-
Kirklees Cousins now has a YouTube Channel
I’ve been working hard over the last couple of weeks to make some Audio Visual presentations to accompany this website and, so far, there are just two videos. The first is the story of the events leading to the Battle of Hastings in 1066, where William “The Conqueror” defeated Harold Godwinson to take the throne of England. But who had the right to the English throne? There were actually four claimants! The video explains who they were and how it all came to a head after the death of Edward the Confessor in 1066, as told in the Bayeaux Tapestry. Entitled, the “Grey Apple Tree”, it is about 10 minutes…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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.
-
Fishers of Briestfield – Coal Miners
In the 1870-72 Gazetteer of England, Briestfield was described as a hamlet in Lower Whitley, situated on the edge of Thornhill parish in West Yorkshire. Also known at various times as Briestwell and Briestwistle, records show that in 1150 it was known as Brerethuisel, meaning “common or waste overgrown with briars in the confluence of two rivers”. Flint stones found nearby hark back to a much earlier occupancy and cannon balls found in the vicinity were a legacy of the Civil War bombardment of nearby Thornhill Hall. The villagers were won over to Wesleyan Methodism and a chapel was built in 1875. It is a place with which I had…
-
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.
