| Official Name: | Huddersfield |
| Type: | Market town |
| Static Image Caption: | The railway station and statue of Harold Wilson, the university's Queensgate campus, Kirklees Stadium, St Peter’s church, Folly Hall Mills and the town hall |
| Population: | 141,692 |
| Population Ref: | (2021 Census)[1] |
| Metropolitan Borough: | Kirklees |
| Metropolitan County: | West Yorkshire |
| Region: | Yorkshire and the Humber |
| Country: | England |
| Constituency Westminster1: | Huddersfield |
| Constituency Westminster2: | Colne Valley |
| Post Town: | Huddersfield |
| Postcode District: | HD1-5, HD7-8 |
| Postcode Area: | HD |
| Dial Code: | 01484 |
| Os Grid Reference: | SE 145 165 |
| Coordinates: | 53.645°N -1.7798°W |
| Parts Type: | Areas of the town |
| P1: | Aspley |
| P2: | Birkby |
| P3: | Bradley |
| P4: | Cowlersley |
| P5: | Crosland Moor |
| P6: | Dalton |
| P7: | Deighton |
| P8: | Egerton |
| P9: | Fartown |
| P10: | Fixby |
| P11: | Lindley |
| P12: | Lockwood |
| P13: | Longley |
| P14: | Longwood |
| P15: | Marsh |
| P16: | Milnsbridge |
| P17: | Moldgreen |
| P18: | Oakes |
| P19: | Paddock |
| P20: | Quarmby |
| P21: | Rawthorpe |
| P22: | Thornton Lodge |
| P23: | Waterloo |
Huddersfield is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confluence into the similar-sized Colne is to the south of the town centre which then flows into the Calder in the north eastern outskirts of the town.
The rivers around the town provided soft water required for textile treatment in large weaving sheds; this made it a prominent mill town with an economic boom in the early part of the Victorian era Industrial Revolution. The town centre has much neoclassical Victorian architecture. An example is, which is a Grade I listed building described by John Betjeman as "the most splendid station façade in England".[2] It won the Europa Nostra award for architecture.
Huddersfield hosts the University of Huddersfield and three colleges: Greenhead College, Kirklees College and Huddersfield New College. The town is the birthplace of rugby league with the local team, Huddersfield Giants, playing in the Super League. It also has a professional football team called Huddersfield Town, that currently competes in the Championship, as well as two Rugby Union clubs Huddersfield R.U.F.C. and Huddersfield YM RUFC. Notable people from the town include two-time British Prime Minister Harold Wilson (for Labour) and film star James Mason were born in the town.
The town has been classed under Yorkshire, the West Riding of Yorkshire and West Yorkshire for statistics throughout its history. The town's population in 1961 was 130,652 with an increase to 162,949 at the 2011 census; it is in the West Yorkshire Built-up Area.[3] [4] The town is 14miles south-west of Leeds, 12miles west of Wakefield, 23miles north-west of Sheffield and 24miles north-east of Manchester.
Local settlement dates back over 4,000 years.[5] Castle Hill, a major landmark, was the site of an Iron Age hill fort. The remains of a Roman fort were unearthed in the mid 18th century at Slack near Outlane, west of the town.[6]
The earliest surviving record of the place name is in the Domesday Book of 1086, Oderesfelt. It appears as Hudresfeld in a Yorkshire charter from 1121 to 1127, and as Huderesfeld in subsidy rolls in 1297. The name meaning has not complicated with the shifts of English, remaining 'Hud(d)er's field'.[7]
The modern name is pronounced without a word-initial /h/ in the local dialect, a trait independently shared by many Norman scribes' dialects of the Domesday Book era (see Old and modern French).
Huddersfield has been a market town since Anglo-Saxon times. The market cross is on Market Place.
