Shepley
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Shepley is a village in the civil parish of Kirkburton, within Kirklees, West Yorkshire, England. It is eight miles south-southeast of Huddersfield and six miles northwest of Penistone.
It is connected by the A629 to Huddersfield through to Barnsley and Sheffield and by the A635/6 to Wakefield through to Holmfirth. Shepley railway station is on the Penistone line from Huddersfield to Sheffield.
In the 2003 census the population of Shepley and Birds Edge was put at 3,044.[citation needed]
The amenities of Shepley are reasonable for a village of its size. Shepley has a library which also doubles as a local authority information point. There are two churches, St. Pauls which is used for both Anglican and Catholic services and a Methodist chapel. St. Pauls was erected in 1848 and is in the diocese of Wakefield. Shepley First School has a good reputation and caters for children aged 4 to 10. The Black Bull and The Farmers Boy are the two pubs near the centre of the village. The Sovereign Inn, The Cask and Spindle and The Cross Roads Inn lie on the periphery. Shops include a small independent Co-op and a post office although parking for access to these shops is limited.
There are many sports facilities in the village including tennis, football and most prominently Shepley Cricket Club.
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[edit] History
Sceaplei, Sheply or Shepley literally means 'a clearing or meadow where sheep are kept' and the name is most likely to be Anglo-Saxon in origin. The village is certainly mentioned in the Domesday Book written in 1086. However, evidence exists of earlier occupation in the area at Castle Hill (not to be confused with Castle Hill at Almondbury), a small hilltop above Birdsedge that contains defensive works. This might have been a Roman station.
Shepley's population probably suffered during William the Conqueror's Harrying of the North 1069-70 when he laid to waste towns and villages between the Scottish border and the Humber river in order to put down a northern rebellion against his Norman rule. Thousands of the population were murdered. In the thirteenth century the mesne tenancy of Shepley was held by the Burgh family. If the township was subinfeudated before 1166 it would then have been held by William de Neville husband of Amabel daughter of Adam son of Sveinn.........
The village was soon back in political favour, as in 1217, a certain Matthew of Sheplei was knighted and his name appears in the records of the Beaumont family from Bretton. Farming would initially have been the village's main industry, although the wool trade started to grow from the 14th century onwards. A building known as Shepley Hall is situated on Station Road, and was probably the manor house for the village
In the 19th century, Shepley was recorded as having 30 tailor's shops in a population of around 1,000. These having sprung up as a result of the four mills around the village manufacturing fine woollen worsteds. In 1868 Shepley was described as a township and chapelry in the parish of Kirkburton, upper division of Agbrigg wapentake, West Riding county York. Woollen mills were the main industry. In the 19th century, Sir Joseph Radcliffe from Milnsbridge House was Lord of the Manor.
Today, Shepley is also the home to the manufacturing of a drinking water company, aptly named 'Shepley Spring' which can now be bought worldwide. Shepley also has a Co-operative store that still hands out dividends based upon regular customers having individual numbers. Whenever the dividends were handed out, everyone dashed to the store (which used to be situated by the village green on Marsh Lane) to receive their dues. This became known as the 'Shepley Races'.
Shepley Lane Head
Lane Head is a settlement just outside the village and has an old Quaker House which had close associations with the one at High Flatts. At Lane Head, Seth Senior, a local brewer, set up a brewery in 1829 on a site which became known as The Royal Sovereign Inn (now the 'Sovereign Inn'). The stone carving of a man's face - a Yorkshire tradition to commemorate the death of a builder during any construction work - can still be seen on the Eastern gable of the building. The carving had been removed from an old part of the Sovereign Inn complex which was demolished in the 1990s. Members of the Roebuck family lived on this site for over 70 years and held the tenancy when the famous Sovereign Anthem was written in 1929 to commemorate 100 years of the brewery. It is reputed that the Sovereign Inn is haunted by two ghosts, firstly Elizabeth Tedbar Smith (mother of Sarah Jane Roebuck) who sits looking out at an upper window. Secondly, during the 1960s, a man was found dead with a broken neck at the bottom of the Inn's cellar steps, and his spirit is supposed to wander through the cellars below. Animals have often been afraid to enter.
