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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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When the Wells Ran Dry: Environmental Failure and Disease in Victorian West Yorkshire
The Industrial Revolution transformed the steep Pennine valleys of the West Riding of Yorkshire into one of 19th-century Britain’s most productive textile powerhouses. Towns such as Huddersfield, Dewsbury, Batley, Heckmondwike, Cleckheaton and Ossett expanded rapidly as woollen manufacturing shifted from scattered rural workshops into centralised, steam-powered mills. The natural landscape made this prosperity possible. Abundant coal reserves powered heavy machinery, while exceptionally soft water filtered through Pennine Millstone Grit provided the ideal medium for scouring, washing, and finishing woollen cloth. Yet this success created a catastrophic environmental disaster. Industrial growth advanced far faster than civic infrastructure, creating an urban landscape where drinking water, toxic dyes, untreated human sewage, and overcrowded…
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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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Castle Hill: The History of an Iron Age Hill Fort
Castle Hill is situated at Almondbury, near Huddersfield in West Yorkshire. Far more than a local landmark, it's a site that holds more than 4,000 years of human history. The use of the hill has changed greatly over time, serving as a Bronze Age site, an Iron Age fort, a Norman stronghold, a beacon hill and a Victorian monument.
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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…
