Featured
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New YouTube Video – The 18th Century Weaver
Richard Wilson’s Long Walk Here’s the short version of Richard’s long walk combined with the Leeds First White Cloth Hall. Enjoy!
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Tracing the Archers of Earlsheaton, Chickenley and Ossett
Because Archer is an occupational surname…like Fletcher, Butcher, Smith and so on, it should have arisen in many different areas of the country, in men who were not actually related to each other but had the same occupation. It’s a little surprising, therefore, that, in the 1881 Census, by far the biggest concentration of families of the name “Archer” resided in the woollen towns of the West Riding, with the second largest group in London and the south east. My Archer family can be traced back to Dewsbury Parish records from 1581 and my branch of the family comes from Chickenley and Earlsheaton (known as Soothill and pronounced “soootil”) and the…
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Shibden Hall – from William Otes to Anne Lister (Gentleman Jack) and beyond
Straying from Kirklees into Halifax for this article, I re-visited Shibden Hall and fell in love with it all over again. The 600-year-old medieval hall is surrounded by the wooded grounds of Shibden Park, and beautifully restored gardens and I have included some of the photographs that I took on one of my visits. I was recently looking more into my Savile ancestors and discovered that Robert Saville, who married Joan Otes, heiress of Shibden Hall was a very distant cousin (his grandfather was my 17th Great Grandfather) and Joan Otes was similarly related…not surprising, since Robert and Joan were related to each other. A later owner, John Waterhouse, was…
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Early Cartography and How Ossett-born Christopher Saxton Mapped the Counties
A look at early map-making from the ancient Egyptians to the late medieval period. How Christopher Saxton, a young man from Dewsbury, became one of the great map-makers of the Elizabethan Era and produced the first county maps of England and Wales.
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Earlsheaton History and Family Connections
A potted history of the village of Earlsheaton, my Hemingway ancestors' involvement in woollen blanket manufacture there and my own memories of growing up in the village in the mid-20th Century.
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Weighing the World – John Michell 1724-1793
The story of John Michell, Rector of Thornhill Parish Church near Dewsbury, who was a member of the Royal Society, and who entertained some of the world's most eminent scientists of the18th century at his Rectory. He published ideas in astronomy that were 200 years before his their time and is one of the greatest unsung scientists of his age.
