Mary Taylor
Mary Taylor was born on 26th February 1817 and baptised at Birstall. She was one of the six children of Joshua Taylor and his wife Ann, nee Tickell. The Taylors lived at Red House,
Gomersal built by a Taylor predecessor in 1660. Joshua Taylor was a banker and cloth manufacturer, in fact he had an exclusive contract to supply cloth to the British army. He was a radical and independent thinker and he encouraged his children also to think for themselves, but he was also a cultured man, speaking French and Italian fluently.
The family worshipped at their own non-conformist chapel on what is now Scott Lane, just over the road from Red House.
Mary met Charlotte Bronte and Ellen Nussey at Roe Head School in January 1831 when she and Ellen were 13 and Charlotte 14 and the three became firm friends. At school Mary was studious, determined and hard working but quiet and respectful mainly. Between them she and Charlotte were always top of the class. She was considered to be very pretty at this time and her nickname at school was "Pag". This contrasted with her sister and fellow pupil Martha who was outspoken and challenged her teachers. Martha was nicknamed "Miss Boisterous" by schoolmates but was also very popular with them, full of life, daring and affectionate. Mary and Martha were not as well dressed as the other pupils. Their father had lost money at banking and had debts, so they had to be economical. In fact Joshua spent the rest of his life trying to pay off his creditors, and two of his sons continued to do so after his death.
After they left school Mary and Charlotte corresponded and Charlotte sometimes stayed at Red House. During these visits the family and their guest would discuss politics and religion. Charlotte, a Tory and clergyman's daughter held opposing views to the Taylor's radical and dissenting ones. Yet Charlotte found their company rousing and a pleasure.
As she grew up Mary's personality developed further. As an adult she was strenuous, strong-minded, intelligent, energetic, determined, independent, blunt at times, and a feminist . After her father's death in 1840 she determined to be independent and keep herself, but felt she could not do this in England because of public perceptions of the role of middle class women here. To begin with she and Martha went to Brussels to study music and languages mainly and encouraged Charlotte and Emily to join them, albeit at a different school. The Taylor family fortunes had evidently recovered by this time, and the Taylor girls were able to attend the more expensive school at the Chateau de Koekelberg whilst Charlotte and Emily attended Pensionnat Heger. Whilst there Martha died suddenly of cholera in October 1842. Mary and the Bronte sisters were dismayed by the loss of such a vibrant and loving person. Afterwards Mary went on to study and teach in Germany. Charlotte was shocked that Mary taught boys rather than girls!
Then in 1845 Mary left to join her brother, William Waring Taylor in Wellington, New Zealand, something she had been contemplating since her father's death. Charlotte likened her loss as "like a great planet falling out of the sky". In Wellington Mary taught piano, traded in cattle and set up a drapery shop with her cousin Ellen Taylor which became one of the city's principal stores. She began writing, submitting articles to English magazines which were declined, and she started two novels, one of which was intended "to revolutionise society". She continued to correspond with Charlotte at a time when Charlotte was becoming famous as the author of "Jane Eyre" and "Shirley", but she was not afraid to say exactly what she thought of the novels and she sometimes criticised Charlotte and her heroines for not being independent or forthright enough. She did, however, mainly approve of her own family's portrayal as the Yorke family in "Shirley", with reservations. Charlotte's description of the interior of Red House made her feel as if she were back there, so true was it to the original.
Despite her success in New Zealand, Mary's heart, it seems, was always with family and friends in Yorkshire and she returned in 1860 to live at High Royd, the house built for her on Spen Lane, Gomersal. Back home, she had a series of articles on feminism published in "Victoria magazine" between 1865 and 1870 culminating in a book entitled "The First Duty of Women". She also co-wrote "Swiss notes by five ladies", published in1875, describing an alpine expedition she had organised to Switzerland, a country she visited regularly. Her novel "Miss Miles" was published in 1890. Set in the Gomersal area, it recounted the progress through life of five different women and developed her ideas about working women and their independence from men.
Mary died at Gomersal on 1st March 1893, aged 76, and is buried in St. Mary's churchyard. She had destroyed Charlotte’s letters to her, but after Charlotte's death in 1855 she sent a long account of their friendship and her impressions of Charlotte's character to Mrs Gaskell for inclusion in her definitive biography of Miss Bronte, published in 1857.
