Part of Huddersfield’s history is to get a new lease of life.

Builder Anthony Dearnley has given the Victorian Yorkshire stone used to build Huddersfield’s Northumberland Street Primitive Methodist Sunday School a new future, after snapping it up when the building was demolished in January.

The stones from the historic building, which was opened in 1890, have been relocated to Sude Hill in New Mill, where they are being remodelled into three terraced cottages.

Anthony paid £25,000 for the stone blocks from Mallinson Recycling stone merchant in Milnsbridge, which had been storing the materials after it was contracted by the site’s owners, Homes and Communities Agency, to pull the complex down.

He will use the structural and decorative stones to completely build his new homes and fireplaces in a rustic yet modern style and hopes that they will each fetch around £200,000 once constructed.

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The stone is believed to have been quarried in the 1880s to construct the building, which stood next to the former 1960s YMCA centre.

Anthony, who specialises in re-using period materials in his work, said: “I knew that the building was being demolished so asked Mallinsons if I could use the stones so that they didn’t go to waste.

“The original building had a really nice front and I thought the stone was appropriate for the cottages.

“I also bought some of the corbels and jambs used in the original building which I will re-use in the buildings.

“I just enjoy restoring and salvaging prominent structures because it gives me a sense of achievement to give the materials a new lease of life.

“The stone is of a very high quality and is fantastic to work with and I’m glad that I can allow some elements of a historic building to have a new lease of life.

The building was one of several included in the St Peter’s Buildings complex, which had stood empty for some time and were pulled down after the agency said that it would be economically unviable to redevelop them for future use.

The site will now house a car park until future plans for its redevelopment are submitted.

Chair of Huddersfield Civic Society, Chris Marsden, who had campaigned for the St Peter’s Buildings to be saved, said: “I’m glad that the stone is being re-used locally and I’m glad that New Mill is getting some new housing that is made in stone.

“The stone would have been new when it was used to construct the building.”

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