Seth's two sons Reuben and James joined their father's business and it grew rapidly. They moved their operations to bigger premises at Piper Wells on Holmfirth Road. You can still see a couple of the brick towers above Piper Wells which were used to source the water for the brewing process. During the early part of the 20th century, it was not unusual to see Senior's shire horses pulling dreys up and down the hill to and from Shepley. The Seniors eventually owned several public houses in the area, including the Railway (now the Cask and Spindle), The Black Bull, the Stagg's Head (the building can still be seen on Abbey Road), and the Farmer's Boy. The family also built Cliffe House. In 1946, the family business was taken over by Hammonds Brewery in Lockwood (now Bass). The Senior family are all buried in the church yard at Upper Cumberworth.
Lane Head is also famous for its stone quarries that have provided raw materials used at Buckingham Palace in London, and other famous landmarks. The Lindley family used to own the quarry situated on Carr Lane, but it has now become part of the Marshalls Group, as have Appleton Quarries situated on Holmfirth Road. The son of a previous owner is interred above the quarry following a tragic accident in the late 1970s. Legend has it that a golden cradle also lies buried in the 'Round Wood' above Appleton Quarries. Although, the line of the walling around this wood has changed in recent times, it is shown as a perfect circle on mid 19th century maps of the area. Given that Castle Hill in Birsdege is only a mile away, the Round Wood may hold secrets yet to be discovered - after all, pagan burial sites were often circular in nature!
Shepley Carr
Before the Barnsley and Shepley Lane Head Turnpike was built by Blind Jack of Knaresborough in the 1820s, it is thought that this small hamlet was situated on the packhorse route from Penistone to Huddersfield. Merchants would travel from Penistone, through Thurlstone, along Broadstones Road to Five Lane Ends, down Piper Wells Road, Cross Lane and Carr Lane, before turning down the long drive into Shepley Carr. The route would then follow the fields (before they were enclosed), past the Shepley War Memorial, and into the village. The travellers would then head out towards Stocksmoor and Farnley Tyas through Stones Wood. Some old locals tell stories of a ghostly coach and fours furiously speeding down the long drive on wintry nights before vanishing at the hamlet. The present house at Shepley Carr is the third building on this site and dates from the 1860s, replacing one that had burnt down.
During the early 19th century, the Tinker family lived at Shepley Carr, and was responsible for building Tinker's Monument near Hill Top above New Mill. Deeds held at the West Yorkshire Archive Centre in Wakefield suggest that the original house at Shepley Carr dates from the 16th century and was owned by the Armytage Family of Kirklees Hall. Locals believe that Oliver Cromwell marched his army through Shepley Carr during the English Civil War 1642-49. Roundheads, as the soldiers were known, were probably in Kirkburton, and at Catling (now Cat Hill) Hall near Penistone, the latter having a holding post in the cellars upon which royalist prisoners were chained.
Shepley Abbey
Part of the village on the A629 heading North West towards Huddersfield is known as The Abbey, and some local street names are derived from this. No evidence exists to suggest that an Abbey (a massive religious building) was built in Shepley, but there may have been a small religious foundation here prior to Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries from 1536. The Abbey and Farm was owned by the Armitage Family, a branch of the Armytage family of Kirklees Hall, and this does suggest a link between Kirklea Priory at Shepley Bridge (situated on the Huddersfield - Leeds road) and a religious outpost in Shepley village, approximately 10 miles away. Kirklea Priory was the reputed place where Robin Hood died, and a grave in the former Priory's grounds is said to be his. The Priory was replaced by Kirklees Hall. As outlined above, the Armytage Family also had links with Shepley Carr.
Samuel Armitage (73years) and his son Edward Armitage (bn 1843), both Wool Manufacturers are noted as living at The Abbey in 1881. The Abbey property was then bought from the Armitage family by Edgar Dickinson who was a Farmer and a Threshing Contractor In about 1930 he built a new Dairy Farm and mew mistals....... He sold the farm to George Tom Wragg who continued with it until the beginning of the second World War..... After the war he sold out to Luther Chapell but the Abbey itself and the paddock adjoining were sold separately to George Greenwood. He in turn sold it to Richard Field (of Fields Rugs in Skelmanthorpe) in 1960. In 1987 Mr Field split the Abbey to make it into two houses, selling one half and now living in the other half himself.'
However, some more research needs to be carried out here to strengthen the links between Shepley Abbey and Kirklea Priory!
[edit] Nearby places
Towns and cities: Huddersfield, Holmfirth, Wakefield, Barnsley, Sheffield.
Villages: Shelley, Kirkburton, Stocksmoor, New Mill, Birds Edge, Upper Cumberworth, Denby Dale.
