Listed Buildings

Ossett has fourteen listed buildings.

Listing marks and celebrates a building’s special architectural and historic interest, and protects it for current and future generations to enjoy. A building may be listed due to its age, its rarity, its aesthetic appeal or because it represents just a select few of its kind that are still standing. A listed structure can only be altered, extended or demolished with permission from the local council or other government authority.  This means changes to the structure will only be permitted if they respect the character and interest of the building and its setting.

A building is listed when it is of special architectural or historic interest considered to be of national importance and therefore worth protecting. As the term implies, a listed building is actually added to a list: the National Heritage List for England. and you can use this to discover whether a property is listed and if so, what grade it is.

Listed buildings are given a grade based on the level of architectural or historic interest.  There are three main categories of listed buildings in England and Wales:

Grade I – buildings of exceptional interest

Grade II* – buildings of particular importance and of more than special interest

Grade II – buildings of special interest

92% of all listed buildings in England and Wales are Grade II.  With the exception of the Grade II* Church Of The Holy Trinity, Ossett’s listed buildings are all designated Grade II. The National Heritage List for England holds the official records for listed buildings, scheduled monuments, Registered Parks and Gardens, Registered Battlefields and Protected Wrecks. But it’s not just buildings that can be listed. Presently the list includes fountains, memorials, and even phone boxes. Ossett doesn’t have any Protected Wrecks but it does have a listed phone box.

You may also be able to find out what is particularly significant about the building. Some listing records are more detailed than others.

Ossett has 14 listed buildings, most of which were designated as such on 6th May 1988.

Listed Buildings

OSSETT GRAMMAR SCHOOL

FORMERLY KNOWN AS PARK HOUSE, STORRS HILL ROAD
Date first listed 6th May 1988

Ossett Grammar School was built in the Market Place in 1834 to replace an older structure, but the school had existed since c. 1730. In 1904 to allow the building of Ossett’s first Town Hall it moved from the Market Place to a temporary site nearby.

By 1907 the Grammar School’s new home was Park House built in 1867 by the Ellis family, cloth manufacturers. It was formally opened on 24th September 1906 for the Autumn term with a largely increased roll of 95 scholars.

In 1921, three temporary wooden classrooms were built for a Preparatory Dept. and it is believed the wooden building, still with gas lighting, may have been in use until 1962. More modern extensions were also built in the 1920s and by 1928 the school roll was c. 230.


In 1927 the school provided a Leaving Scholarship to enable one student to proceed to University and the Pickard Scholarships provided six annual Entrance Scholarships. The Hepworth Trust was created in 1943, to provide scholarships to the Grammar School.

More extensions were added in 1967 & 1969, when it amalgamated with Ossett Secondary (Southdale) and became a Comprehensive, known simply as “Ossett School” with a new Sports Hall and a Lower and Upper School.

Technology College status was awarded in 1996 & Sports College status in 2006. In 2008, there were 1,450 pupils at the school with 260 in the Sixth Form. A new Sixth-Form college opened in 2005 named the David Drake Building after a former Chair of Governors. Constructed on old tennis courts it is next to a multi-purpose sports court for netball, tennis, football on all weather materials.

The school acquired Academy status in 2011 and was renamed Ossett Academy and Sixth Form College, a much larger than average secondary school with a large sixth form. The school is part of the Accord Multi Academy Trust.

For more information see https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1313238

^ Back to the top

22 AND 24, WESLEY STREET

Date first listed 6th May 1988

The 1850 O.S. map shows the mill footprint including the rag workhouse, confirming the view that it is “early to mid C19.” By 1870 dyer William Gartside acquired the land and built the adjacent Wesley House.

In 1889 Edward Clay bought the house & land trading as rag merchants. 50 women worked the top floor sorting rags and removing zips, buttons and seams from the old unwashed bales of clothes. Edward Clay and Son was established in 1870; in 1890 he became the first Mayor of Ossett Borough.


In the early 1900’s Clay’s made shoddy and mungo. During WWII rag prices were controlled and the mill’s storage areas held sugar and tomato puree to help the war effort. Later they made flock for the bedding industry.

Still run by the Clay family now making thermal bonded, needle punch products and mattress, upholstery fillings and felt for the horticulture, packaging & insulation industry. The rag warehouse remains in use.

For more information see https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1184203

Above the front door of Sowood Farm house is a datestone which carries the letters

^ Back to the top

OSSETT WAR MEMORIAL

Date first listed 6th May 1988

The aftermath of the First World War saw the biggest single wave of public commemoration ever with tens of thousands of memorials erected across England. This was the result of both the huge impact on communities of the loss of three quarters of a million British lives, and also the official policy of not repatriating the dead which meant that the memorials provided the main focus of the grief felt at this great loss.

