Treacle 'Ole
Within the little known area of Kirkburton known as Low Town, behind the parish church, is an area known as the Treacle 'Ole. This unusual name derives from an incident which once
occurred there when a wagon carrying barrels of treacle shed some of its load onto the road. At least one of the barrels split open. The frugal residents, good Yorkshire people not wanting
to waste such a luxury, rushed out and scooped up the sticky substance into jugs and bowls to take home with them.
The incident lingered long in their memories and several of the dwellings there are named after this incident, including this one, Treacle Cottage. The date of the incident is uncertain. Please contact us if can tell us when it happened. Our contact details are on the homepage.
Another treacle robbery occurred at Kirkburton on 15th November 1855 when thieves entered property adjoining Thomas Lodge's shop and stole four and a half hundredweight of the sticky stuff. It was supposed they had been disturbed in doing so as they left a quantity they had already drawn behind and the cask dripping onto the floor!
Edge Tools and Shovels
Jeremiah Carter established the Carter Edge Tool Company in Highburton in 1740. He had 12 children, some of whom followed the same occupation, as did their children in time. And so the company became a family business. In the 1830s Jeremiah's great grandson, Robert Carter, carried on the business living at what is now no. 40 Far Dene, Highburton with his smithy just next door. Across the street Henry Carter converted his home into a public house, the Smith's Arms, around 1830. He too was an edge tool maker, as were several future generations of the Carter family. Pigot's directory of 1834 shows 3 edge toolmakers in Highburton - all Carters – Robert, Henry and John. Robert and John made billhooks and other agricultural implements whilst Henry made clogmakers' knives. Around this time the Carters developed a trademark, the initials IC enclosed in a heart shape, and had it stamped on all their tools.
Robert's son who was also Jeremiah's great great grandson, Richard Carter, relocated the company to Dene Works Kirkburton in 1850, where it stayed for the next 150 years. The company continued to produce agricultural implements for many years but with increasing industrialisation the company had to adapt to the times and developed the Carter shovel around 1870 for the growing coal mining and steel industries, which became their major customers. The 1880s saw the company advertising for staff to make shovels, colliers' picks and mattocks and hammers.
In 1909 "Richard Carter Ltd" was registered as a private company, taking over the business of spade, shovel, tool and handle manufacturers carried out by Messrs R. Carter, A. Carter and W. Carter, all of whom were to be the new company's first directors. These were probably Richard Carter's sons, Arthur and Wilfred, who had followed their father into the business.
The Boer War and both World Wars saw a vast increase in the demand for tools
Carter shovels were used to dig the trenches in World War I. Kirkburton railway station was used to send the tools to the troops during both World Wars, 1500 a week in World War II when the company had a direct government contract.
The wars had their effect on the Carter family in a more personal way. Both Lieutenant John Wilfred Carter and Private Ernest Carter, both of the Duke of Wellington Regiment, were killed during World War I.
With the decline in the coal and steel industries from the 1970s onwards the company again had to adapt and seek new markets. They did this so well that they needed larger premises. Carter's moved to new premises in Honley in 2000 enabling them to use the latest technology to improve their manufacturing techniques, product design and quality. In 2015 Richard Carter's celebrated 275 years of manufacturing edge tools.
The Carter family still own the company and are proud of their workforce, their traditions and their ability to innovate. They still make tools, forks, rakes, gardening and agricultural tools, also hammers and tool handles, but still primarily SHOVELS.
Incidentally, there seems to have been at least one other Carter edge tool making company in Kirkburton. The death in April 1938 of a partner in the firm of Henry Carter and Sons of Prospect Works, Kirkburton, Mr Albert Franklin Carter, was reported in 'The Yorkshire Post'. Lots of other Carters were involved in the same trade too. In August 1868 Elliott Carter, spade and shovel maker, was declared bankrupt at Huddersfield, and in January 1869 Thomas Carter, shovel maker in the employ of Joseph Carter, spade maker, was in court and sent to gaol for a month for stealing lead from his employer's premises.
The Masonic Hall
The Kirkburton Masonic Hall opposite the church and police station on George Street was built in mock Tudor style in 1889 for the Freemasons. The Beaumont Lodge of Freemasons have held their meetings here ever since. The site, which was leased from the Sheffield Hospital Trustees, was previously occupied by an arched culvert over a beck, so that much landfilling was necessary before building work could commence, and the building needed deep foundations. When it was built the ground floor contained a large meeting room with supper room off which could be joined to the meeting room if necessary to provide an even
larger space, a robing room, retiring room and caretaker's living quarters. The upper floor contained two bedrooms accessed by different staircases. The architect was Brother J. W. Cocking and the masons W. Morehouse and Sons. The building also had a large basement.
