Upcoming Events

Turnbridge Mills visit, 3pm Thursday 2 October 2025 (still a few places left)

A reminder to those who have registered about the upcoming visit to Turnbridge Mills (main picture for this Members’ Update). 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. We will 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.

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 the 2nd October.

Meet at 14:50 for a 15:00 start in the office accessed via the white aluminium door on the south side of the mill (entrance from Quay Street). We encourage the use of public transport but, for those arriving by car, please park in the John L Brielrley car park on north (stadium) side of Quay Street up to the point it becomes full, otherwise on street (paid) parking. We expect to be finished for 16:30.

Talk and Book Launch: “Tolson Memorial Museum and how Ravensknowle House became the Museum of Huddersfield” 7pm, Wednesday, 15 October 2025 at 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 – donation of £5 per person suggested to help cover costs.

Barnsley Civic Trust Events

Huddersfield Civic Society members are invited to attend the following events in Barnsley:

The first is an illustrated talk on Thursday 13th November in the Council Chamber in Barnsley Town Hall at 6.30pm by James Thomson who is an Archaeologist with South Yorkshire Archaeology on the South Yorkshire Heritage Listing Project which the service leads.

The Second is illustrated presentation on Thursday 4th December in the Council Chamber in Barnsley Town Hall at 6.30pm by Phil Clifford on the history of the Mines Rescue Service, the first Coal Mines Rescue Station being built in 1906 for the West Yorkshire Coal Mine Owners Association.

Both talks are free, open to all and are in partnership with Barnsley Archives and Local Studies. Booking is not necessary and entrance to the Town Hall is through the Barnsley Experience access.

Reports on Recent Events

Heritage Open Days and associated events in Kirklees September 2025

The annual Heritage Open Days festival ran from Friday 12 to Sunday 21 September with over 100 buildings and projects to visit. Attendees at the wide variety of events seems to have thought them to have been a success. HCS Committee Member plans to provide an overall review for the next Newsletter. In the meantime, here is a selection illustrating the breath of themes and local venues.

“Mills Transformed” – joint HCS and Huddersfield Local History Society talk

This talk on September 17 was presented by photographer Neil Horsley who recently held an exhibition at Bradford Industrial Museum. The presentation was linked to his publication ‘Mills Transformed’ which provides a lavishly illustrated history of mill buildings across the North of England. An introduction was provided by John Lambe, Historic Places Advisor for Historic England. The talk was interesting and informative with excellent examples from the Huddersfield and the wider South Pennines area. Details of the talk and of how to view Neil’s full collection of pictures can be found at https://huddersfieldcivicsociety.org.uk/past-events/

Cultural Heart Site Visit
A popular highlight of the Heritage Open Days Festival was the opening up of the Cultural Heart building that was formerly Huddersfield Market. Queues formed in advance and several hundred people passed through during the allotted two-hour window. It was interesting to note how many attendees seemed to appreciate the open vista of the restored roof structure, now much easier to see in all its glory. The main part of the renovation is nearing completion, and the next stage will be to install businesses to make it ready for use.

Views of the Interior of the Cultural Heart Development (photos Adrian Pitts)

Circular walk through Edgerton and Greenhead Park
This walk was organised by EPIKS and led by one of their Environmental Rangers, Gilly and supported by David Griffiths. The walk began at the rail station and made its way up to Edgerton Cemetery via Cambridge Road stopping at several sites and buildings and passing by the new Brambles Primary Academy. There was discussion of a number of buildings as well as some of the landmarks within the cemetery itself. Further information was added by one of the current residents of one of the Gatehouse buildings and description of its recent history and difficulties. A particular concern is the state of the two ‘at risk’ mortuary chapels within the graveyard. A stop for sandwiches/refreshments took place in the grounds of the Ukrainian Club before crossing into Greenhead Park with discussion of both natural and human-created features including Huddersfield’s own Giant Redwoods. The whole event took place over 4 hours and imparted a tremendous amount of detail on local history, buildings and events as well as the natural history and environmental features passed by en-route.

