Historic Slaithwaite

Built in 1887 the Globe textile mill is still operating round the clock. The main building (above) overlooks the canal and has recently had its exterior blasted. Below it is the site of the old docks.

The first reference to Slaithwaite is in the pipe rolls of 1178-93 as a surname, however there is no evidence that the family lived in the area.
It is significant that Slaithwaite does not appear in the Doomsday book, but the name is almost certainly Scandinavian in origin and suggests a Viking influence in the area.
Slaithwaite acquired township status after the Norman Conquest and it was called a ‘vill’ in 1218/9 and appeared as a township in the national subsidy rolls from at least 1297.
The area now known as Slaithwaite was originally Lingards and Slaithwaite forming part of the possessions of Kirkstall Abbey up until the disillusionment of the monasteries by Henry VIII in the 16th Century.
The land then passed into the hands of the Kaye family who exploited their monopoly of the river to build mills, using the water as a power source. It was the water power that allowed the area to develop its industrial capability and it is no accident that this area (The Colne Valley) was the birthplace of the industrial

revolution. The famous Luddites came from just up the valley at Marsden.
The burgeoning textile industry was given a boost by the completion of the Huddersfield Narrow Canal in the early 19th century. This allowed goods to be easily shipped out to the markets of the growing cities of Yorkshire and Lancashire. By the end of the 19th Century Slaithwaite was a major textile centre and had its own docks, which were in front of the Globe Mill.
The invention of the railway in the late 19th Century saw a decline in the importance of the canal for shipping goods and by the end of the Second World War, the canal had fallen into disuse. The last fifty years has also seen a decline in the textile industry and there are now only two working mills left in Slaithwaite. However the area continues to be a thriving community and has developed newer industries and businesses to sustain the local economy. It has also recently become the centre piece for a television series ‘Where the Heart is’ made by Anglian Television.

Saint James Parish Church was built in 1789 on the site of an earlier Tudor Church.
The slung ceiling was put in, in the late 1800’s by a local joiner called Willie Varley, who went to study such a structure in Vienna before starting the work.

On Bridge Street is this early 18th Century cottage that has been in the same family since it was built. Much of what surrounds it was built over the following 150 years. On the top right of the picture you can see the Globe Mill a building that dominates the centre of the village.