Skelmanthorpe
Encyclopedia
Skelmanthorpe is a village in West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire is a metropolitan county within the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England with a population of 2.2 million. West Yorkshire came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972....

, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 with a population of 4,198 according to the 2001 census. It is part of the parish of Denby Dale
Denby Dale
Denby Dale is a village and civil parish in the metropolitan borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England, to the South East of Huddersfield. As a civil parish it covers the villages of Denby Dale, Lower Denby, Upper Denby, Upper Cumberworth, Lower Cumberworth, Skelmanthorpe, Emley, Emley...

 in the Kirklees
Kirklees
The Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees is a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, England. It has a population of 401,000 and includes the settlements of Batley, Birstall, Cleckheaton, Denby Dale, Dewsbury, Heckmondwike, Holmfirth, Huddersfield, Kirkburton, Marsden, Meltham, Mirfield and Slaithwaite...

 borough.

Skelmanthorpe was a site in the Survey of English Dialects
Survey of English Dialects
The Survey of English Dialects was undertaken between 1950 and 1961 under the direction of Professor Harold Orton of the English department of the University of Leeds. It aimed to collect the full range of speech in England and Wales before local differences were to disappear...

. The recording taken was notable both because of the rich form of dialect used and because it discussed a local sighting of a ghost. This stood out in the survey, where most recordings were taken of villagers discussed local industries.

Name

A number of different explanations exist concerning the derivation of the name Skelmanthorpe:
  • Originally was called Shalman, a Hebrew word meaning peace/peaceable
  • Having been the abode for Scheldt men , a group of people displaced from the banks of the river Scheldt
    Scheldt
    The Scheldt is a 350 km long river in northern France, western Belgium and the southwestern part of the Netherlands...

     in the Netherlands
    Netherlands
    The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

    . Combining with 'Thorp
    Thorp
    Thorp is a Middle English word for a hamlet or small village, from Old English /Old Norse þorp . There are many place names in England with the suffix "-thorp" or "-thorpe". Most are in East Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and Norfolk but some are in Surrey.Old English þorp is cognate...

    e' meaning hamlet or village; the name literally means "Schelt man's village"
  • Place names recorded in the Icelandic Landnama
    Landnámabók
    Landnámabók , often shortened to Landnáma, is a medieval Icelandic written work describing in considerable detail the settlement of Iceland by the Norse in the 9th and 10th centuries AD.-Landnáma:...

     such as Skalmarkelda (Skalmars Well) Skalmarnes (Skalmars Promontory) bear a striking similarity. Locally the name Skalmar would have been pronounced Skelmar/Skelmer leading to the form Skelmerthorpe. The name Skelmanthorpe can therefore be derived to 'Skalmar's Thorpe'.


Locals know it as "Shat", which appears to be an abbreviation of "Shatterers" which is what the locals were known as. Local labour was taken on during construction of the railway to break or 'shatter' rocks as well as work on the excavations. These unskilled labourers were referred to as Shatterers.

Origins

The village was probably created during the Viking
Viking
The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to...

 invasion in the 9th century, as they moved inland from the North Sea
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...

. There is no record of the village in the earlier Roman
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....

 times.

Domesday Book

The entry for Skelmanthorpe in the Domesday Book
Domesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...

 of 1086 states:

Manors & Berewick. In Turulsetone and Berceworde and Scelmertorp, Alric and Aldene had nine carcucates of land to be taxed, and there may be five ploughs there. Ilbert now has it, and it is waste. Value in King Edwards time 4 pounds. Wood pasture one mile long and as much broad.

The comment "and it is waste." is a direct result of the Norman invasion
Norman conquest of England
The Norman conquest of England began on 28 September 1066 with the invasion of England by William, Duke of Normandy. William became known as William the Conqueror after his victory at the Battle of Hastings on 14 October 1066, defeating King Harold II of England...

 of 1066. William the Conqueror
William I of England
William I , also known as William the Conqueror , was the first Norman King of England from Christmas 1066 until his death. He was also Duke of Normandy from 3 July 1035 until his death, under the name William II...

 had difficulties subduing his northern subjects, leading to the order "spare neither man nor beast, but to kill, burn and destroy" being issued. This left Skelmanthorpe and much of Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...

 a wasteland for around 9 years after the conquest.

