The pull of the past as tractors roll back the years

The Pennine Tractor Road Run gets under way this weekend. Chris Berry looks at the village that is home to the much-loved rural event.

When the annual Pennine Tractor Road Run gets under way from Marsh Farm tomorrow Shepley will once again be transported back to the days when it had over 60 working farms; when dairy herds were traipsed through the village for milking and when stooks were a common sight at harvest.

Today there are just three working farms and the milk churns outside Marsh Farm are no more than decorative and a harp back to Shepley’s past.

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David Billington has lived in Shepley for 47 years and for the last four he has been engaged in the task of writing a book chronicling the history of this intriguing rural village that lies between Huddersfield and Penistone.

Having been editor of the Shepley Village Magazine for the last 42 years he wasn’t unaware of the recent history as he has been very much a part of it for the last half-century but he still found plenty of surprises along the way.

“It’s funny but for every story or description of what went on in the past there is usually more than one explanation and indeed more than one story. You try to investigate but what you find is that there is sometimes no way of telling who has the right story. That’s why I’ve called the book ‘Shepley – Believe it .. or Not!’ And it goes right back to how the village got its name.

“The common thought, for years, has been that it means sheep clearing, but now I’m not so sure. The name might not have come about because the word ‘ley’ meant clearing or meadow.

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“Another ‘ley’ idea was introduced by antiquarian Alfred Watkins in his book The Old Straight Track in 1925. He suggested that the ancient British used high points and hill tops as sighting points to help them navigate in a straight line and that ‘ley’ or ‘leigh’ place names actually mean ‘a grassy track across country’.”

David was born seven miles away in Almondbury and was regarded as a “comer-in” when he arrived in the village. He’s probably only three years away from full membership!

“It was a bit of a closed community when I came here but it was always friendly, that’s the village’s strength. A lot of people in the village were related, but there was quite a bit of development that led to a lot more ‘comers in’ around the same time.

“When some of the older residents realised I was writing the book and that I was interested in finding out more of the village’s past I received a number of invitations to visit for tea. It was wonderful. They’d bring out their best bone china and mention all sorts of titbits of information.

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“Sometimes I found out that their stories might not match up with other facts, but then I’d call or tell them what else I had found out in my research and they were happy that I had put them right or at least explained what may have occurred.”

What David also found was that around the early 1800s Shepley was regarded as one of the poorest villages in England, but that by the 1850s it had earned the tag “richest village in England”.

Villagers are recorded as living in awful conditions around 1800 but the growth of stone quarrying, textile mills, the start of a brewery and a burgeoning tailoring industry added to the farming interests all combined to make this remarkable transition.

“In Shepley as early as the mid-late 1700s the principal trade after farming consisted of the manufacture of sale yarn. There were three major textile mills and two smaller specialist enterprises. It was spun and taken by packhorse to Dewsbury Market.

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“The business led to some becoming hawkers (travelling salesmen) of stocking yarn and as they became more affluent they extended their business to dealing in locally produced cloth and general drapery. The success of these enterprises encouraged others to become involved and led to the foundation of the famous Shepley tailors or ‘higglers’ as they became known. The Shepley ‘higglers’ did so well that many of them had large houses built in the village.”

One of Shepley’s most famous names was Seth Senior. David explores the story surrounding the drystone waller and builder who turned brewer and publican.

His pub The Sovereign still stands tall above the village today.

“There is a rumour that Seth Senior started the brewery with a golden sovereign. I managed to investigate that and he probably did.

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“The story I found was that it looks as though his wife or his girlfriend was about to give birth. Seth went to Mr Firth who lived at the Quaker Meeting House at Lane Head House and asked whether they had some hot water because his partner was in the neighbouring field and about to have a baby. She was moved into a barn and it became a bit of a Jesus story really. The baby was born and the family was allowed to stay. They stayed a year and Seth worked there doing such a good job that Mr Firth gave him a golden sovereign.”

Shepley, Believe it... or Not! is available at Shepley News Agency at a cost of £18.50 or you can order a copy via 2 Dyke Bottom, Shepley HD8 8EW or email: [email protected] at a cost of £20 (incl p&p)

The Pennine Tractor Run starts from Marsh Farm, Marsh Lane, Shepley tomorrow Sunday, September 16, at 10.30am (Tractors to arrive from 9am).

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