (million years ago) to the beginning of the Permian Period, Ma. It is the fifth and penultimate perio ...

, consisting of coal measures 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 ...

Quaternary Period The Quaternary ( ) is the current and most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS), as well as the current and most recent of the twelve periods of the ...

rock, glacial deposits and

gravel Gravel () is a loose aggregation of rock fragments. Gravel occurs naturally on Earth as a result of sedimentation, sedimentary and erosion, erosive geological processes; it is also produced in large quantities commercially as crushed stone. Gr ...

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 Dewsbury Moor is a district of Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it lies to the west of the Dewsbury town centre. The population is around 5,650. Crime rates are higher than the national average ...

, 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 mills o ...

, Shaw Cross, Scout Hill,

Thornhill Lees Thornhill Lees is a district of Thornhill near Dewsbury, in the borough of Kirklees, West Yorkshire, England. Thornhill Lees is between Thornhill and Dewsbury town centre, in the area between the River Calder and the Calder and Hebble Navigati ...

, Westborough, Westtown. Batley Carr,

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 gro ...

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 West Riding of Yorkshire was one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. ...

have areas which lie in both Dewsbury and neighbouring Batley. Thornhill,

Briestfield Briestfield is a hamlet south of Dewsbury, in the Kirklees district of West Yorkshire, England. It formed part of the township of Whitley Lower in the ancient parish of Thornhill. Whitley Lower was a separate civil parish after 1866, being ab ...

and

Whitley Lower Whitley Lower is a village near Thornhill in Kirklees, West Yorkshire England. The parish church, dedicated to St Mary and St Michael, is part of the united benefice of Thornhill and Whitley which also includes Briestfield. The church was Gra ...

are part of Dewsbury

unparished area In England, an unparished area is an area that is not covered by a civil parish (the lowest level of local government, not to be confused with an ecclesiastical parish). Most urbanised districts of England are either entirely or partly unparis ...

. Thornhill was annexed in 1910.

Demography and economy

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

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

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

Dewsbury Celtic Dewsbury Celtic is a rugby league club in the town of Dewsbury, West Yorkshire. They play in the NCL Division Two under Head Coach Scott Dyson. Mark Brierley also coaches alongside, adding to the coaching expertise. Boasting a strong amateur ...

amateur

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

club. The town has a large Muslim community.

and Ravensthorpe are populated mainly by

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

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Associated with India * of or related to India ** Indian people ** Indian diaspora ** Languages of India ** Indian English, a dialect of the English language ** Indian cuisine Associated with indigenous peoples o ...

and

Pakistani Pakistanis (, ) are the citizens and nationals of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Pakistan is the fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the second-largest Muslim population as of 2023. As much as ...

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

Kurds Kurds (), or the Kurdish people, are an Iranian peoples, Iranic ethnic group from West Asia. They are indigenous to Kurdistan, which is a geographic region spanning southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Iraq, and northeastern Syri ...

and

Hungarians Hungarians, also known as Magyars, are an Ethnicity, ethnic group native to Hungary (), who share a common Culture of Hungary, culture, Hungarian language, language and History of Hungary, history. They also have a notable presence in former pa ...

into the town. Dewsbury has been accused of having a controversial Shariah arbitration court.

, 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. 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 (secondhand) 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 Brownfield is previously-developed land that has been abandoned or underused, and which may carry pollution, or a risk of pollution, from industrial use. The specific definition of brownfield land varies and is decided by policy makers and l ...

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

Carlton Cards Carlton Cards Limited () 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 Card Retail" has been owned by ...

, is based in this area.

Ethnic groups

As of 2021, Dewsbury's population was enumerated at 63,722, and its ethnic makeup was 50.8%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 44.4% Asian, 2.3% Mixed, 0.8%

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

, and 1.4% Other.

Religions

As of the 2021 census, Dewsbury's religious makeup was 46.4%

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

, 28.9%

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

, 23.7% No Religion, and the town has small

Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

and

Sikh Sikhs (singular Sikh: or ; , ) are an ethnoreligious group who adhere to Sikhism, a religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Guru Nanak. The term ''Si ...

communities.