Skelmanthorpe Feast

During the 1770s, Skelmanthorpe Feast was a riotous affair with bull
Bull-baiting
Bull-baiting is a blood sport involving the baiting of bulls.-History:In the time of Queen Anne of Great Britain, bull-baiting was practiced in London at Hockley-in-the-Hole, twice a week – and was reasonably common in the provincial towns...

 and bear-baiting
Bear-baiting
Bear-baiting is a blood sport involving the worrying or tormenting of bears.-Bear-baiting in England:Bear-baiting was popular in England until the nineteenth century. From the sixteenth century, many herds of bears were maintained for baiting...

 and organised dog fights
Dog fighting
Dog fighting is a form of blood sport in which game dogs are made to fight, sometimes to the death. It is illegal in most developed countries. Dog fighting is used for entertainment and may also generate revenue from stud fees, admission fees and gambling....

 on the village green. A quote from John Taylor, who compiled a biography of Skelmanthorpe-born preacher Isaac Marsden (1807–1882), records that "Public houses were crowded with drunken revellers, who caroused all day and made night hideous with quarrels and disturbances...Among these scenes of revelry were mountebanks, showmen, fortune telling Gypsies, vagabonds and thieves from every quarter."
Skelmanthorpe Feast now happens every year on the field next to The Chartist and across the road from what was the Three Horse Shoes public house and is now shops. It has numerous different fairground rides such as slides and waltzes.

Native/Navvy War

In November 1874 a number of skirmishes were fought between the native villagers and Irish 'navvies
Navvy
Navvy is a shorter form of navigator or navigational engineer and is particularly applied to describe the manual labourers working on major civil engineering projects...

'. The navvies had been brought in to help construct the railway, and fighting broke out between them and the locals on a number of occasions. This led to the locals being refused work on the line. Causing a small group of locals to throw stones at the navvies, who responded with mattock
Mattock
A mattock is a versatile hand tool, used for digging and chopping, similar to the pickaxe. It has a long handle, and a stout head, which combines an axe blade and an adze or a pick and an adze .-Description:...

 shafts and spades. The fighting lasted for most of the day eventually ending in the afternoon. Police were called in from Huddersfield
Huddersfield
Huddersfield is a large market town within the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, in West Yorkshire, England, situated halfway between Leeds and Manchester. It lies north of London, and south of Bradford, the nearest city....

 but arrived after the disturbances had finished.

Ownership

The first recorded owners of the village were Alric and Aldena in the 11th century, mentioned in the Domesday Book
Domesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...

 of 1086. Following the Norman invasion of England in 1066 the village was given to Ilbert de Laci by the new king, the de Laci family would remain the owners of the village for the next 300 years until through the marriage of Alice de Laci in the 14th century, the village came into the possession of Thomas, Earl of Lancaster. The village remained in this family and after the marriage of Blanche of Lancaster
Blanche of Lancaster
Blanche of Lancaster, Duchess of Lancaster was an English noblewoman and heiress, daughter of England's wealthiest and most powerful peer, Henry of Grosmont, 1st Duke of Lancaster...

 to John of Gaunt
John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster
John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster , KG was a member of the House of Plantagenet, the third surviving son of King Edward III of England and Philippa of Hainault...

, the village became the property of their son Henry
Henry IV of England
Henry IV was King of England and Lord of Ireland . He was the ninth King of England of the House of Plantagenet and also asserted his grandfather's claim to the title King of France. He was born at Bolingbroke Castle in Lincolnshire, hence his other name, Henry Bolingbroke...

 (King of England).

Cinema/Bingo/Squash/Youth Centre

1934 saw the construction of a building to house a local cinema
Movie theater
A movie theater, cinema, movie house, picture theater, film theater is a venue, usually a building, for viewing motion pictures ....

, this was the sole use of the building for almost 30 years. In 1961 wrestling
Wrestling
Wrestling is a form of grappling type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. A wrestling bout is a physical competition, between two competitors or sparring partners, who attempt to gain and maintain a superior position...

 was introduced to increase revenue. A reduction in audiences in 1968 resulted in the cinema closing and the building became a bingo hall until 1970 when the entire building was closed. It lay dormant for 5 years before being reopened as the Savoy Squash Club. In December 2009, redevelopment of the Savoy Club will have been completed into a a new Youth Centre.

Industry

Similar to many village in the area, agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...

 was the primary industry of Skelmanthorpe until the 19th century when weaving
Weaving
Weaving is a method of fabric production in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads are interlaced at right angles to form a fabric or cloth. The other methods are knitting, lace making and felting. The longitudinal threads are called the warp and the lateral threads are the weft or filling...

 took over as the dominant occupation. Many of the older buildings in the village show signs of having been used as weavers cottages in the past. As late as 1890, there were 200 hand looms
Loom
A loom is a device used to weave cloth. The basic purpose of any loom is to hold the warp threads under tension to facilitate the interweaving of the weft threads...

 in cottages in Skelmanthorpe.




Number 6, Queen Street is now preserved by local historians as a private Textile Heritage Centre, complete with hand loom and all the associated equipment. Although not able to open to the public the Centre owners are happy to take guided tours for individuals or groups of up to eight people on a pre-booked system.