The manor of Huddersfield was owned by long lease by the de Lacy family until its 1322 takeback by the Crown. In 1599, William Ramsden bought it, and the Ramsden family continued to own the manor, which was known as the Ramsden Estate, until 1920. During their ownership they supported the development of the town. Sir John Ramsden, 3rd Baronet built the Huddersfield Cloth Hall in 1766 and his son the fourth baronet was responsible for Huddersfield Broad Canal in 1780. The Ramsdens endorsed the railway in the first wave of national railway building, in the 1840s.[8]
Huddersfield was a centre of civil unrest during the Industrial Revolution in which Europe saw frequent wars during and after which, as to those most acutely affecting Britain, cloth trade slumped which could be compounded by local crops failure, many local weavers faced starvation and losing their livelihood due to the new, mechanised weaving sheds. Luddites began destroying the mills, sheds and machinery at such times; one of the most notorious attacks was on Cartwright – a Huddersfield mill-owner who had a reputation for cruelty – and his Rawfolds Mill. Kirkpatrick Sale describes how an army platoon was stationed at Huddersfield to deal with these; at its peak, having about a thousand soldiers and ten thousand civilians. Luddites thus began to focus criminal damage on nearby towns and villages (less well-protected); their most damaging act was to destroy Foster's Mill at Horbury – a village about 100NaN0 east.[9] The government campaign that crushed the movement was provoked by a murder that took place in Huddersfield. William Horsfall, a mill-owner and a passionate prosecutor of Luddites, was killed in 1812.[10] Although the movement faded out, Parliament began to increase welfare provision for those out of work, and introduce regulations to improve conditions in the mills.
Two Prime Ministers spent part of their childhood in Huddersfield: Harold Wilson, born locally attended Royds Hall School, and H. H. Asquith. Wilson is commemorated by a statue on the (forecourt) to the town's station.
In 1920, the Corporation bought the Ramsden Estate from that family that had owned much of the town at least as to the reversion of long leases (a minor, overarching interest) since 1599, for £1.3 million. The town became "the town that bought itself". Most of the keynote central building freeholds belong to the local authority, as in a few towns in Britain such as Basingstoke.[8]
Huddersfield was incorporated as a municipal borough in the ancient West Riding of Yorkshire in 1868. The borough comprised the thus sidelined civil parishes of Almondbury, Dalton, Huddersfield, Lindley-cum-Quarmby and Lockwood, later dissolved. When the West Riding County Council was formed in 1889, Huddersfield became a county borough, exempt from its control.A more confined Huddersfield seat than the early 20th century scope has been represented by Labour since its creation in 1983 and is, by size of majority and length of tenure, a strongly-Labour leaning seat.Kirklees was the first part of the country to have a Green or other environmentalist party councillor – Nicholas Harvey – he was instrumental in protesting against the intended closure of the Settle and Carlisle Railway line.[11] The council has councillors of Labour, Conservative Party and Liberal Democrat parties; these retained the deposit, reaching more than 5% of the vote in the last general election (for an MP who serves in the House of Commons).
Huddersfield expanded in 1937, assimilating parts of the Golcar, Linthwaite, and South Crosland urban districts.[12] The county borough was abolished in 1974 and its former area was combined with that of other districts to form the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire.
Council bids to gain support for city status were rejected by the people in a poll held by the Huddersfield Daily Examiner; the council did not apply for that status in the 2000 or 2002 competitions.[13]
Huddersfield had a strong Liberal tradition up to the 1950s reflected in several Liberal social clubs. The current Member of Parliament (MP) for the Huddersfield constituency is Harpreet Uppal, a Labour MP.
The town's population in 1961 had reached 130,652.[14]
Per the United Kingdom Census 2001 the population of the town's urban sub-area of the West Yorkshire Urban Area was 146,234, and that of the former extent of the county borough was 121,620. The wider South Kirklees had a population of 216,011.
Huddersfield has the merger of the shallow valley floors of the River Colne and the Holme south of the town centre. This is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines which blend into the moorlands of the South Pennines west of the town.
As with all of West Yorkshire a temperate oceanic climate exists, wetter than the low plains rain shadow proper towards East Yorkshire but drier than Cumbria. It is mild for the latitude – overnight frosts are quite frequent in winter yet daytime tends to exceed such temperatures due to onshore breezes from around Britain and as the Gulf Stream moderates temperatures. Summers are usually warm, punctuated by frequent rainy and hot spells. Winters are usually cool and damp, punctuated by frequent cold spells where snow is possible, especially on higher ground. According to the Köppen climate classification, Huddersfield is certified as Cfb.
