Spen Valley Trivia
Welcome to the home of trivial facts about the old Spen Valley district of Yorkshire. Our area is steeped in history, so take a dive into the past and discover things you never knew!
The vast majority of information contained in these pages has been obtained from free and publicly available resources with the exception of old newspaper reports, which requires a subscription.
Please be aware that this is very much a "work in progress" project and new or updated information is added every weekend. The main items of interest at the moment are the "Timeline" which lists brief details of events that occurred in local history; "Public Houses" which gives a brief history of past owners and other items of local news; "Church & Chapel" gives a brief history of the venue and details of baptisms, marriages & burials at that location. They also contain some grave inscriptions.
Census records for the area, dating back to 1841, are also a current project being added to on a regular basis.
You can navigate to other pages of the site by selecting the items in the side menu or by selecting one of the buttons below. If you are using a mobile phone or tablet then the menu items are found by clicking the 3 lines at the top left of your screen. The site is probably best viewed on a computer or laptop. Some pages may seem a little disjointed on phones and tablets.
If you have any corrections, additions or suggestions then I would be glad to hear from you. You can contact me, Martin Bentley, at: casafruitas(at)gmail.com but make sure to replace the (at) with the usual @
For anyone interested in family history, I have a viewable tree that contains many local Spen Valley families: https://spenvalley.tribalpages.com
Recent updates (click on the underlined item to take you there):
New Liversedge 1851 census ED2c (part of Millbridge & Littletown) added (3 May 2024)
Updated Cleckheaton St. Luke baptisms to 1898 added (3 May 2024)
Completed Cleckheaton Westgate Cong. baptisms to 1909 added (3 May 2024)
New Section War Memorials page added (3 May 2024)
Updated Cleckheaton Whitechapel burials to 1874 added (3 May 2024)
New Cleckheaton 1871 Census ED17 (part of Cleckheaton) added (26 Apr 2024)
Completed Cleckheaton St. John baptisms to 1910 added (26 Apr 2024)
Updated Cleckheaton St. John marriages to 1909 added (26 Apr 2024)
New Cleckheaton St. John Grave Inscriptions added (26 Apr 2024)
Updated Cleckheaton St. John burials to 1898 added (26 Apr 2024)
New Tales from the Past: Marsh Mills Chimney Disaster added (19 Apr 2024)
New Cleckheaton 1871 Census ED16 (part of Cleckheaton) added (19 Apr 2024)
Updated Cleckheaton Whitechapel baptisms to 1873 added (19 Apr 2024)
New Section Register Office marriages added (19 Apr 2024)
Updated Liversedge Christ Church baptisms to 1873 added (19 Apr 2024)
Updated Oakenshaw St. Andrew marriages to 1927 added (19 Apr 2024)
Many of the projects on these pages are very much "work in progress," and some are likely to remain so for some time. However, there are some pages which are now complete and will not be added to unless further information comes to light. Details of these completed projects can be found on the button below: