Ghost Sign
The faded advertising board on the side of this building off Huddersfield Road, is a left over from the time when this property was a grocer's shop. It is listed in trade directories for 1922 as Hirst & Spivey, Grocers. The advert reads "Kilkof - Tackle that Tickle".
Kilkof was produced by Parkinson's Ltd of Burnley, a manufacturing chemist established in 1849 by Richard Parkinson. It became famous world wide for remedies for coughs, colds, bronchitis, catarrh and sore throats. In 1954 a bottle of Kilkof cost one shilling and sixpence. Kilkof is still being sold today under the name of Parkinson's Ltd. Parkinson's made other products too and here are their
adverts for two of their other products, 'Female Occasional
Pills’ and ‘Blood and Stomach Pills’.
One advert for Kilkof which appeared in the Huddersfield Examiner in the 1950's
featured a frog with the wording "Croaky? Dirty Weather Calls for Kilkoff".
Whether this is the same Hirst and Spivey who, as part of "The Maori Minstrels" were reported in the Huddersfield Chronicle of 5th February 1895 as having performed the song "Soothing Syrup" to school children at Lockwood is doubtful, and yet, if so, would have been very apt!
Samuel Drake & Son
Honley Wells
The wells in Eastgate served an important function in providing Honley residents with fresh water before the days of piped water, and they also served as a communal meeting place. A natural stream ran through Towngate and in 1796 the Constable and Overseer of the village had it covered to prevent contamination. The inscription warns of a penalty of 10 shillings for anyone found polluting the waters. The wells were rebuilt in 1850 and in December 1858 the village's first ever gas lamp was placed there, enabling villagers to gather water after dark. The lamp was powered by gas from Honley's own gas works at Honley bridge, and lasted until the 1930s when it was removed due to road widening works, which also reduced the size of the wells. It wasn't until December 2012 that a new lamp was placed there and the wells lit up once again. Meanwhile Huddersfield Corporation had provided piped water from
around September 1881 which much reduced the use of the wells. Previously they had been used for washing, cleaning, brewing and drinking, and had been fetched to people's homes in cans, barrels, buckets and a variety of other vessels.
The Pinfold
Near the wells stands what remains of the pinfold, the enclosure used to hold stray animals which were impounded until the rightful owner could be found. Water from the wells actually ran through the pound. A village pindar had been appointed through time by the Ancient Court Leet, the last one being a Joseph Moorhouse. In former times children would climb the high wall to look at whatever poor creature was in there, sometimes falling into the pinfold themselves.
Village Stocks
The broken stocks, now in St. Mary's churchyard, used to stand close to the pinfold at the top of "The Gate" as the street was once known, better known as Eastgate today. They were almost destroyed when that street was widened in 1870, when the remains were removed, at first, to the garden of a Mr Joseph Whitworth for their preservation. They were used by the police constables of the day to lock up drunks until they slept it off, but the villagers often sympathised with the drunk and would take him more beer and keep him company, sometimes even singing to him. Other offenders were also pilloried.
The Coach and Horses Inn
This former public house in Eastgate is famous as the place where two of the men involved in the murder of William Horsfall are said to have spent the night drinking after hiding their weapons in Dungeon Wood. Horsfall
was a Marsden millowner, and on 28th April 1812 had been all day at market in Huddersfield. He was an enemy of the Luddite cause and had sworn that he would ride up to his saddle in Luddite Blood. On his way home on horseback he was shot and killed at Crosland Moor by Luddites. Troops were drafted in and the area put under martial law whilst the hunt for the murderers gathered pace. A reward of 2 thousand pounds was offered for information leading to the arrest of the murderers. Then one Benjamin Walker came forward to confess to the murder and three others, George Mellor, Thomas Smith and William Thorpe were soon after arrested and sent for trial in York. Walker turned King's evidence ensuring the conviction of the other three. At the trial in January 1813, the landlady of "The Coach and Horses" was called to give evidence. The following day the three convicted were duly hanged. However the Skelmanthorpe historian Mr Fred Lawton later recalled that as a boy he and his father went to Denby Dale to visit a Mr Fothergill of Milnsbridge on his death bed who confessed it was he who shot Horsfall, not Mellor, Thorpe and Smith.
During the Luddite troubles a lights out curfew of 10pm operated in the village. Anyone caught outdoors after this time could be arrested by the military patrols. One Honley man was arrested on Honley bridge one night when returning from meeting his sweetheart. As a result three witnesses had to travel to York to speak up for him.
On 23rd June 1890 an inquest was held at the inn, presided over by the coroner, Mr W. Barstow, on the body of Hannah Schofield. She was aged 25 and the daughter of Mr John Schofield, the landlord of the inn. She had been found drowned in the river Holme a few days previously. The evidence showed that she had been recently addicted to excessive drinking and had suffered from delirium tremens. The jury returned a verdict of "found drowned, having probably drowned herself whilst suffering from delirium tremens".
On 3rd August 1900 the Huddersfield Chronicle reported a complaint about water from "The Coach and Horses" in Eastgate creating a nuisance on the footpath.
The National School
The National school was built in 1816 and opened in 1817 on the strength of donations by local landowners, the people of Honley, and the National Society which gave £50 towards the total sum of £207. Some of the subsribers continued to give annually in order to maintain the school. It operated a Church of England system of education based on the Bell system. 72 boys and 38 girls attended during the first year, to be taught by the first schoolmaster, a Mr Hawkswell. Attendance increased yearly. A library was attached to the school and a Sunday school also operated in the premises. In 1846 the old school was converted into cottages and a new school built. The rent from the cotttages went towards the upkeep of the new school. The Earl of Dartmouth had given the site for the new school and the National Society this time donated £565. The building was enlarged in 1872/3, and further alterations completed in 1882, when an exhibition of art and a bazaar were held to clear off the remaining debt incurred by the building work. Free education was provided from September 1891 and a house built for the schoolteacher in 1898.
Honley Liberal Club
Members met at first in the old Mechanics Institute in New Street but as membership increased a plot of land at the top of Cuckoo Lane was acquired and a stone building erected facing School Lane. This was to become the new Liberal Club and the foundation stone was laid on
5th August 1905. The ceremony was to have been performed by Alderman G. W. Oldham, but as he was sick on the day his daughter, Miss Oldham, stood in for him. She laid the first of six stones, the others being set by various well-known local liberals. The building eventually opened on 7th July 1906 having cost £1,641.7s.0d, the opening ceremony being performed by Sir James Kitson, M.P. for the Colne Valley. Mr Arthur Drake had been president of the club at an earlier date (see Drake’s stores).
Honley Council Offices
The offices were built in 1914 to house the officials and councillors of Honley Urban District Council and those of Honley Gas Company. The councillors had previously had their meetings in the working men's club. The building was designed by
architects J. Berry & Sons of Huddersfield and was opened at a ceremony on 22nd September 1915 by Mr. Elon Crowther of "Rockleigh", Brockholes, the Chairman of the Council. The Council merged with other Holme Valley urban districts in 1938 to form Holmfirth Urban District Council.