Huddersfield Exposed

The worst record covers in the world exhibition returns home.

huddersfieldhub.co.uk/award-winnin...

J. Margaret Stansfield's "Huddersfield's Roll of Honour: 1914-1922" contains an entry for Driver J. Stephenson of the Royal Field Artillery but had very biographical details, other than his death in 1921. Turns out he left the Army in 1889 and had no role in the First World War.

A little addition to the "Location" section on the site. If there are any individuals in the Huddersfield & District Roll of Honour, they'll appear in a new tab:
huddersfield.exposed/s/4299

It's unclear if anything much survives of the vaults after the work done in 1927. What is clear is that anyone interested in their history will unfortunately find misinformation that's been repeatedly reprinted in the local press!

So, another generation came to believe that the vaults were an expensive folly built by Godfrey Berry. The same happened in 1927 when new excavations re-exposed the vaults. This time, local newspapers declared Hanson's 1878 account (which had been reprinted as a pamphlet) to date from around 1800.

He passed a copy on to the Huddersfield Examiner who seemed blissfully unaware that they were the ones who'd actually published Hanson's article in 1878. They then published an article reprinting some of Hanson's words whilst suggesting that it was a much older account that it actually was.

There was seemingly much puzzlement as to what they were and what purpose they served. Local photographer Smith Carter took several photos (posted at the start of the thread) and seemingly a bell rang in his head. He rooted through his local history collection and found Hanson's 1878 article.

We now fast forward to 1906 and Huddersfield Corporation began digging up the old Market Place with the intention of constructing public toilets. It's not long before the workmen uncover the water vaults and they become the talk of the town!

However, if Hanson was thinking about the fountain/taps on the viaduct wall, then those would have been lower down relative to the Market Place. Either way, Hanson's article would later resurface and become accepted as the gospel truth in the 20th century.

So, it would have been trivial to connect the Market Place vaults to the Longwood supply, and therefore not much point in connecting them to Bradley Spout as John Hanson claimed in 1878. Even then, Bradley Spout was originally on higher ground, so no need for the water to even "run up-hill".

There's no accounts that I'm aware of of the vaults being built but they are contemporary with the Longwood reservoir scheme which, when completed, was celebrated by having a temporary water jet shoot up into the air in the old Market Place to demonstrate the impressive water pressure.

What Hanson got wrong in his article (either deliberately to sully Berry's name or accidentally due to his then old age) was the bit about the vaults being built but then abandoned at great cost because "water would not run up hill".

It's quite possible that local businessman Godfrey Berry was involved in some way with the building of the Longwood Reservoirs. Berry was a maltster and local property owner who was also a trustee of the private Huddersfield Gas Company (formed 1821).

With plenty of water for everyone, the vaults under the Market Place were pretty much forgotten about. In 1878, John Hanson of Folly Hall penned a series of three articles for the "Huddersfield Examiner" about Huddersfield in the 1820s which included some decidedly iffy info about the vaults...

Along with the older Longwood reservoirs, these were more than capable of supplying the town's needs and the Corporation had enough excess to begin laying water mains beyond the borough boundary to connect up adjoining townships.

In 1868, Huddersfield Corporation and the Borough of Huddersfield had sprung into existence and had begun an ambitious programme of new reservoirs in the Meltham area (much to the annoyance of Meltham Local Board) -- Blackmoorfoot, Deerhill and the chain of Wessenden Valley reservoirs.

By 1873, the water was so polluted that "even the horses accustomed to drink at [Brooks Well] refuse to take it". To resolve the issue, the Bradley Spout water source was disconnect and a new supply from Longwood connected.

The residue may have been a hint at what happened next. In the early 1870s, several deadly outbreaks of infectious diseases led to Dr. Buchanan testing the water. He found it to be polluted by sewage emanating from Huddersfield Infirmary which had entered the old coal workings in that area.

In 1867, the Bradley Spout supply was described as "beautifully bright and pleasant to drink, and [...] much esteemed for that purpose" but also that it contained "a high proportion of solid residue per gallon".

(for those not familiar, a pinfold was where stray animals were taken)

It's unclear exactly what form the fountain took. Some contemporary reports describe there being a pair of taps in the wall. Further clay pipes also ran eastwards to supply spring water to Brooks Wells and also the town's pinfold enclosure before draining into the canal.

The 1851 OS Town Plan shows the result. By then, the spring was under the new railway station's forecourt and a pipe redirected the supply down to a "fountain" on the side of the viaduct wall on what would become John William Street.

However, that never happened as the whole area around Bradley Spout then became earmarked in 1845 as the prime location for the town's new railway station. Such was the local concern about the potential loss of Bradley Spout that the railway company agreed to re-route the water supply.

In 1844, a public meeting was held to discuss improvements to the town and one of the resolutions made was to have a pipe laid between Bradley Spout and the Market Place vaults so that the former could fill the latter which was at a lower height relative to the springs.

In the end, it seems that the vaults were instead used to collect rain water that was then used to "lay the dust" on the town's roads during dry periods. According to one source, each corner of the market place had a hand pump to draw the water from the "wells".

It was apparently around this time that the old Market Place (where the market cross is today) was dug up in order to construct arched vaults for water storage. However, it remains unclear whether it was intended to connect the Longwood supply to fill them or not.

Obviously a single fresh water spring wasn't enough for an entire town, so the 1820s saw the construction of new water supply reservoirs at Longwood. Given their height, relative to Huddersfield, the supply had a strong water pressure and a service reservoir was built off Spring Street.

Reportedly locals would queue with pots and pans to fill them at Bradley Spout and it became a key public drinking water supply for the growing town. Its exact location is a little tricky to pinpoint now, but it'd be somewhere under what was the railway station car park.

It's difficult to imagine the northern part of the town now. What was once fields with a footpath leading up to Bay Hall became home to the railway station and viaduct. The "spouts" were an everlasting fresh water spring and were known locally as "Bradley Spout".

However, as more mills sprang up along the Colne Valley, the river water became more polluted. This 1826 map shows the Upper Head Row reservoir, along with another on the northern side of the town. Also marked is a public bath house (hence Bath Street) and also some "spouts".