Thornhill, West Yorkshire

infobox UK place
country = England
official_name = Thornhill
latitude = 53.6622
longitude = -1.6124
scale = 20000
map_type = West Yorkshire
population = 6,875 (2005)
metropolitan_borough = Kirklees
metropolitan_county = West Yorkshire
region = Yorkshire and the Humber
constituency_westminster = Dewsbury
post_town = DEWSBURY
postcode_district = WF12
postcode_area = WF
dial_code = 01924
os_grid_reference = SE245185

Thornhill, is a village in West Yorkshire, England. It is located on a hill on the south side of the River Calder, and has extensive views of Dewsbury, Ossett and Wakefield. It is known for its collection of Anglo-Saxon crosses.

It is never entirely clear whether Thornhill is part of Dewsbury or a separate place; the urban area runs into (the rest of) Dewsbury along one main road but is otherwise isolated. It was absorbed into the Dewsbury county borough in 1910, as was Savile Town and Whitley [http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/relationships.jsp?u_id=10002400&c_id=10001043] . The census includes Thornhill in the population figures for Dewsbury. However, the Post Office and the Land Registry have continued to use the fixed boundaries of Thornhill rather than classifying the area as simply Dewsbury.

History

Thornhill is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086, but the Anglo-Saxon crosses and other remains indicate that there was a settlement here by the ninth century.In the reign of Henry III Thornhill was the seat of the Thornhill family, who intermarried with the De Fixbys and Babthorpes in the reigns of Edward I and Edward II. In the reign of Edward III, Elizabeth Thornhill, the only child of Simon Thornhill, married Sir Henry Saville. This extinguished the family line of Thornhills of Thornhill which now passed down the Saville line. Thornhill now became the seat of the emerging and powerful Savile family. [http://members.tripod.com/~midgley/thornhill.html]

The Saviles later intermarried with the Calverley family as well, so that when Sir John Savile died in 1503 in Thornhill, he left provision in his will for his sister Alice, married to Sir William Calverley. [ [http://www.medievalgenealogy.org.uk/sources/saville/clay2.shtml Will of Sir John Savile, J. W. Clay, Yorkshire Archaeological Journal, 1920] ]

The Savilles remained here until the English Civil War when the house was besieged, (having been previously fortified by Sir William Savile, the third baronet of the family), taken, and demolished by the forces of Parliament. Some ruins of the house and the moat still remain at Thornhill Rectory Park. [http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/search/details.aspx?pid=1&id=340714] This large house had a secret underground passage, that lead to Thornhill Parish Church. [http://www.thornhillparishchurch.org.uk/AboutUs.htm] just a few hundred yards away from the park. The passage remained until the early 1990s when it was filled in due to safety reasons.Monuments to members of both the Thornhill and Savile families are on view in Thornhill Parish Church. [http://www.thornhillparishchurch.org.uk/AboutUs.htm]

One thing that sets Thornhill apart from the rest of Dewsbury is its closer ties to coal-mining. In 1893 the Combs Pit Mining Disaster killed 139 local coal miners. Thornhill colliery resulted from the mergining of Inghams and Combs colliery in 1948. It closed in 1971. The nearest pit from then on was Caphouse Colliery just to the south of Thornhill, which closed after the miners strike of 1985, it later became the National Mining Museum.

chools

pass rate of 40% in 2006, an increase of 10% from 2005. Recently the high school has undergone various modifications, and is now a Science College. The science block has been fully refurbished and the humanities block was demolished and a new one built. Construction of a new sports hall was completed in April 2007 and includes a new Multi-Use Games Area (MUGA).

Entertainment

Thornhill has several public houses. The Black Horse is a small public house in the south of Thornhill. The Scarborough Pub is a medium sized traditional public house on the edge of Frank Lane and is quite popular with residents of all ages. The Flatt Top is a small public house on the corner of Albion Road, serving traditionally brewed local ales. The Alma is also situated at the north of Thornhill.There are also several sports clubs and working men's clubs.

ports

Thornhill is home to the Thornhill Trojans [http://www.thornhilltrojans.com,] a rugby league team who are currently in the National Conference League Premier Division. [http://www.nationalconferenceleague.co.uk/] The area also boasts a football team (Thornhill Boys) and several rugby league youth teams. The Thornhill rugby club, located in Overthorpe Park, houses the changing rooms for the local rugby and football teams.

Community facilities open to the public include a football pitch, rugby pitch and basketball court, a mini rugby pitch frequently used by the rugby club itself for the under tens junior team and the new sports hall, with muga located at the local high school (the community science college at Thornhill).

Thornhill is home to the Savile Bowmen, an archery club that shoots at Thornhill Cricket and Bowls Club [http://www.savile-bowmen.org.uk/] .

Amenities

There are a number of local shops and off-licences in Thornhill and numerous takeaways ranging from traditional English to Italian cuisine. The nearest large supermarkets are in Dewsbury, which is the main town in regards to Thornhill and is generally quite well connected by public transport.The area is also served by two post offices with limited services. The Overthorpe post office has recently undergone building work and is now part of the Londis franchise.There are also many other amenities offered in Thornhill, such as a florist, dental surgery, beauty salon, a computer repair shop and several fish and chip shops; one of which doubles as a Chinese takeaway.

urvey of English Dialects site

The area was also covered by the Survey of English Dialects due to the belief that it was a hotbed of Yorkshire dialect [http://www.collectbritain.co.uk/personalisation/object.cfm?uid=021SED000C908S9U00003C01] . A 2005 study compared the 1964 Thornhill recording with a recording from nearby Ossett in 1999 [http://www.leeds.ac.uk/english/activities/lavc/Conference%20Paper%20PDFs/JonathanRobinson.pdf] .

References