HCS Members’ Update November 2025
Welcome to our newsletter which this month covers:
- A review of Huddersfield Civic Society’s two October events.
- News of future events.
- A short update on the Society’s meeting with a senior director of Kirklees Council.
- A piece from our Secretary on a recent local news item that might have significant implications.
- A head’s-up that subscription renewal notices will be sent out soon.
Reports on Recent Events
- Visit to Turnbridge Mills, October 2, 2025
The Turnbridge Mills complex sits either side of Quay Street next to the Turnbridge Lift Bridge and forms one of the development zones in Huddersfield’s Station to Stadium Enterprise Corridor.
John L Brierley bought Turnbridge Mills on the south side of Quay Street in 1895 to expand the textile business he had started two years earlier on Firth Street. In 1925, Hirst’s Mill on the north side of Quay Street was acquired from William Hirst to create the footprint the site now occupies.
The tour for 26 of our members started in the original John L Brierley Mill (listed in 1978), where we saw the twisting and warping and beaming machines in action.
The twisting machines were operated by just one lady who flew up and down the machine taking only a matter of seconds to remove the cones which had been fully wound with twisted cotton and re-thread a new bobbin and empty cone and start the process off again.
In another part of the mill, we saw the production of a warp and it being mounted onto a beam. This involved the threading of 5,700 ends of cotton warp to be rolled onto a huge cylindrical beam … these people must have the patience of Jobe!
Ian Brierley (pictured below) explained that JLB had invested heavily over the years, making it the most efficient producer of its products in the UK. Although focussed mainly on white ‘cotton’, ie short staple yarn, twisting, spinning, beaming, sizing and section warping among other processes, the business had, during its history, acquired many related businesses and diversified into many aspects of textiles such as rubber coating, elastic webbing, chenille, Lycra and related businesses such as pipe cleaners and unrelated businesses such as turbocharger remanufacturing over the years.
The adoption and development of new practices and new technology and machinery, including early use of computers and business management techniques to make processes as efficient as possible, has been responsible for JLB being a leader in its field in a declining marketplace and, since the turn of the century, is now the only mill still both twisting and warping cotton yarn in the UK today. Despite JLB being the last man standing, the decline in UK textile markets continues and employee numbers in the yarn and pipe-cleaner business have dropped from around 225 in 1998 to just 16 today.
Moving to the north side of Quay Street, we were shown Hirst’s mill which was rather a different story to the bright, clean, active textile production areas in the JLB Mill. With sparsely occupied areas, having consolidated operations across the road in the JLB building, Hirst’s Mill is now standing somewhat forlorn.
The mill is in need of significant investment to carry out roof repairs and maintenance of many aspects of the mill’s structure and services. Revenues generated by the mill’s current tenants and being unable to find further tenants given the declining demand for the type of accommodation provided by a 19th century multi-story mill mean such maintenance activities are simply not feasible.
The prospects for the future are, however, looking much brighter. A decision from planners is awaited for plans to replace the majority of Hirst’s Mill with a modern manufacturing facility which would be occupied by the internationally successful Paxman Coolers business who have outgrown their existing premises.
Situated in the Station to Stadium enterprise corridor and right next to the Health Innovation Campus of the University, Turnbridge Mills is the ideal location for Paxman to expand production of their Scalp-cooling caps used around the world for the treatment of cancer patients. A successful outcome should the somewhat controversial plans be approved by Kirklees will see much needed regeneration of this area and retain a local company’s presence in the area securing increased employment opportunities for the Town.
For more information on the plans click here. https://huddersfieldcivicsociety.org.uk/planning/2025/07/major-redevelopment-at-turnbridge-mills-quay-street-huddersfield/
Many thanks to Ian Brierley and Tracey Simpson for providing our members with a fascinating and comprehensive insight to the up and down world of textiles in our home town.
Howard Smith – HCS Membership Officer
- Talk and Book Launch, ‘Tolson Memorial Museum and how Ravensknowle House became the Museum of Huddersfield.’ – Wednesday, October 15, 2025
On the evening of Wednesday, October 15, 2025, author and HCS committee member Ann Denham gave a talk to an audience of over 40 HCS members plus The Friends of Tolson and Ravensknowle at the Brian Jackson Centre to launch her new book called Tolson Memorial Museum: How Ravensknowle House Became The Museum Of Huddersfield.