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 Yo ...

. 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, Trade name, trading as Northern, is a British train operating company that operates Commuter rail, commuter and Inter-city rail, medium-distance intercity services in the North of England. It is owned by DfT Operator for the Dep ...

and

Sport

Dewsbury Rams The Dewsbury Rams are a professional rugby league club based in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, England that compete in RFL League 1, League One, the third tier of British rugby league system, British rugby league. History 1875–1887: Dewsbury Athl ...

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

's Betfred League One. They are based at

Crown Flatt Crown Flatt, currently known as the FLAIR 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 the ...

, on Owl Lane, towards

, 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 Michael Stephenson (born 27 January 1947) is an English former rugby league commentator and player. Stephenson was born in Dewsbury, West Riding of Yorkshire. He is commonly known as "Stevo", the nickname that he is known by in rugby league ...

Nigel Stephenson Nigel Stephenson (born 12 October 1950) 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 representative level for England and Yorkshire, and at ...

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.

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 Crow Nest Park is a Green Flag awarded public park located in the Dewsbury Moor area of Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, England. Opened to the public in 1893, the park originated on the grounds on a country house estate dating from the 16th century. ...

, before it closed to the public in November 2016. Nearby attractions include the

National Coal Mining Museum for England National Coal Mining Museum for England is based at the site of Caphouse Colliery in Overton, Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England. It opened in 1988 as the Yorkshire Mining Museum and was granted national status in 1995. History Caphouse Coll ...

, located in

Overton, Wakefield Overton is a village between Wakefield and Huddersfield in West Yorkshire, England. The village is situated approximately south-west of Wakefield, south of Ossett, west of Netherton and 4 miles south-west of Horbury. Overton is conjoined at ...

. 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 ...

Local media

Local news and television programmes are provided by

BBC Yorkshire BBC Yorkshire is one of the English regions of the BBC. It was formed from the division of the former BBC North region into BBC Yorkshire and BBC Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, based in Kingston upon Hull. Serving West, North and South Yorkshir ...

and

ITV Yorkshire ITV Yorkshire, previously known as Yorkshire Television and commonly referred to as just YTV, is the British television service provided by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV (TV network), ITV network. Until 19 ...

. Television signals are received from the

Emley Moor The Emley Moor transmitting station is a telecommunications and broadcasting facility on Emley Moor, west of the village centre of Emley, in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. It is made up of a concrete tower and apparatus that began ...

TV transmitter. Dewsbury's local radio stations are

BBC Radio Leeds BBC Radio Leeds is the BBC's local radio station serving the county of West Yorkshire. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios at St Peter's Square in Leeds. According to RAJAR, the station has a weekly audienc ...

on 92.4 FM,

Heart Yorkshire Heart Yorkshire (previously Real Radio Yorkshire) was a regional radio station owned by Communicorp UK and operated by Global as part of the Heart network. It broadcasts to South and West Yorkshire.Capital Yorkshire Capital Yorkshire was a regional radio station owned by Global as part of the Capital network. It broadcast to South Yorkshire & North Derbyshire, West Yorkshire, North Yorkshire, the East Riding of Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire. Capi ...

on 105.6 FM,

Greatest Hits Radio Yorkshire Greatest Hits Radio (GHR) is a classic hits radio network in the United Kingdom, owned and operated by Bauer Media Audio UK. It currently includes 18 local and regional radio stations operating over 50 FM and DAB licences in England, Scotl ...

on 96.3 FM,

Hits Radio West Yorkshire Hits Radio West Yorkshire, formerly Pulse 1, is an Independent Local Radio station based in Leeds, England, owned and operated by Bauer Media Audio UK as part of the Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to West Yorkshire. As of September 2024, t ...

on 102.5 FM, and Branch Radio, a community based radio station that broadcast from the town on 101.8 FM. The

Dewsbury Reporter The ''Dewsbury Reporter'' is a local weekly publication, providing news for residents of Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, and surrounding areas. It is owned by National World, and has sister newspapers covering Mirfield, Wakefield, Batley and Birst ...

is the town's local weekly newspaper.

