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Dewsbury

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The Ancient Parish of DEWSBURY

[Transcribed information mainly from the early 1820s]

"DEWSBURY, a parish-town, in Agbrigg-division of Agbrigg and Morley, liberty of the manor of Wakefield, 5 miles from Wakefield, 8 from Huddersfield and Leeds, 9 from Bradford, 10 from Halifax, 33 from York, 187 from London. Market, Wednesday. Fairs, Wednesday before New Michaelmas day, October 5, and Wednesday before Old May day, for horses, horned cattle, sheep, &c, Principal Inns, the George Hotel, Man and Saddle, and the Commercial Coffee House. Pop. 6,380. The Church is a vicarage, dedicated to All-Saints in the deanry of Pontefract, value, ~£22. 13s. 9d. Patron, the King.

Camden supposes that the name of this place is derived from Dui, a local deity, of the Brigantes, for it resembles Duis Burgh in sound; and the town, he observes, has been considerable from the earliest date of Christianity, for a cross, which was to be seen here having this inscription: Paulinus hic praedicavit, et celebravit. This Paulinus, the Northumbrian apostle, was the first Archbishop of York, about the year 626. The learned Dr. Gale was of opinion, that this place received its name from some Roman auxiliaries of the 6th Legion, who had camps in many parts of this Riding."



Information on the following places in this Parish is contained on a supplementary page.
  • Balk Hill
  • Belly Bridge
  • Boothroyd
  • Chickenley
  • Chidswell
  • Clifton
  • Crow Nest
  • Daw Green
  • Dewsbury Mills
  • Dewsbury Moor Side
  • Earls Heaton
  • Gawthorpe
  • Hanging Heaton
  • Hartshead
  • Heaton Hill
  • Kirklees Hall
  • Low Laithes
  • Ossett
  • Pismire Hill
  • Shaw Cross
  • Soothill
  • Spink Well
  • Streetside
  • Thornhills
[Description(s) edited from various 19th century sources by Colin Hinson © 2013]
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Cemeteries

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Churches

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Church History

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Church Records

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Directories

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Gazetteers

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Maps

You can see maps centred on OS grid reference SE244220 (Lat/Lon: 53.693879, -1.631955), Dewsbury which are provided by:

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Memorial Inscriptions

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Names, Geographical

  • The following places are within the boundaries of this (ancient) parish, but I have no further information on them other than the Ordnance Survey Landranger Grid reference shown:
    • (SE248222) Crackenedge
    • (SE285211) Flushdyke
    • (SE270192) Healey
    • (SE229226) Knowles Hill
    • (SE231225) Knowles Lump
    • (SE286214) Lodge Hill
    • (SE240237) Mount Pleasant
    • (SE290200) Ossett Spa
    • (SE275215) Ossett Street Side
    • (SE289209) Shepherd Hill
    • (SE286196) South Ossett
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