AN oil painting of Steps (now known as Magdale) at Honley has returned home after more than 180 years.

This is the earliest depiction of the area and perhaps one of the earliest paintings of vernacular architecture in the Holme Valley to survive.

On the back of the 16ins by 24ins picture is inscribed ‘Painted by Thomas Beaumont, July 20 1829’ and an illegible motto in Latin. This is probably the Thomas Beaumont who appears in the 1830 Trade Directory as ‘overlooker, Steps’, a member of the Beaumont family who leased Upper Steps Mill.

The painting came to light when a London art collector and dealer contacted Huddersfield Local Studies Library for further information about the area.

The library passed on the query to local historian and Magdale resident, Alan Brooke.

Alan said: “The collector was particularly interested in the ‘fences’ shown on the painting.

“In fact, these are tenter frames and the picture provides an interesting snapshot of the local textile industry at this time.

“A tenter frame was a row of posts, sometimes of stone, supporting wooden horizontal rails along which the pieces of milled cloth were stretched out to dry.

“The picture belongs to the ‘primitivist’ style of art and has a naive quality.

“While not a realist portrayal of the scene since the perspective is distorted, it does contain a lot of accurate detail.

“It shows Upper Steps Mill with an exposed water wheel and shafting.

“A 14 horse power wheel is recorded on the plan interpolated in the Dartmouth Estate Terrier in 1829.

The Dartmouth Estate Terrier is a book recording all the property on the Dartmouth estate – and Steps Mill was part of it.

Alan added: “To have a ground plan of a mill and a contemporary pictorial record at such an early period is quite unusual.

“The part of the mill which contained Honley’s first Sunday School is clearly shown along with buildings since demolished.

“In the land between the houses and the mill dam (known as Steps Green) there are eight rows of tenters and a tiny figure is visible tentering a length of cloth.

“A cow and some domestic fowls – either hens or geese – are shown by the damside.

“The wooden footbridge over the river Mag, now replaced by a wrought iron one, can also be seen.

“As well as the person at the tenters, two tiny figures are visible – one a woman near the side of the dam in a bright red dress or shawl apparently filling a bucket– our first glimpse of Magdalers.

“How the painting turned up in London is a mystery, though female members of the Beaumont family moved there in the 19th Century.

“The picture has now been acquired by a local resident who is willing to make copies available in various formats.”