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 Latin school, school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented Se ...

s –

Wheelwright Grammar School for Boys A wheelwright is a craftsman who builds or repairs wooden wheels. The word is the combination of "wheel" and the word "wright" (which comes from the Old English word "''wryhta''", meaning a worker - as also in shipwright and arkwright). This o ...

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 Dewsbury is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, 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, east of Huddersfield and so ...

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 th ...

to become part of

Kirklees 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 th ...

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".

College of

Art and Design A design is the concept or proposal for an object, process, or system. The word ''design'' refers to something that is or has been intentionally created by a thinking agent, and is sometimes used to refer to the inherent nature of something ...

, 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 are or were from Dewsbury: *Sir

Thomas Clifford Allbutt Sir Thomas Clifford Allbutt KCB, MA, MD, ScD, FRS (20 July 183622 February 1925) was an English physician best known for his role as president of the British Medical Association 1920, for inventing the clinical thermometer, and for supporting ...

(1836–1925), physician; inventor of the

medical thermometer A medical thermometer or clinical thermometer is a device used for Temperature examination, measuring the body temperature of a human or other animal. The tip of the thermometer is inserted into the mouth under the tongue (''oral'' or ''sub-lingu ...

. *

Betty Boothroyd, Baroness Boothroyd Betty Boothroyd, Baroness Boothroyd (8 October 1929 – 26 February 2023), was a British politician who served as a member of Parliament (MP) for West Bromwich and West Bromwich West from 1973 to 2000. A member of the Labour Party, she served ...

(1929–2023), politician; first female

Speaker of the House of Commons Speaker of the House of Commons is a political leadership position found in countries that have a House of Commons, where the membership of the body elects a speaker to lead its proceedings. Systems that have such a position include: * Speaker of ...

between 1992 and 2000. *

Roger Burnley Roger Michael Burnley (born June 1966) is a British businessman, and was the chief executive (CEO) of Asda from January 2018, when he succeeded Sean Clarke, until August 2021. Early life Burnley was born in Dewsbury, Yorkshire, and grew up ...

(born 1966), businessman, CEO of Asda *

Tim Fountain Tim Fountain (born 23 December 1967) is a British writer. Early life Fountain was born in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire. An only child, he was brought up in a pub in the village of West Ardsley, West Yorkshire. He was educated at Batley Grammar ...

(born 1967), playwright and author. *

Joel Graham Joel Graham is the bassist of English thrash metal band Evile and former bassist of metal band Rise to Addiction. Biography Graham was born on 10 February 1977 in Dewsbury, England. He was strongly influenced and supported by his parents from ...

(born 1977), bassist for

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

band

Evile Evile are an English thrash metal band from Huddersfield, formed in 2004. They have experienced numerous line-up changes over the years, with drummer Ben Carter being the only member of the original line-up to have stayed consistently. The curr ...

. * Brendon Grimshaw, (1925–2012), managing editor, the Standard, Dar es salaam, Tanzania. * Bob Hardy (born 1980), bassist for popular Scottish

post-punk revival Post-punk revival (also known as indie rock revival) is a Music genre, subgenre or movement of indie rock that emerged in the early 2000s as a stripped-down and back-to-basics version of Guitar-rock, guitar rock inspired by the original sounds a ...

band,

Franz Ferdinand Archduke Franz Ferdinand Carl Ludwig Joseph Maria of Austria (18 December 1863 – 28 June 1914) was the heir presumptive to the throne of Austria-Hungary. His assassination in Sarajevo was the most immediate cause of World War I. Fran ...

. *

Philip Hinchcliffe Philip Michael Hinchcliffe (born 1 October 1944) is a retired English television producer, screenwriter and script editor. After graduating from Cambridge University, he began his career as a writer and script editor at Associated Television be ...

(born 1944), retired television producer, screenwriter and script editor. *

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

(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, electromagnetically, or optically accessible memory. This contrasts with systems that stored the program instructions with plugboards or similar mechani ...