One such memorial was raised at Ossett as a permanent testament to the sacrifice made by men from the town who lost their lives in the First World War.

The memorial was designed by the borough surveyor Mr H Holmes and local architect Mr Charles Kendall. The life-sized bronze figure was sculpted by Mr R Lindsay Clark (who died before the unveiling) and cast by Walkers of Idle.

The memorial originally stood on a traffic island at the east end of Kingsway near the town hall, with the statue facing east. It was unveiled in front of a large crowd on the afternoon of Armistice Sunday, 11 November 1928, by the Rt Hon the Lord Viscount Lascelles. On the day of the ceremony a procession took place, followed by the unveiling, a speech by Lord Lascelles and then the singing of hymns accompanied by the Ossett Military Band.
In 1954 the Memorial was moved to land adjacent to Kingsway and granted Grade II listed status in 1988. In 2001 the Memorial was moved to a central position in the Market Place facing the Grade II listed Town Hall.


On 11th November 2018 the engraved names of 315 Ossett men who died in WWI and 85 Ossett men and 2 Ossett women who died in WWII were unveiled at the War Memorial. In total 402 Ossett Fallen. On 10th November 2019 a further seven names were unveiled – four from WWI & three from WWII bringing the total number of Ossett deaths in conflict to 409.
The names of these Ossett men and women are engraved on granite memorial stones which were laid around the base of the War Memorial in readiness for Armistice Day 2018. The memorial stones were unveiled by children from the 11 Ossett schools moments before the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 2018.

For more information see https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1313237

^ Back to the top

HEALEY NEW MILL INCLUDING ATTACHED CHIMNEY, HEALEY ROAD

Date first listed 6th May 1988
Scribbling and fulling mill, now industrial units. 1826-7 for Benjamin Hallas (Ossett clothier).Benjamin Hallas went bankrupt in 1830 and from 1836-c1880 the mill was owned by the Healey New Mill Company, a co-operative of 29 Ossett clothiers for spinning, carding, scribbling and fulling. After 1881 it was used for the recovered wool industry and mungo manufacture and later shoddy manufacture.


After 1881 the Mill was largely used for the manufacture of mungo and shoddy and was subsequently owned by Giggal & Clay Ltd which by 1901 had become part of the larger Extract Wool and Merino Company Limited, which still traded there. John Thomas Townsend, mungo manufacturer purchased the Mill in 1919 and in 1929 it was sold to Wilson Briggs and Norman Briggs, Ossett rag merchants.
Healey New Mill is still occupied today (2020) largely providing lock-up premises for small firms including the like of car bodyshop repairs, metalwork manufacture and so on . A sign on the building testifies to the ownership of Wilson Briggs & Sons.
For more information see https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1135519

^ Back to the top

THE HOLME LEAS INN

Date first listed 6th May 1988

Former industrial premises dating to the early 19th Century with a late 20th Century addition to the rear. Coursed squared stone, rendered to rear and right return. Stone slate roof. Three storeys, 5 bays. Entrance to right. 2- light windows with recessed, flat-faced mullions.

Described as a rag warehouse in 1910 it was owned by John Greaves’ executors. John was a member of the 19th century mill owning woollen manufacturing Greaves family of Ossett Streetside. The warehouse, tenanted in 1910 by A&M Tolson was one of many John Greaves’ ownerships here including houses, workshops, farm buildings and a farmhouse which adjoins the listed rag warehouse.
In 1923 a consortium acquired interests and later William L. Etherington acquired part of the rag warehouse which he sold in 1961 to Gilbert Mortimer, a rag merchant.

In 1985 planning was approved for a restaurant and a 2 storey extension to what by then was the Holme Leas Inn/Hotel and by 1996, “The Mill”.


In 2008 Listed Building consent was granted for conversion, alteration and extension to form 28 apartments and a 2 storey extension to 194-198 Dewsbury Road, Ossett. The first leasehold interests in the apartments were sold in 2010. The current (2020) owner is Hallmark Mill Development Co. Ltd

^ Back to the top

FORMER PRIMITIVE METHODIST CHAPEL, QUEEN STREET

Date first listed 4th May 1982

The former Chapel is now in residential use.

The following  information is courtesy of  https://www.myprimitivemethodists.org.uk/

The 1863 opening of a new chapel in Ossett is recorded in the Primitive Methodist magazine of 1864. The 1863 date reflects the opening date of Queen Street Primitive Methodist chapel which lives on as a Grade II Listed Building. The pediment has a central tablet inscribed: Mount Zion Primitive Methodist Church 1863.


