Village Spotlight: Denby

Oct 31 2005 By The Huddersfield Daily Examiner

WHEN people first began to settle in the `farmstead of the Danes' (Denby or Denebi, as it was recorded in the Domesday Book) cannot be known with any certainty.

But some historians believe that Denby (the umbrella term for Upper and Lower Denby) was founded some time after 862 AD, when the Danes conquered York.

What is clear, however, is that the early settlers were of Danish origin and that they chose Denby because of its hilltop situation, which was 500 ft above sea level.

The land was well drained, making it suitable for grazing while at the same time giving settlers the advantage of seeing potential enemies as they approached.

This lofty location, however, did not prevent the village being visited by Norman soldiers in the 11th century.

After William the Conqueror invaded the country in 1066, taking the throne from King Harold, the North proved troublesome and was seen as a problem by William.

He sent troops to quell the rebellious northerners, laying waste to many settlements in the process.

Denby, however, was not laid `waste' and although the value of the area had certainly been damaged (plummeting from 10 shillings to six shillings according to the Domesday Book) the village was fortunate in comparison to others.

Perhaps it was Denby's famous cow pasture that saved the village. As many historians have been quick to point out Denby's unique selling point in Yorkshire at this time, `Ibi est vaccaria' (there is a cattle house) is recorded in the Domesday Book.

The Norman soldiers were not the only military visitors to Denby.

Six hundred years later, during the English Civil War, one of the most turbulent periods in English history (1642 to 1660), a regiment of Roundhead soldiers (Oliver Cromwell's men) were stationed at Gunthwaite.

The Civil War was extremely divisive, splitting families, neighbours and, in Denby's case, the entire village.

William Savile, the then Lord of the Manor, was a loyal supporter of King Charles I, while Godfrey Bosville, Lord of Gunthwaite, supported Cromwell's cause - hence his hospitality at Gunthwaite.

It is said that some of these soldiers caught typhoid during their stay in Denby and that those who died were buried near an old oak tree, the remains of which can still be seen near Gunthwaite Hall Farm.

It is not known whether the sulphurous spa waters of Gunthwaite were either a cause or an attempted remedy for the outbreak.

After the Civil War the residents of Denby were able to settle back down to ordinary life.

At this time (17th/18th centuries) most villagers would have been employed in agriculture.

However, some Denby folk had been producing cloth to supplement their agricultural income from as early as the 15th century. This continued through to the 1700s.

By this time many of the cottages and farms in the village had at least one handloom on the premises.

One villager, James Beaumont, even had a `wool chamber' and a `weaving chamber' containing three pairs of looms and two pairs of combs.

Like many hilltop villages in the West Riding, the 19th century and the Industrial Revolution brought dramatic changes.

In particular, the arrival of the mills in the rapidly expanding valley bottom at Denby Dale (formerly Denby Dike) meant a change in lifestyle for many people in Denby.

The weaving looms became redundant and many residents now had to leave their homes and walk down Bank Lane to the mills at Denby Dale.

One resident recalls seeing the men and women of Denby undertaking this journey to work during his childhood in the 1920s.

Today, villagers no longer walk to work down Bank Lane, nor are they busy spinning and weaving.

It is hoped that the female residents are safe from allegations of witchcraft.

In 1674 two local women, Anne Shillitoe and Susan Hinchcliffe, were accused of witchcraft by a Clayton West resident, one Mary Moor.

Both were charged and taken to Barnsley Court, where they were sent for trial at York. It is not known what happened to them

More recently a 19th century resident, Betty Roberts, was also accused of being a witch.

Denby Feast, Denby Band, Denby Club, the New Inn and the Star are all things of the past.

But Denby First School, Denby Ladies, Denby Church, Denby Cricket Club, `Spa Sunday', the George and the Dunkirk still play major roles in community life.

One local historian laments the fact that `the old Denby people have dwindled in number and that these are being replaced by newcomers, attracted by the site and situation of the village'.

But if Denby didn't have such an idyllic location to attract newcomers, perhaps Denby's original newcomers would never have settled here in the first place, more than 1,000 years ago.

Timeline:

c. 800/ 900: The first settlers build their home in Denby.

1086: Denby or Denebi is recorded in the Domesday Book.

1379: The number of people living in Denby is 39.

1626: Thirteen villagers drown in the floodwaters of Scout Dyke while on their way to Penistone Church to worship.

1627: A chapel-of-ease is built in the village.

1672: The Hearth Tax of this year (the tax began in 1662; people had to pay two shillings per hearth twice yearly) shows that one Mr Cotton of Denby had seven hearths, with two more being built. Perhaps today's equivalent of this would be a tax on en suite bathrooms!

1743: An inquiry by Church of England officials records that ``in the chapelry of Denby there are 130 families, only nine of which are Quakers. There are no papists or other kind of dissenters".

1806: According to records there are 63 weavers, 12 clothiers, a dyer, a dresser, a slubber, and a cotton spinner in the village.

1822: The Star public house at Upper Denby opens.

1827: There is much poverty in the village. As a result a workhouse is opened for paupers.

1838: The New Inn public house at Upper Denby opens.

1839: The Bishop of Longley visits Denby and finds the church in a ``filthy and ruinous state".

1842: The current church is built.

1851: The 1851 census shows that 118 villagers work in the textile industry.

1853: Denby becomes a separate parish.

1857: The George (which is now the only pub left in Upper Denby) opens.

1864: Denby C of E (A) First School is built.

1866: The Junction public house - now the Dunkirk - opens.

1881: October 13 - a hoard of coins is found at Denby. Some of them date back to Tudor times.

1904: The Star public house closes.

1911: Although non-conformism was strong in other parts of Huddersfield, the only group to establish themselves in Denby were the Wesleyan Reformers. They built their own chapel in 1911, but it remained open for just 19 years.

1914: Denby post office opens.

1930: The Wesleyan Chapel closes. It has now been converted into a private house.

1932: There is an outbreak of typhoid in the village. Ten villagers die from the disease, which arose after the contamination of Square Wood Reservoir.

1937: A `medieval pot' is found by John White and Harry Heath while they are playing on the village green.

1940: German bombers, on their way to Sheffield, drop three bombs in fields in Denby.

1963: The New Inn public house closes.

2004: The final shop in the village, Peter Holmes the Butchers, closes.