Tour the Heavy Woollen District

The Heavy Woollen District is so called because of the nature of the cloth manufactured in the towns of Dewsbury, Batley, Heckmondwike, Cleckheaton, Mirfield and the surrounding villages during the 18th, 19th and early part of the 20th century.

It was one of the key textile centres in Yorkshire, famed for its production of "shoddy and mungo" (cloth derived from left over cotton and wool). Of course the wool is a thing of the past, but the Heavy Woollen District name has stuck.

The District is in the county of West Yorkshire and comes under Kirklees local authority, which is based in the nearby town of Huddersfield.

Click on a town on the map on the right to find out more about it.

• The Reverend Patrick Brontë, the father of Anne, Charlotte and Emily Brontë, was rector of Dewsbury parish church from 1809 to 1811.

• Heckmondwike was the first town in England to have Christmas lights.

• Thomas Clifford Allbutt, inventor of the clinical thermometer, was born in Dewsbury.

• Between 1966 and 1977 the famous Batley Variety Club played host to many notable acts including Louis Armstrong, The Bee Gees, Roy Orbison, The Hollies and Cliff Richard.

• Wallace Hartley, bandmaster on the RMS Titanic when it sank in 1912, lived in Dewsbury.

• Pop singer Robert Palmer was also born in Batley.

• Former Speaker of the House of Commons, Betty Boothroyd, and Andrew Morton, the biographer of Diana, Princess of Wales, were born in Dewsbury.

• Professional snooker player Paul Hunter lived in Batley until his death on 9 October 2006.

• In 1924 Heckmondwike's Arthur Wood composed a maypole dance called Barwick Green -  now the theme tune to the BBC radio serial The Archers.

• Birstall, a town near Batley, is most famously the birthplace of Joseph Priestley, the discoverer of oxygen.

• Dewsbury is referenced in the Beatles' 1967 film Magical Mystery Tour.

• Roger Hargreaves, author of the Mr Men and Little Misses series of books, was born and brought up in Cleckheaton.

• Actor Patrick Stewart was born in nearby Mirfield. He worked for a very brief period as a journalist for the town's local Dewsbury Reporter.