Southowram () 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, England that stands on the hill top to the east of Halifax, on the south side of Shibden valley. The village falls within the Town ward of Calderdale Council. It is a small Pennine village near Bank Top, Brookfoot and Siddal.

Northowram Northowram () is a village in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England that stands to the east of Halifax on the north side of Shibden valley. Southowram stands on the southern side of the valley. The village was documented in the 19th century as ...

is on the northern side of the valley and is roughly equidistant from Halifax and

Brighouse Brighouse is a town within the metropolitan borough of Calderdale, in West Yorkshire, England. Historically within the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is situated on the River Calder, east of Halifax. It is served by Junction 25 of the M62 m ...

History

The parish of Southowram was recorded on 1 July 1837 as part of the Halifax Registration District. It was abolished as a distinct parish on 1 April 1937, with the parish being split between

and

Elland Elland is a market town in Calderdale, in the county of West Yorkshire, England. It is situated south of Halifax, by the River Calder and the Calder and Hebble Navigation. Elland was recorded as ''Elant'' in the Domesday Book of 1086. It ha ...

Parts of the village centre were demolished and rebuilt in the 1970s and 1980s. But many older buildings remain, as do the ancient

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 ...

on Towngate. Old buildings were lost on New Street and were replaced by

council housing Public housing in the United Kingdom, also known as council estates, council housing, or social housing, provided the majority of rented accommodation until 2011 when the number of households in private rental housing surpassed the number in so ...

. More such housing is to be found in the lower part of the village. Southowram retains in the main, however, a mixture of older historic and new housing, council owned and private housing. A number of old halls and farms which survived until the 1940s and 1950s were lost in subsequent decades. A National School was built in 1839 and also served as the Sunday school for the church of St Anne in the Grove opposite. The architecture employs Gothic pointed arches but Tudor-style chimneys. In the centre of the front wall are two blocked doorways with round heads. There is also a carved stone plaque, the inscription on which includes "National School".

Landmarks

Law Hill House

In 1837, at the age of 19,

Emily Brontë Emily Jane Brontë (, commonly ; 30 July 1818 – 19 December 1848) was an English novelist and poet who is best known for her only novel, ''Wuthering Heights'', now considered a classic of English literature. She also published a book of poet ...

came to teach at the three-storey house on Law Lane which was then an exclusive

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. As they have existed for many centuries, and now exten ...

. She stayed for only about six months, however, because of the strict lifestyle demanded. She was homesick and in a collection of letters, her sister Charlotte wrote about how Emily had to work from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. each day and was more of a

governess A governess is a largely obsolete term for a woman employed as a private tutor, who teaches and trains a child or children in their home. A governess often lives in the same residence as the children she is teaching. In contrast to a nanny, th ...

than a teacher. Emily wrote poetry while at Law Hill and became fascinated by the story of intrigue and feuding which surrounded the house's builder, Jack Sharp, and his near neighbours, the Walker family of

Walterclough Hall Walterclough Hall, sometimes known as Water Clough Hall or Upper Walterclough, lies in the Walterclough Valley south-east of Halifax and north-east of the village of Southowram in the West Riding of Yorkshire, alongside the Red Beck.Wuthering Heights ''Wuthering Heights'' is an 1847 novel by Emily Brontë, initially published under her pen name Ellis Bell. It concerns two families of the landed gentry living on the West Yorkshire moorland, moors, the Earnshaws and the Lintons, and their tur ...

'' and that the central character Heathcliff was based on Sharp himself. A plaque on the wall commemorates Brontë's stay between 1837 and 1838.

Industries

Local industries have included farming, mining for

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when dea ...

and

fireclay Fire clay is a range of refractory clays used in the manufacture of ceramics, especially fire brick. The United States Environmental Protection Agency defines fire clay very generally as a "mineral aggregate composed of hydrous silicates of alumin ...

, brick-manufacture, and stone quarrying and mining. With the exception of farming, and quarrying, which is continued by

Marshalls plc Marshalls plc is a United Kingdom based manufacturer of natural stone and concrete hard landscaping products, supplying the construction, home improvement and landscape markets. It is based in Elland, West Yorkshire. It is listed on the London S ...

