Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for OSSETT

OSSETT, a village and a chapelry in Ossett-with-Gawthorpe township, Dewsbury parish, W. R. Yorkshire. The village stands adjacent to the Wakefield and Batley branch of the West Yorkshire railway, 3 miles W of Wakefield; is a large place; and has a station with telegraph on the railway, and a post-office‡ under Wake-field. The chapelry includes the village, and all the Nsection of the township; and was constituted in 1858. Rated property, £17, 694. Pop. in 1861, 4, 932. Houses, 1,023. The property is subdivided. The manor belongs to S. W. L. Fox, Esq.; and much of the land, to the Earl of Cardigan. There are coal mines, several largewoollen cloth mills, a woollen machine manufactory, and a foundry. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Ripon. Value, £300.* Patron, the Vicar of Dewsbury.the old church was a plain stone structure; and consisted of nave, aisles, and chancel, with a tower. The new church was built in 1865, after designs by Crossland of Leeds; is a cruciform edifice, in the geometric style; has a lofty clerestory, a central tower and spire 226 feethigh, and E and W five-light windows, filled with painted glass in memorial of members of the Inghamfamily; is internally adorned with elaborate carving, and with a richly sculptured reredos; and contains about 900sittings. There are chapels for Independents, Wesleyans, United Free Methodists, and Christian Brethren; a recently formed burying-ground; a mechanics' institute; and an endowed school, with £24 a year.


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

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a village and a chapelry"   (ADL Feature Type: "populated places")
Administrative units: Dewsbury Tn/AP/CP       Ossett Tn/CP       Yorkshire AncC
Place: Ossett

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.