Restaurants

Two restaurant
Restaurant
A restaurant is an establishment which prepares and serves food and drink to customers in return for money. Meals are generally served and eaten on premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services...

s are situated in Skelmanthorpe:
  • Volare Mediterranean Restaurant serving english, spanish, italian, morrocan, tunisian, portuguese and french food.

http://www.volares.co.uk/
  • Solos Indian Restaurant

Schools

Two school
School
A school is an institution designed for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is commonly compulsory. In these systems, students progress through a series of schools...

s are situated in Skelmanthorpe:

Churches

Skelmanthorpe currently has 5 churches:
  • Church of St Aidan http://www.thales.demon.co.uk - (Church of England
    Church of England
    The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...

     - Anglican
    Anglicanism
    Anglicanism is a tradition within Christianity comprising churches with historical connections to the Church of England or similar beliefs, worship and church structures. The word Anglican originates in ecclesia anglicana, a medieval Latin phrase dating to at least 1246 that means the English...

    )
  • Skelmanthorpe Methodist
    Methodism
    Methodism is a movement of Protestant Christianity represented by a number of denominations and organizations, claiming a total of approximately seventy million adherents worldwide. The movement traces its roots to John Wesley's evangelistic revival movement within Anglicanism. His younger brother...

     Church
  • Trinity Evangelical
    Evangelicalism
    Evangelicalism is a Protestant Christian movement which began in Great Britain in the 1730s and gained popularity in the United States during the series of Great Awakenings of the 18th and 19th century.Its key commitments are:...

     Church
  • Skelmanthorpe Wesleyan
    Methodist Church of Great Britain
    The Methodist Church of Great Britain is the largest Wesleyan Methodist body in the United Kingdom, with congregations across Great Britain . It is the United Kingdom's fourth largest Christian denomination, with around 300,000 members and 6,000 churches...

     Reform Church
  • Saville Road Hall (Christian - non-denominational)

Fire station

The fire station
Fire station
A fire station is a structure or other area set aside for storage of firefighting apparatus , personal protective equipment, fire hose, fire extinguishers, and other fire extinguishing equipment...

 was constructed in 1956. It currently houses 1 pump & 1 area support unit along with 21 personnel.
The station deals with around 140 incidents a year.

Sports teams and facilities

The village has had its own cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...

 team since around 1876, with the current cricket pitch
Cricket pitch
In the game of cricket, the cricket pitch consists of the central strip of the cricket field between the wickets - 1 chain or 22 yards long and 10 feet wide. The surface is very flat and normally covered with extremely short grass though this grass is soon removed by wear at the ends of the...

 dating from 1900.

The village also has its own junior and senior football teams that play in the Huddersfield leagues respectively.

There are two crown green bowls clubs within the village. One club is based at the Windmill Pub on the outskirts of the village and the other club based in the centre of the village. Each club have their own bowling green.

Following a petition
Petition
A petition is a request to do something, most commonly addressed to a government official or public entity. Petitions to a deity are a form of prayer....

 from local young people fundraising
Fundraising
Fundraising or fund raising is the process of soliciting and gathering voluntary contributions as money or other resources, by requesting donations from individuals, businesses, charitable foundations, or governmental agencies...

 allowed the construction of a small skatepark
Skatepark
A skatepark is a purpose-built recreational environment made for skateboarding, BMX, aggressive inline skating and scooters. A skatepark may contain half-pipes, quarter pipes, spine transfers, handrails, funboxes, vert ramps, pyramids, banked ramps, full pipes, pools, bowls, snake runs stairsets,...

 which opened early 2006. Residents from the area complained about the noise and the skatepark is to be moved. It is believed to be at the bottom of the football field.

Parkgate Sports and Community Trust have won the right for a new sports complex to be built at Parkgate.

Railway

From 1879 till 1986 Skelmanthorpe had a rail line
Rail transport
Rail transport is a means of conveyance of passengers and goods by way of wheeled vehicles running on rail tracks. In contrast to road transport, where vehicles merely run on a prepared surface, rail vehicles are also directionally guided by the tracks they run on...

 passing along the north edge of the village. The line was closed to passengers in 1983 with the track being removed in 1986.

The disused trackbed was re-opened in 1992 as the Kirklees Light Railway
Kirklees Light Railway
The Kirklees Light Railway is a long gauge minimum gauge railway in Kirklees metropolitan borough, West Yorkshire first opened in October 1991...

; a narrow gauge railway used as a tourist attraction
Tourist attraction
A tourist attraction is a place of interest where tourists visit, typically for its inherent or exhibited cultural value, historical significance, natural or built beauty, or amusement opportunities....

.