, these industries are more or less defunct. Marshalls continues to extract stone in the area and the company has moved its headquarters to Huddersfield in recent years. However, the quarries at Brookfoot Lane remain open. A number of walls which incorporate quarry waste can still be seen in the locality, especially those on the valley opposite Hove Edge. These walls include a rather splendid set of steps set into the side of the valley, which lead into a small narrow

ginnel A ginnel is a fenced or walled alley between residential buildings that provides a pedestrian shortcut to nearby streets. 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 ...

church of St Anne's, situated below the village proper, surrounded by trees and fields, is an old stone-built church with a bell tower with a clock. It is the only remaining place of worship in the village. Originally situated as part of a house belonging to the lord of the manor,

Pope Eugenius IV Pope Eugene IV ( la, Eugenius IV; it, Eugenio IV; 1383 – 23 February 1447), born Gabriele Condulmer, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 3 March 1431 to his death in February 1447. Condulmer was a Venetian, and ...

issued a licence in 1440 to enable the Mass to be offered. The legal name of the parish is "St Anne-in-the-Grove, Southowram". The church was restored in 2006 after a four-year appeal. It features a beautiful rood cross and icon as well as a gallery, a fine carved stone pulpit and some fine stained-glass windows. Various non-conformist chapels have closed over the years, most recent being Southowram

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...

Church, which was located at the lower end of Chapel Lane. The building has now been converted to apartments, but the graveyard survives. Although the Methodist chapel building has been closed the Methodist Church in Southowram continues to meet for worship and other activities in the village Community Centre. In 2010 Southowram Methodist Church combined with

Boothtown Boothtown is a suburb of Halifax, West Yorkshire, England, which falls within Town Ward, one of the 17 wards of Calderdale. Its history was dominated by the mills of the textile industry. Rawson's Mill on Old Lane is now disused and designat ...

Methodist and the name was changed to Boothtown and Southowram Methodist Church.

Sport

Southowram is home to Southowram Cricket Club, who play at Ashday Lane, and Beacon Rangers who play on Beacon Hill. Beacon Rangers are a junior team only whereas the cricket club is home to three senior teams and U11, U13, U15 & U17 teams at junior level. All senior teams played in their respective premier divisions until the 2009 season, where all three senior teams were relegated. The club's first and second teams play in the

Halifax Cricket League The Halifax Cricket League with cricket clubs in and around the town of Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. In the league there are also clubs from the nearby Calder Valley, city of Bradford, town of Huddersfield and the Spen Valley. The leagues ...

. The 'new' Southowram CC was originally a pub team based at The Cock and Bottle Inn at the other end of the village. In 2002, Southowram CC celebrated their 25th anniversary year by winning the right to host the Parish Cup final.

Education and amenities

The local school, Withinfields Primary School, is in the centre of the village, on Law Lane and is a feeder school for

Brighouse High School Brighouse High School (and Sixth Form) is an academy school in Brighouse, West Yorkshire, England. Admissions It has approximately 1,400 students. The school contains around 1,050 students while the Sixth form contains around 350 students. The ...

. The school was relocated and re-built in 1997 when the old school, being inadequate for modern needs, was demolished. The former school site is now part of a housing estate. The new school has been built so that it can easily be expanded if and when the village should expand. There is a library on Law Lane at the centre of the village. "The Shoulder of Mutton" on Cain Lane was a popular public house, currently empty. The Pack Horse public house, also on Cain Lane, at the centre of the village, was in 2016 converted to an Indian restaurant, but in 2017 reverted to a thriving public house, serving food.

Notable residents

* Arthur "Ashworth" Aspinall (1846-1929), founder of Scots College in Sydney, was born here. *

William Swinden Barber William Swinden Barber FRIBA (29 March 1832 – 26 November 1908), also W. S. Barber or W. Swinden Barber, was an English Gothic Revival and Arts and Crafts architect, specialising in modest but finely furnished Anglican churches, often with ...

(1832–1908), architect, was born here.

References

External links

Mines around Southowram

North Owram in "A concise history of the parish and vicarage of Halifax, in the county of York" by John Crabtree, published 1836

Southowram Cricket Club Website
{{authority control Geography of Calderdale Villages in West Yorkshire Areas of Halifax, West Yorkshire