Nostalgia with Margaret Watson: Life in Dewsbury before the Industrial Revolution

Margaret Watson writes: People like, William Frederick Fox, a local auctioneer, who in his memoirs, gives a remarkable insight into what the town looked like almost 200 years ago.

He recalled in an article in 1830, how people had to walk everywhere because there were no trains or trams, and the roads they walked along were unpaved.

It was an old fashioned market town with only one postman, and a small “lock up on Longcauseway known as the Old “Towser”, which acted as the local jail.

Just around the corner in Church Street, stood the stocks in which local troublemakers were placed to be pelted with rotten fruit and vegetables from the market.

In Church Street, where the building society now stands, were rows of picturesque white-washed cottages with large bay windows and pretty gardens at the back.

There were also other cottages and large houses in nearby Daisy Hill, one of which was surrounded by poplar trees and approached through wrought iron gates.

This was known as Grove House which was later pulled down and replaced by the old West Riding Police Station.

At the top of Daisy Hill was a pit hill, partly surrounded by fields, with a footpath running at the side leading to the Flatts and Eightlands before any houses were built there.

The pit hill consisted of the rubbish taken from a colliery which formerly stood where the Turks Head pub now stands, proving yet again that industry and people lived comfortably alongside each other.

In those days, most of the streets in Dewsbury were either footpaths or by-streets, like Corporation Street in the town centre, then called Old Bridge Street which was only four or five yards wide.

An open beck ran through the centre of town on its way to The Calder, and because there were no transport systems, travellers coming to town to do business, had to come on foot or by pony and trap.

In those early days there was no piped water in Dewsbury and people were dependent on a few springs in the district for drinking water.

One of these was situated at what was known as The Bank in Earlsheaton, and another in Leeds Road near where the Crown Hotel now stands.

People could be seen queuing at this particular well at two-o-clock in the morning waiting to draw their water because the queues would be so long.

Water for washing and domestic purposes was drawn from the River Calder and taken round the town in large cans on the backs of donkeys and sold at half a penny a kit.

Donkeys would enter the river at an opening in the bank about the point now known as Watergate, hence its name, and one of the best-known water hawkers of the time was an old woman named Sal Halstead.

At the end of Church Street, near to the Minster Church, was an old Roman well, which was a great attraction to visitors in the town.

Nearby stood an old inn called The Dropping Well, and nearby to this stood the old Moot Hall, which was pulled down some years ago despite great public outcry.

A footpath led from Church Street alongside the banks of the Calder, which in those days had not been polluted by trade effluent.

Mr Fox recalled fishing being a pastime in which many local men indulged, and he himself had witnessed many a sturdy “finny” being jerked with rod and line from its depths.

Since those days, many historic buildings have been pulled down in Dewsbury and many famous landmarks demolished.

One of these was the old Manor House at the bottom of Leeds Road, where the Empire House now stands.

Another historic building to disappear was the ole Market Cross which stood for many years on the site of the old Market Square in Market Place.

This cross formed a large stone platform on top of a number of shops which was approached by a flight of stone steps.

It was the general gathering ground for all manner of so called “sporters”, and some lively scenes were witnessed among business people selling their wares.

At one time the butter and egg saleswomen assembled there, and the shops beneath the cross were occupied by a clogger, a barber and a ready-made clothier.

There were only two main thoroughfares in Dewsbury at this time – Daisy Hill and the Market Place.

Bradford Road was unpaved, and often a foot deep in mud and slime after heavy rain, so getting to Batley and Batley Carr was very difficult.

People living in the outlying villages of Thornhill, Earlsheaton and Ravensthorpe, were completely independent of Dewsbury and rarely came into town.

These areas were regarded by Dewsbury people as foreign lands, and even the people of Thornhill agreed they were a bit out on a limb and rarely came into town.

In fact one area of Thornhill was actually given the name “Back o’th’ Moon’ because it seemed so far away from civilisation.

Although it was never signposted, old maps of the area show it could be reached at the top of Jackson Lane along a narrow path, half paved, half cobbled, that wound its way several hundred yards through fields.

The centuries old cottages which lined this unmade road, commanded a panoramic view of towns and villages for miles around.

But, the cottages, one of which didn’t have gas or electricity, were considered unworthy of improvement and were demolished in 1964.

Thornhill people only started coming to Dewsbury regularly when the first trams appeared, like the one pictured on this page, kindly loaned by Christine Leveridge.

It shows a tram advertising a well-known Dewsbury tailor, Joseph Wilson, who had a shop in Corporation Street.