Castle Hill, Huddersfield

Taken and adapted from Rumsby, J. 'A Castle Well Guarded: the archaeology and history of Castle Hill, Almondbury'

Castle Hill is a scheduled ancient monument in Almondbury overlooking Huddersfield in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, West Yorkshire, England. The hilltop has been settled for at least 4,000 years. The scheduled monument comprises the remains of a late-Bronze Age or early Iron Age univallate hillfort with a single raised bank, a later Iron Age multivallate hillfort, a 12th-century motte and bailey castle and the site of a deserted medieval village. The grade II listed Victoria Tower on the summit of Castle Hill is by far the most conspicuous landmark in Huddersfield. The hill has been a place of recreation for hundreds of years and the easily discernible remains of past occupation have made it a subject for legend, speculation and scientific study. It is located on UK Maps at grid reference SE152140.

Geology

The hill owes its shape to an outlying cap of hard Grenoside sandstone that has protected the softer stone beneath from erosion. The slopes below Castle Hill are formed from alternating deposits of shale and harder sandstones and form a series of slopes and benches. Five coal seams lie within the shales of the lower slopes some of which have been worked along the hillside, by adits and shafts. Workings are visible in several places and there is also evidence of old quarries that have been infilled.

Castle Hill

Castle Hill may refer to:

Places

Australia

England

Castle Hill (Virginia)

Castle Hill (Virginia) is an historic, privately owned, 600-acre (243 ha) plantation located at the foot of the Southwest Mountains in Albemarle County, Virginia, near Monticello and the city of Charlottesville, and is recognized by the Virginia Landmarks Register and the National Register of Historic Places. Castle Hill was the beloved home of Dr. Thomas Walker (1715–1794) and his wife, Mildred Thornton Meriwether (widow of Nicholas Meriwether III). Walker was a close friend and the physician of Peter Jefferson, and later the guardian of young Thomas Jefferson after his father's death.

History

Through his marriage to Mildred Meriwether in 1741, Thomas Walker acquired the land comprising approximately 15,000 acres (6,100 ha) which would become the site for Castle Hill. In its square hall, the youthful, music-loving Jefferson once played the violin, while the still younger Madison danced. Here in 1781, Walker's wife delayed the British Colonel Banastre Tarleton to give the patriot Jack Jouett time to warn Governor Thomas Jefferson and the Virginia legislators of Tarleton's plan to capture them.

Castle Hill (Sitka, Alaska)

Castle Hill (Tlingit: Noow Tlein), now formally known as the Baranof Castle State Historic Site, is a National Historic Landmark and state park in Sitka, Alaska. The hill, providing a commanding view over the city, is the historical site of Tlingit and Russian forts, and the location where Russian Alaska was formally handed over to the United States in 1867. It is also where the 49-star United States flag was first flown after Alaska became a state in 1959.

Description

Castle Hill is a rock outcrop, about 60 feet (18 m) in height. It occupies a prominent position on the edge of Sitka Harbor, although it is now set back from the sea by several hundred feet due to fill added around its southern and western faces in 1968. The summit area is a generally flat area about 120 feet (37 m) in length and 90 feet (27 m) in width. The south face of the hill is sheer, while the eastern face presents a more gradual slope. An accessible trail, with interpretive panels, provides access to the now-bare summit area.

Huddersfield

Coordinates: 53°38′42″N 1°46′47″W / 53.6450°N 1.7798°W / 53.6450; -1.7798

Huddersfield (ⁱ/ˈhʌdərzˌfiːld/,local /ˈhʊdəzˌfiːld/) is a large market town and is the largest settlement in the metropolitan borough of Kirklees, West Yorkshire, England. It is the 11th largest town in the United Kingdom with a population of 162,949 (2011 census). Halfway between Leeds and Manchester, it lies 190 miles (310 km) north of London, and 10.3 miles (16.6 km) south of Bradford, the nearest city.

Huddersfield is near the confluence of the River Colne and the River Holme. Located within the historic county boundaries of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is the largest urban area in the metropolitan borough of Kirklees and the administrative centre of the borough. The town is known for its role in the Industrial Revolution, and for being the birthplaces of rugby league, British Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson, and the international film star James Mason.

Huddersfield is a town known for sport, home to the rugby league team, Huddersfield Giants, founded in 1895, who play in the European Super League and Football League Championship football team Huddersfield Town F.C., founded in 1908. The town is home to the University of Huddersfield and the sixth form colleges Greenhead College, Kirklees College and Huddersfield New College

Huddersfield (UK Parliament constituency)

Huddersfield ⁱ/ˈhʌdərzˌfiːld/ is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 1983 by Barry Sheerman of the Labour Co-operative Party (which denotes he is a member of the Labour Party and Co-operative Party, one of 30 current Labour MPs, and requires members to contribute practically to a cooperative business).

Boundaries

This constituency covers most of the large town of Huddersfield in West Yorkshire. The 2006 Boundary Commission report suggested very little change to the seat.

Constituency profile

Apart from four years tenure as MP by Geoffrey Dickens for Huddersfield West (1979-1983), the area (including its divided halves for the 33 years to 1983) has returned a Labour Party MP since 1945.

The constituency is currently held by the Labour Party, although the Liberal Democrats made inroads by coming second in the 2005 general election and hold nearly as many local council seats across the constituency. In the 2010 general election Karen Tween of the Conservative Party narrowed the incumbent's lead to a relatively average 4,472 votes and the new Liberal Democrat candidate slipped into third place.