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The Sweet and the Bitter: How Liquorice and Rhubarb Shaped West Yorkshire
From monastic medicine to Charlie Chaplin’s boot, discover how local ingenuity turned two foreign roots – liquorice and forced rhubarb – into icons of West Yorkshire identity. When people think of West Yorkshire’s past, coal mines, shoddy mills and engineering often come to mind first. But for generations, two much less obvious industries helped put the region on the map: liquorice and rhubarb. One became the famous Pontefract Cake, known across Britain and beyond. The other was grown in dark sheds by candlelight and earned West Yorkshire a worldwide reputation for producing the finest forced rhubarb. Together, they tell a fascinating story of local ingenuity, industrial change and agricultural tradition.…
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The Road Over the Top: Castleshaw and Slack Roman Forts and the Mystery of Cambodunum
The Pennine Route, near Standedge, evokes a Roman-era landscape once rich with wildlife and deciduous woodland. Roman engineers crafted enduring roads connecting military bases and towns across hostile territory, adapting to changing frontiers. The forts of Castleshaw and Slack reveal the evolving military strategy, while modern routes still echo the legacy of these ancient thoroughfares.
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From Loom to Ballot Box: The Fight for Suffrage
The history of British suffrage highlights the vital role of West Yorkshire, where the movement for voting rights merged with struggles for workers' rights. Both men and women sought representation to address economic injustices, ultimately shaping the electoral landscape through significant events like the Luddite Rebellion and Chartism.
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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…
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Martha Arnold of Mirfield and the Kirklees Luddites
Searching for Martha Arnold, who married Mirfield-born Thomas Sheard, turned up echoes of the Luddite uprising in West Yorkshire and a possible family connection.
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Tragic Fire at Atkinson’s Mill, Colne Bridge…Subsequent Factories Acts
Account of a tragic mill fire in a cotton mill, that shook the nation and contributed to the first change in the law in the employment of children.
