HCS Members’ Update September 2025
HCS Events
REMINDER: Talk “Mills Transformed” at 7pm on Wednesday, September 17, 2025 at the Brian Jackson Centre, 2 New North Parade, Huddersfield, HD1 5JP.
As part of the 2025 Heritage Open Days festival and following a successful exhibition at Bradford Industrial Museum, HCS and Huddersfield Local History Society have invited photographer Neil Horsley to give a presentation based on the exhibition but with additional local examples of successful conversion projects. This will be introduced by John Lambe, Historic Places Advisor for Historic England who has a focus on mills.
This event is free to attend as part of Heritage Open Days. To reserve a place please book at:
NEW: Turnbridge Mills visit, 3pm Thursday, October 2, 2025
John L Brierley started his own company and began making yarn in 1893, purchasing the JLB mill in 1895 to accommodate his successful and expanding business.
Find out more about the history of and challenges faced by Turnbridge Mills and the Brierleys from current owner Ian Brierley, including the current proposals to redevelop the site to accommodate the expanding business of Paxman Coolers by joining us for a tour of the current Turnbridge Mill premises on October 2.
We’ll see some of the production in action (twisting, winding, beaming, section warping and sizing) as we explore the history of this well-known building and find out what the future holds as plans are drawn up to develop the site to ensure it continues to contribute to Huddersfield’s economy well into the future.
Meet at 2.50pm in the yard on the south side of the mill. We plan a 3pm start and you can expect the tour to last an hour and a half.
We encourage the use of public transport but for those arriving by car please park in the car park on the north (stadium) side of the road up to the point it becomes full, otherwise on street (paid) parking.
Regarding access, there are some ramps and there is a lift but we will be walking round so attendees need a reasonable level of mobility.
This event is free to attend for members of Huddersfield Civic Society. To reserve a place (limited to 30) please book at: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1644238705229?aff=oddtdtcreator
Non-members are also welcome to attend for whom a donation of £5 per person is suggested to help cover event costs.
NEW: Talk and Book Launch, ‘Tolson Memorial Museum and how Ravensknowle House became the Museum of Huddersfield’ at 7pm on Wednesday, October 15, 2025 at the Brian Jackson Centre, 2 New North Parade, Huddersfield, HD1 5JP.
Author and HCS committee member Ann Denham says: “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.”
It is anticipated that Ann Denham’s new book on Tolson Memorial Museum will be available to purchase at the talk.
This event is free to attend for members of Huddersfield Civic Society. To reserve a place please book at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1626761289809?aff=oddtdtcreator
Non-members are also welcome to attend for whom a donation of £5 per person is suggested to help cover event costs.
Heritage Open Days in Kirklees
The annual Heritage Open Days festival runs from Friday, September 12 to Sunday, September 21. This year’s national theme is Architecture, with a wide variety of buildings open to the public or offering bookable tours. Huddersfield Civic Society is one of the partner organisations supporting the Kirklees Heritage Open Days Committee. In Kirklees there will be well over 100 buildings to visit and special events to enjoy with all entirely free.
At the modern end of the spectrum are the University’s Daphne Steele Building; the Accu Stadium, celebrating 30 years since it was Royal Institute of British Architects’ Building of the Year’; two eco-friendly Passivhauses and a site visit to see work in progress on Our Cultural Heart at Queensgate, Huddersfield.
Other new events this year include a handbell concert at Shelley, a cemetery walk in Batley and a walk around old coal mines in Bradley. The upper Holme Valley has a whole programme of events around the theme ‘Working Lives’, including displays, walks, talks and open days at sites including Longley Farm dairy and The Tech on Huddersfield Road in Holmfirth.
Most events are open access but some do require advance booking. Many venues offer refreshments and children’s activities.
A leaflet listing the Kirklees events is widely available across the district and can also be found online at https://tinyurl.com/KirkleesHOD2025
Additional Holme Valley events can also be found at https://holmevalleyheritage.com/whats-on/
Full details of all events in Kirklees and elsewhere, including booking arrangements, can be found on the Heritage Open Days website, www.heritageopendays.org.uk
Saturday, September 13 is Yorkshire Churches Day, a Yorkshire Historic Churches Trust initiative with more details at www.yhct.org.uk
Discover Huddersfield Events as part of Heritage Open Days are:
- Sunday, September 14 at 10.30am: Modernism Walk
- Wednesday, September 17 at 2.30pm: Musical Sites of Huddersfield
- Saturday, September 20 at 10.30am: Huddersfield Narrow Canal and Railway – Marsden to Tunnel End
A leaflet detailing all Discover Huddersfield walks can be downloaded at
The Newsome Centre & Huddersfield & District Family History Society events:
Saturday, September 13, 2025 from 10am to 3pm and Sunday, September 14 from 10am to 2pm featuring memorial exhibition, graveyard tours and family history advice
The one-hour graveyard tours are on Saturday at 10.30am ,12 noon and 1.30pm and on Sunday at 10.30am and 12.30pm.
