Heavy Woollen District

Machell's mungo and shoddy mill in Dewsbury has been converted to flats but retains its mill name.

The Heavy Woollen District is named from the heavyweight cloth manufactured in the area in West Yorkshire, England.[1] Dewsbury, Batley, Heckmondwike and Ossett are at the core of the area while Liversedge, Gomersal, Gildersome, Birkenshaw, Mirfield, Cleckheaton, Morley, Tingley, East Ardsley, Birstall and Horbury are peripheral. The manufacture of wool cloth for clothing, blankets, rope and twine is ongoing in the district by companies such as E. Simms/Heavy Woollen Textiles.[2][3]

Most of the district is in Kirklees, Ossett and Horbury are in the Wakefield and Morley is in the Leeds.

The area was one of the key textile centres in Yorkshire, famed for its production of "shoddy and mungo". For years companies had tried to blend different fibres without success leading to the term, "munt go", i.e. "mustn't go" as a Yorkshire colloquialism. Machinery invented in Batley to grind soft rags (shoddy) were devised in 1813, and for hard rags (mungo) in 1835. Most mills have either closed or put to other uses, but some shoddy/mungo mills remain such as Edward Clay & Son Ltd. in Ossett.

There is still a Heavy Woollen District football[4] association and junior cricket association,[5] both with representative teams. The cricket league originally defined the district as within a six-mile radius of Batley Town Hall, but this has now been extended to an eighteen-mile radius.[6]

References

  1. ↑ "Wealth of war for boom mills". Dewsbury Reporter. 3 January 2008. Retrieved 31 July 2014.
  2. ↑ "E Simms & Co Ltd". Esimms.co.uk. Retrieved 31 July 2014.
  3. ↑ "Heavy Woollen Textile Co Ltd". Hwtcoltd.co.uk. Retrieved 31 July 2014.
  4. ↑ Bleakley, John (29 April 2013). "HWDFA U17 Representative Football". Pitchero.com. Retrieved 31 July 2014.
  5. ↑ Heavy Woollen District Junior Cricket League
  6. ↑ "History of the Heavy Woollen". Heavy Woollen District Junior Cricket League. Archived from the original on 7 November 2006. Retrieved 10 January 2007.

Coordinates: 53°35′35″N 1°48′04″W / 53.593°N 1.801°W / 53.593; -1.801

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