“At Ossett a very commodious chapel, with a school-room and two dwelling houses underneath, was opened for divine worship under very encouraging financial circumstances in November and December, 1863. Externally, it is considered the handsomest building in the neighbourhood, and when an improvement which is contemplated in the internal arrangement, shall have been completed, it will be a valuable piece of connexional property.

It is 16 yards by 12, and galleried all round, and will accommodate about 500 persons. The entire cost is about £1,100, towards which upwards of £400 have been raised already ; bazaars, tea-meetings, collections, public and private beggings and firings having all been brought into requisition, to accomplish this result.

To the honour of the Independents at Ossett, during the whole time that our chapel was in the course of erection, they allowed us the use of their very commodious chapel every Sabbath afternoon, and their school-room for week-day services. At the opening their minister preached for us in our new chapel, and allowed our minister to preach at the same time and make a collection in his chapel, and thanks to the Wesleyans, they did likewise.”

Now known as The Old Chapel planning consent for conversion to a single dwelling was approved in the late 1990’s. Consent for conversion to five apartments was refused in 2004 but approved in late 2005. In December 2006 consent was granted for eight skylights & an external staircase.

For more information see https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1135520

^ Back to the top

SOWOOD FARMHOUSE, SOWOOD LANE

Date first listed 6th May 1988 Farmhouse.

Dated 1689 with C19 alterations. Coursed squared stone with quoins. Stone slate roof. 2-storey, 3-bay front. Central, quoined doorway with Tudor-arched lintel with sunk spandrels.

Raised letters read:”FM  1689″

The 1676 Manor of Wakefield Court Roll records Francis Marsden of Penistone acquiring the copyhold interest in Sowood House and 29 acres of land from Thomas Purdue and his wife Priscilla.

By 1689 Francis Marsden had built or re-built the farm house which is now owned and occupied by his 8x great grandchildren. The date of (re)construction and Francis Marsden’s name and initials are engraved on the datestone above the front door of Sowood Farmhouse. The 1709 Wakefield Manor Book records that Francis Marsdin (sic) paid 4s 4d rent for a messuage & lands on Sowood Grene.

14th Century references to The Manor of Sowood suggest a manor house and farming activity but none specify in detail the location of either. It is possible that Sowood farmhouse was the seat of the manor but research in 2012 discovered a second Sowood house (built 1684 & demolished 1958) described in 1850 as “Manor House”.

A full history of Sowood Manor and Farmhouse can be seen on Ossett Heritage

For more information see  https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1184193

^ Back to the top

South Ossett Christ Church

Date first listed 6th May 1988

South Ossett Christ Church, is a plain, but substantial building and was originally designed to be capable of accommodating 608 persons. More than 400 of the sittings in the church were deemed as “free forever for the use of the poor” at the time when the more well-off parishioners paid for the best seats in the church.

The church design is a cruciform shape in the Gothic style of the 13th century. Christ Church is considered one of the most beautiful country churches in the neighbourhood.

The two acre site was donated by Joseph Thornes of Green House, Ossett Green, for a church, a churchyard and a vicarage. The piece of ground the church was built on was originally a rough field, in the centre of which stood a small straw thatched cottage in the possession of an old woman named Martha Giggall, who used to boil size for use in cloth weaving. Her fireplace was located where the pulpit of the church now stands. At the time, the old woman was extremely reluctant to leave her home, but was persuaded to move on when she was given £22 from church funds (only about £2,950 in 2019).

South Ossett is an ecclesiastical parish formed on November 27th 1846 and was formerly part of the parish of Dewsbury. At that time the parish comprised some 600-700 souls whose spiritual wellbeing was largely left to non-conformist ministers and preachers. In fact, South Ossett was a hotbed of non-conformism.

Above: South Ossett Christ Church. Photograph by Alan Howe August 2020

It is said that before 1840, the vicar of Ossett only made occasional visits to this part of the town, which were not very warmly welcomed. In those days Ossett, and especially Ossett Low Common (broadly the area now bounded by South Parade, Teall Street and Manor Road) had a reputation for the rough treatment of strangers who dared venture “down the common” when the unruly element was at large. The intrusion was deemed an offence to be punished by stoning and there was not much respect for the Vicar of Ossett, or any Curate of his, to save them from the attention paid to strangers by the inhabitants of the Common.

In spite of this, the Reverend Oliver Levey Collins, the Vicar of Ossett, who was held to be the founder of the South Ossett parish, held meetings in the Low Common house of Jesse Teall to make his presence known in the area. In 1845 Reverend Collins met with the Vicar of Dewsbury, intent on dividing from Dewsbury parish, which was permitted under the “New Parishes Act” passed by Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel in 1843 with the intention to make better “Provision for the Spiritual Care of populous Parishes”.

