Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for BATLEY

BATLEY, a town, a township, and a subdistrict in the district of Dewsbury, and a parish in the districts of Dewsbury and Hunslet, W. R. Yorkshire. The town adjoins the Leeds and Manchester railway, 1¾ mile N by E of Dewsbury; and has a station on the railway, and a post office‡ under Leeds. It is remarkable only as a seat of manufacture; but evinces much public spirit, and has a lecture hall, with mechanics' institution, erected in 1853. Pop., 7,206. Houses, 1,480. The township includes also the hamlets of Brownhill, Brookroyd, Carlinghow, Clark-Green, Havercroft, Chapel-Fold, Healey, Staincliffe, White See, Kelpin-Hill, Capas-Height, Purlwell, and new Roadside, and part of the hamlet of Batley-Carr. Acres, 2,140. Real property, £38,795. Pop., 14,173. Houses, 2,956. The subdistrict is conterminate with the township. The parish includes also the townships of Morley, Gildersome, and Churwell. Acres, 6,446. Real property, £69,308. Pop., 25,278. Houses, 5,260. The property is subdivided. The manufacture of cloths, carpets, and other fabrics from "shoddy," or the reduced substance of old woollen rags, is here carried on to a great extent; and there are upwards of twenty-two factories. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Ripon. Value, £300.* Patrons, Earl Cardigan and Earl Wilton. The church is later English. The p. curacy of St. Thomas is a separate charge, constituted in 1868. The vicarages of Morley and Gildersome, and the p. curacy of Staincliffe, also are separate. There are a handsome Independent chapel of 1856, an elegant Wesleyan chapel of 1861, four other dissenting chapels, a Roman Catholic chapel, an endowed grammar school, a workhouse, and charities £237.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a town, a township, and a subdistrict"   (ADL Feature Type: "cities")
Administrative units: Yorkshire AncC
Place: Batley

Go to the linked place page for a location map, and for access to other historical writing about the place. Pages for linked administrative units may contain historical statistics and information on boundaries.