In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Heckmondwike like this:
HECKMONDWIKE, a town and a township-chapelry in Birstal parish, W. R. Yorkshire. The town stands on an affluent of the river Calder, and on the Milfield and Bradford branch of the Lancashire and Yorkshire railway, 2½ miles NW of Dewsbury; is a chief seat of the blanket trade, well built, and under a board of Health; and has a post office‡ under Normanton, a railway station with telegraph, a banking office, two chief inns, a blanket hall, a freemasons' hall, a church, two Independent chapels, a Wesleyan chapel, a Free Methodist chapel, and a national school. ...
The church was built in 1831; is in the pointed style; and consists of nave, aisles, and chancel, with tower and spire. The Independent chapels are handsome edifices of 1854 and 1860, built at costs of upwards of £3, 000 and £2, 000. Blanket markets are held, in the blanket hall, on every Monday and Thursday; and cattle fairs are held on the first Monday of May and the first Monday of Nov. The blanket trade is extensive; and sent supplies to both the British army and the French army during the Crimean war. There are factories also for carpets, rugs, pilots, and other fabrics; and coal mining is carried on in the neighbourhood. The town comprises all Heckmondwike township and part of Liversedge. Pop. in 1861, 8, 680. Houses, 1,830.-The township or chapelry comprises 663 acres. Real property, £17, 153; of which £1, 857 are in mines, and £12 in quarries. Pop. in 1851, 4, 540; in 1861, 6, 344. Houses, 1, 317. The increase of pop. arose from the extension of the blanket and the carpet manufactures. The living is a p. curacy in the diocese of Ripon. Value, £300. Patron, the Vicar of Birstal.
Heckmondwike through time
Heckmondwike is now part of Kirklees district. Click here for graphs and data of how Kirklees has changed over two centuries. For statistics about Heckmondwike itself, go to Units and Statistics.
GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Heckmondwike, in Kirklees and West Riding | Map and description, A Vision of Britain through Time.
URL: https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/932
Date accessed: 27th April 2024
Not where you were looking for?
Click here for more detailed advice on finding places within A Vision of Britain through Time, and maybe some references to other places called "Heckmondwike".