Soothill is a small village in the town of

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 ...

, in the

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 ...

district, in the county of

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. Soothill is northeast from the town of

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 directly north of

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 ...

History

The name derives from the Old English "sot" and means a place where wood was burnt. Soothill was formerly 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 ...

in the parish of Dewsbury, in 1866 Soothill became a separate

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 ...

, in 1894 the parish was abolished and split to form Soothill Nether and Soothill Upper. In 1891 the parish had a population of 11,493. Soothill was on the Great Northern Railway's Leeds to Batley branch line, although no station was provided. The colliery at Soothill, adjacent to the railway, was the scene of a rail accident in February 1920 between a goods train and a passenger train. The accident was not fatal with only injuries being recorded. The railway was closed in 1953 leaving a disused tunnel (Soothill Tunnel) north east of the settlement. This tunnel has been bricked up as it contains toxic gases.

References

Villages in West Yorkshire Former civil parishes in West Yorkshire Batley {{WestYorkshire-geo-stub