After boundary changes in 2004, Huddersfield now covers eight of the twenty-three electoral wards for Kirklees Council. Neighbouring wards in the Colne Valley, Holme Valley, and Kirkburton are often considered to be part of Huddersfield though they are predominantly semi-rural. The very centre of town forms the Newsome ward of councillors. Eight wards make up Huddersfield proper; these with populations, extent and constituent suburbs (mid-year 2005 estimates) are:
| Ward | Population | Area (sq mi (km2)) | Population density (per sq mi (km−2)) | Places covered | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Almondbury[15] | 16,610 | 3.863sqmi | 4299PD/sqmi | Almondbury, Fenay Bridge, Lascelles Hall, Lepton | |
| Ashbrow[16] | 17,470 | 4.366sqmi | 4001PD/sqmi | Ashbrow, Brackenhall, Bradley, Deighton, Fixby, Netheroyd Hill, Sheepridge | |
| Crosland Moor & Netherton[17] | 17,400 | 2.856sqmi | 6092PD/sqmi | Beaumont Park, Crosland Moor, Lockwood, Longroyd Bridge, Netherton, South Crosland, Thornton Lodge | |
| Dalton[18] | 17,520 | 4.975sqmi | 3521PD/sqmi | Colne Bridge, Dalton, Kirkheaton, Moldgreen, Rawthorpe, Upper Heaton, Waterloo | |
| Golcar[19] | 17,370 | 2.375sqmi | 7313PD/sqmi | Cowlersley, Golcar, Longwood, Linthwaite (part of), Milnsbridge, Salendine Nook | |
| Greenhead[20] | 17,620 | 1.706sqmi | 10328PD/sqmi | Birkby, Edgerton, Fartown, Hillhouse, Marsh, Paddock | |
| Lindley[21] | 17,020 | 2.737sqmi | 6218PD/sqmi | Ainley Top, Birchencliffe, Lindley, Mount, Oakes | |
| Newsome[22] | 17,110 | 3.233sqmi | 5292PD/sqmi | Armitage Bridge, Berry Brow, Hall Bower, Lowerhouses, Newsome, Primrose Hill, Springwood, Taylor Hill |
Huddersfield is within a green belt region that extends into the Kirklees borough and wider surrounding counties. It is in place to reduce urban sprawl, prevent the towns in the West Yorkshire Urban Area conurbation from further convergence, protect the identity of outlying communities, encourage brownfield reuse, and preserve nearby countryside. This is achieved by restricting inappropriate development within the designated areas, and imposing stricter conditions on permitted building.[23]
The green belt surrounds the Huddersfield built-up area, a much-wooded buffer zone. Larger outlying communities such as Upper Hopton, Grange Moor, Highburton, Farnley Tyas, Netherton, Honley, Outlane, Slaithwaite, Wellhouse are exempt from this. Nearby smaller villages, hamlets and rural areas such as Thurgory, Gawthorpe Green, Bog Green, Upper Heaton, Wilberlee, South Crosland, Rushfield Bridge, and Bank End see their unbuilt land included in the designation. Much semi-rural land on the fringes forms the rest. It was chiefly defined in the 1960s,[23] and across Kirklees covers about 70%, i.e. 23050ha (2017, excluding the Peak District National Park).[24] [23]
A subsidiary aim is to encourage play, sport and leisure,[23] through woodland, moor, streams, green meadows, fields, small bogs. Features are:
West of Marsden, Meltham and Holmbridge, it borders the north limb of the Peak District National Park.
As of 2021, the town of Huddersfield's population was enumerated at 141,692, and its ethnic makeup was 66% White, 20.4% Asian, 5.6% Black, 5.2% Mixed, 2% Other and 1% Arab.
The town has many churches, mosques, temples and synagogues. These include Christian denominations: the Church of England, Baptists, Presbyterians and Congregationalists (sometimes as their main fusion the United Reformed Church), Methodism, Quakers,[25] and the Roman Catholic Church. Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, the Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormonism and Sikhism all have congregational buildings.
The town's religious makeup was 39% Christian, 37.4% No Religion, 20.4% Muslim, and has small Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist and Jewish communities.[26]
Huddersfield is a manufacturing town, despite the university being the largest employer. Historically the town produced woollen textiles. This area of business, along with the chemical and engineering industries that emerged to support the manufacture of textiles, was the basis of the town's nineteenth and early twentieth century prosperity. The number of people who work in textiles has declined greatly, but the surviving companies produce large quantities of woollen products with little labour. The town is home to textile, chemical and engineering companies, including Brook Motors Ltd founded by Ernest Brook in 1904. Against conventional wisdom, he started making alternating current electric motors, and he did this in one room with two assistants and starting capital of just £300. On its 50th anniversary in 1954 it employed more than 2,000 people and, with Ernest's sons Frank and Jack in charge, was the largest exclusive producer of AC motors in the world, and had a turnover of £4,500,000. That same year Brook Motors Ltd operated 10 factories in Huddersfield, its biggest being Empress Works on St Thomas's Road, and opened one at Barugh Green, Barnsley. Other local manufacturers are Cummins Turbo Technologies, founded in 1952 as Holset by Messrs. Holmes and Croset.[27] (turbochargers), David Brown Gear systems (industrial gearing), Huddersfield Fine Worsteds (textiles), Taylor & Lodge (textiles), C & J Antich (textiles), Syngenta AG (agro-chemicals), Pennine Radio Limited (electronics transformers and sheet metalworking) and a large number of niche manufacturers, such as Dual Seal Glass (maker of spandrel glass panels[28]) and Ellis Furniture (producer of kitchen and bathroom furniture).[29] Huddersfield is home to Andrew Jones Pies, a regional award-winning pie-maker, and Mamas and Papas, a manufacturer and retailer of prams, pushchairs and related items and specialist pneumatics supplier Shelley Automation Ltd.
