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Horbury
Surprise Yourself with a Visit
 There are many good reasons to visit Horbury, all of them are good, some of them you may even find a little surprising.
If you are interested in our heritage or just good shopping in a welcoming, friendly environment, a visit to the small township of Horbury can be a fascinating experience. A stroll around its quiet streets can be rewarding in many ways, be it a visit to the fine John Carr designed church, set atop of the eminence that forms the hub of the town, or perhaps you have come for that peaceful shopping experience with just a hint of a difference from the normal High Street superstores.
Horbury, West Yorkshire is located some two miles west of the historic city of Wakefield, close to the M1 motorway, set upon a hill overlooking the valley of the River Calder.
It consists of a warren of streets gathered around the fine Georgian, neo-classical church. The principal route through the town, anciently meandering up the hill, passing the church, is now located slightly south on the High Street. This links with other connecting streets, together with newer developments of outlying suburban residences that feed, as a dormitory, the greater urban conurbation of West Yorkshire.
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 It has however retained its individuality, defended, as it were, by its position on the high ground and the more recent bypassing of the main route to Huddersfield and beyond.
This route, significant in earlier times as a crossing place of the Calder and for bringing trade, was an important influence on the development of the town.
Its origins lie in agriculture and textiles, although these former staple occupations have now mainly gone. There are some 10,000 people living within the area of the town and it has a good cross-section of housing to meet most needs.
If it is history that you are seeking you will find plenty of interest with the confines of the town. Horbury was of course part of the great medieval Manor of Wakefield, that substantial landholding stretching from Wakefield at its west, up the Calder valley to Halifax and beyond and it is mentioned in the Domesday survey of 1086, where it is called “Orberie”. Horbury too finds a mention in the Wakefield medieval mystery plays, where there is a reference to “Horbury Shroggs”, shroggs being areas of rough ground.
In terms of its architectural features, it is indeed a most fascinating place, with a number of notable medieval and Georgian buildings, but also with much later, mixed infill of various dates that provide an entertaining vista around every corner. Of the medieval remains, these include Horbury Hall, located opposite the south front of the church and which is, inside its rather undistinguished exterior, a fine timber-framed building dating back to the fifteenth century. Originally lived in by the Amyas family and later by the Saviles, it has since had many other occupants. Also from the medieval period is Nether Hall, now a public house, the Shepherd’s Arms, but owned by a number of families as a dwelling previous to this current use. Close to the church in Tithe Barn Street are two other interesting buildings, the first is the old lock-up or “kidcote”, its ground floor originally used as a prison, the next building along is the old Sunday School building of the 1780s.
Notable from the Georgian period survives Carr Lodge, a handsome mansion still in its original parkland setting. Originally built in the late eighteenth century as Sunroyd House by Wakefield merchant, Joseph Bayldon, it is now located in a fine public park and is in the process of being returned to its former splendour after a number of years of neglect.
 The Victorians too have left their mark on Horbury, many of the buildings around the town are late nineteenth century, but of particular curiosity is the House of Mercy founded in 1858 and whose copper dome of the chapel, along with the soaring spire of St Peter’s dominates the landscape around. This, the first religious community to be founded in the north of England since the Reformation, was established to rescue from sin and destruction fallen women, or penitents as they were known and was mainly funded by public subscription. From modest beginnings, with two Sisters and three girls, the buildings were extended in 1862, on land originally used by the Horbury Allotments Society, in 1870/1 a new chapel, Holy Cross, was built and in 1949 a Preparatory School, dedicated to St. Hilda was opened there, this flourishes to the present day. These institutions and their imposing buildings exist within Horbury today and all have cast their own influence on the life of the town.
Horbury also has famous sons, John Carr (1723-1807), the renowned Georgian architect to the aristocracy and a former Lord Mayor of York was born here, his family having been long established in the town as masons. It was this John, of course who designed and built the church of St Peter & St Leonard and who is buried in a vault beneath its walls.
 Next year sees the bi-centenary of the death of this famous Georgian architect who has left his mark in the form of fine buildings in many parts of the country and whose influence stretches even further afield.
Literature too has its place at Horbury, the contemporary novelist Stan Barstow, who wrote “A Kind of Loving”, made into a famous film, was born in Horbury and a further one of his novels “Joby” was filmed for television in the streets of the town.
A famous “visitor” who married a local girl, was Sabine
Baring-Gould (1834-1924), curate at St Peter’s who wrote the words of the famous hymn, “Onward Christian Soldiers”, the well known tune composed by Sir Arthur Sullivan. Our industrial heritage too is commemorated, the award winning, National Mining Museum is located just a couple of miles away, at the former Caphouse colliery, ideal for those who may wish to explore our mining heritage and perhaps take a trip underground.
There are entertaining walks around the town with its narrow streets and hidden ginnels. The residents are accommodating, friendly and welcoming and it has a great collection of shops which you might not have expected to find and are certainly worth seeking out.
 If we now turn to the shopping, as well as staples, such as Horbury’s small supermarket and newsagents might provide, you will find delightful and a little unusual independent shops, dealing in such things as designer jewellery, special gifts for all ages and types, even a bookshop packed with new books, antiquarian and local history. There are designer clothes shops for young and the perhaps not so young, a family run business specialising in diamond jewellery, a fine greengrocers, stocking the mundane cabbage through to the exotic in fruits and vegetables from all around the world, a delicatessen to equal any on the continent and an old world style ironmongers where you can still purchase a single item not a pre-packed collection. Well, we said that you would be surprised!
If you have a wedding coming up Horbury will make your day extra special with its range of shops with the suitable clothing, to that splendid wedding cake. Should you need a beauty treatment or your hair dressing, that too can be found as well as the ultimate in ranges of furniture and kitchens for homes both new and established.
When you eventually need to pause awhile and rest, you will find a variety of nice cafes and welcoming public houses, ranging from premises where you can get a coffee and cake to those that will provide a four course meal with a fine wine.
Certainly a small town with a difference, so if you have driven through or around Horbury without pausing, make a change and drop in. We hope that you will spend a while contemplating the church and the quiet streets that surround it, and return again and again to the secret treasures of Horbury.
Published Autumn 2006. All information correct at time of print
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