Dewsbury Markets
Wednesday and Saturday General Markets in Dewsbury are still the largest and most renowned market in Yorkshire.
The open market boasts over 300 stalls and the permanent Victorian Market hall has a further 36. Amongst these permanent stalls is the famous ‘Tripe Shop’ shown above.
On Fridays there is a Second-Hand Market with an array of goods and around 100 stalls each week, a bargain hunter’s paradise.
‘If you love browsing and hunting out valuables then what better way to spend your Sunday morning than at the Car ‘Bootless’ Sale, 7.30am to 12.30pm? For sellers stall prices are £12.30 each and you can set-up at 7am on any available stall
Minsters In Yorkshire
Dewsbury is one of 4 minsters in Yorkshire. We all know York Minster and probably Beverley but Howden and Dewsbury Minsters were unknown to me.
Dewsbury Minster dates back to Anglo-Saxon times.The Christian Community has met to worship on the site of the minster since AD 627.
Now the Minster includes or is largely a heritage centre for the presentation of Anglo-Saxon sculpture and notable crosses.
There is a newly created pilgrimage chapel to St Paulinus.
Minsters differ from Cathedrals in that they are basically a monastery church or local collegiate church.
The minster houses “Black Tom”, a bell which is rung each Christmas Eve. There is one toll for each year since Christ’s birth, and this is known locally as the “Devil’s Knell”.
History of Dewsbury.
The population of Dewsbury in the Heavy Woolen District of Yorkshire is around 55,000.
Dewsbury has been an important trading area for centuries. The river Calder, canal links and the railway all helped.
There was a cloth market in Dewsbury from the 14th century. During the industrial revolution wool, cloth and textile engineering were major industries.
Large immigration took place from the Indian Sub-continent when people arrived to work in the textile industry. Their influence is now very significant in the area. Aishah Azmi a local school teaching assistant gained notoriety in 2006 by refusing to remove her full-face veil in the classroom.
Dewsbury Museum is located within the mansion house in Crow Nest Park.
Fourteen buses are stored in a small building in Ravensthorpe, near Dewsbury as part of Dewsbury Bus Museum’s collection.
Tradition records that Robin Hood is buried in the 12 century Cistertian convent that is now part of Kirklees Park.
Bed manufacture is the main industry as textiles have dramatically reduced.
Crime Shouldn’t Pay
- Karen Matthews shocked the country when she came up with the plot to use one of her children in a fake kidnapping to claim reward money.With Paul Drake, aka Michael Donovan, she was found guilty on charges of kidnapping, false imprisonment, and perverting the course of justice and both were given eight-year prison sentences.
- Mohammad Sidique Khan lived in Lees Holm Dewsbury and became a suicide bomber when in July 2005 with 3 others he detonated bombs on three London Underground trains and one bus killing 55 people and injuring over 700.
- Several children aged 12- 15 were arrested in 2008 on suspicion of the murder of Amar Aslam. Amar was beaten so savagely that his body was initially unidentifiable.
- On 2 January 1981 Peter Sutcliffe, then calling himself Peter Williams was arrested before being transferring to Dewsbury. A knife was discovered in the toilets at the police station and eventually Sutcliffe confessed he was ‘The Ripper’.
- Not in the same league but Baroness Warsi has not been the sole of rectitude. First parliamentary expenses and then business dealings were questioned and the issues rumble on.
Related
Victims of the Yorkshire Ripper
Times online
Bus Museum