Planning update
Castle Hill – there has recently been an unexpected update on the long-running planning application for the “erection of restaurant/café/bar, six guest rooms, exhibition/interpretation room, WCs, terrace, car parking and ancillary accommodation” on the summit of the hill.
This site off an historic hillfort and the listed Victoria Tower is unsightly, has no facilities or public utilities and the narrow road access is regularly closed for reasons related to public safety.
HCS would very much like to see improvements to the condition of the summit area of Castle Hill and also the provision of appropriate visitor facilities nearby. However, HCS has long opposed this particular planned development on numerous grounds, as have many conservation and heritage organisations including, until recently, Historic England, the government’s official advisor on all matters related to historic heritage sites.
However, in August, Historic England suddenly reversed its previous opposition and wrote in support of the development, as now proposed by the developer to operate as a Community Interest Company, subject to validation of its commercial viability in a business case it suggests be undertaken by Kirklees Council and funded by the developer.
HCS is very disappointed at this change, disagreeing with the new interpretation of the (unchanged) planning rules, now quoted by Historic England in favour of this change, and sees this as an unfortunate precedent for other proposed developments, both locally and nationally. Accordingly, the Society has requested a meeting with Historic England to understand the conditions where it will now support developments containing a visitor centre but which it agrees will cause ‘harm’ to a historic site
For HCS’ initial response, please see:
Kirklees Council still has to decide how to handle the many issues concerning the proposed development on the summit of Castle Hill, including the issue of long-term viability of the proposed restaurant/café/bar/small hotel development.
There are likely to be further developments in this saga.
HCS meeting with David Shepherd
David Shepherd, Kirklees Council’s Executive Director for Place has kindly agreed to meet members of the HCS Committee on September 30. David’s remit covers many of the Kirklees Council areas of interest to the Society.
If you have a question you’d like HCS to consider raising with David regarding planning, conservation, transport, regeneration or other areas of interest to HCS, please contact the HCS secretary, Geoff Hughes, via email at The following text is how David currently describes his role on LinkedIn:
“David Shepherd is part of the Executive Team at Kirklees Council serving 445,000 residents in West Yorkshire. As the head of the Place Directorate, David oversees five directors and 15 services, with circa 3,000 staff managing all strategic and operational Place functions. He has extensive experience in development, regeneration, housing, transport, highways, planning and environmental functions.
“David’s leadership has driven national award-winning regeneration programmes such as Barnsley’s Glass Works and Huddersfield’s Our Cultural Heart. His role encompasses climate and regulatory functions and he actively engages in place management and investment for Kirklees. Additionally, David supports political leadership transitions and has led planning and building control in metropolitan authorities, introducing innovative planning processes.
“He chairs ADEPT’s national Transport and Connectivity Board and manages transportation infrastructure projects in Kirklees, including collaboration with Network Rail on the £11.5 billion Trans Pennine Upgrade. His responsibilities also include overseeing £200 million upgrades for Kirklees’ road, cycling, pedestrian and mass transit infrastructure.
“As a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Housing, David manages the council’s 22,000 homes and works with the Regulator of Social Housing to ensure compliance with new customer standards. He leads housing growth across approximately 40 sites and oversees strategic housing functions like homelessness support and adaptations.
“David is committed to improving waste collection and recycling, energy from waste and the district heat network. He manages the council’s fleet of over 800 vehicles, ensuring efficient operation and upgrades. In addition to his core responsibilities, David oversees council property, asset and facilities management and capital investments. He leads employment and skills initiatives and economic development, directly managing housing and highways works and overseeing strategic delivery for larger construction projects. With a passion for place leadership, improving service delivery and collaborating to deliver better outcomes for residents and businesses, David Shepherd continues to drive impactful change within Kirklees Council.”
Membership subscriptions Final Reminder
A small number of members continue to have outstanding subscriptions for 2025.
Final reminders were sent by email on August 11 informing those members that their membership will lapse at the end of September, meaning they would no longer receive information and updates (e.g. this newsletter) from October. Many thanks to those who have responded … we do appreciate your ongoing support.
If you are in any doubt about the status of your membership please send an email to:
and we will be able to advise you of your current position.
Prepared by Huddersfield Civic Society Committee members Geoff Hughes, Howard Smith and Sylvia Johnson