Milnsbridge is a district 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 ...

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 west of the town centre, and in the

Colne Valley The Colne Valley is a steep sided valley on the east flank of the Pennine Hills in the English county of West Yorkshire. It takes its name from the River Colne which rises above the town of Marsden and flows eastward towards Huddersfield. ...

. The name is said to have derived from the water-powered mill and the bridge that stood alongside it in the 13th century. The

Huddersfield Narrow Canal The Huddersfield Narrow Canal is an Navigability, inland waterway in northern England. It runs just under from Lock 1E at the rear of the University of Huddersfield campus, near Aspley, West Yorkshire, Aspley Basin in Huddersfield, to the ju ...

runs through Milnsbridge close to the River Colne. A viaduct carries the trans-Pennine Huddersfield Line railway that runs through Milnsbridge, and links

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 ...

and

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 ...

via Huddersfield. The Huddersfield to Manchester road route A62 passes Milnsbridge along the south side of the valley.

History

Until recent times Milnsbridge was mostly centred on the

woollen Woolen (American English) or woollen (Commonwealth English) is a type of yarn made from carded wool. Woolen yarn is soft, light, stretchy, and full of air. It is thus a good insulator, and makes a good knitting yarn. Woolen yarn is in contrast t ...

and

worsted Worsted ( or ) is a high-quality type of wool yarn, the fabric made from this yarn, and a yarn weight category. The name derives from Worstead (from Old English ''Wurðestede'', "enclosure place"), a village in the English county of Norfolk. T ...

yarn textile industry, with mills situated along the riverside. These formerly relied on the river and the canal. In the late 19th century Joseph Crowther and two of his sons moved from

Marsden, West Yorkshire Marsden is a large village in the Colne Valley, in the metropolitan borough of Kirklees, West Yorkshire, England. It is in the South Pennines close to the Peak District which lies to the south. The village is west of Huddersfield at the conflu ...

down the Colne Valley to Milnsbridge after purchasing two mills, where they began the successful production of woollen cloth.

Union Mills Union Mills () is a village in the parish of Braddan on the A1, the primary road which connects Douglas and Peel in the Isle of Man, close to the River Dhoo. History The village was known from 1511 as (The Mill on the Black Ford). In 1807 ...

, formerly home to John Crowther and Sons, is a mid-19th-century Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

. Part of the mill, christened Crowther Village, was converted into 38 residential flats and was completed in 1997. The Scar Lane drill hall was completed in 1911.

Milnsbridge today

Today, there is less evidence of the cloth industry than there was, as most of the mill chimneys were removed when the mills were demolished or converted into housing. However, there are still many streets of 19th century terraced houses in the area; these were originally built as mill workers' houses. Jack Ramsay in his book ''"Made in Huddersfield"'' describes Milnsbridge in 1989:

...for my own beliefs about the devastation and subsequent run-down feel of Milnsbridge are rooted in the very substance of the town's visual character, which is seen as being especially gloomy in the eyes of many local residents because the place is situated in the belly of the
olne Olne (; ) is a municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Liège, Belgium. On January 1, 2006, Olne had a total population of 3,793. The total area is 15.99 km2 which gives a population density of 237 inhabitants per km2. Olne was ...
valley and which has the psychological effect of making it appear somewhere rather morbid and inaccessible like a steelworks crowding the bottom of a hillside city.

Arthur Quarmby & Son, at Britannia Mills, manufactures pub-related items such as beer mats, mirrors and clocks. Trojan Plastics, at Britannia Mills, manufactures acrylic baths. Milnsbridge spreads from

Cowlersley Cowlersley is a district west of Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. It is situated between Milnsbridge and Linthwaite and south of the A62 and the River Colne. The name Cowlersley means 'a charcoal burner's wood' and was first recorded ...

- on the other side of the A62 Manchester Road - to

Golcar Golcar (pronounced ) is a village on a hillside crest above the Colne Valley in the Kirklees district, in West Yorkshire, England, west of Huddersfield, and just north of the River Colne and the Huddersfield Narrow Canal. The 2021 populatio ...

, Longwood and

Paddock A paddock is a small enclosure for horses. In the United Kingdom, this term also applies to a field for a general automobile racing competition, particularly Formula 1. Description The most common design provides an area for exercise and is ofte ...

. Since the demolition of the school on New Street (with its swimming pool) the main primary school in Milnsbridge has been Crow Lane School, with 11-18s either attending

Royds Hall Academy Royds Hall Academy is a mixed secondary school for pupils aged 11 – 16. It is located in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, and on the north side of the Colne Valley towards Milnsbridge. History Royds Hall was a large farmhouse in the P ...

, Salendine Nook High, All Saints Catholic High or Colne Valley High in

Linthwaite Linthwaite (known as ''Linfit'' in the local community) is a village in the Kirklees district, in West Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is situated west of Huddersfield, on the A62 in the Colne Valley. ...

. At the centre of Milnsbridge is the Baptist Chapel, a Grade II listed building founded in 1843, but rebuilt in 2004.

Notable people

Harold Wilson James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx (11 March 1916 – 23 May 1995) was a British statesman and Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, from 1964 to 1970 and again from 197 ...

, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, Labour politician and twice

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister Advice (constitutional law), advises the Monarchy of the United Kingdom, sovereign on the exercise of much of the Royal prerogative ...

, born and brought up in Milnsbridge.

Publications

* Ramsay, Jack (1989) ''Made in Huddersfield''

Notes

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External links