Storthes Hall Plaque
A plaque in memory of over 2,000 patients who died at Storthes Hall during the time it was a psychiatric hospital and were buried in unmarked graves can be found in the churchyard of St. Thomas' church in the village. The church was built and consecrated in 1870 and replaced a Chapel of Ease which had previously served the village. It is Gothic Revival in style and has a hammerbeam roof. In 1541 the owner of Storthes Hall, John Storthes, had become Lord of the Manor of Thurstonland when he was granted this and other lands, which had belonged to Roche Abbey until the Dissolution, by King Henry VIII.
The Endowed School
Opposite the church stands the former endowed school, now Thurstonland First School with pupils up to the age of 10.
Local benefactress Ann Ludlam left £300 and the remainder of her estate in her Will in 1763 to build and maintain the school and employ a schoolmaster for the education of poor local children. Although the building has been altered over time there are still visible traces of its original exterior decoration as well as this large stone plaque commemorating her generous gift. Ann was a spinster and once lived at Blackhouse on the outskirts of the village before moving to Pontefract.
The Dam and Brickworks
The waters of this large pond were once used to power a saw used to cut stone from the quarry and for the brickworks situated close
by. In June 1936 the brickworks were advertised for sale in the "Yorkshire Post" for £2,600 claiming that the quarries here gave the material for making 'one of the finest plastic red bricks in England'. A house, cottages and a farm were included in the sale.
See a photo of a Thurstonland brick in the carousel
Another source of water used by villagers before piped water was introduced are the wells across the road from the dam.
The Plateway
In past times there were several coal mines and day holes in fields around the village. The plateway was constructed to more easily enable the coal to be brought up to the village in horse drawn carts. It consists of both cobbles for traction so that the horses' hooves could grip and not slip, and smooth paving for the cart wheels. Bricks from the local brickworks were also conveyed and there is still remaining an example of a Thurstonland brick embedded in the plateway.
Coal Mining
One of the collieries in Thurstonland was up for sale by auction in October 1850, and we can learn a little about how the village's mines operated from it. The mine covered approx. 20 acres below an estate at Top o' Hill and worked two valuable coal seams, the Halifax hard and soft beds. The seams were already opened so they could be mined at small expense by a new owner. Also, as the Huddersfield to Sheffield railway line intersected the site, the coal could be easily transported by railway wagon to places such as Huddersfield and Holmfirth where demand was high. So the mine was being offered to existing coal proprietors or others as a lucrative mining business.
Accidents sometimes happened in the village's mines. In January 1864 a man named James Greaves was killed at Thurstonland Bank Colliery, which was owned by J. and H. Harpin and Company of Holmfirth. He was a steward at the mine and was clearing a way for a new development when part of the roof gave way and a huge stone fell on him. He was aged 60 and a widower.
On 9th May 1870 a fire damp explosion occurred at Sinking Wood Pit, owned by Messrs. Haigh, and 16 year old John France, the only person in the pit at the time, was severely burnt about the face, hands and legs. He subsequently died at Huddersfield Infirmary on the 16th and an inquest into the circumstances of his death held. France was actually a "hurrier" or one transporting coal away from the mine, not a "getter" or coal face worker, but his "getter" had not turned up that day so he decided to go and get the coal himself, carrying just a candle, as did all of the miners. John was supposed to wait until the underground "viewer", James Hebblethwaite, had given permission after one of his men, Joe Taylor, had inspected the mine with a covered lamp in case of gas. But the boy's mother was pressing him to earn more now he was a big lad and so he went in regardless. The jury decided that colliery rules had been disregarded and, noting that Hebblethwaite was responsible for three different mines, recommending the owners have a separate "viewer" for each of their mines.
In November 1866 John Haigh, colliery proprietor of Thurstonland, gave evidence about his mine to the Royal Commission enquiring into the pollution of rivers at Huddersfield. He employed four men at that time and one of his seams produced "ochrey" water, but he had received no complaints about it, and as it mixed with pure water in the ratio 1:6 as it drained away "it was not so perceptible"!! He claimed it had been much worse 40 years previously and affected the stream much more seriously then!
