Skelmanthorpe – Interesting and Unusual Facts

The Skelmanthorpe Band is one of the oldest brass bands in the country founded in 1843. They came first in the 2011 Holme Valley contest and are up for the Grand Shield on 14th May 2011.

Skelmanthorpe History.

• Skelmanthorpe is in the Kirklees area near Denby Dale and has a population of less than 5000.
• Originally Skelmanthorpe was believed to be called Shalman after a Hebrew word meaning peaceable.
• It was established in the 8th century by displaced Jews from Holland.
• The Skelmanthorpe Feast was a very popular event in the 18th century.
• Turning from agriculture to weaving the area became more prosperous.

Kirklees Light Railway

• Steam along behind Hawk, Owl, Fox or Badger, the four friendly steam engines from Clayton West via Skelmanthorpe and Cuckoos Nest to Shelly.
• The 15″ narrow-gauge rail runs through superb scenery on the course of the track laid for the old original Skelmanthorpe line. This line was first opened in 1879 and closed in 1986.
• New this summer at Shelley Station is a picnic area with sturdy benches and a train-themed play area with the addition of a sandpit!

Skelmanthorpe Worship

• The Anglican church of St Aidan has an ikon of St Mary Sumner, hanging in the Lady Chapel. Mary Sumner founded the Mothers Union, an international organization of the Church of England, towards the end of the 19th Century.
  George Frederick Bodley designed this and other churches in the English Decorated Gothic style. He was a friend of several Pre-Raphaelite artists and William Morris.
  Bodley’s parish church designs became influential and include various parish churches plus Queen’s College Chapel, Cambridge, secular buildings for King’s College and Magdalen College, Oxford. Bodley was the also the architect for the Cathedral of St Peter and St Paul, Washington DC; St David’s Cathedral, Hobart, Tasmania; and All Saints Cathedral, Nagpur, India.

• There is a Wesleyan church on Gibb Lane in Skelmanthorpe, a Methodist Church, the Trinity Evangelical Church and Saville Road Hall non-denominational.

Futurology for Skelmanthorpe

• You can see the up-coming fixtures for Skelmanthorpe Cricket club on their web site. There are two crown green bowls clubs based at the Windmill Pub and in the centre of the village.

• Skelmanthorpe along with the neighbouring villages of Scissett, Clayton West and Denby Dale have all been targeted for substantial housing development by Kirklees Council.

• Skelmanthorpe Community Action Group continue to fight for a school crossing, to help protect our children, for improvements to road junctions, to improve safety and for repairs to our failing road system. They also keep an archive

• The next big brass band competition will be The Yorkshire Brass Band Championships 3-4 March 2012 at St. George’s Hall, Bradford

• Jobs or commuterland will be an issue in the area for at least the rest of this decade. Who can say what will happen.