Huddersfield Royal Infirmary is in Lindley. Medical services are split between there and the Calderdale Royal Hospital at Salterhebble, near Halifax. Kirkwood Hospice provides care for the terminally ill, and is dependent on donations and charitable gifts. Princess Royal Hospital provided maternity facilities until the risks of not being able to get an ambulance to A&E in the event of complications were judged to outweigh the benefits of specialist service provision. It now functions as a day clinic, family planning consultation centre and GUM Clinic. A decision to move most maternity services provided by the Calderdale & Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust to the Calderdale Royal Hospital ended the provision in 2007, despite strong local opposition. The campaign was led by Save Huddersfield NHS which elected a councillor, Dr Jackie Grunsell in the Crosland Moor ward. In January 2016 plans were announced to close the A&E department of Huddersfield Royal Infirmary and have all emergency cases go to Calderdale Royal instead. This sparked uproar in local communities as it would mean journeys from some areas of over 40 minutes to and from the hospital assuming that the main road into Halifax was not congested, as it frequently is.[30]
The former St. Luke's Hospital in Crosland Moor mostly provided geriatric and psychiatric care. It closed in 2011 and the land was sold to a developer; this land is now home to Fitzwilliam Grange, a housing estate.
Platform 1 is a charity established in 2018 and provides a space and advice for men struggling with mental health.
The Lawrence Batley Theatre, opened in 1994, in what was once the largest Wesleyan Chapel in the world, and presents dance, drama, comedy, music and exhibitions and is the base for Full Body and The Voice, a company concerned with the integration of disabled people into mainstream theatre. Kelly Rowlands also holds the 2003 Line Dancing championship Record.
The John Smith's Stadium, (formerly the Galpharm Stadium and Alfred McAlpine Stadium), is a multi-use sports stadium with a gym, swimming pool, spa and offers sporting classes. The stadium is home to Huddersfield Giants and Huddersfield Town football team. Adjacent the stadium is an Odeon cinema (formerly UCI).
There are many pubs, restaurants and night clubs, one of which, Tokyo, which closed in 2019, occupies the former Huddersfield County Court, a 19th-century Grade II listed building. The oldest pub is The Parish, trading since 1720.
Huddersfield has a large and diverse retail shopping area, enclosed within the town's ring road, compared with other towns of its size. There are three shopping areas: Kingsgate, The Packhorse Precinct and The Piazza Centre. The Piazza offers an outdoor shopping mall near the public library, with a grassed area, used for relaxation and events throughout the year such as entertainment, international markets and iceskating in winter. Through the adjacent Market Arcade is a covered market hall, which has listed building status, due in part to its distinctive roof formed by hyperbolic paraboloids. It is adjacent to the town hall and public library. An open market trades next to Tesco, on the other side of the town centre.
The town centre is home to several national high street retailers and chain stores. There are also a variety of small specialist and independent shops, many in the three-storey Victorian shopping arcade, Byram Arcade, on street, Westgate.
However over the last decade many shops have closed down causing a general decline of the town centre.[31] Most notability the closure of British Home Stores (BHS) in 2016 left a large shopping unit empty in The Piazza Centre. In 2019 Marks & Spencer announced 17 closures within the UK, one of these was the Huddersfield store.[32]
See also: Beaumont Street Studios and The Marsh Ladies Choir.
Huddersfield Choral Society founded in 1836, claims to be the UK's leading choral society. Its history was chronicled in the book 'And The Glory,[33] written to commemorate the society's 150th anniversary in 1986 – its title derived from a chorus in Handel's landmark Oratorio Messiah.
The annual Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival is held in the town which is also home to the Huddersfield Philharmonic Orchestra and the Huddersfield Singers.
