Birstall (West Yorkshire)
| Birstall | |||
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| Coordinates | 53 ° 44 ′ N , 1 ° 40 ′ W | ||
| OS National Grid | SE241242 | ||
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| Residents | 8740 | ||
| administration | |||
| Post town | BATLEY | ||
| ZIP code section | WF17 | ||
| prefix | 01924 | ||
| Part of the country | England | ||
| region | Yorkshire and the Humber | ||
| Shire county | West Yorkshire | ||
| District | Kirklees | ||
| ONS code | 00CZ | ||
| British Parliament | Dewsbury (constituency) | ||
Birstall is a place about 10 km south-west of Leeds in West Yorkshire , England . It is part of the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees . The place has a quaint triangular Victorian marketplace that replaced an earlier Gregorian marketplace on the higher High Street. A weekly market still takes place on this market square every Thursday.
Birstall is centrally located between Leeds , Bradford , Huddersfield and Wakefield , close to the M62 Motorway . The village has always benefited from good transport links, which has recently led to rapid growth by workers in the nearby city of Leeds who want to live as commuters in the more rural area. An industrial park with an IKEA, a Borders branch and a multiplex cinema from Showcase Cinemas has settled on the edge of the town.
Birstall was not listed as a separate location in the Domesday Book , but it was mentioned as one of two main settlements within Gomersal . In Pigot's National Commercial Directory for 1828-29 , Birstall was listed as one of the four villages in Gomersal parish.
Before 1937 Birstall had its own Urban District Council, but financial problems led to the unpopular merger with the council of neighboring Batley . After 30 years, both places were again incorporated into the municipality of Kirklees during the formation of the municipalities .
In the Yorkshire dictionary there is a saying cahr quiet li 'the' do i 'Birstall . However, no reason was given as to why Birstall should be associated with quiet , with locals claiming that this is because a Birstaller Luddit was never arrested.
history
Birstall is mainly known as the birthplace of Joseph Priestley , who discovered, among other things, oxygen . Priestley received extensive training from then Vicar von Birstall, a highly educated Edinburgh citizen with a keen interest in science. He was also a student at the Batley Grammar School for Boys , founded in 1612 by Rev. William Lee. The school still exists today and is on Carlinghow Hill, about a mile outside of Birstall.
Also from Birstall is John Nelson, a stonemason who was converted to Methodism by Charles Wesley while working in London . He later returned to Birstall as one of Wesley's most important preachers.
Birstall enjoyed a certain prosperity even before the industrial revolution , as the place is located in an area that was a stronghold of the English cloth industry. Due to the industrial revolution, however, the place experienced enormous growth and the architecture of that time still shapes the cityscape today. The area became known as the Heavy Wool District because of the heavy woolen cloth goods made here . Nowadays, with the exception of local sports, this term is rarely used due to the decline in the cloth industry. The most outstanding architectural feature of this period is the cobblestone market square with a statue of Priestley on it. The statue was created in 1912 on public order by Frances Darlington. It is one of the very few works of art she has created that is open to the public.
After a long and tough struggle with the citizens' initiative, the local council's committee responsible for the local development recently decided to provide £ 900,000 (approx. € 1.33 million) for the renovation of the market square and town center of Birstall. In the course of the renovation, the old paving stones of the market square will be replaced by a new, smoother paving, as the old paving has meanwhile become a health and safety risk. There is talk of using some of the old stones in the new design, especially around the Joseph Priestley statue.
In Birstall stands the picturesque St. Peterskirche from the time of Henry VIII , the tower of which is much older and probably part of the original Burgh Stall or Fortified Place. Nearby is Oakwell Hall , an Elizabethan mansion that Charlotte Brontë used as a template for "Fieldhead" in her novella Shirley .
Another attraction is an 18th-century windmill that stands on the grounds of St Savior's Junior School.
Anyone interested in Birstall's history should visit the Black Bull Inn , which is just behind St. Peter's Church. The pub has dozens of pictures of the place, most of them from 1900 to 1930. The pub's upper floor was once used as a courtroom for Birstall and Batley. The Luddists used to hold their meetings in this pub.
On June 16, 2016, 41-year-old Jo Cox , a member of the Labor Party, was attacked by a 52-year-old man in Birstall . During the attack, the man shot the politician three times and then stabbed her several times with a knife. Immediately afterwards, the perpetrator was caught. The politician herself succumbed to her serious injuries at Leeds General Infirmary .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Historic cobbles may be kept in village revamp. Batley and Birstall News, accessed July 14, 2016 .
