Chickenley

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Chickenley is a large council estate in the east of Dewsbury, West Yorkshire. It was originally a farming hamlet, half-way between Ossett and Dewsbury. An old story is that when the May Pole was built in the Gawthorpe area of Ossett in 1840, some men from Chickenley came to tear it down again.

After the Second World War, a large estate was built on the landscape. The estate is by far the largest in the town and has few shops within it. Whilst Dewsbury is a town with a well-established Asian community and three Islamic schools, the Chickenley estate has hardly any Asian residents and local support for the British National Party is high. The local elections of 4th May 2006 saw the BNP gain the "Dewsbury East" ward, which includes the estate.

An oddity of the area is that it has no Church of England church, although there is St Thomas More Catholic Church, opposite the Community Centre on Chickenley Lane. Until recently, Chickenley was linked with the Gawthorpe area of Ossett in a Church of England parish. The C.ofE. St Mary's Church lies right at the border, on the Ossett side. However, the estate is now part of the large parish of Dewsbury, which has several churches within its area.