Huddersfield in historic gazetteers

Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887). John Bartholomew

Huddersfield, parl. and mun. bor., par., and township, S. div. West-Riding Yorkshire, 16½ miles SW. of Leeds, 26 NE. of Manchester, and 189 NW. of London - par., 16,230 ac., pop. 66,134; township, 4055 ac. pop. 42,234; parl. bor., 10,998 ac., pop. 87,157; mun. bor., 10,496 ac., pop. 81,841; 5 Banks, 6 newspapers. Market-day, Tuesday. In so far as its rise to eminence in mfrs. is concerned, Huddersfield is wholly a modern town. It is the chief centre of the branch of mfr. known as the fancy woollen trade, and its prosperity may be dated from the beginning of the present century. Every description of plain and fancy woollen goods is here manufactured: broadcloths, doeskins, beavers, trouserings, &c. Worsted, silk, and cotton are also worked in an endless variety of dress stuffs. Iron-founding is carried on, as well as mfrs. of steam-engines, boilers, and machinery; the latter being in a large measure composed of implements required in textile mfrs. Collieries and quarries are in the neighbourhood. The town is situated on the slope of a hill in the valley of the Colne, and the river is navigable for barges. Huddersfield was enfranchised by the Reform Act of 1832, and returns 1 member to Parliament.