Above: Christ Church, South Ossett. Picture courtesy Andrea Hartley.

In 1846 the division was made and South Ossett became a provisional Ecclesiastical District which would convert to full parish status once a parish church was established. The Reverend George Bayldon was ordained as Curate of Ossett with responsibility for the new district. Reverend Bayldon lacked the common touch and under his leadership little progress was made in building a congregation and church.

He was succeeded in 1848 by Reverend D.C. Neary who moved his meeting place away from Low Common to a weaving chamber in the region of what was once known, rather appropriately as “Happy Land”. He soon gathered a growing congregation around him and opened a Sunday school to the extent that a subscription list for a church was opened. Reverend Denis Neary was soon to become the first vicar of South Ossett Christ Church.

A suitable site was procured from Joseph Thorns of nearby Green House, The Green, who gifted two acres bordering Horbury Lane which would suffice for a church, churchyard and vicarage. The land comprised a rough field with a small straw thatched cottage occupied by the elderly Martha Giggall whose fireplace stood where the church pulpit stands today. Martha was offered a healthy sum and moved elsewhere.

A building committee was formed comprising Joseph Thornes, Philip Briggs (the first churchwardens of the parish), David Dews and Jacob Archer. The architects were Messrs Mallinson and Healey of Halifax and soon all contracts were let and work began. On Wednesday, Januaty 1st 1851, on the Feast of the Circumcision, the Foundation stone was laid by Reverend Oliver Levey Collins. The wall stone came from Newmillerdam and the ashlar, square hewn stone from Brighouse. With building work relatively inexpensive at that time, remarkably the total cost of the works including fees and every requisite was only £2120. 11s.1d.

The building work was completed in just nine months and  the church was consecrated on Thursday October 16th 1851 by Dr. Longley, Bishop of Ripon who later became the Archbishop of Canterbury. The Churchyard was also consecrated and the first interment took place the next day. The churchyard was closed by Order of Council in the late 1880s by which time 1,976 burials had taken place in the churchyard from the opening of the church in 1851. A replacement burial ground was opened at Manor Road on May 9th 1920.

Above: South Ossett Christ Church with the graveyard in front of the building.

When the Church was opened there was no organ. Mr David Dews (a member of the building committee) hired one at his own cost and it was placed in the gallery. Mr Dews’ nephew, Benton Wilby – a lad of 15 yrs of age was the first organist, but he died in April 1852. Subsequently a subscription list was begun to buy an organ, which was successful and one was ordered to be built by Foster & Andrews of Sheffield at a cost of £200 including fixing. Unfortunately inferior metal was used and after 20 yrs it showed signs of wearing out. By 1880 it was unfit for use. A new organ was dedicated and opened on October 9th 1886. The decision to bring the organ closer to the choir in the chancel entailed an addition of a chamber in the angle between the chancel and the transept, and the construction of a new vestry under the gallery. The total cost was just over £1000, most of which had been raised by the congregation prior to the opening. Mr J. Clafton of Oldham, who was a native of Ossett, gave the first recital.

Not all went well at South Ossett and there was great dispute about Church rates, the payment of which was a sore grievance to many people, before they were abolished in 1865. The collections of these rates produced ill feeling against the Church, in many places besides South Ossett. But here on one occasion extreme measures were used to enforce the payment. The furniture of Mr Greenwood, the Surgeon of Sowood House, Ossett Green was seized and publicly sold and as a consequence of this, he and his family left the Church. It is understood that many others did the same.

The first stained glass window was the East Window, installed in 1862-1863 by Mrs Carr of Carr Lodge, Horbury in memory of her husband Mr John Francis Carr, who died on Christmas Day 1861. At the same time Mr Neary gave one of the small windows in the chancel, in memory of his young daughter who died in 1857. In 1908, “The Good Shepherd” stained glass window was placed in memory of Joseph Cox, who for forty years had been the master of the church school. He was Ossett’s mayor in 1896-97.

References:

  1. Joan P. Smith Horbury And Ossett Family History
  2. The Formation of The Parish John H Ward , Vicar of South Ossett (1884-1892)
  3. South Ossett Parish Church
  4. Ossett Through The Ages (OTTA) Facebook Group.

Wilson and Howe, August 2019

^ Back to the top

SPRINGSTONE HOUSE, DEWSBURY ROAD

Date first listed 6th May 1988 

An 1830 Trade Directory records John Sanderson Archer, solicitor, Spring Stone House, The Street, Ossett; evidence it existed by 1830. In 1840 he was recorded as self occupier of Springstone House. He died in August 1840.

