Heckmondwike
| Heckmondwike | |
| Yorkshire West Riding | |
|---|---|
 Market Street, Heckmondwike | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SE216234 |
| Location: | 53°42’29"N, 1°40’12"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 16,986 |
| Post town: | Heckmondwike |
| Postcode: | WF16 |
| Dialling code: | 01924 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Kirklees |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Batley and Spen |
Heckmondwike is a town in the West Riding of Yorkshire, nine miles south-west of Leeds. It is close to Cleckheaton and Liversedge. The population was 16,986 at the 2011 Census.. Heckmondwike forms part of the Heavy Woollen District.
Name
The origins of Heckmondwike are in Old English. First recorded as Hedmundewic in the Domesday Book of 1086, Hedmundewic in 1166, and as Hecmundewik at some time in the 13th century, the name seems to be from *Heahmundes wic, or 'Heahmund's farm'.[1]
History
During Saxon times, Heckmondwike was a "berewick" or independent village in the manor of Gomersal, which, before 1066, was held by Dunstan and Gamel.
The Poll Tax of 1379 records seven families in Heckmondwike, about 35 people: including one named Thomas of Stubly. Most lived in isolated farmsteads such as Stubley Farm, on high ground overlooking the marshy Spen Valley floor.
In 1684, there were around 250 people, occupying 50 houses, in the town. The town became famous for manufacturing blankets, and by 1811 the Blanket Hall was built for trade in the town's primary manufacture. It was replaced by a second hall erected in 1839, on Blanket Hall Street in the town centre. Elizabeth Gaskell's biography of Charlotte Brontë in 1857 described the inhabitants of Heckmondwike as "a chapel-going people, very critical of their sermons, tyrannical to their ministers and violent radicals".
The clocktower and drinking fountain was built in 1863 to commemorate the marriage of the Prince of Wales and Princess Alexandra of Denmark.[2]
The town ceased generating electricity in 1924. The Power Company buildings survive in part on Bath Road.[3]
The remains of the first Blanket Hall were demolished in spring 2008, along with a number of other old buildings
Local media
The weekly newspaper was the Heckmondwike Herald until Friday 15 August 2008 after which the title was merged into the Spenborough Guardian incorporating the Heckmondwike Herald.
Outside links
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Heckmondwike) |
- Lost Railways:
- Heckmondwike Spen station
References
- ↑ Mills, Anthony David: 'A Dictionary of British Place-Names' (Oxford University Press, 2003) ISBN 978-0-19-852758-9
- ↑ National Heritage List 1134624: Drinking Fountain (Grade II listing)
- ↑ Heckmondwike Official Guide 1st edition
