In a midst Ages the town formed a portion of the Manor of Wakefield and Kirkburton church was at the head of the 16,000 acre Parish, which extended when far west as a Holme Valley.

A manufacture of woollen cloth was well established on text per instance of the 1st Queen Elizabeth. It expanded apace when a late 18th century. A 1st textile mill was built at Dogley astir 1787 & utilized waterpower to develop wool for spinning & for fulling a finished fabric. All about 1800 a second mill opened at Linfit, which utilized steam power to carry out the equivalent activities. Two mills bit by bit took in more processes & developed into real businesses under a Kenyon & Hey families. By 1880 there were astir eight mills at function in the town.

A tanning of leather and exploitation of local coal deposits mass produced worthful contributions to the economy of Kirkburton for many centuries. A previous tannery closed in the 1830s. Coal mining grew in importance using a increased utilise of steam in the mills & by 1850 there were there are no fewer than Twenty little pits in the town. A survive colliery closed about 70 years ago.

Of these old-established industry, which has simply recently moved from either a village, is the manufacture of edge information & shovels, which was introduced in the mid 18th century.

A people of a town increased chop-chop using the incubation of the material trades. By 1800 a people was astir 1400: Sixty years late it was approaching 3700. When this, better job chance elsewhere led to a general decline in a people & for about the century the figure settled as much as the 3000 mark. By 1971 there were 2800 denizen, however charted housing development at Highburton a approximated people is at present nigh 4000.

Kirkburton has the [http://homepages.force9.net/stringfellow/kirkburton/ Rapier Dance Team], world health organization perform traditiona longsword dances from each one Just released Season's Day at public house in the villages of Kirkburton & Highburton.

Tuck dance was a tradition around the village as much as the beginning of the 20th century, & was revived in 1974.

Places of Interest

PARISH CHURCH: Dedicated to All Hallows, most of the church is 13th century although area use been rebuilt. Fifteenth century tower & late mediaeval nave ceiling, Elizabethan & Jacobean Pews. the little window in the sanctuary will use opened from either the cell of a hermit. Restored tenth century stone crucifix.

SALVATION ARMY CITADEL: A number one Salvation Army Corps was established inside the village in 1885. Their present headquarters were opened inside 1964.

PRIMITIVE METHODIST CHAPEL, Slant Gate: Born-agaaround into a personal home in 1973, the oldest section date back 1832. a school, nowadays demolished, was built withinside 1899 & the chapel was enlarged in 1926.

HIGHBURTON CROSS: Marking a places of a mediaeval market, a steps at a base probably date from either either a 14th century, a shaft & ball from the Eighteenth or even Nineteenth.

MANOR MILL, Linfit Lane: One of tercet previous corn mills in a town, the others existence at Dogley Bar & Smithy Hill. Dating from either astir 1832 this mill experienced one of a big water wheels in a country, by having the across of Fifty feet: it was flushed for discarded when you took the 2nd globe war.

SPRINGFIELD MILL: A oldest a portion was built as a storage warehouse astir 1830. a independent building, withinside a similar style however big, was added for spinning inside 1834 & the weaving sheds paired in 1849. Fallowing a church this is maybe a first piece of architecture in the village.

TOWN HALL: A owners of the nearby mill built Springfield Home in the 1830s. It was bought by Kirkburton Urban District Council around 1935 & taken all over as a Town Hall trine years late. A council sold it within 1982.

BURTON VILLAGE HALL: Formerly Highburton School, a Village Hall was extensively renovated inside 1999 using fundraise per local community & a grant from either the National Lottery Fund.

COAL MINING: Coal mining was erstwhile an crucial industry in that section of Yorkshire. a remains of a total of mines & bell pits potty however exist as seen, including the previous St Helen’s Colliery around Moor Lane in Highburton. In the latter half of the 19th century there were complete Xxx pits operating as much as Kirkburton using assibilate 300 men.

IRON MAKING: Recent archaeologic excavations inside [http://www.lhi.org.uk/projects_directory/projects_by_region/yorkshire_the_humber/kirklees/the_myers_wood_project/ Myers Wood] stand exposed a virtually all complete iron working places northwards of England. A Cistercian monastic iron working site was operational from either a 12th to the 14th century, applying advanced techniques & a stream power for smelting & smithing iron.

Kirkburton is besides a house to [http://www.kirkburtonfirst.org.uk/ Kirkburton First], Turnshaws School & Kirkburton Gymnasium, in which a headteacher is Mr Parker. Highburton is residence to [http://www.highburtonfirst.org.uk/ Highburton First School].