Slaithwaite
Slaithwaite (ˈslæθ.weɪt, locally 'Slaithwaite' ˈslaʊ.ᵻt; Old Norse for "timber-fell thwaite/clearing") is a village and former civil parish, now in the unparished area of Colne Valley, in the metropolitan borough of Kirklees, in West Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it lies in the Colne Valley, lying across the River Colne and the Huddersfield Narrow Canal, approximately south-west of Huddersfield. The village has two primary schools; Slaithwaite Church of England School on Holme Lane and Nields Junior, Infant and Nursery School on Nields Road. There is also a small primary school in the nearby hamlet of Wilberlee. The village is serviced by the local Secondary School, Colne Valley High School in Linthwaite approximately 2.5 miles away. The village was voted the best place to live in the North & Northeast in The Times 2022 Best Places To Live annual guide. Between 1195 and 1205, Roger de Laci, Constable of Chester, gave the manor of Slaithwaite to Henry Teutonicus (Lord Tyas). It remained in the Tyas family until the end of the 14th century when it came into the Kaye family. It eventually joined the estates of the Earl of Dartmouth, a descendant of the Kayes, and was part of the upper division of the wapentake of Agbrigg. It included the township of Lingarths (Lingards) and constituted the Chapelry of Slaithwaite, in the Patronage of the Vicar of Huddersfield. In the early 19th century, a local spring was discovered to contain sulphurous properties and minerals, similar to those found in Harrogate. Sometime after 1820 a bathing facility was built, along with a gardens and pleasure ground, with some visitor cottages. A free school was founded in 1721 and rebuilt twice: first in 1744, and again in 1842. In the 1848 edition of A Topographical Dictionary of England, Samuel Lewis (the editor) wrote: "the lands are in meadow and pasture, with a small portion of arable; the scenery is bold and romantic. In the quarries of the district are found vegetable fossils, especially firs and other mountain trees.