. *

Betty Lockwood, Baroness Lockwood Betty Lockwood, Baroness Lockwood (22 January 1924 – 29 April 2019) was a Labour Party activist. She was heavily involved in promoting equal opportunities for women on a national and international level. Biography Born in Dewsbury, West Yor ...

(1924–2019), politician and activist for women's rights. * Andrew Morton (born 1953), writer, journalist and biographer of

royalty Royalty may refer to: * the mystique/prestige bestowed upon monarchs ** one or more monarchs, such as kings, queens, emperors, empresses, princes, princesses, etc. *** royal family, the immediate family of a king or queen-regnant, and sometimes h ...

and celebrities. *

Hafiz Patel Hafiz Mohammed Patel (1926 – 18 February 2016) was a British Asian imam known for his role in establishing the Tablighi Jamaat movement in the United Kingdom and for founding the Dewsbury Markaz mosque, the headquarters of Tablighi Jamaat in ...

(1926–2016), Muslim religious leader who founded the

Markazi Masjid The Markazi Masjid ("Central Mosque"), also known as the Dewsbury Markaz or ''Dar ul Ulum'' ("House of Knowledge"), is a mosque in the Savile Town area of Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, England. With a maximum capacity of 4,000, it is one of the l ...

Kazia Pelka Kazia Pelka (born 1962) is a British actress who has worked primarily in UK television, appearing in the soap opera series Brookside in the early 1990s, the period police drama series '' Heartbeat'' in the late 1990s, the police procedural seri ...

(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 engineer father (Tadeusz Pelka) and an Irish actress (Alma Her ...

(born 1956) is an English actor who has starred in film and on television *Sir

Owen Willans Richardson Sir Owen Willans Richardson (26 April 1879 – 15 February 1959) was an English physicist who received 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 The Nobel Prize in Physics () is an annual award given by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences for those who have made the most outstanding contributions to mankind in the field of physics. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the ...

in 1928 for his work of

thermionic emission Thermionic emission is the liberation of charged particles from a hot electrode whose thermal energy gives some particles enough kinetic energy to escape the material's surface. The particles, sometimes called ''thermions'' in early literature, a ...

. *

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 coaliti ...

of Dewsbury (born 1971), Conservative politician.

Sportspeople

Caitlin Beevers Caitlin Hannah Beevers (born 11 October 2001) is a professional rugby league footballer, who plays as a or for Leeds Rhinos Women, Leeds Rhinos in the RFL Women's Super League, Super League. She is also a referee. Playing career Beevers was a ...

(born 2001),

footballer for

Leeds Rhinos Women Leeds Rhinos Women are a rugby league team based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The team is part of the Leeds Rhinos club and plays in the Women's Super League (rugby league), Women's Super League. They were the RFL Women's Super League c ...

. *

Leigh Bromby Leigh David Bromby (born 2 June 1980) is an English retired footballer who played as a defender. Bromby primarily played for Sheffield Wednesday and Sheffield United, and is the only player to have played 100 league games for both teams. Care ...

(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, rugby lea ...

for

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league system. Leeds United have won the League Championship th ...

. *

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

(born 1988),

triathlete A triathlon is an endurance multisport race consisting of swimming, cycling, and running over various distances. Triathletes compete for fastest overall completion time, racing each segment sequentially with the time transitioning between the ...

, having won the gold medals at the 2012 London Olympics, the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics and the 2014 Commonwealth Games. * George Burgess (born 1992), professional

player for

South Sydney Rabbitohs The South Sydney District Rugby League Football Club, also known as the South Sydney Rabbitohs, is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Maroubra, New South Wales, Maroubra that competes in the Nat ...

of the

National Rugby League The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...

and for

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

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

Sam Burgess Samuel Burgess (born 14 December 1988) is an English professional rugby league coach who is the head coach of the Warrington Wolves in the Super League, and former professional rugby league footballer who played as a or forward in the 2000s a ...

(born 1988), professional

player for

of the

and for

, he is a

dual-code rugby international A dual-code rugby international is a rugby footballer who has played at the senior international level in both codes of rugby, 13-a-side rugby league and 15-a-side rugby union. Rugby league started as a breakaway version of rugby in Northern Engl ...