Edgerton Cemetery Gatehouse and the sadly declining mortuary chapels both now consider ‘at risk’ (one almost invisible behind trees) – Photos Adrian Pitts

Sheepridge Passive House
In contrast to some of the older buildings that were part of the heritage days programme, one of the more recent buildings (an energy efficient and environmentally sound dwelling) was visited in Sheepridge. This is one of several ‘Passive House’ buildings in Kirklees most of which are linked to the Green Building Store/Company. The building acts as a showcase for recent building technologies with low running costs linked to high levels of thermal comfort and the owner/occupiers related first hand their experience of the project being built and as a home.

External Views of the Sheepridge Passive House (photos Adrian Pitts)

Latest News:

Huddersfield Town Centre Shopfronts – John William Street

Good news at last!

Photo Geoff Hughes

Readers of past newsletters will know that our former Chair, David Wyles, led a campaign for several years to reverse the steady decline of shop frontages throughout the Huddersfield Town Centre Conservation Area. The Society had been unable to persuade Kirklees Council to enforce rules regarding explicit planning consent being required for alterations to such buildings, some of which are individually listed, meaning their historic appearance had a high standard of protection in law.

The good news is that, at long last, work has begun on one set of John William Street shopfronts – see picture above. Hopefully, the work will coincide with the promise of a shopfront design guide as indicated in the consultant’s report regarding Huddersfield Town Centre Conservation Area last year.

With Calderdale Council having this month refused planning consent for unsightly alterations to a historic frontage in Halifax town centre, perhaps the tide has now turned on this issue?

Planning updates

Whilst there is no news yet on the long-outstanding applications regarding both Castle Hill and The George Hotel, several recent planning applications have been identified as worthy of comment

2025/91221 Former HSBC building on Cloth Hall St

Photo Geoff Hughes

Prior notification for change of use of floors 1-5 inclusive from commercial/business/service to 28 flats/studios (within a Conservation Area). The proposals are to retain the ground floor as commercial, then to change the use of floors 1 to 5 inclusive to residential with 28 individual flats / studios. These units are likely to be aimed at the student market. 2.02 – The proposals will not require any major external changes. The modular window designs lend themselves to the proposed residential division. Each unit will benefit from good levels of light. 2.03 – The flats are all sized to meet the National Standards. The designs of the various floors have changed since the original submission.

2025/92395 27 Market Place

Listed building consent for installation of a lowered ceiling and other internal alterations within a Conservation area. This former bank has an existing permission (2023/93615) for conversion to Adult gaming centre. This added application still refers to “No external alterations”

2025/92427, 17-33A John William St

Discharge conditions from previous approved application 2022/93964 relating to stone cleaning and steelwork supports. This is the row of shops that has been talked about for a number of years to have renovated shop fronts.

2025/92443 and 92444 Huddersfield open market

Full applications for the proposed redevelopment of the full site including listed buildings within a conservation area. This is the full proposal with numerous documents, but basically shows the plans in some detail for some fixed and sore replaceable food / market trading positions and mezzanine levels for upper-level dining. Funded as we understand from central government as part of a local levelling up grant.

2025/92452 33-37 King Street

Chopstix restaurant. Application of external illuminated signage within the conservation area.

HCS Committee News

On 29 September four members of the HCS committee – Ann Denham, Geoff Hughes, Adrian Pitts and Howard Smith – met David Shephered, Kirklees Council’s Executive Director Place. We raised problems regarding recent challenges contacting Council managers, the opportunity we see for more housing – both public and private – in and around our town centre, the stalling of several Council initiatives we have contributed to and also the continuing decay of many historic buildings, giving examples in both Council and private ownership.

We believe we showed that HCS Officers have relevant experience across multiple subjects over many years in our town that could be better made available to the current Council teams. In particular, we have a collective memory of long-standing issues that may not be well known to the current set of officials working after the recent departure of many long-serving Council staff.

Whilst there is little positive news regarding any matter requiring Council funding, we are pleased to have been invited to two new, probably quarterly, meetings: one with Council managers involved in Huddersfield planning matters, the other with Council managers involved in local regeneration. David Shepherd has also scheduled in a year’s time his next annual review of progress with the Society.

Future HCS Members’ Newsletters will record progress.