On Christmas Day 1977, the Sex Pistols played their last two British shows, a matinee for the children of striking firefighters, at Ivanhoe's nightclub, before embarking on their ill-fated US tour which saw the group's acrimonious collapse. In the early-mid-1990s, Flex, an underground Jungle/Drum 'n' Bass record label, was founded by musician and BBC Radio 1Xtra DJ, L Double. In 2000 another independent record label Chocolate Fireguard Records was founded by singer Pat Fulgoni who developed a three-stage community music event, Timeless Festival, in Ravensknowle Park, featuring a range of electronica, hip hop and rock music.
There are other annual music festivals held in the town and surrounding area, examples being the Marsden Jazz Festival,[34] Mrs Sunderland,[35] Electric Spring,[36] Janet Beaumont, the Holmfirth Festivals, and the Haydn Wood (Linthwaite). The Haydn Wood (for under 21s) and Mrs Sunderland festival focus on musical and oratorial performance. The Electric Spring festival is an exploration of electronic and experimental music, featuring the 50-channel, 64-loudspeaker Huddersfield Immersive Sound System (HISS). The Mrs Sunderland Music festival is the second oldest in the United Kingdom, started in 1889 lasting for nine days each year. Free music concerts have been put on for the town, including bands such as the Ordinary Boys, the Script and Elliott Minor. There are many local choirs, youth and adult, a noted example of the latter being the Honley Male Voice Choir.[37] Home-grown musical talent of all kinds is complemented by the student intake to the University of Huddersfield's music department. "The Sheriff of Huddersfield" is a song by heavy metal band Iron Maiden on the B-side of their 1986 single "Wasted Years", written about their co-manager Rod Smallwood, leaving his home town of Huddersfield and struggling to settle into life in Los Angeles. Huddersfield is home to thrash metal band Evile, dance rock band Kava Kava, the birthplace of the synthpop musician Billy Currie (of Ultravox and Visage), and the hard rock bassist John McCoy who played with Neo and Gillan.
Huddersfield Art Gallery occupies the top floor of the library at Princess Alexandra Walk. It has an extensive collection featuring Francis Bacon, L.S. Lowry and Henry Moore, as well as significant regional artists. It has other halls for its temporary exhibitions for established and emerging artists.
Ian Berry was born in Netherton, Huddersfield and was educated in the town and went to Greenhead College[38] [39] and is internationally renowned for his art using only denim jeans and was named as one of the top 30 artists under 30 in the world in 2013.[40] [41] In 1996 aged 11 he won the Huddersfield Daily Examiner 125th Birthday competition that saw his design printed on to mugs, tea towels and posters.[42] [43]
Huddersfield Festival of Light takes place annually in December,[44] usually in the town centre adjacent to the railway station. Each year there is a performance by a theatre company. The finale is a firework display. The 2007 show was performed by French company Plasticiens Volants, which used large inflatable sea creatures in a parade through the streets as they told the story of 'Pearl'. The 2005 and 2008 performances were by the Valencian artists Xarxa Teatre.The 2010 festival featured Belgian company Company Tol and their suspension act – Corazon de Angeles (Angels' Heart) and ended on 5 December with fireworks in St George's Square.
Huddersfield has a long-established Saint Patrick's Day Parade on 17 March.Huddersfield Caribbean Carnival in mid-July, begins with a procession from the Hudawi Cultural Centre in Hillhouse, through the town centre to Greenhead Park where troupes display their costumes on stage. Caribbean food, fairground rides and various stalls and attractions are available. A "young blud" stage presents Hip Hop, UK garage, RnB and bassline.[45]
The Huddersfield Literature Festival is held annually in the town,[46] and features author events, creative writing classes and poetry nights, and sometimes creative writing competitions.
Since 2016 the town has a growing one-day Onwards Festival for music and arts.[47] It celebrates local music, art, food and drink. Its spirit is organisation like a pub crawl, moving between venues to experience different tastes of culture. Its first year saw 10 live music acts, an exhibition and some live art performances, with payment for the later events.
See also: Listed buildings in Huddersfield and Listed buildings in Huddersfield (Ashbrow Ward). Huddersfield has an abundance of Victorian architecture.[48] The most conspicuous landmark is the Victoria Tower on Castle Hill. Overlooking the town, the tower was constructed to mark Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee Year in 1897. A picture of the Victoria Tower features on the New Zealand wine Castle Hill.
Huddersfield Town Hall is a municipal building in the town: it seats up to 1,200 people and hosts events ranging from classical to comedy and from choral to community events.[49]
The colonnaded Huddersfield railway station in St George's Square was once described as 'a stately home with trains in it', and by Sir Nikolaus Pevsner as "one of the best early railway stations in England".[50] A bronze statue of Huddersfield-born Sir Harold Wilson, Prime Minister 1964–1970 and 1974–1976 stands in front of its entrance.