. * Tom Burgess (born 1992), professional

player for

of the

and for

Francis Cummins Francis Cummins (born 12 October 1976) is the former Head Coach of the Widnes Vikings in the Super League and an English professional rugby league coach and former player. He was the head coach of Super League team the Bradford Bulls from Septe ...

(born 1976), professional

coach and former player. He played for

Leeds Rhinos The Leeds Rhinos are a professional rugby league club in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The club play their home games at Headingley Rugby Stadium, AMT Headingley Rugby Stadium and compete in the Super League, the top tier of British rugby lea ...

and represented

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

and

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

at international level. *

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

(born 1982), rugby league footballer for

; his career began at the amateur

ARLFC. *

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 Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

and captain for

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

. * Keith Mason (born 1982), actor and former rugby league footballer. He represented

(Under-21) and

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

at international level. * John Pitt (born 1939), first-class cricketer * Mike "Stevo" Stephenson (born 1947),

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British broadcasting of sports events, subscription sports channels operated by the satellite television, satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television ...

commentator and former rugby league footballer. *

Tymal Mills Tymal Solomon Mills (born 12 August 1992) is an English international cricketer who currently plays internationally for England and domestically for Sussex. He is a left-arm fast bowler and a right-handed batsman who plays mainly as a bowler. H ...

(born 1992),

for

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

. *

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 Richard Patrick Tracey, (8 February 1943 – 19 March 2020), was a British Conservative Party politician, journalist and news presenter. He was the Member of Parliament for Surbiton from 1983 to 1997, and served as Minister for Sport betwe ...

(born 1979), footballer. *

Eddie Waring Edward Marsden Waring, MBE (21 February 1910 – 28 October 1986) was a British rugby league football coach, commentator and television presenter. Early life Waring was born on 21 February 1910 in Dewsbury, West Riding of Yorkshire to Arthur Wa ...

(1910–1986),

coach, commentator and television presenter. *

Tommy Weston Thomas Weston (2 August 1890 – 1952) was a footballer who played in the Football League for Aston Villa and Stoke. Career Weston was born in Halesowen and played for several amateur sides before joining Aston Villa in 1911. He soon establis ...

(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. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

' 1967 film ''

Magical Mystery Tour ''Magical Mystery Tour'' is a record by the English rock band the Beatles that was released as a double EP in the United Kingdom and an LP in the United States. It includes the soundtrack to the 1967 television film of the same title. The E ...

''. 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" by the

Justified Ancients of Mu Mu The KLF (also known as the Justified Ancients of Mu Mu, the JAMs, the Timelords and other names) are a British electronic band who originated in Liverpool and London in the late 1980s. Scottish people, Scottish musician Bill Drummond (alias Ki ...

(also known as

the KLF The KLF (also known as the Justified Ancients of Mu Mu, the JAMs, the Timelords and other names) are a British electronic band who originated in Liverpool and London in the late 1980s. Scottish people, Scottish musician Bill Drummond (alias Ki ...

). 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 Stanley Barstow FRSL (28 June 1928 – 1 August 2011) was an English novelist. Biography Barstow was born in Horbury, near Wakefield in the West Riding of Yorkshire. His father was a coal miner and he attended Ossett Grammar School. He work ...

, was born in

Horbury Horbury is a town in the City of Wakefield in West Yorkshire, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is situated north of the River Calder, West Yorkshire, River Calder about three miles (5 k ...

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 David Peace (born 1967) is an English writer. Best known for his UK-set novels Red Riding Quartet (1999–2002), '' GB84'' (2004), '' The Damned Utd'' (2006), and '' Red or Dead'' (2013), Peace was named one of the Best of Young British Nove ...

, who was born in Dewsbury but lives in neighbouring Ossett.

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 Former civil parishes in West Yorkshire

History

Toponymy

Early history

Industrial Revolution

Recent history

Governance

Geography

Divisions and suburbs

Demography and economy

Ethnic groups

Religions

Transport

Sport

Culture

Local media

Education

Notable people

Sportspeople

References in popular culture

See also

References

External links