Georgian postbox
Not too many of these left now but Thurstonland has one!
Weavers' cottages
Like many local villages, one of the principal industries in the village was weaving and several weavers' cottages remain in Thurstonland. Typically the cottages were built tall with large windows on the upper floor where the weaving took place to allow more light into the room. From about 10 years old some village children would work on the simpler tasks of bobbin winding and warping, only becoming weavers as they became more skilled and more practised, which took time. At one time the finished cloth was sent to Almondbury, a larger place, for sale, but later wool was bought at the Cloth Hall in Huddersfield, taken home, worked on, and the finished product taken back there for sale. The mode of transport then was the donkey and no. 50 The Village is said to have a ground level storage area for woollen goods known as "t' donkey 'ole".
The Old Co-op
The village's former co-operative store has been converted into a guest house.
Thurstonland Tunnel
After years of construction costing several lives and multiple injuries, the railway
finally reached Thurstonland on 1st July 1850, but sadly the first train to run on the line stalled in its 1631 yard long tunnel on the edge of the village. Crowds had gathered to see or ride on this very first train, but the weather was not favourable that day and due to the damp conditions, the weight of the train and the steep gradients involved it got stuck in the tunnel. A portion of the train had to be detached and left there until the engine could return for it later, to the dismay of the stranded passengers. The luckier trippers were able to enjoy a day out in the countryside around Penistone before the return trip to Huddersfield and other stations on the line such as Brockholes and Berry Brow. The line, only 13 miles long at that time, was built by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company but is now part of the Penistone Line running between Huddersfield and Sheffield. The tunnel itself was not easy to construct. Five shafts had to be driven into Thurstonland Bank to enable its construction, and the work was greatly hindered by the amount of water encountered, so that special driftways had to be built to run it off.
Some of the fatalities during the line's construction included that of Thomas Wallswork or "Ready Money Tom" in November 1846, buried by earth as he inspected the excavation. The very same month a young "banksman" called Robert Ibberson was also killed when the crank wheel on the machinery being used to lift a very heavy stone in one of the construction shafts broke away and broke up, part of it hitting Ibberson on the head, killing him instantly. Then in October 1847 a 40 year old man named William Brook was waiting at the bottom of one of the shafts to be brought up when a rock fell from it crushing him. He died on the way to hospital, leaving a wife and seven children.
Blake House
Often called "Black House" on maps, this former farmhouse in a small complex on the outskirts of the village was built in the mid 17th Century and owned for a long time by the Lockwood family.
Heights Farm
It is reported that this farm once had a "Lant Hole" on its north wall for the collection of urine, an essential element in the preparation of raw wool before it could be processed in the nearby wool mills, where this valuable commodity was taken from its collection point and sold.
Methodist Chapel
This was built in 1837 and served as a chapel until 1978. Both former chapel and its
associated Sunday School have now been converted into private houses.
On Saturday 12th June 1852 the "Huddersfield Examiner" reported the Wesleyan Methodist Sunday School's Feast which had been held that Thursday as part of the village's annual feast day. Pupils and teachers gathered in the schoolroom for coffee and buns before parading through the streets, headed by the Holmfirth Temperance Band, until showers forced them back to the schoolroom where they were again regaled. Each pupil was sent home with a large currant cake, the surplus being sent to the community's poor and sick. The teachers and others stayed on to take tea, sing and listen to the band.
On the last day of December 1890, a serious accident happened at the chapel. Caretaker Sam Wood had fired the boiler in preparation for a planned watch night service, not knowing that the water pipes were frozen. Soon afterwards both pipes and boiler exploded blowing out two large windows and wrenching two doors off their hinges. Some of the vestry furniture was damaged as was the organ in the chapel itself together with the floor and ceiling. Luckily Mr Wood had left the premises and no-one else was injured.