Notable groups & events

Formed in 1843, the Skelmanthorpe Brass Band is one of the oldest brass bands
Brass band (British style)
A British-style brass band is a musical ensemble comprising a standardised range of brass and percussion instruments. The modern form of the brass band in the United Kingdom dates back to the 19th century, with a vibrant tradition of competition based around local industry and communities...

 in the country. They currently perform in the Championship Section
Brass Band Sections in Britain
There are five main brass band sections in the United Kingdom: Championship, First, Second, Third, and Fourth. The top bands are in the Championship section, and the bottom ones are in the Fourth section...

 of The National Brass Band Championships.

Skelmanthorpe was one of the locations for filming the 1970s television sitcom, Oh No, it's Selwyn Froggitt
Oh No, It's Selwyn Froggitt!
Oh No, It's Selwyn Froggitt! was a popular ITV situation comedy which ran from 1974 to 1977.It starred Bill Maynard as the council labourer, Scarsdale Working Men’s Club secretary, hapless handyman and all-round public nuisance Selwyn Froggitt. It was created by Roy Clarke, who wrote the pilot...

.

Skelmanthorpe Community Action Group (SCAG)

Actress Jodie Whittaker
Jodie Whittaker
Jodie Auckland Whittaker is an English actress, perhaps best known for her work in the film Venus . She also starred in the ITV1 series Marchlands playing the young Ruth who had lost her daughter Alice.-Career:...

 hails from Skelmanthorpe. She has been in films such as 'Venus' and 'St. Trinians'

Contestant on CBBC show Escape from Scorpion Island
Escape from Scorpion Island
Escape from Scorpion Island is a BAFTA-nominated BBC children's TV adventure game show in which contestants try to 'escape from an exotic island with a mind of its own' by doing various challenges to improve their chances of escaping. Series 1 was made by RDF Television for CBBC...

Sam Fraser hails from Skelmanthorpe.

Infamous Big Brother
Big Brother (UK series 6)
Big Brother 2005 was the sixth series of Big Brother in the UK, a reality television show on Channel 4, in which a number of contestants live an isolated existence in a purpose-built house who try to avoid being evicted by public vote, with the aim of winning a large cash prize at the end of the run...

contestant Lesley Sanderson also hails from Skelmanthorpe.

The lead singer of the heavy-metal band Saxon, Biff Byford, was raised in Skelmanthorpe and attended Skelmanthorpe Primary School

Nearby places

Towns and cities: Barnsley
Barnsley
Barnsley is a town in South Yorkshire, England. It lies on the River Dearne, north of the city of Sheffield, south of Leeds and west of Doncaster. Barnsley is surrounded by several smaller settlements which together form the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley, of which Barnsley is the largest and...

, Huddersfield
Huddersfield
Huddersfield is a large market town within the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, in West Yorkshire, England, situated halfway between Leeds and Manchester. It lies north of London, and south of Bradford, the nearest city....

, Wakefield
Wakefield
Wakefield is the main settlement and administrative centre of the City of Wakefield, a metropolitan district of West Yorkshire, England. Located by the River Calder on the eastern edge of the Pennines, the urban area is and had a population of 76,886 in 2001....



Villages: Denby Dale
Denby Dale
Denby Dale is a village and civil parish in the metropolitan borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England, to the South East of Huddersfield. As a civil parish it covers the villages of Denby Dale, Lower Denby, Upper Denby, Upper Cumberworth, Lower Cumberworth, Skelmanthorpe, Emley, Emley...

, Clayton West
Clayton West
Clayton West is a village in Kirklees, West Yorkshire, England. It had a population of 2,648 . and 2,704 in 2008. It is south east of Huddersfield and north west of Barnsley.It is in the parish of Clayton West and High Hoyland...

, Emley
Emley, West Yorkshire
Emley is a village in West Yorkshire, England between Huddersfield and Wakefield with a population of 1,867 according to the 2001 census. It is east of Huddersfield and west of Wakefield. The village lies in moorland close to the Emley Moor TV Transmitter...

, Lower Cumberworth
Lower Cumberworth
Lower Cumberworth is a village in the Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England, to the south east of Huddersfield. The civil parish of Denby Dale covers the village. The parish council gave the population of the villages of Upper and Lower Cumberworth as 1,222 in the 2001 Census. The village...

, Scissett
Scissett
Scissett is a village in West Yorkshire, England. It is 14 km south east of Huddersfield and 16 km north west of Barnsley. According to the 2001 census, the village had a population of 1,324...

, Shelley
Shelley, West Yorkshire
Shelley is a village in the county of West Yorkshire, England, 3 miles north of Holmfirth and 6 miles south east of Huddersfield. It sometimes appears as Shelley Woodhouse and has a population of 3,059 . It is part of the Kirkburton ward of the local council. Road transport links are...

, Shepley
Shepley
Shepley is a village in the civil parish of Kirkburton, in Kirklees, West Yorkshire, England, and in the Diocese of Wakefield. It lies south south east of Huddersfield and north west of Penistone....

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