Editing Slaithwaite (section)

==History==
[[File:St James' Church and Shoulder of Mutton, Slaithwaite - geograph.org.uk - 1543239.jpg|thumb|left|The parish church of St James and the Shoulder of Mutton inn]]
[[File:Town Hall, Lewisham Road, Slaithwaite - geograph.org.uk - 880404.jpg|thumb|left|[[Slaithwaite Town Hall]] in Lewisham Road]]
Between 1195 and 1205, Roger de Laci, Constable of Chester, gave the manor of Slaithwaite to Henry Teutonicus (Lord Tyas). It remained in the Tyas family until the end of the 14th century when it came into the Kaye family. It eventually joined the estates of the [[Earl of Dartmouth]], a descendant of the Kayes, and was part of the upper division of the [[wapentake]] of [[Agbrigg]].<ref>{{cite book |title=The Yorkshire Archaeological and Topographical Journal |publisher=Yorkshire Archæological Society. |page=27 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LZhQAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA27&dq=Slaithwaite |access-date=26 January 2021 }}</ref> It included the [[township]] of ''Lingarths'' (Lingards) and constituted the Chapelry of Slaithwaite, in the Patronage of the Vicar of Huddersfield.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hulbert |first1=Charles Augustus |title=Supplementary Annals of the Church and Parish of Almondbury: July, 1882, to June 1885 |date=1885 |publisher=Longmans |page=128 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KnkDAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA128&dq=Township+of+Slaithwaite |access-date=26 January 2021 }}</ref>

In the early 19th century, a local spring was discovered to contain [[Sulfur|sulphurous]] properties and minerals, similar to those found in [[Harrogate]]. Sometime after 1820 a bathing facility was built, along with a gardens and pleasure ground, with some visitor cottages. A free [[school]] was founded in 1721 and rebuilt twice: first in 1744, and again in 1842.

In the 1848 edition of ''A Topographical Dictionary of England'', Samuel Lewis (the editor) wrote:
"the lands are in meadow and pasture, with a small portion of arable; the scenery is bold and romantic. In the quarries of the district are found vegetable fossils, especially firs and other mountain trees. The town is beautifully seated in the valley of the river Colne; the inhabitants are mostly employed in the woollen manufacture, in the spinning of cotton and silk, and in silk-weaving"<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/topographical-dict/england/pp118-120|title=Slackstead – Slawston &#124; British History Online|website=www.british-history.ac.uk}}</ref>

Slaithwaite Hall, (dated by dendrochronology to 1452), is located on a nearby hillside. It is one of a number of [[cruck]]-framed buildings clustered in this area of West Yorkshire. After many years divided into [[cottages]], the building has been extensively restored and is now a single dwelling.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bodgesoc.org/slaithwaite.html|title=The rehabilitation of Slaithwaite Old Hall}}</ref>

[[Legend]] has it that local [[smugglers]] caught by the [[Her Majesty's Customs and Excise|excise men]] tried to explain their [[nocturnal]] activities as 'raking the moon from the canal' and definitely not as 'fishing out smuggled [[brandy]]'.<ref name=SM>[http://www.slaithwaitemoonraking.org/2009/home.html Slaithwaite Moonraking .org] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101103010326/http://www.slaithwaitemoonraking.org/2009/home.html |date=3 November 2010 }}</ref> A "Moonraker" is now the nickname for a native of the town. There are similar stories and nicknames for the neighbouring settlements of [[Golcar]] ("Lillies"), [[Marsden, West Yorkshire|Marsden]] ("Cuckoos") and [[Linthwaite]] ("Leadboilers"). The legend is also known in [[Wiltshire]], where the locals are also known as 'Moonrakers'.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.moonrakers.org.uk/moonrakers.asp|title=Moonrakers.org}}</ref>

[[Slaithwaite Town Hall]] in Lewisham Road served as the municipal headquarters of successive local authorities in the area until the abolition of Colne Valley Urban District Council in 1974.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10002254#tab02  |title=Colne Valley UD|publisher=Vision of Britain|access-date=9 May 2022}}</ref>

=== Civil parish ===
Slaithwaite was formerly a [[Township (England)|township]] and [[chapelry]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://visionofbritain.org.uk/place/452|title=History of Marsden, in Kirklees and West Riding|publisher=[[A Vision of Britain through Time]]|accessdate=11 August 2023}}</ref> From 1866, Slaithwaite was a civil parish in its own right.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10468917|title=Relationships and changes Slaithwaite Tn/CP through time|publisher=A Vision of Britain through Time|accessdate=11 August 2023}}</ref> On 1 April 1937, the parish was abolished to form Colne Valley.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ukbmd.org.uk/reg/districts/huddersfield.html|title=Huddersfield Registration District|publisher=UKBMD|accessdate=11 August 2023}}</ref> In 1931, the parish had a population of 5,183.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10468917/cube/TOT_POP|title=Population statistics Slaithwaite Tn/CP through time|publisher=A Vision of Britain through Time|accessdate=11 August 2023}}</ref>