A ceremony to lay the corner stones was held on 8th September 1888 when officers of the Lodge met at the George Inn and, carrying the various insignia of their order, walked in procession to the site of the new building. Brother William Schofield layed the main corner stone with a silver trowel whilst Brother Cocking layed the second stone. others followed. Speeches were made before the procession reformed to walk to a packed parish church where a service was performed to a rapt audience. The hall actually opened the following year, 1889.
It was intended that the hall be used not just for the Masons but for other public meetings in the village too.
The small circular building next to the Hall was its Lodge House, intended for use by the gentlemen's drivers whilst they themselves were at the masonic meetings. Later this round house was used as a butcher's shop, then a tailor's, then a fabric shop, and now a chiropodist's.
The Town Hall
Springfield House was built by the owners of Springfield Mill, an extensive textile mill with spinning and weaving sheds dating back to 1830 and situated close by.
Kirkburton Urban District Council were able to buy the building in 1935 and adapted it for their Town Hall. However, the grand building was sold off to a private buyer in 1982. It is a Grade II listed building.
Waterloo Soldier
Benjamin Smith of Kirkburton fought under Field Marshall the Duke of Wellington at Waterloo, the decisive battle in the defeat of Napoleon. He was born in Kirkburton in 1793 but joined the Royal Artillery and served as a gunner during the battle which took place on 18th June 1815. Later, after the war with France was over, his regiment no longer needed as many soldiers, so aged 25 he was discharged on 10th February 1819, returning to his native
village where he stayed for the rest of his life. He died on 27th November 1845 aged 52. His grave in the churchyard is decorated with a carving of the image on his Waterloo medal. His wife, Ann, was able to afford to have his gravestone carved and erected in his honour. In the year 2000 local volunteers restored many of the graves, including this one.
Pictured are Royal Artillery gunners at the Battle of Waterloo and a Waterloo medal
George Inn and Blacksmith's Smithy
The George Inn was built in the 18th century and is the village's oldest public house. Many meetings have been held there including those of the Beaumont Lodge of Freemasons until they built their own hall nearby (see above).
Adjoining it is the old blacksmith's smithy, now quite dilapidated but not always so, as seen in this earlier photo.
A Civil War Vicar and his Wife
Gamaliel Whittaker was vicar of the parish church, Kirkburton from 1615 to 1644. His father, Edward, was rector of Thornhill and his mother was Elizabeth nee Gomersall. The couple had married in July 1582 and Gamaliel (a biblical name) was their eldest son. Gamaliel attained his degree at St. John's College, Cambridge, studying there from 1604-5 to 1608. He was ordained a deacon in 1608 and a priest in June 1609. He went on to marry Hester Marshall in 1617 not long after taking up post at Kirkburton. During the English Civil War he was at odds with his flock in that they supported Parliament and he supported the King. It was rumoured that Whittaker had instigated the Earl of Newcastle's attack in 1643 on Holmfirth whose inhabitants were predominantly parliamentarian. This annoyed some of the parishioners so
much that he was denounced and parliamentary forces arrived from Woodhead to arrest him at the vicarage on 12th January 1644. There was a struggle with terrible consequences in that Gamaliel's wife, Hester, was somehow shot and killed by a stray bullet as she came downstairs, some say, others that she was hiding in a bush outside or her face suddenly appeared at an upper window. Most suggest that an impetuous young trooper, determined to prove himself, fired the shot. She was buried at Kirkburton on the 15th January. Gamaliel was arrested and thrown in jail at Manchester where he died very soon afterwards, on 1st February 1644, from grief and ill usage.
He was buried in the burial ground on the south side of Manchester Cathedral. Hester's ghost is said to still haunt the old vicarage and it is said blood can still be seen on the vicarage staircase! It is also said that the Cromwellian soldiers had called at Shepley Hall beforehand to ask directions to the vicarage and had forced the owner, John Firth, to ride with them to show the way. He was reluctant, however, being sympathetic himself to the Royalist cause, and having been forced to mount a horse behind one of the soldiers he managed to slip off at an opportune moment and seek refuge in Box Ings Wood. A search was made for him with no success which delayed the soldiers, so that it was evening by the time they reached the vicarage in a frustrated mood, which may account for their impatience and what followed.