The 1843 Tithe Award and the 1849 O.S. map (published 1854) refer to Springstone House. From 1854 surgeon William Wood Wiseman and his family lived there until his death in 1885 when it passed to his son John Greaves Wiseman.

In 1904 Springstone was sold to building contractor, Francis H. W. Denholm: was he responsible for the late C19 or early C20 changes mentioned in the Listing? By 1911 it was let to 2 families ( 13 persons). In the 1930’s & 1960’s it was let to four tenants drawn from the professional classes. 

In recent times Springstone was occupied by commercial enterprises. After an unspecified change of owner in 1975, by January 2002 Bushel & Co. Ltd were owners and Carclo PLC, a technology led plastics co., were tenants of Springstone from about 2004. 

For more information see  https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1184097

GAWTHORPE WATER TOWER, CHIDSWELL LANE

Date first listed 4th December 2020

The Water Tower at Gawthorpe was officially opened on 12th February 1925 the same day as the foundation stones were laid for the Engine House at Pildacre.

In the early part of 1922 Ossett Corporation promoted a Bill in Parliament to purchase a disused colliery at Pildacre to  construct an Engine House, erect Pumps and Water Tower. The Act received the Royal Assent on the 31st May, 1922.


Pildacre Waterworks was constructed between 1922 and 1928 at a cost of £48,667, and was opened on 25 February 1928 by Councillor J H Moorhouse, Chairman of the Ossett Water Committee. During the same period Gawthorpe Water Tower was constructed approximately 1.25 miles away to the north. The Tower was constructed adjacent to the covered Gawthorpe Reservoir off Chidswell Lane which was built in 1876 to store water brought from Batley and stored in the covered reservoir.

The imposing Water Tower was soon to become an iconic structure and to many born in the 1940’s it was known as “The Iron Teacher” after the Hotspur Comic robot character which appeared in the Hotspur for the first time in August 1954.

Since the early 1970’s the Tower ,standing tall at 35 metres, shared the landscape with the 70 metre tall spire of Holy Trinity Church and the 329 metre tall Emley Moor Mast . For the traveller the three landmarks became a sign of coming home.

By about 2006 Gawthorpe Water Tower had  ceased active use for water storage, but it remains in use in 2020 as a host for telecommunications equipment and, of course, as a sign of arriving home.

For more information  https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1472774

^ Back to the top

CHURCH OF THE HOLY TRINITY, CHURCH STREET

The people of Ossett have a long and fine tradition of English churchmanship. In the early days, ecclesiastically, Ossett was in the parish of Dewsbury which itself has a long tradition of Christianity. It is claimed that Paulinus, Archbishop of York, preached there in 626-7 AD.

As the centuries passed it became clear that the geographical distance between parish priests and their flock needed to be addressed and a number of chapels of ease were built in the West Riding. On June 13th 1409 the Chapel of the Holy Trinity in Ossett in the Parish of Dewsbury was granted episcopal licence.

Little is known of this early chapel except that in 1729 there were plans to add a gallery and that it was situated at the end of Old Church Street in Ossett Market Place close to where the Town Hall was built in 1908.

In 1799, Edward Kilvington became Perpetual Curate of Ossett Chapel and in July 1805 he was granted licence to enlarge it. By October 1805 there had been a change of mind and a contract was let “to demolish the old Chapel or Church at Ossett as far as the onset (foundations) near the ground”. Reverend Kilvington’s new church was built upon those foundations and opened in early January 1807.

By 1846 Ossett cum Gawthorpe was a civil township and the ecclesiastical authorities formed a District Chapelry in the southern part of the township. In 1851 South Ossett Christ Church was built there and in 1858 the parochial status was equalised by Holy Trinity being given a District Chapelry.

By this time Ossett’s population had almost doubled from its level in 1807 when Kilvington built his new, relatively small, church in the town centre. The idea of a new, larger, church seems to have originated with Benjamin Ingham, then British Consul in Sicily, who offered £1,000 in support. In November 1861 a new burial ground for Ossett had been licenced and Joseph Wilson was the first burial in December. The Market Place location was too small and it was decided that a larger church would be built near the new burial ground. The Bishop of Ripon was later to call this church “that miniature cathedral”.

William Henry Crossland of Halifax was appointed architect preparing plans and specifications by May 1862 when building contracts were signed with Matthew & William Hampshire (Huddersfield) as excavators & masons; James Sykes (Huddersfield) as joiners & carpenters and J&J Snowden (Ossett) as plumbers & glaziers. The church was fitted with rich stained glass, the reredos, pulpit and font were of Caen stone and the internal carvings were done by Mr Ruddock of London, a native of Horbury.

