By KLTV Newsdesk
Huddersfield made history a hundred years ago this month when its Corporation agreed to buy the Ramsden estate, which included the whole of the town centre and over half of the land within the Borough boundary, for £1.3 million.
The Ramsden family’s association with Huddersfield began in 1542 when William Ramsden bought his wife’s home at Longley.
To commemorate the centenary of the purchase of the Ramsdens’ Huddersfield estate by the Corporation, the Huddersfield Local History Society has brought together a series of original essays on the family’s role in shaping the town, resulting in an extensively illustrated new book, Power in the Land, published by the University of Huddersfield Press.
Edited by Edward Royle, Emeritus Professor of History at the University of York and a long-standing member of the Society, the seven essays by local historians explore the relationship between the Ramsden family with the town and its people, and throw new light on the somewhat mysterious circumstances surrounding the purchase of the estate in 1920.
Online Events
Huddersfield Local History Society have also announced that, while it is not possible to provide its 2020-2021 season of monthly talks in the usual way, it will instead be presenting a series of recorded virtual talks on the Society website.
Professor Royle will kick off the series of monthly lectures with his talk, ‘The town that bought itself’? New light on 1920 based on the new book.
This will be available for viewing from Monday 28 September, the day before the centenary of the purchase of the Ramsden estate by Huddersfield Corporation.
In-Person Book Launch
While it has not been possible to hold a book launch in the usual manner, the society has said there will be a Pop-Up Shop in the Piazza on 26, 28 and 29 September between 11 am and 4 pm. The new book will be available for £25.
The Shop will also house a Centenary exhibition which has been put together by the West Yorkshire Archive Service, helped by history students from the University of Huddersfield.
Staffed by WYAS and Society members, original archival documents will be on display on the Saturday, and other local history books will be on sale throughout.
Current Covid regulations for shops will apply.
Other organisations in the town also plan to commemorate the centenary in different ways, details of which will be made available here.