Editing Gomersal (section)

== History ==

Gomersal was attested in the ''[[Domesday Book|Doomes Day Book]]'' (1086) with the name Gomershale. *''Guthmers Halh'', is a supposed place-name, not attested in any written document, hence marked with asterisk in ''The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-names''.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Ekwall|first1=Eilert|title=The concise Oxford dictionary of English place-names|date=1960|publisher=Clarendon Press|location=Oxford|isbn=0-19-869103-3|page=200|edition=4}}</ref> The location was at a bend in the brook which passes through the valley bottom before joining with the [[River Calder, West Yorkshire|River Calder]]. This land became an Anglo-Saxon burial ground and most likely was the location of a Celtic temple site before the Roman Conquest. It became the site of the Parish Church of St Peter and St Paul, now known as St Peters. The brook formed the ancient boundary between Gomersal and [[Birstall, West Yorkshire|Birstall]].

The Luddite riots, that occurred in the area in 1812 provided [[Charlotte Brontë]] with material for her novel ''[[Shirley (novel)|Shirley]]''. Gomersal was the hometown of her friend [[Mary Taylor (women's rights advocate)|Mary Taylor]] who lived at the [[Red House Museum|Red House]] which she renamed ''Briarmains'' in the novel.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.kirklees.gov.uk/events/venuedetails.asp?vID=7|title = Kirklees Council &#124; Home Page| date=November 2016 }}</ref>

The Taylor Family also lived in Spen Hall, a residence in the Lower Spen area of Gomersal. Spen Hall has been divided into several houses but retains a 16th-century mullioned window, a tennis lawn and a water spring which, according to myth, is a tunnel (now flooded) leading to the Old Saw public house cellar nearby. The cellar was apparently used to hide priests fleeing persecution.

Clay pipes were found in the earlier Old Saw premises in the walls and chimneys but, once exhumed, disintegrated. A glazed drinking cup found in the foundations survives after being carefully reassembled and preserved by Harry King, the former owner of the cottage. The cup still requires dating. A hand-made brick-lined pit {{convert|2|ft|cm|sigfig=1|spell=in}} deep was also discovered on the site. Its uses are disputed, with suggestions that it was a cockfighting pit or meat storage vessel.

Gomersal also has many fine and historic houses which climb the hill of Spen Lane and along Oxford Road towards [[Birkenshaw, West Yorkshire|Birkenshaw]]. Houses such as Spen Hall, Spen House (now demolished and rebuilt, except the Coach House), High Rising (High Royd, another Taylor Household) now The Gomersal Hotel, Tanfield House, Firdene (currently on the market for £1.25&nbsp;million), Hilltop House (now split into two homes with apartment buildings in the grounds), Gomers Hall (apparently, originally Gothmers Hall, which was demolished to build an electricity sub-station), Pollard Hall (home of the mill owner Thomas Burnley), Red House (now Red House Museum), Broadyards, Croft House, Sigston House, Gomersal Hall, Peel House, West House (the last three still privately owned).

The Roundhill Mill site in the Cliffe lane area of Gomersal is known for the sighting of the {{lang|non|scratje}} (pronounced Skrayty), a legendary Norse spirit supposedly observed by a son before the death of his father and characterised by a cold and apparently sourceless light which moves erratically. The old name for Cliffe Lane was Scrat Lane.

Gomersal was heavily wooded up to the late 19th century with Swinley Great Wood, Lanes Wood, Scotland (Fusden) Wood containing the Taylor family burial ground, and Church Wood between the Hill Top and Monk Ings.

During the Second World War, Gomersal had a number of public air raid shelters, with quite a few remaining in 2007 at Birkenshaw roundabout Park, Gomersal First School, Hill Top. This was likely due to the semi-underground control bunker for the anti-aircraft guns in the West Riding, protecting Leeds, Bradford, Huddersfield and Halifax. The bunker was in the grounds of Oakroyd Hall, making this a target for the German Luftwaffe; Oakroyd Hall is now the headquarters of the West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service.

There was also a [[Royal Observer Corps]] "Orlit" type surface observation post on the Popeley Fields around {{convert|1/3|mi|m|sigfig=1|abbr=off}} from the Gomersal Cricket ground. This was active throughout the war and manned day and night. In the 1960s on the same site a nuclear-blast-proof underground bunker was constructed as a monitoring post, one of over 1,500 constructed in the UK, for use in measuring direction, strength of blast and fallout in the event of the UK coming under nuclear attack. The ROC stood down during the late 1980s with the reduced threat of the Cold War and the bunkers were abandoned and sold or given back to the land owners.

Gomersal was formerly a [[Township (England)|township]] and [[chapelry]] in the parish of Birstall.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://visionofbritain.org.uk/place/190|title=History of Gomersal, in Kirklees and West Riding|publisher=[[A Vision of Britain through Time]]|accessdate=10 October 2024}}</ref> In 1866 Gomersal became a separate [[civil parish]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10428520|title=Relationships and changes Gomersal CP/Tn through time|publisher=A Vision of Britain through Time|accessdate=10 October 2024}}</ref> in 1894 Gomersal became an [[Urban district (England and Wales)|urban district]], and on 1 April 1915 the district was abolished to form [[Spenborough]] Urban District.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10026325|title=Relationships and changes Gomersal UD through time|publisher=A Vision of Britain through Time|accessdate=10 October 2024}}</ref> On 1 April 1974 the parish was abolished.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ukbmd.org.uk/reg/districts/spen%20valley.html|title=Spen Valley Registration District|publisher=UKBMD|accessdate=10 October 2024}}</ref> In 1951 the parish had a population of 7951.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10428520/cube/TOT_POP|title=Population statistics Gomersal CP/Tn through tim|publisher=A Vision of Britain through Time|accessdate=10 October 2024}}</ref>