Edgerton Piece
The town of Edgerton has a long and illustrious past that can be traced back over hundreds of years.
Situated just off the Huddersfield Ring Road, the town has become a very popular student area of Huddersfield, with many of the homes being split into self contained units for students at the local University. As well as this, the beauty of the local gardens and authenticity of the grand houses makes this a perfect place to set up homes for the elderly.
It is a testament to the town that the impressive facades that were built in the mid 1800s still serve as a reminder of the mill owners who ran the world renowned wool industry in Huddersfield. The desirable reputation that Huddersfield got based on a first class textile industry saw a massive increase in fine Victorian buildings, with many situated in the Edgerton area.
One of the benefits that this industry bought to the town was an influx in Gothic, Roman and Italian styled mansions. By the mid 19th century, the Halifax Road that runs through Edgerton developed a number of large houses that would cater for the wealthier manafacturers. These unique buildings made Edgerton become one of the most fashionable areas to live, with many people moving from the town centre homes into the new villas available in Edgerton. This was backed up by records stating that approximately 62% of homes in Edgerton had one or more servants throughout the mid 1800s.
Many of the late mill owners who were bought up in the town have been laid to rest in the magnificent Edgerton cemetery. Established in 1855, the Victorian styled cemetery is situated between Cemetery Road and Blacker Road and is laid out in a symmetrical design. Its sumptuousness is clearly evident, with its two chapels and open arch making it regarded as one of the prettiest cemeteries in the country.
Added to this is its vast number of headstones, which serves to remind us of the deaths of yarn manufacturers, merchants and cloth finishers. However, it can be argued that the most striking feature within the Edgerton cemetery is the communal grave, which contains a number of people who died in the Booth’s clothing factory blaze back in 1941. It was stated that most of the 47 people who had died in the incident were women and the majority of the people are buried at the cemetery.
The cemetery is just one of the many listed buildings that Edgerton currently boasts. In fact, the town currently has 1,660 listed buildings, making it the third highest in the country.
In 1883, Huddersfield became the first authority to operate its own tramway system. This was designed to replace some of the horse drawn omnibuses that had originally been the main source of transport. Records showed that a tram would run from Market Place to Edgerton every hour with a new route opening a year later that would see the Edgerton route being linked to the Lindley route and running along Holly Bank Road.
