__NOTOC__ Honley is a village in 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 ...

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

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

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.

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 ...

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 ...

, it is situated near to

Holmfirth Holmfirth () is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, West Yorkshire, England. It is located south of Huddersfield and west of Barnsley; the boundary of the Peak District National Park is to the south-west. The town is sited on t ...

and

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 on the banks of the River Holme. According to the 2011 Census it had a population of 6,474, a growth of 577 from the 2001 Census

Community

The annual Honley Agricultural Show takes place on the second Saturday of June. The show has used farmland between Honley and

Meltham Meltham is a town and civil parish within the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, in West Yorkshire, England. It lies in the Holme Valley, below Wessenden Moor, south-west of Huddersfield on the edge of the Peak District National Park. It had ...

, and more recently farmland in Farnley Tyas. Honley has both female and male voice choirs. There is also a village hall which holds regular events, workshops, meetings and markets all year round. There are three schools in the village. Honley Infant and Nursery School for ages 3–7, Honley Junior School for ages 7–11 and Honley High School which after abolishing its sixth form college is now for ages 11–16.

Transport

Honley railway station opened on 1 July 1850, on the Penistone Line. It connects the village to

and

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

with an hourly service. There are regular bus services to

and

. Most bus services are operated by the

First West Yorkshire First West Yorkshire operates both local and regional bus services in West Yorkshire, England. It is a subsidiary of the FirstGroup, and is made up of three sub-division brands: First Bradford, First Halifax, Calder Valley & Huddersfield and Fir ...

and Team Pennine

Church

The

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...

is St Mary's, a Grade II listed mostly

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 ...

church, constructed in 1843 by

Robert Dennis Chantrell Robert Dennis Chantrell (14 January 1793 – 4 January 1872) was an English church architect, best-known today for designing Leeds Parish Church, now Leeds Minster. Early life Chantrell was born in Newington, Southwark, London. His father, ...

, with later additions in 1888 and 1909. The church was built on the remains of an earlier church, known as 'Old Peg' built in 1759. It is surrounded by a burial ground containing inscribed tombstones with remnants of a set of village

stocks Stocks are feet and hand restraining devices that were used as a form of corporal punishment and public humiliation. The use of stocks is seen as early as Ancient Greece, where they are described as being in use in Solon's law code. The law de ...

. Though an earlier building was possibly constructed in 1503.

Sport

Honley F.C. fields junior teams at under-6 level to under-17 levels. The teams play in the Huddersfield Junior Football League, and play competitive seven-a-side matches from under-7s to under-10s and eleven-a-side matches from under-11s to under-17s. An adult side with three teams plays in the

Huddersfield and District Association Football League The Huddersfield and District Association League is a football competition based in the area of Huddersfield, England. It was founded in 1898. The league has a total of five senior divisions. The highest senior division, Premier Division, sits at ...

. The 'A' team is in the second division, the 'B' team in reserve division one, and the 'C' team in reserve division three. Honley also has teams in the Huddersfield Cricket League. On 6 July 2014, Stage 2 of the 2014

Tour de France The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage cycle sport, bicycle race held primarily in France. It is the oldest and most prestigious of the three Grand Tour (cycling), Grand Tours, which include the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a ...

from York to Sheffield, passed through the village.

Governance

Honley was a

township A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...

and

chapelry A chapelry was a subdivision of an ecclesiastical parish in England and parts of Lowland Scotland up to the mid 19th century. Status A chapelry had a similar status to a Township (England), township, but was so named as it had a chapel of ease ...

in the parish of

Almondbury Almondbury () is a village south-east of Huddersfield town centre in the Kirklees district, of West Yorkshire, England. The population of Almondbury in 2001 was 7,368 increasing to 18,346 at the census. The village is close to Castle Hill, ...

, From 1866 Honley was a

until 1 April 1938 when the parish was abolished and merged with Holmfirth. In 1931 the parish had a population of 4611.

Notable people

* General Sir Clement Armitage,

General Officer Commanding General officer commanding (GOC) is the usual title given in the armies of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth (and some other nations, such as Ireland) to a general officer who holds a command appointment. Thus, a general might be the GOC ...

1st Infantry Division *

Biff Byford Peter Rodney "Biff" Byford (born 15 January 1951) is an English singer best known as the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Saxon. Early life Byford was born in Skelmanthorpe, West Yorkshire, the youngest of four children to Ernest Cha ...

, singer with heavy metal band

Saxon The Saxons, sometimes called the Old Saxons or Continental Saxons, were a Germanic people of early medieval "Old" Saxony () which became a Carolingian " stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany. Many of their neighbours were, like th ...

. * Isabella Donkersley (1864-1938), the daughter of Joseph Bedford Donkersley, a violinist who studied at the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music (RCM) is a conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the undergraduate to the doctoral level in all aspects of Western Music including pe ...

from 1884, she married

August Jaeger August Johannes Jaeger (18 March 1860 – 18 May 1909) was an Anglo-German music publisher, who developed a close friendship with the English composer Edward Elgar. He offered advice and help to Elgar and is immortalised in the ''Enigma Va ...

on 22 December 1898 at

St Mary Abbots St Mary Abbots is a Church (building), church located on Kensington High Street and the corner of Kensington Church Street in London W8. The present church structure was built in 1872 to the designs of Sir George Gilbert Scott, who combined ne ...

. Her sister Lucy (1859-1923) was a pianist. She had two children with Mr Jaeger, including Mary Jaeger (26 April 1900 - September 1991, East Sussex). Isabella Hunter died on Sunday 9 October 1938, at her daughter's house, in North Finchley * Alonzo Drake, Yorkshire County Cricketer, born c.1885, d. 14 February 1919. Buried in Honley Cemetery. * John Dyson (1913–1991), first-class cricketer * Mary A Jagger, (1849-1936), author of ''The History of Honley'', published in 1914. She was also the first woman Postmistress in England. * France Littlewood (1863–1941), a

socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

activist. * Captain Sydney Liversedge (1897–1979),

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

flying ace A flying ace, fighter ace or air ace is a military aviation, military aviator credited with shooting down a certain minimum number of enemy aircraft during aerial combat; the exact number of aerial victories required to officially qualify as an ...

, was born in Honley. * Dora Thewlis (1880–1976), suffragette, was born in Honley. *

David Bintley Sir David Julian Bintley (born 17 September 1957) is an English former ballet dancer, the artistic director of the Birmingham Royal Ballet, and co-artistic director of the New National Theatre Tokyo ballet company. Early life Bintley was born ...

, Director of the Birmingham Royal Ballet and Artistic Director of the National Ballet of Japan. Born in Honley and former head of Maths at Honley High School. *

Jon Stead Jonathan Graeme Stead (born 7 April 1983) is an English football coach and former professional player. He is currently assistant head coach of club Bristol Rovers. As a player he was a striker who played for Huddersfield Town, Blackburn Ro ...

, ex-professional footballer

Gallery

File:Honley, Huddersfield.jpg, Village viewed from the railway line to Brockholes File:Honley Viewed from Oldfield Road (RLH).JPG, Honley viewed from Oldfield Road. Castle Hill is seen top right with Huddersfield in the distance. Central to the picture is Berry Brow & Newsome File:Honley stocks 312.jpg, Remains of village stocks in St Mary's Churchyard File:Honley (29214442034).jpg, St Mary's Church, peeping above the houses on Church St, Honley