Queensbury is a village in the metropolitan borough and city of

Bradford Bradford is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in West Yorkshire, England. It became a municipal borough in 1847, received a city charter in 1897 and, since the Local Government Act 1972, 1974 reform, the city status in the United Kingdo ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a Metropolitan counties of England, metropolitan and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and east, South Yorkshire and De ...

, England. Perched on a high vantage point above Halifax, Clayton and Thornton and overlooking

, Queensbury is one of the highest parishes in England, with views beyond the West Yorkshire conurbation to the hills of Brontë Country and the

Yorkshire Dales The Yorkshire Dales are a series of valleys, or Dale (landform), dales, in the Pennines, an Highland, upland range in England. They are mostly located in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of North Yorkshire, but extend into C ...

to the north and north west. Its population of 8,718 in 2001 increased to 16,273 in the 2011 Census. Queensbury is known as being the home of Black Dyke Mills, and the Black Dyke Band.

History

Queensbury was originally known as Queenshead, a name derived from a local public house, now a house on the High Street, which was popular with travellers on the pack horse route from Halifax to Bradford.

Governance

The village was divided between the

township A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...

of Clayton in the parish of Bradford, and the township of

Northowram Northowram ( ) is a village lying north-east of the town of Halifax, West Yorkshire, Halifax in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England. It stands on the north side of Shibden valley. Southowram stands on the southern side of the valley. The villa ...

in the parish of Halifax, both in the

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire was one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the riding was an administrative county named County of York, West Riding. The Lord Lieutenant of the West Riding of Yorkshire, lieu ...

.Vision of Britain website: Queensbury, West Riding
/ref> It became a

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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

and urban district in 1894. In 1937 the civil parish was abolished, and the urban district was merged into the new Queensbury and Shelf Urban District. In 1974, the urban district was split; Queensbury was transferred to the City of Bradford in the new county of West Yorkshire. Queensbury is a

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 ...

in Bradford Metropolitan District in the

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

of West Yorkshire, named after the village. It includes the villages of Clayton Heights and Horton Bank Top as well as a number of hamlets: Ambler Thorn, Calder Banks, Catherine Slack, Hazel Hirst, Hunger Hill, Little Moor, Mountain, Old Dolphin, Scarlet Heights, Shibden Head and West Scholes. The ward typically voted for BNP and Conservative party councillors in the 2000s, however the decline of the BNP in the late 2000s and early 2010s saw a period of Conservative dominance in the ward. The 2020s have seen the first Labour councillors elected from Queensbury, amidst a national decline in Conservative party fortunes, and local disputes between candidates and the Conservative party caucuses causing the defections of Robert Hargreaves and Luke Majkowski in 2021 and 2022. indicates seat up for re-election. indicates councillor defection. indicates a by-election. Queensbury Ward 2004

Black Dyke Mills

Black Dyke Mills was built from 1835 onwards by John Foster as a wool spinning and weaving mill specialising in worsted and mohair fabric, and by 1851 dominated the town. John Foster & Son, the owners of Black Dyke Mills, were responsible for the construction of many of the buildings in and around Queensbury, each being for the benefit of the employees, be it housing or accommodation, shops or leisure facilities. In 1891, the company erected the Victoria Hall in Queensbury for the benefit of its workers and the local community - it had a concert hall, with gallery to seat 650 people, library, billiards room and many other facilities. It also sponsored the Black Dyke Mills Band, a band of international renown. The mill has now been converted into individual business units. The company now manufactures elsewhere in the area.

Music

As well as being home to the world famous Black Dyke Band, Queensbury is also noted for its strong musical heritage. Home to the world-class rehearsal studio Backfeed, notable musical residents Giles Stocks and Joe Irish of Jon Jones and the Beatnik Movement, pop-punk trio State of Error, and the bands of the Sherry family, including the nationally successful Scarlet Heights (named after the hamlet), The Bad Beat Revue and Ti Amo. It is also home to Revolution, the band of the village's Scout group, who have won national youth band competitions and lead the village's annual Remembrance Day parade.

Transport

Three railway lines once converged on Queensbury, one each from Halifax,

Keighley Keighley ( ) is a market town and a civil parishes in England, civil parish in the City of Bradford Borough of West Yorkshire, England. It is the second-largest settlement in the borough, after Bradford. Keighley is north-west of Bradford, n ...

and

, known as the Queensbury Lines, all belonging to the Great Northern Railway (later the

London & North Eastern Railway The London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) was the second largest (after LMS) of the " Big Four" railway companies created by the Railways Act 1921 in Britain. It operated from 1 January 1923 until nationalisation on 1 January 1948. At tha ...

). Where they met was located Queensbury station, which famously consisted of continuous platforms on all three sides of a triangular junction, an uncommon layout in the United Kingdom (the only other examples were

Ambergate Ambergate () is a village in Derbyshire, England, situated where the River Amber joins the River Derwent, Derbyshire, River Derwent. It is about south of Matlock, Derbyshire, Matlock. The village forms part of the Heage and Ambergate ward of ...

, on the

Midland Railway The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844 in rail transport, 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had ...

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

and

Earlestown Earlestown ( ) is a town contiguous with Newton-le-Willows in the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens, Merseyside, England. At the 2011 Census the town had a population of 10,830. The towns named is derived from one of its early settlers, Hard ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

). A short distance from the station on the Halifax line was Queensbury Tunnel, in length (the second longest on the Great Northern system after Ponsbourne Tunnel in

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...

), while close by on the Bradford line was Clayton Tunnel at . All these lines were closed to passengers in May 1955, later to freight in the 1960s, before finally closing to all traffic in 1972–74. The main Bradford to Halifax road A647 road runs through the village as well as the A644 road. These roads intersect at the Albert Memorial. First Calderdale & Huddersfield & First Bradford bus route 576, runs through the village between

and Halifax along the A647 road.

Gallery

File:Black Dyke Mills, Queensbury (14th September 2007).jpg, Black Dyke Mills File:Queensbury Sunset with tower detail (29th September 2010).jpg, Sunset over Queensbury in September 2010.

References

External links

Queensbury Directory: community news and business directory

Queensbury School

Queensbury Juniors ARFLC
{{authority control Villages in West Yorkshire Wards of Bradford Unparished areas in West Yorkshire Former civil parishes in West Yorkshire Geography of the City of Bradford