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Mirfield, Yorkshire, England. Geographical and Historical information from 1868.

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MIRFIELD:
Geographical and Historical information from the year 1868.

"MIRFIELD, a parish in the lower division of the wapentake of Agbrigg, West Riding county York, 2½ miles S.W. of Dewsbury, its post town, and 5 from Huddersfield. It has stations on the Lancashire and Yorkshire and North-Western railways. The parish which is extensive, is situated on the river Calder, and contains the ecclesiastical districts of Battyeford and Hopton. It formed part of the ancient parish of Dewsbury up to 1261, when it was made parochial. There are several collieries, corn, fulling, and scribbling mills in the parish. The village is very considerable, and many of the houses modern. An extensive trade is done in woollen cloths, carpets, cottons, &c. Many of the inhabitants are employed in the making of cards for machinery, and others in boat building and malting. As one part of Mirfield is much elevated the views of the surrounding country are very extensive. A considerable trade is carried on in agricultural and mineral produce, for the conveyance of which the Calder and Hebble navigation affords great facilities, and the Leeds and Manchester railway passes through the parish. The soil is fertile and the land generally in good cultivation. Coal and freestone are extensively quarried. The tithes were commuted for land under an Enclosure Act in 1796. Bishop Hopton, who lived in the reign of Queen Mary, was born at Blake Hall, a mansion situated in this parish, and commanding extensive views. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Ripon, value £242. The parish church, dedicated to St. Mary, is a modern edifice, with its old original tower containing six bells. The church was rebuilt in 1826, with the exception of the tower. In addition to the parish church, there are two district churches at Hopton and Battyeford, the livings of which are perpetual curacies, value each £150 and £137. The parochial charities produce about £62 per annum, of which £56 goes to the free school. There are spacious National schools for both sexes, built in 1830, besides various other schools. The Independents, Wesleyans, Reformers, Moravians, Primitive and New Connexion Methodists have each a place of worship."


"BATTYEFORD, a village in the parish of Mirfield, lower division of the wapentake of Agbrigg, in the West Riding of the county of York, 2 miles to the W. of Dewsbury. The workpeople are principally employed in the woollen manufacture and the collieries. The living is a perpetual curacy in the diocese of Ripon, value £150, in the patronage of the Vicar of Mirfield. The church is called Christ Church."

[Transcribed from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland 1868]
by Colin Hinson ©2013