In advance of the meeting Ann promised: “My talk will describe how Ravensknowle House came to be built on the edge of Huddersfield. It will illustrate the interconnectivity of the Senior, Beaumont and Tolson families of Dalton.
“The importance of the strength of the natural history organisations in the area and the growth of interest in the environment will be described with the development of Huddersfield Technical College. It will cover the circumstances that led to the Ravensknowle Estate being given to the people of Huddersfield and Dr Woodhead being invited to plan the museum. It will detail his plan and the development of what became a highly regarded local museum. Finally, a brief update on the subsequent development of this Museum of Huddersfield.”
Ann delivered on this promise to the delight of those present, then continued answering questions from the audience and finished by signing copies of her book for purchasers.
Ann’s book is now available from the Shop section of the HCS website by clicking here. or from local booksellers.
- Heritage Open Days
The Heritage Open Days were held from September 12 to 21 this year with architecture as the principal theme.
Nationally:
• The festival achieved record-breaking success, offering 5,879 events, making it officially the biggest to date.
• It was possibly HOD’s biggest festival community ever with 2,549 local organisers and 104 coordinators registering events plus around 84 local promoters
• The architecture theme proved highly popular with 43% of the programme indicating a connection to this focus.
In Kirklees:
The local Heritage Open Days Committee, which comprises volunteers from various areas including Spen Valley Civic Society, Friends of Batley Library, Huddersfield Civic Society, Huddersfield Local History Society and Mirfield co-ordinates all events and reports the following statistics:
• To date, 6,630 visits have been recorded, surpassing last year’s total of 6,450 from a similar number of events. With results from 17 sites outstanding, it’s probable that attendance will exceed 7,000 once again.
• The geographical distribution of events was less balanced across Kirklees compared to previous years. While Huddersfield and South Kirklees maintained consistent participation, Holme Valley saw increased activity due in large part to the new Holme Valley Heritage Week initiative. Batley also demonstrated growth whereas Dewsbury, Mirfield and Spen experienced reduced engagement.
• Attendance varied significantly at individual sites, particularly among churches, which reported visitor counts ranging from 2 to 200.
• The introduction of sketching activities, aligned with the architectural theme, had a most positive impact. Three of the four participating sites benefitted from grants towards art materials provided by Our Cultural Heart, each reporting three-figure visitor numbers.
• On Saturday, September 13, Yorkshire Churches Day (organised by the Yorkshire Historic Churches Trust https://www.yhct.org.uk ) provided an opportunity for all places of worship in the county to open their doors and highlight the remarkable history and heritage within their buildings.
We would like to thank everyone who helped and took part as it was great to see many new events to attract visitors to our area. These included family friendly trails, guided tours (e.g. the new Daphne Steele Building and the site visit to Our Cultural Heart in Huddersfield), varied talks, exhibitions and activities.
We look forward to next year when the theme is based around the everyday histories of working lives from factory floors to kitchen counters, school desks to sailors’ docks and all the corners of a grand estate from house to gardens. More information to follow in due course.
Sylvia Johnson
HCS Representative on the HOD Committee for Kirklees
Upcoming Events
- Book launch on Saturday, November 22 at 2.30pm
Just in time for Christmas, a new book by David Griffiths called Huddersfield’s Art & Crafts Houses: from Edgar Wood to the 1930sis being published by Huddersfield Local History Society with the support of Huddersfield Civic Society.
David was the author of previous HCS books The Villas of Edgerton and Highfields and says of this book: “The pioneering architect Edgar Wood is celebrated for his work in Lindley and Birkby, including Lindley Clock Tower, Banney Royd and Briarcourt.
“Less well-known, however, are the local architects he influenced, directly or indirectly, and the local Arts & Crafts network of which he was an important part. As the town grew, a talented succession of architects and builders carried Arts & Crafts ideals forward, largely for the growing middle classes but also influencing the design of working class suburbs and municipal housing across the then Borough of Huddersfield.
“This book relates the local Arts & Crafts story from the 1880s to 1940 and goes on to illustrate the best houses of the period, area by area, in Almondbury, Birkby, Edgerton, Fartown, Fixby and elsewhere in the town.”
