A booklet about one of Huddersfield’s grandest homes is now available.

Many people would never have known that Greenhead Hall once stood on the site that is now Greenhead College but for four centuries until its demolition in 1908 Greenhead was home to some of the town’s most prominent and prosperous men.

The last of these was John Fligg Brigg. He was mayor three times mayor and instrumental in ensuring that Huddersfield Town Hall was built in the 1870s. Back in 1841 he had been one of five young men who founded the Huddersfield Young Men’s Mental Improvement Society. And 35 years later he was still president of the Mechanics’ Institute, its successor, from which today’s university can trace a straight line of descent.

In 1881 the creation of Greenhead Park left the hall with much reduced grounds and after Brigg’s death in 1899 no new tenant could be found to take on the large and costly house. When Huddersfield Corporation offered to buy what remained as the site for the new Girls’ High School the hall was knocked down.

* The full story is told in Huddersfield’s Best Address: Four Centuries of Life at Greenhead Hall, by David Griffiths, published by the Friends of Greenhead Park at £4. It is available from FoGP, c/o Refreshment Rooms, Greenhead Park, Huddersfield HD1 4HS, at £4.95 including p&p; at the park restaurant and in bookshops. David will be giving a talk about Greenhead Hall on Wednesday, June 3 from 12.30pm – 1.30pm to the Friends of Greenhead Park History Hour in the Greenhead Park Community Room (in the cafe building by the tennis courts). The talks are free and open to all.