Two thousand people have been buried there - and now the owners of Huddersfield’s first natural burial ground have branched out by opening a cafe and bistro in its sumptuous Victorian mansion.
Rose Hill Natural Burial Ground, set in six acres of parkland off Birkby Hall Road, Birkby, opened more than 14 years ago in April 2004.
Now owners Susan and Michael Brook have fulfilled a longstanding dream of turning the tennis court into a sun-kissed terrace where customers can enjoy light refreshments and a host of other delicacies.
Last year planning permission was granted for the major project including an extension to the car park with demolition of part of a boundary wall to form an additional entrance from Birkby Hall Road.
Further extensive work inside the house was then undertaken including the creation of toilets.
The couple’s daughter, Caroline Hockey, said she was delighted with the reception from customers of Rose Hill Manor Coffee Shop and Bistro, which is open to all.
She said: “It has taken a long time and a lot of hard work to get to this point but it’s definitely been worth it. To create the bistro we have had to have a new roof and quite a lot of building work.
“We only opened on Saturday, May 19, the day of the Royal Wedding. We were quite busy in the morning then there was no-one here when the wedding was on and then after that people came back.
“So, it’s early days but it’s gone very well so far and the weather has been very good so that has helped.”
And the business is very much a family affair. Caroline’s husband Daniel of Leeds-based Dzign House Architecture Limited, provided the plans while her brother Benjamin Whitfield is the cook.
Finally, Caroline’s sister-in-law Rachel Brook, is heavily involved in the running of the business.
And the family who have owned the house for decades have a fascinating history. In May 1904 Ernest Brook founded a business in Huddersfield that would become known all over the world.
Against conventional wisdom, he started making alternating current electric motors, and he did this in one room with two assistants and starting capital of just £300.
On its 50th anniversary in 1954 it employed more than 2,000 people and, with Ernest’s sons Frank and Caroline’s grandfather Jack in charge, was the largest exclusive producer of AC motors in the world, and had a turnover of £4,500,000.
That year Brook Motors Ltd operated 10 factories in Huddersfield, its biggest being Empress Works on St Thomas’s Road, and had just opened one at Barugh Green, Barnsley.
The company’s acquisition meant it was operating with 1m sq ft of factory floor space – and this was not counting the recently-opened Brook Motor Corporation of Chicago, which was building up a flourishing market in the US.
Brook Motors was one of the more enlightened employers in Huddersfield. Ernest Brook installed a profit-sharing scheme, and to mark the 1954 jubilee celebrations a gratuity, or independent pension, scheme was introduced.
Management insisted on clean, well-lit, hygienic premises with the most up-to-date machinery.
At its height, Brook Motors was producing more than 70% of the world’s electric motors. It went through numerous mergers, though the name still survives in the 2010 company, Invensys Brook Crompton.
Production ceased in Huddersfield in 2000 and was moved to Poland.