Topics discussed at the September 8 HCS Committee Meeting included:

Choices for the next Chair – at present there is no permanent Chair for the society with the role rotating between existing Committee Members – option for moving forward on this were discussed including drawing in new people with different profiles. Rotating Chairs were identified for the next 3 meetings.
An update was received on membership which showed approximately 120 active members at present
Feedback was provided on an online meeting for the Huddersfield Town Centre Stakeholder Workshop which didn’t seem to have made great progress. This developed into a broader discussion on the state of the town centre
The Interim Treasurer reported on recent developments including some resolution on signatories and organisation of current and savings account held by the society. Balances in both accounts are healthy but with some costs coming soon for publications.
A report on Planning Matters included: updates and discussion around Castle Hill, where there seems to have been a major change in policy/attitude from Historic England which has had a significant impact on the potential for the current planning application; proposed revamp of shopfronts on John William Street for which monies were allocated from Kirklees Council; the lack of information from Kirklees Council on certain planning matters and difficulties in contacting Council Officers; Police station redevelopment; Turnbridge Mills; the bus station revamp; and the George Hotel.
Discussion around topics to be raised with David Shepherd on 29 September
There was some detailed discussion about publications from HCS including pricing.
Future HCS Committee Meetings planned for: 2025: 10 Nov. 2026: 12 Jan, 9 Mar, 11 May, 13 July, 14 Sept, 9 Nov. HCS AGM date: w/c Mon 23 March 2026
A suggestion has also been received prompting discussion about whether the HCS Design Awards should recommence, possibly in 2026

Please note: once approved by the HCS Committee, past meeting minutes are now posted on the HCS website at https://huddersfieldcivicsociety.org.uk/hcs-committee-meeting-minutes/

Invited Opinion

Town Centre Residential availability – David Wyles – former Chair HCS

A vibrant and bustling town centre needs residents – so why isn’t Huddersfield realising the extensive opportunities for housing growth?

It may appear obvious but towns and cities that are economically vibrant and bustling also have high levels of residential accommodation within their central areas. So why does progress in Huddersfield appear so slow at achieving a range of varied and exciting housing developments

Huddersfield town centre and its immediate surrounds benefited from a period of residential development during the early 2000s, with projects providing a wide range of tenancies. This all came to a virtual standstill after the financial crash of 2008 and, apart from student accommodation and a small number of limited quality developments occupying upper floors above commercial premises, there has been little major development.

Compare this with Greater Manchester, where not only has rapid development taken place in the city centre but ambitious plans are now emerging in many of the satellite towns such as Oldham and Stockport. Stockport Council and its development partner ECF has secured planning permission for the £250m Stockport 8 scheme which will see around 1,300 homes built, Oldham Council’s partnership with Muse could see up to 2,000 homes built around the town centre over the next 15 years and Manchester City joint venture partnership’s first flagship project is nearing completion with 129 low carbon homes, with phase two consisting of 1,583 homes on Council-owned brownfield sites across the city.

So why does it appear Huddersfield is lagging behind. The first reason is, arguably, that those schemes that have been approved are not economically ‘stacking up’ with low profit margins limiting progress.

Secondly, I believe Kirklees Council needs to extend its efforts beyond its own property portfolio. We know it is having to re-think plans for the Grade II*-listed Estate Buildings and Somerset Buildings after its development partner, thew thirteen Group pulled out. Perhaps Kirklees should investigate the possibility of a wider portfolio of opportunities as a joint venture partnership with a new developer or consortium of developers.

And lastly, there is a need to identify derelict or brownfield sites that could provide opportunities for existing owners who, surely, must be aware that such land and buildings are realising little return on investment in their present state. We have seen, frustratingly, little movement on the former Grade 2* listed former infirmary and many other sites can be identified. I include a few illustrative images.

I understand from Jeremy Childs of HCS Corporate Member, Acumen architects, that following their hard-fought battle to secure permission for residential use of former warehouses in Albert Yard, the site has now been sold to a Manchester company. Is this a hopeful sign? With TransPennine rail upgrade, a developing University and major capital investment in the town centre perhaps the time has come to create public/ private partnerships involving both local owners, agents and architects with the energy and expertise to attract wider investment and revive the town centre and its surrounds as a vibrant and exciting place to live.

Text and photos David Wyles

Newsletter prepared by Huddersfield Civic Society Committee Members

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