In addition to the £1,000 subscribed by Benjamin Ingham, he also contributed to the £800 cost of the bells, and presented the great east window. The west window was presented in memory of Joseph and Mary Whitaker by their five sons.

The corner or foundation stone was laid by the first vicar of Holy Trinity Church, Reverend Thomas Lee, on June 30th, 1862. A public subscription was opened and in September 1863, to raise funds, a large exhibition featured paintings, microscopes, model steam engines, diving apparatus and a working sewing machine.

There were some difficulties with progress on site but the final stone was laid by the vicar in May 1865 and a band ascended the tower playing there to mark the event.

Above: The Reverend Thomas Lee who laid the foundation stone of Holy Trinity Church on the 30th June 1862. Uniquely, to mark the completion of the church in 1865, he also laid the final stone on top of the 225ft (68.5m) high steeple in May 1865. Reverend Lee was the vicar of Ossett-cum-Gawthorpe from 1856 to 1877.

On Saturday June 10th 1865, to coincide with Ossett Feast, the eight bells, cast in 1864 by Messrs. Taylor of Loughborough, arrived at Flushdyke Railway Station. The bells had cost £800 and were “Presented to Holy Trinity Church by Benjamin Ingham, Esq., Palermo, and Sarah, wife of Joshua Whitaker Esq. of Ossett A.D. 1865” as one of the bells is inscribed. The bells were carried by three drays from the station to the church and accompanied by a brass band. The procession made its way through Town End and New Street to Dale Street, calls being made at the Coopers Arms and the George Inn where the musicians were regaled with vast pitchers of ale.

Above: Holy Trinity Bell Tower plaque – picture courtesy of Joan P. Smith 2017.

On July 14th 1865, the new church was consecrated by the Bishop of Ripon, in whose diocese Ossett then lay. A clock was erected in the church in 1866 and it is believed that the original organ, replaced in 1886, had come from the old chapel.

Internally, the Yorkshire stone Holy Trinity Church is 145½’ long, 56’ wide (78½’ across the transepts) and 67’ high to the open roof. The tower and spire together reach 225’. The internal area is 8139 sq. ft. and in 1865 provided 1,116 proprietary sittings with free loose seats in the transepts. Shortly after 1865 all seats were made free.

Officially the rebuilding of the parish church was said to have cost £15,000 and may have inspired other major religious denominations to greater things. By 1870 there were Congregationalists, Methodist sub sects, Baptists, Unitarians and Roman Catholics; the Methodists were rebuilding on a large scale in 1868 and the Congregationalists in 1883.

Above: The stained glass windows inside Holy Trinity Church.

What became of the old chapel in the Market Place when the new church opened in 1865? A suggestion that the old chapel of ease be purchased for use as a market hall was dismissed and in June 1866 authority was granted for the old chapel to be demolished. A month earlier in May 1866 the “Ossett Observer” advertised the materials were to be sold in 34 lots. The site was cleared in the late 1860s adding to the open space in the town centre. The church mounting block was removed in 1870. Evidence suggests that the old chapel of ease had never been consecrated.

On Saturday December 22nd 1934 a new peal was dedicated at Holy Trinity Church following a complete recast by their founders and an augmentation to ten bells. Two more bells were installed in 1988 and following an anonymous £42,000 donation in 2012 a further two were added making Holy Trinity one of only three English churches capable of ringing 14 bells simultaneously. In November 2016 a further bell was installed and dedicated to David Lockwood, a ringer at Holy Trinity between 1948 and 2015.

Above: Holy Trinity graves with a poignant reminder of Ossett men who lost their lives during the Great War 1914-1918.

Holy Trinity Church became a Grade II* Listed Building on May 6th 1988.

References:

1. “The History of Ossett Church” by John F. Goodchild, 1965, the Centenary Year of Holy Trinity Church

2. “Ossett Observer” June 17th 1865 and May 26th 1866

3. Ossett Through The Ages (OTTA) – Facebook posts

4. Picture Gallery Holy Trinity Church

5. Holy Trinity Church web site

Wilson and Howe, July 2019

^ Back to the top

TOWN HALL, MARKET PLACE

Date first listed 26th August 1983.  Date of most recent amendment 6th May 1988

The Grade II listed Town Hall is one of Ossett’s most iconic buildings. Built in 1908, the Town Hall served as a civic centre, magistrates court and offices for Ossett Borough Council until 1974 when Ossett became part of Wakefield Metropolitan District Council. The public hall has served as a concert hall, dance hall, venue for school speech days and indoor market area.

