A century ago, a pub was not just an ale house but a centre for social life.

There were no televisions, radio or technological devices. Entertainment was homespun. Which is why every village had so many hostelries.

In recent weeks, correspondence has been about Honley. While the pub is now an endangered species, Honley still has three that have histories stretching back more than 100 years.

Reader Cyril Ford revealed there were once 14 more, that are now gone and mostly forgotten.

Pub historian Dave Green tells me 14 might sound like a lot, but the village once had as many as 22.

“It beggars belief as to how villagers spent their time and money,” he says.

Other hostelries he mentions are The Masons Arms, The Black Horse, The Queen’s Head, The Musicians Arms, The George Inn, The Sawyers Arms (which became The Railway), The Town Hall Tavern, A Pound of Pepper and The Flying Horse.

The Cloggers, mentioned by Cyril, was also The Westgate Tavern, says Dave.

“The building still exists in Westgate; it’s the hairdresser and the house below.”

Ye Wheatsheaf was established in Southgate in 1777 and had a couple of name changes before reverting to The Wheatsheaf. Brewers Bentley and Shaw of Lockwood acquired it in 1847 and four generations of the Heap family ran it from 1875 to 1941, when it closed.

The Wheatsheaf pub in Honley.

Sam Hinchliffe last week provided information about The Royal Oak, also known as The Three Shiners, at Wood Bottom, which was once a thriving hamlet that died in the 1930s and 1940s.

Norman Mellor has sent photographs and adds more: “My grandfather Richard (Dick) Mellor reputedly drank at the pub every night. He died in 1928.

“An aunt of mine was the last to live in the pub before the hamlet was abandoned. The pub played football on a field at the far side of what was Pink Link transport, under the railway embankment.”

Tom Winterbottom dubbed himself King of Wood Bottom, he says, and one of his descendants, Brian Winterbottom, sings in Honley Male Voice Choir.

Other locals included Johnny Morgan, George Dawson, Eli Goldthorpe, Jimmy Harrison, Charlie Jebson, Leonard Mellor and Ernest Holroyd.

Lost histories and old photographs are fascinating. The faces of the people are full of character and lives at which life we can only guess.

Does anyone have information about other lost hamlets or long gone pubs in other parts of the Huddersfield area? Send to the usual address.