The George Hotel designed by William Wallen was built by Wallen and Charles Child in 1850. The hotel's Italianate façade became Huddersfield's adopted architectural style as the town developed over following decade.[51] The hotel was the site of the birthplace of Rugby league in August 1895.[52]
St Peter's Church (Huddersfield Parish Church) replaced a church of the 11th century and is adjacent to the town centre, on Byram Street near the Pack Horse Centre. The church was built in 1838. Holy Trinity Church, just outside the town centre was built between 1816 and 1819.
The Pack Horse Centre is a covered pedestrianised shopping area constructed over a cobblestone street, Pack Horse Yard, renamed Pack Horse Walk. Pack horses carried merchandise over pack-horse routes across the Pennines before turnpike roads and railways improved transportation. The pedestrian link passes from Kirkgate, across King Street and along Victoria Lane, by the Shambles, to the Piazza and the distinctive market hall at Queensgate, which was built to replace the old Shambles Market Hall in the early 1970s.[53] Next to the Piazza is the Victorian town hall and the 1930s public library.
Beaumont Park about 2miles south of the town centre was bequeathed to the town in the 1880s, by Henry Frederick Beaumont ("Beaumont's of Whitley" estate) and was opened on 13 October 1883, by Prince Leopold, fourth son of Queen Victoria, and his wife Princess Helena of Waldeck and Pyrmont (Duke and Duchess of Albany). It is a fine example of a Victorian era public park with water cascades, bandstand and woodland.
The former St Paul's Church on Queensgate has statutory recognition and protection, used for worship from 1831 to 1956. Sir John Ramsden gave its land and his family helped its extension to be built in 1883. The foundation stone was laid by Lady Guendolen Ramsden. The building is now part of the University of Huddersfield.[54]
The St Paul's Street drill hall was designed by Captain William Willey Cooper and completed in 1901.
Greenhead Park, NaNround=50NaNround=50 west of the town centre, is lined with copses of various trees. A multimillion-pound restoration project, funded by the Heritage Lottery fund[55] was finished in autumn 2012.
Ravensknowle Hall, built in the late-1850s, houses the Tolson (Memorial) Museum. The museum was founded in 1919, and was originally a natural history museum. It now also holds galleries on different historical fields, like transport, textiles and the history of the town.[56]
The feature films Between Two Women and The Jealous God were filmed in and around Huddersfield. There is a Serbian film from 2007 called Hadersfild, a Serbian phonetic spelling of Huddersfield, where a character is from the town.Television productions in and around the town include:
Huddersfield is connected to the motorway network via the M1 and M62 motorways. The M1 passes about 100NaN0 to the east. The M62 passes about NaN0NaN0 to the north, and Huddersfield is linked to it by three junctions: Mount (A640, J23 – limited access), Ainley Top (A629, J24) and between Brighouse and Cooper Bridge (A644, J25).
Huddersfield Corporation built an inner ring road, part of the A62, in the 1970s. The ring road now defines the boundary of the town's central business district. Its construction ended congestion within, where many roads are pedestrianised.
Main radial roads are the:
A trolleybus network operated from 1933 to 1968. Huddersfield bus station was opened by the Mayor, Councillor Mernagh on 26 March 1974, although it had not been completed.[61] It is the busiest bus station in West Yorkshire with a daily footfall of almost 35,000. Most bus services pass through the bus station. Many services are subsidised by Metro.Huddersfield's bus operators reflect the national situation; local subsidiaries of three dominant national operators provide most services in the area: First Calderdale & Huddersfield provide most local services in Huddersfield and some services outside Kirklees with destinations including Bradford, Brighouse, Halifax, Manchester and Oldham. Arriva Yorkshire provide frequent services to Dewsbury and Leeds, and Team Pennine provide almost all services in the south east of the town. Other smaller operators include Stotts Coaches and Team Pennine. Centrebus Holdings purchased Teamdeck in May 2008, along with Stagecoach Yorkshire's Huddersfield depot.[62] In November 2006, a zero-fare town centre bus service, the Free Town Bus, was launched run by K-Line in partnership with Kirklees Council and Metro. Today this is run by Team Pennine.
has a comprehensive local and regional rail service but there is no direct service to London; passengers have to change at,, or .[63] Some services are subsidised by the public transport coordinator, West Yorkshire Metro. TransPennine Express runs a frequent express service to, Leeds and Manchester and regular services to,,,,,, and . There are local stopping services operated by Northern linking Huddersfield with,,,,,, and .
