Barkisland () is a village in

Calderdale Calderdale is a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, England, whose population in 2020 was 211,439. It takes its name from the River Calder, and dale, a word for valley. The name Calderdale usually refers to the borough through which the u ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...

, England.

Historically History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

part of the

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county County of York, West Riding (the area under the control of West Riding County Council), abbreviated County ...

, it is east of

Ripponden Ripponden is a village and civil parish on the River Ryburn near Halifax in West Yorkshire, England. Historically it was part of the West Riding of Yorkshire. Its population was 6,412 at the time of the 2001 Census, and 7,421 in 2011. Rippond ...

, south of

Sowerby Bridge Sowerby Bridge ( ) is a market town in the Upper Calder Valley in Calderdale in West Yorkshire, England. The Calderdale Council ward population at the 2011 census was 11,703. History The town was originally a fording point over the once muc ...

and south-west of Halifax town centre. The village falls within the Ryburn ward of Calderdale. Barkisland has one school, a church, a post office and a local cricket club which play in the

Huddersfield Cricket League The Huddersfield Cricket League is the premier cricket competition in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. The league has been in existence since 1891 with teams representing suburbs of Huddersfield and villages in the Huddersfield district a ...

. There are two pubs in Barkisland, the Fleece and the Griffin.

History

A ten-thousand-year-old axe has been discovered near Ringstone Reservoir, providing evidence of human activity in the area now known as Barkisland dating back to the

Stone Age The Stone Age was a broad prehistoric period during which stone was widely used to make tools with an edge, a point, or a percussion surface. The period lasted for roughly 3.4 million years, and ended between 4,000 BC and 2,000 BC, with t ...

. The origin of the name is in dispute. In a book of place names printed in 1944 it was stated that Barkisland derived from it being a settlement ('land') of a chieftain called 'Barkis'. While much earlier, in 1789, the Rev. John Watson, vicar of Ripponden church between 1754 and 1769, theorised that "Barsey or Barkesey are Anglo-Saxon words meaning low-lying enclosures where birches grow. It also is the Anglo-Saxon for a district where there are wolves." The parish of Barkisland was recorded on 1 July 1837 as part of the Halifax Registration District. It was abolished as a distinct parish on 1 April 1937 and merged with the neighbouring parish of

Industry

Bowers Mill was built in the 18th century as a water-powered

fulling Fulling, also known as felting, tucking or walking ( Scots: ''waukin'', hence often spelled waulking in Scottish English), is a step in woollen clothmaking which involves the cleansing of woven or knitted cloth (particularly wool) to elimin ...

mill. it has also been used as a

corn mill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that has been separated ...

, a

worsted Worsted ( or ) is a high-quality type of wool yarn, the fabric made from this yarn, and a yarn weight category. The name derives from Worstead, a village in the English county of Norfolk. That village, together with North Walsham and Aylsham, for ...

mill and a

woolen mill Textile Manufacturing or Textile Engineering is a major industry. It is largely based on the conversion of fibre into yarn, then yarn into fabric. These are then dyed or printed, fabricated into cloth which is then converted into useful goods s ...

. Textiles manufacturer J. & S. Taylor Ltd occupied the mill from 1882 to 1991 before moving production to

. The mill has now been converted for smaller businesses. Barkisland Mill is a 6-storey building which was used for textile production in the 19th and 20th centuries. At the start of the 21st century it was converted into residential flats. There was also a Bottomley's Mill in Barkisland. Its presence as a

cotton mill A cotton mill is a building that houses spinning (textiles), spinning or weaving machinery for the production of yarn or cloth from cotton, an important product during the Industrial Revolution in the development of the factory system. Althou ...

was recorded when a fire broke out there on 13 January 1871.

Governance

Barkisland is a village in the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

of Ripponden, which is part of the Ryburn

ward Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...

, a

metropolitan borough A metropolitan borough (or metropolitan district) is a type of local government district in England. Created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972, metropolitan boroughs are defined in English law as metropolitan districts within metropolitan ...

within the

ceremonial county The counties and areas for the purposes of the lieutenancies, also referred to as the lieutenancy areas of England and informally known as ceremonial counties, are areas of England to which lords-lieutenant are appointed. Legally, the areas i ...

in England.

Geography

Barkisland is situated on a hilltop that gently rises from

Greetland Greetland is a small village in the metropolitan borough of Calderdale in West Yorkshire, England. The appropriate Calderdale Ward is called Greetland and Stainland. The population of this ward at the 2011 Census was 11,389. It is located w ...

in the north-east and declines westwards to Ripponden and eastwards to Stainland. The hill continues to climb southwards towards

Scammonden Scammonden or Dean Head was a village close to Huddersfield, in the Dean Head Valley, England, before the valley was flooded to create Scammonden Reservoir in the 1960s. The M62 motorway crosses the dam wall and then passes through a cutting to ...

Landmarks

A surviving historic landmark of Barkisland are the original

stocks Stocks are feet restraining devices that were used as a form of corporal punishment and public humiliation. The use of stocks is seen as early as Ancient Greece, where they are described as being in use in Solon's law code. The law describing ...

. They are located on Stainland Road roughly 550 yards east of the post office and are a Grade II listed building. Part of the

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

Diocese of Wakefield The Diocese of Wakefield is a former Church of England diocese based in Wakefield in West Yorkshire, covering Wakefield, Barnsley, Kirklees and Calderdale. The cathedral was Wakefield Cathedral and the bishop was the diocesan Bishop of Wakef ...

, Christ Church is Barkisland's only church and is linked with the nearby school. Barkisland Hall is a grade I listed country house built for John Gledhill in 1638, constructed in stone in three storeys to an F-shaped floor plan. It was bought in 1967 by Lord Kagan to provide accommodation for his textile company (makers of the Gannex raincoat).

Education

Barkisland's school is a high-performing junior and infant school many of its pupils progress to one of the two grammar schools,

North Halifax Grammar School The North Halifax Grammar School (NHGS) is a state grammar school, and former specialist Science college (with academy status) in Illingworth, Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. 11+ The school has approximately one thousand students, aged 11 ...

and

Crossley Heath Grammar School The Crossley Heath School is an 11–18 Mixed-sex education, mixed, grammar school and sixth form with Academy (English school), academy status in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. It was established in 1985 following the Consolidation (busines ...

. Barkisland School Association (BSA) is a parent-teacher organisation supporting the school by organising events and fundraising.

References

{{authority control Villages in West Yorkshire Ripponden