During the 19th century there were several proposals to build a Town Hall for the rapidly growing town of Ossett during the 19th century. William Wood Wiseman, the President of the Mechanics Institute called a public meeting in 1856 to gauge interest in the idea of building a Town Hall. In the event, the people of Ossett were not convinced, especially about raising the funds privately for the proposed new civic building and the idea went no further.

There was another proposal for a Town Hall in 1877, when at a cost of £3,000, a site being purchased by the Local Board on Bank Street. It was several years later, in 1882, that Dewsbury architect Henry Holtom was appointed to draw up plans for the Town Hall. However, once again, the idea was shelved because of concerns about the increase in rates to be levied on Ossett people in order raise the capital required.

Ossett became a Borough in 1890, but still no further progress had been made. In 1896 the new Borough Council decided to proceed with the proposal to build a new Town Hall on the Bank Street site. After some further debate by members of the Borough Council, it was decided that Ossett’s Town Hall should be built in the Market Place, despite strong local opposition to the idea. In 1904 a suitable site was purchased in the Market Place at a cost of £5,700 with another £15,000 allocated for the construction of the new Town Hall. The money had to be borrowed. The Local Government Board gave their approval for the scheme to proceed.

Batley architects Walter Hanstock and Sons won the contract to design the new building. Walter Hanstock and his son Arthur Hanstock, were to be responsible for some of the most imposing buildings built in Victorian and Edwardian Batley. Other projects included Leeds City Public Baths, Selby Public Baths and Horbury’s Council Offices.


The old Grammar School building was demolished circa 1904 and replaced by Ossett Town Hall.

Some of the site bought by Ossett Borough Council for the new Town Hall was actually the old Ossett Grammar School building and for a while, the school was housed in the Central Baptist schoolroom in old Church Street. Eventually, Ossett Borough Council purchased Park House, off Storrs Hill Road, from the Ellis family at a cost of £2,500. The value no doubt reduced because Park House had been used for the convalescence of victims of a smallpox epidemic. Park House was to be the location for the new Grammar School.

On the 27th February 1906, in a heavy snowstorm, Ossett’s mayor Alderman John Hampshire Nettleton laid the foundation stone for the new Town Hall in a heavy snowstorm and on Tuesday 2nd June 1908 the new Town Hall was officially opened by the Mayor Councillor J.T. Marsden. The building was decked out with buntings, flags and other decorations and over 12,000 local people gathered in the Market Place for the grand opening of the new Town Hall.


Above: The Town Hall in 1908 decked out in readiness for the opening ceremony.


Above: Ossett’s Mayor J.T. Marsden at the opening ceremony on 2nd June 1908.

The Town Hall described by the “Ossett Observer” as being “built on the finest site in Ossett” added

“The building consists of a two storied façade, with its three curved pediments and central entrance flanked by caryatids (sculpted female figures serving as architectural supports). Topping the building was a clock tower, the clock being a gift from the daughters of a former mayor, Joseph Ward. On the ground floor were the offices of the borough accountant, the rate collector, the educational officials and the borough surveyor. There was also a court room with solicitors’ and witnesses rooms and a magistrates retiring room. The biggest room on the ground floor was a large public hall capable of seating over 1,300 people. On the first floor were the council chamber, the mayor’s parlour, two committee rooms and the town clerk’s room. The basement provided accommodation for kitchens, performers’ dressing rooms, store rooms and offices for the sanitary inspector and the weights and measurements inspector.”

The Public Hall was actually finished first and opened earlier than the rest of the Town Hall in November 1907 for a choral concert. An external door facing Dale Street has a 1907 date marker on the lintel.


Above: Inside the Town Hall.

Nowadays, Ossett Town Hall is regarded as one of the finest halls for public functions in the district. There is a seating capacity for over 700 people with a balcony area. The public hall is 95ft (29m) x 46ft (14m) and 36ft (11m) high with a large stage area that was built in the 1970s.

A major refurbishment programme for Ossett Town Hall is planned to create a new and permanent home for the town’s library. The library, which is currently based on the first floor of the Town Hall, was moved temporarily downstairs in November 2018, to enable the project to begin.


The Grade II Listed Town Hall alongside the Grade II Listed War Memorial

The investment will provide a full refurbishment of the first floor of the Town Hall to create a modern, more usable and flexible library space with computers, Wi-Fi, printing and photo copying, as well as enabling some essential external repairs to the building. The works will include a new lift that will give full access to the first floor and the installation of an accessible toilet. The refurbishment was expected to be completed in Summer 2019, but has not yet been started.