The Penistone Line passes through mainly rural stations towards Barnsley and Sheffield:,,,,, and .
At the station, there are two internet-famous cats: black and white Felix and younger pure black Bolt. They have released merchandise and have published a book.[64]
The Huddersfield Broad Canal, originally the Sir John Ramsden Canal, and the Huddersfield Narrow Canal are both navigable by narrowboat, and the broad canal by wider craft, wind around the south side of town. To the rear of the YMCA in the Turnbridge section is an electrically operated road bridge, which is still in use, to raise the road and allow boat traffic to pass. This bridge originally used a windlass.
As well as primary and secondary schools, which cover compulsory and sixth form education for the town's population, Huddersfield has two sixth form colleges: Huddersfield New College at Salendine Nook and Greenhead College west of the town centre. Huddersfield Grammar School is the only independent school for secondary education up to age 16. The town has a further education college, Kirklees College formed following the merger of Dewsbury College and Huddersfield Technical College. Its one establishment of higher education is the University of Huddersfield, whose chancellor until 2019 was the Duke of York. The actor Patrick Stewart from Mirfield is emeritus chancellor.
Association and rugby league football codes are the main spectator sports in Huddersfield. The John Smith's Stadium is home to both professional clubs in the town. The rugby club left its Fartown home to share the association football club's ground at Leeds Road, both clubs then left Leeds Road in 1994 to share the stadium. The town also has Rugby Union clubs and the Huddersfield Rams Aussie Rules club. In May 2022 the town made national and world headlines when its 2 professional sports teams both played in finals in London on the same weekend on the 28/29 May[65] unfortunately both clubs lost their respective finals, The Giants narrowly losing the rugby league challenge cup final to Wigan, while the Terriers also lost narrowly to Nottingham Forest in the football play off promotion final.
Its professional association football team, Huddersfield Town A.F.C. is the town's senior association football team, founded in 1908, and most seasons play in the Championship, the second highest league of the sport nationally. In 1926, the club became the first in England to win three successive league titles, a feat only four other clubs have matched.
In 1921–22 Huddersfield won the FA Cup and between 1923 and 1926 became the first club to win the League Championship three times in a row, an achievement matched only by four other teams. After several decades in lower divisions, Huddersfield Town FC returned to top flight football in 2017 when the club entered the Premier League for the first time.
Notable ex-players include Scottish international Denis Law, Ray Wilson, a World Cup winner with England in 1966 and Trevor Cherry, England international.Herbert Chapman, Bill Shankly, Neil Warnock and Steve Bruce are notable former Huddersfield Town managers.
Also within the town boundaries is Emley A.F.C. who were formed when the original Emley FC left for Wakefield who play in the Northern Counties East Football League and Golcar Utd who also compete in the NCEL league and share the "HD derby" with Emley. Shelley are also within the town's boundaries and most recently played in the West Yorkshire Association Football League having previously played alongside Emley and Golcar in the North West Counties Football League Division 1 North.
Rugby was first played in the town in 1848 and the Huddersfield Athletic Club, formed in 1864 and played its first rugby game in 1866. The town was the birthplace of rugby league. On 29 August 1895, 22 northern clubs met in the George Hotel and voted to secede from the Rugby Football Union and set up the 'Northern Rugby Football Union' which became the Rugby Football League in 1922. The Rugby League Heritage Centre was in the George Hotel's basement before the hotel closed in 2013.
Following the split of 1895, Huddersfield became a focus for rugby league. HAC's direct successors, the Huddersfield Giants, who played the famous Fartown Ground until 1992 before sharing with the Football club, play in the Super League. It is the top division in Europe. Huddersfield Rugby Union Football Club play in National Division Three North and Huddersfield Y.M.C.A. RUFC play in North 1 East. Huddersfield Giants, the town's rugby league club, has won the Rugby Football League Championship seven times, most recently in 1961–62, and the Challenge Cup six times, the last time in 1952–53.
The town is also home to the Huddersfield Underbank Rangers, who play in the Rugby League Conference. The club is based in Holmfirth and formed in 1884. It has launched the careers of many professional players including Harold Wagstaff, Paul Dixon and Eorl Crabtree.