The Saw
This public house, now a bistro and bar, is said to have a tunnel running from its cellar to Spen Hall, lower down Spen Lane. Spen Hall was at one time a chemical works and was also where the Taylor family lived for a time. The tunnel is said to have used by priests, probably Catholic, fleeing persecution.
Victorian post box
This post box survives on Spen Lane but they are becoming increasingly rare.
Contrast this with the unusual use of a gas canister as a letterbox at Throstle's Nest Farm
The Shoulder of Mutton
This public house on Oxford Road was bought by the LNWR railway company in 1897 when they were building Gomersal tunnel directly below it. They were afraid the pub would fall into the workings.
The "Pork Pie" Chapel
The Methodist Chapel on the corner of Lathom Lane and West Lane is so called because of its distinctive shape. It was built between 1827 and 1828 and Mary Taylor would certainly have known it. Before the chapel was built the Gomersal Wesleyan Society members were holding their services in a field by day and in Grove Chapel by night. Then Edward Brooke of Honley was invited to preach to them in 1827. He felt the congregation should have its own chapel and donated £50 to this cause. Others followed and the new building was opened on 20th June 1827.
"Toffee Smith"
Walter or "Toffee" Smith, as he was nicknamed, famous for his sweet stalls, is buried at the "Pork Pie" Chapel. He was born on 8th November 1870 to William and Hannah Smith of Bird Acre, Gomersal. His father was a joiner. In 1891 he was still living at home with his parents in Gomersal Bottoms but was working as a tool maker. At some point he began making and selling toffee bars to sell to the congregation of the Methodist chapel he attended and others to raise funds for them. He then sold his sweet treats to Gomersal miners going on or coming off shift. He progressed to renting stalls to sell his wares at Heckmondwike, Dewsbury and Wakefield markets. His products proved so popular that a factory was established off Oxford Road, Gomersal, to produce more toffee and boiled sweets. In 2013 the factory was producing at least 20 varieties of boiled sweets, toffee and fudge often using the original recipes, some over 100 years old, and there are still "Toffee Smith" sweet stalls at Dewsbury (see photo) and Halifax markets. Walter retired to Morecambe in 1937 but sadly did not enjoy his retirement for long, dying on 10th September 1937, aged 66. He is buried alongside his wife, Ruth Ann who died in 1959. However, his descendants continue the "Toffee Smith" tradition.
The Moravian Church
The Moravians had a strong hold in this area in the nineteenth century and a Moravian quarter developed in Gomersal along Quarry Road and its offshoots. The foundation stone for the Moravian church here was laid in 1751 and in 1768 members of the Taylor family held a bazaar at the Mechanics' Institute to raise funds for much needed alterations. The family also partly funded the church organ. It seems that Ellen Nussey and Mary Taylor attended the small Moravian school next door and only went to Roe Head school when this one closed. The church had its own Sunday School on Lower lane, built between 1816 and 1820.
The Sisters' Houses
This row of houses on Lower Lane was built by the Moravian church to house some of its female members, or sisters. By 1811, however, they seem to have become private houses. No. 52 has strong Bronte connections. From 1812-1861 Dr William Carr, who attended the births of the first two Bronte daughters, Maria and Elizabeth, lived there. Dr. Carr's wife, Sarah Nussey, was a cousin of Charlotte Bronte's close friend Ellen. Charlotte and Ellen are said to have visited the house many times. Later, from 1874, Miss Margaret Wooler, who taught Charlotte Bronte and Mary Taylor at Roe Head School, lived there as the tenant of William Carr junior. She had remained a firm friend of Charlotte's also, and gave Charlotte away at her wedding in lieu of her father, Patrick. She died there in 1884 and is buried in Birstall churchyard. The terrace of houses were also used as a girls' boarding school school at one time.
Oakroyd Hall
Oakroyd Hall near Gomersal was the site of a control bunker for anti aircraft guns during World War II. It was the main anti aircraft gun base for the West Riding, protecting Leeds, Halifax, Bradford and Huddersfield during air raids. Built partly underground it was attacked by the Luftwaffe on several occasions. The hall is now part of the West Riding Fire and Rescue Service H.Q.