The book will be priced at £12.95 and members of both HCS and HLHS are invited to the launch, with light refreshments, on Saturday, November 22 at 2.30 pm at Lindley Methodist Church, 45 East St, Huddersfield HD3 3ND. Parking should be available at nearby Lindley Junior School. If you plan to attend, RSVP by Monday, November 10 to
HCS New Year Social
Yes folks, we’re heading for the time of year where we need to be thinking about our New Year Social gathering. This will take place in the lovely surroundings of the events space at Westins Engineering’s Grove Works mill on St Andrews Road on Thursday, January 22, 2026. All members are invited to join us (along with guests) for a festive get together with food and drink along with some form of quiz. Put the date in your diary and we’ll give more details next month.
Food for thought
- A problem with a plan – Where should new housing be built in Huddersfield?
In late 2024 the government announced a big increase in house-building targets for many councils, including Kirklees, and this would be made to happen by each local authority speeding up developing a new Local Plan which would dictate locations where new housing can be built. In the absence of an officially approved plan that meets the mandated targets, developers have legal rights to push through some proposals on land, even if it has not been allocated for a specific purpose, such as housing.
Fortunately, Kirklees Council had already started developing its new Local Plan, with a team in place tasked to take initial ‘Early Engagement’ input between August and October 2024, then produce full draft plans for consultation between September and November 2025, prior to developing a final Plan for agreement by the council and then forwarding to government for formal sign-off in March 2027.
How’s work on the new Kirklees Local Plan going? In a word: ‘slowly’.
Huddersfield Civic Society was invited to take part in the Early Engagement in January 2025, making a case for concentrating new building on brownfield sites, rather than continuing to allocate more greenfield sites around the urban periphery, each of which are devoid of facilities and dependent on car-borne travel to services. For more details click here.
Things have since slowed down further. On October 9, 2025, The Huddersfield Examiner quoted Kirklees Council saying “it hopes to have a draft of the new Local Plan ready for public consultation by the end of 2026 with the residents and businesses urged to take part.” Yes, that’s over a year late!
Might the timetable continue to slip, even after that? Does it matter that in the first year of a 3-year project the council has announced it is running more than a year behind? In a word: ‘yes’. Officially, the government says it will send in external staff to do the work more quickly but does not state where it will find competent staff ready to be parachuted into an authority such as Kirklees and how that would then speed up the existing statutory process.
New housing proposals may be in the economic doldrums at the moment but, when house-building demand next increases, the continuing lengthening of time to develop a new Local Plan for Kirklees means that developers may instead have the upper hand in where new housing is built. Now, which will they then prefer: brownfield land needing clearing and decontaminating or nice green fields out in the countryside? Any guess as to the likely answer?
This is why Huddersfield Civic Society will continue to campaign for a good and timely Local Plan which enables a range of housing, and types of housing, with priority given to development in existing urban areas and particularly on brownfield sites.
Geoff Hughes, HCS Secretary
- Who really is in charge within Kirklees Council?
HCS is finally close to resolving a problem that has prevented us being able to communicate effectively with Kirklees Council this year. When we see a problem, such as a council officer emailing a member to say he or she will not take enforcement proceedings against a building owner in clear breach of planning law, our need is usually to enquire of the manager responsible for instigating the underlying policy change, rather than just asking a more junior council officer simply carrying out that policy.
This has proved surprisingly difficult in recent months with several council managers leaving, going on long-term sickness leave or compassionate leave and those remaining changing responsibilities.
This has resulted in many attempts at contacting our council being left unanswered. The Society raised this matter in our September 29 meeting with David Shepherd, Kirklees Council’s Executive Director for Place. David has tasked David Wildman, his Acting Deputy, for the various areas of interest to HCS with re-establishing contacts between HCS and his various responsible managers. This is taking longer than we had anticipated but we hope soon to both know who now in Kirklees Council has which managerial responsibility and a promised programme of meeting dates through 2026. This will enable HCS to better represent our members on many local issues that come within the remit of Kirklees Council.
Geoff Hughes, HCS Secretary
Memberships
- Watch out for your membership renewal email
We will be sending out membership renewal notices at the beginning of December for all members as subscriptions fall due on January 1.
Please keep an eye out for this email and help to make this busy period for your Membership Officer and Treasurer run smoothly by renewing your membership in a timely manner, and following the instructions we will be sending out.
For those who pay by standing order, please, please ensure it is updated to our current subscription rates before the date you have set for payment. To see the rates click here.
Many thanks in advance
Howard Smith, HCS Membership Officer
This newsletter has been prepared by Huddersfield Civic Society Committee Members
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