Crossley

Visitors' Gallery

From Lee Green School, I moved to Crowlees School, which stood at the end of Crowlees Road (where you can just see the house). The school was built in 1836 and closed its doors in 1972. Those boys that were at this school from 1960 - 1964 cannot fail to remember Mr Haigh and Mr Ward. From Crowlees, I "defected" to Heckmondwike Grammar School. It was whilst I was at Crowlees School that I joined the choir at the Parish Church, which conveniently brings me to the next photograph.

This photograph shows the Parish Church of St. Mary the Virgin, consecrated in 1871. It stands on the site of the original Castle Hall and was designed by the architect, Sir Gilbert Scott. The foundation stone was laid on Easter Monday, 1869.

Behind the Church is a large mound created by Ilbert de Lacy. The mound is known as a 'motte' of a motte-and-bailey castle. See the picture below for a further explanation of these castles.

 

This picture shows how things may have looked nine hundred years ago. The picture shows the mound (motte) and the enclosed castle (bailey) at ground level. Several hundred motte-and-bailey castles were built throughout the United Kingdom following the Norman Conquest. They were often built near churches.

 
This photograph is another view of The Parish Church, with the old church (built c. 1261) in the foreground. Much of the latter has been demolished and a Garden of Rest now exists in its place. Some of the flowers can just be seen in the lower right-hand side of the picture. These flowers adorn the gravestones of one of Mirfield's most famous families. See the next photograph for details.

This photograph in the shadow of the old church shows the gravestones of the Ingham family, who owned the nearby Blake Hall (built in 1745). Anne Bronte was governess to the Ingham children in 1839.

Blake Hall was demolished in 1954.