References:

1. “Ossett Town Hall 1908-2008”, Ossett Historical Society by Ruth Nettleton 2. Ossett Through The Ages – Facebook post by Helen Bickerdike
Wilson and Howe, July 2019

^ Back to the top

K6 TELEPHONE KIOSK BEHIND WAR MEMORIAL

Date first listed 8th June 1988      

The Type K6 Telephone kiosk was designed in 1935 by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott and made in cast iron  by various contractors.  It comprises a square kiosk with domed roof and incorporates unperforated George VI crowns to the top panels and margin glazing to windows and door.

The photograph dated April 2001 shown elsewhere in the official listing refers to the location of the K6 Telephone Box as being “behind the War Memorial” which was removed to its present location in later 2001.


The K6 was in this position by 1954 and remains there in 2020 albeit in a neglected condition but hopefully not beyond redemption. At the time of writing (Summer 2021) there are welcome signs of improvements to Ossett’s “Red Box”.

The K6 kiosk is identified as Britain’s red Telephone Box; one of eight kiosk types introduced by the General Post Office between 1926 and 1983. The K6 was designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott to commemorate the Silver Jubilee of the coronation of King George V in 1935.

Rather fittingly yards away from this location on 11th November 1928 the Ossett War Memorial was unveiled by The Right Honourable The Lord Viscount Lascelles K.G.,D.S.O. Lord Lascelles was the son in law of King George V having married his only daughter, Mary, Princess Royal in 1922. In 1929 Lord Lascelles became the 6th Earl of Harewood.

For more information see https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1135469

^ Back to the top

CHICKENLEY HEATH FARMHOUSE AND OUTBUILDINGS

Date first listed 20th June 1989  

Comprises farmhouse and attached outbuildings dating from the late 17th & late 18th Century and early 19th Century with 20th Century alterations. L-plan original brick farmhouse and barn the present farmhouse, now rendered, is 2 storey with  4 windows above. The interior of the original farmhouse and barn range has chamfered spine beams and a complete late 17th Century roof with 3 king post trusses in the west range and 4 in the north range. All these trusses have king posts with carved tops and braces, plus staggered but purlins.

Chickenley Heath Farmhouse stands aside the A638 Wakefield to Dewsbury road; once the Turnpike Road from Wakefield to Halifax and to Lancashire beyond. Parts of the road were known here as the “Street” and evidence of Roman presence has been found along its route, including at nearby Chancery Lane. In parts of the 19th century its address was Upper Street.


The Farm’s location just within the Ossett parish boundary is 1.8 miles from the 13th century Dewsbury All Saints Parish Church and 1.4 miles from the former chapel of ease, granted episcopal licence in 1409, which once stood in Ossett Market Place. A nearby pathway wound its way from Gawthorpe to Dewsbury through centuries old open fields including Kirke Balke (The churchway).

The Farm had its own water supply from a pond fed by the nearby Chickenley Beck and marshy land to the northwest . To the north there is evidence of 17th century quarrying and 18th century brick making.

In 1774 Thomas Naylor & Widow Terry owned land adjacent to the Farm which, in 1807 was occupied by John Naylor. Both families, farmers and publicans, appear in the 1672 Ossett Hearth Tax. In 1843 the farm was owned by the estate of James Naylor which was administered by Percival Terry. The occupier was John Grace, a publican. In 1851 William Tottingham rented the 12 acre farm. By 1860 the farm had been acquired, by purchase or inheritance, in three shares with one third owned by Thomas Crowther Dawson, Gentleman, of Halifax. By 1902 Mr. Dawson had acquired the whole.

Between 1861 & 1881 the farm and other land was rented by a local man, Lot Lumb.and in 1891-1901 George Sharp took over the tenancy. Lot Lumb lived “next door” until his death in 1896. There is evidence over the years that the Farm was home for trades other than only farming. The farm also appears to have provided accommodation for more than a single family.

Tenant George Sharp died in 1906 and one of his sons, Newman Sharp, took over. The 1910 Valuation records the Farm owner as annuitant Thomas Crowther Dawson (1835-1937) of Goverton, Bleasby, Notts. His ownership included “shop & sheds” occupied by Mark Helliwell; Newman Sharp at Farm House, Farm Buildings & Land; brother Hinchliffe at the Bakehouse and Mark Helliwell at House. The 1911 census records Newman Sharp as farmer of the 5 roomed Farm. By 1927, local man Edmund Lister occupied the dairy farm (1939) and he died there in 1956.

By 1989 the farm was acquired by a new owner/occupier who submitted six planning applications between 1989 & 2009; the most recent, 2009, was for the part demolition, extensions and alterations to form 13 dwellings. It was approved with a 3 year deadline for commencement. By 2020 no work is evident. Chickenley Heath Farm was acquired by a new owner in 2017 and is currently occupied by two families.

For more information see https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1261751

^ Back to the top