After 1895 rugby union was played exclusively under the Northern Rugby Football Union until 1909 when Huddersfield Old Boys were formed to play under rugby union rules, playing nomadically at five grounds until buying farmland at Waterloo in 1919 and, in 1946, renaming the club Huddersfield RUFC. In 1969 the club was at the forefront of a revolution in English rugby when it became the first club in the country to organise mini and junior rugby teams. The innovation spread and almost every club in the country has a thriving junior section providing a production-line of home-grown talent. Junior players at Huddersfield number over 200. In 1997 the Waterloo junior grounds were sold and the 26acres former Bass Brewery site at Lockwood Park was purchased for its replacement. With the assistance of a £2 million grant from Sport England, the club has transformed it into a major sports complex, conference centre and business park.
Huddersfield Rams Aussie Rules is an Australian rules football team, formed in 2008. The club played its first season in 2009 and won the Aussie Rules UK National League – Central Division and took part in the North West Division in 2010.
The Huddersfield Cricket League was founded in 1891. Huddersfield has produced multiple Yorkshire CCC cricketers including 14 internationals, such as Alec Coxon, Billy Bates and Chris Balderstone.
Huddersfield has a number of field hockey teams, many of which train at the Lockwood Park sports complex on the all-weather pitch.[66]
Motorcycle speedway racing was staged in Huddersfield in the UK pioneer year of 1928. A venue in the town staged four or five meetings.James Whitham, is a former 'British Superbike Champion'. Lepton born Tom Sykes joined the Yamaha Motor Italia World team in the 2009 World Superbike season[67] after spells in British Supersports & British Superbikes in which he finished 4th in the 2009 Season. He won his first race in World Superbikes in one of two wildcard meetings and is the 2013 World Superbike Champion.
On 6 July 2014, Stage 2 of the 2014 Tour de France from York to Sheffield passed through the town.[68]
Thirty-four people and one military (infantry) regiment have been granted the Freedom of Huddersfield, between 1889 and 1973.[69]
On 2 July 1952, in recognition of historic ties and links with the Duke of Wellington's Regiment (West Riding), the Huddersfield County Borough had conferred on the regiment the Freedom of the Town. This gave the regiment the right to march through the town with 'flags flying, bands playing and bayonets fixed'. Many of the town and district's male residents had served in the regiment during its long history. This right was technically lost when merged with Dewsbury to form Kirklees MBC. On 25 March 1979, the latter gave the Freedom of Kirklees to the 3rd battalion of the Yorkshire Volunteers; this being the Duke of Wellington's Territorial Army unit.
When the 'Dukes' were amalgamated with the Prince of Wales's Own Regiment of Yorkshire and the Green Howards' to form the Yorkshire Regiment on 6 June 2006 the right to march became extinct. The Regiment requested a resumed right to march. The right given by Kirklees to the 3rd battalion of the Yorkshire Volunteers did not permit any transfer to heirs or successors and effectively ceased when the battalion was amalgamated into the East and West Riding Regiment (since 2006 being the Yorkshire Regiment's 4th Battalion). Kirklees Metropolitan Borough Council amended the original 'Freedom' and transferred it to the Yorkshire Regiment, at a Freedom parade on 25 October 2008.
A number of national and internationally famous people originate from Huddersfield. Actors include Joanna Christie, James Mason, Gorden Kaye and Keith Buckley.TV playwright Sally Wainwright's award-winning dramas such as Happy Valley have made the Colne and Calder valley towns well known to television viewers. Some people have also become known through their association with Huddersfield, though they were not born there. These include the Mirfield-born actor ("life-long" Huddersfield Town F.C. supporter[70] and Chancellor of Huddersfield University from 2004 to 2015[71] [72]), Patrick Stewart; the dancer, entertainer and TV presenter Roy Castle, who was born in Scholes;[73] [74] the York-born Olympic gold medal-winning swimmer, Anita Lonsbrough;[75] [76] and the Brighouse born inventor Wilf Lunn, who was raised in Rastrick.[77] Other famous people whose association with Huddersfield is not as notable or well-known, though they were raised there, include H. H. Asquith (born in Morley), who served as the Liberal Prime Minister of the United Kingdom between 1908 and 1916. The actress Lena Headey, who was born in Bermuda, grew up in Shelley from the age of five.[78] [79] Harold Wilson, the only Labour Prime Minister to have formed Labour administrations after four general elections, was born at Warneford Road, Milnsbridge, in the western suburbs, on 11 March 1916. When Wilson was eight, he visited London and a much-reproduced photograph was taken of him standing on the doorstep of 10 Downing Street. Wilson attended Royds Hall Grammar School (now a comprehensive school).[80]
E.A. Hilary Haigh ed. (1992) Huddersfield: A Most Handsome Town – Aspects of the History and Culture of a West Yorkshire Town. Kirklees MC, Huddersfield, pp. 704.