The Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees has been inhabited for over 4,000 years, in which some place name today continue to bear resemblance to their ancient origins.
1. Huddersfield
Famous for being the birthplace of Rugby League and former Prime Minster Harold Wilson among other achievements.
The largest town in the Metropolitian Borough of Kirklees derives from ‘Odersfelt’ which is essence translates to ‘Oder’s’ Field.
Contray to folklore, there has been rumours that the area used to be referred to as ‘Uddersfield in reference to the large quality of cows with the ‘H’ added in at a later date. There is very little evidence to support this however.
The question is who was Oder?
2. Almondbury
Almondbury’s most notable building is the 16th century World’s Hall – now a conservative club.
To the outsider you may assume it has something to do with the nut which is an entire fabrication. ‘Almond’ derives from the Norse word for ‘all men’ and ‘bury’ comes from ‘burg’ which means fortified hilltop.
Makes sense when there is a former hillfort in the region called Castle Hill.
3. Birkby
Birkby’s average house price is £450,000 which is significantly higher than average.
‘Birk’ means ‘birch tree’ and ‘by’ stands for ‘secondary settlement’ in ancient Danish which is surprising as the village doesn’t appear in any records pre-1500.
4. Upperthong & Netherthong
Upperthong hosts the World Welly Wanging Championships every year at the Village Gala.
In old Norse ‘thong’ means ‘a strip of land’ with ‘Nether’ referencing ‘lower’ and ‘upper’ being self-explanatory meaning ‘higher’.
5. Holmfirth
Holmfirth is now famous for the setting of the BBC’s longest sitcom, Last of the Summer Wine.
‘Holm’ comes from ‘Holn’ which is an abbreviation of ‘Hollin’ – a place with Holly.
‘Firth’ means an open area in a forest or wood.
Locals commonly refer to the place as a mini ‘Hollywood’ – best fitting for a small town which used to have a larger film production industry than Hollywood at the turn of the 20th Century.
6. Golcar
Named after St Guthlac, who was a popular preacher in the area during the 8th century.
7. Kirklees
Kirklees Metropolitan Borough was named after Kirklees Priory – the legendary birthplace of Robin Hood.
Commonly referred to as the Kirklees Council but there was a former settlement which possessed the name ‘Kirklees’ situated between Brighouse and Mirfield.
‘Kirk’ refers to church or priory and ‘Lees’ means ‘meadows’. Quite suiting as the area was significantly impacted by the rise of Benedictine monks in the 13th Century.
8. Meltham
Meltham was the birthplace of Lance Sergeant James Taylor who fought at the Battle of Rourke’s Drift in the Zulu War.
In the Domesday Book, the area is referred to as ‘Meltha’ and is one of the oldest places in the Kirklees Borough.
‘Ham’ is Saxon for ‘home’ or ‘settlement’. ‘Melt’ has been suspected to mean ‘to make malt’ or it could refer to the modern word ‘consumed by fire’ but this is a debate among local historians.
9. Waterloo
Waterloo is part of Dalton and has a population of 7,000.
Named after the former Waterloo public house, which in essence was named after the Duke of Wellington, who defeated the French emperor Napolean at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.
Fervor was high for Wellington and the Victoria Tower on top of Castle Hill was going to be called Wellington Tower before the townsfolk opted to adopt the current name.
10. Skelmanthorpe
‘Shat’ is famous for one of its former residents – Jodie Whittaker a.k.a Dr. Who.
In the Domesday the settlement was recorded as ‘Scelmertorp’, which derives from the personal name ‘Skjaldmarr’ and a ‘thorp’ meaning outlying farmstead.
Locals know the area as ‘shat’ which is an abbreviation of ‘Shatterers’. During the construction of railways in the area, labourers from the area had to break or ‘shatter’ rocks on the excavations and thus their nickname became ‘Shatterers’.
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