Huddersfield Industrial Society (Co-op) Store
The Huddersfield Industrial Society was formed in August 1860 after a meeting at the Shears Inn on Beastmarket between members of the Bolton Unity of Oddfellows and a group of Huddersfield men who had been meeting at the Factory Inn in Factory Lane. Mr George Holmes was elected first President. The new society first opened a small grocery store in Johnson's Buildings in Buxton Road (now New Street) Huddersfield that September. This became the society's central store and with new building work and extensions eventually developed into a large department store. But if this was the society's no. 1 store, Moldgreen had store no. 2 !!
The Moldgreen store opened in December 1860, along with a third at Lindley. The Industrial Society joined the Co-operative Wholesale Society in March 1869 giving members access to a wider range of goods. The Moldgreen store proved very popular as it brought down the price of goods, and foodstuffs in particular, to affordable levels for the local working class population. And there was always the annual "divi" pay out to look forward to!
The United Reform Church - the case of the missing clock tower
This church, now a busy social centre too, had its origins in the Congregational Church once on the same site. In 1865 Mr Hotchkiss, a Congregational missionary attached to the Ramsden Street Chapel in Huddersfield, was invited to bring his religion to the working people of Moldgreen. He agreed, his salary being guaranteed for the first 5 years by a wealthy Christian lady of that place. He began leading Sunday services in the Ramsden schoolroom in Malham Place in July 1865 and he set up a Sunday school there too. Attendance was so good that the generous lady donated money towards the building of a church of their own. Hotchkiss was ordained that November and the new church established, which was not entirely satisfactory, so that a new church was built in April 1868. By 1886 the church had 148 members and 611 children were registered for the Sunday School. A new and larger Sunday School building was needed and opened in November 1891. Dwindling attendances in the 20th century, however, caused the national Presbyterian and Congregational Churches to unite to form the United Reform Church in 1972. By this time the original church buildings were giving some concern and this, together with Kirklees Council's road widening plans near the site in 1986 gave rise to the need for a new church. The new church was built partly on the site of the old Congregational Church and partly on that of the old Regal Cinema which had closed in the 1960s, and then been used as a carpet salesroom before finally being demolished. The present building opened and was dedicated in September 1989, complete with clock tower which became a Huddersfield landmark. Apart from the clock, the tower was decorated with the church's cross and fish emblem and a weather vane depicting John the Baptist. Various reminders of the older building were retained - stone heads and plaques and a little stained glass - and are incorporated into the new building. Sadly, more recently, the clock tower began to cause problems to the building with a serious inlet of water causing damage to the interior, so that the church council decided to have it taken down in December 2016. The accompanying emblems, however, will be retained and resurrected in the Church's garden.
Mysterious stone statues
These mysterious and exotic stone statuettes (see photo)decorate a Moldgreen suburban garden, origin unknown, but certainly unusual and intriguing!!