Editing Dewsbury (section)

===Early history===
In [[Anglo-Saxon]] times, Dewsbury was a centre of considerable importance. The [[ecclesiastical parish]] of Dewsbury encompassed [[Huddersfield]], [[Mirfield]] and [[Bradford]]. Ancient legend records that in 627 [[Paulinus of York|Paulinus]], the [[Archbishop of York|Bishop of York]], preached here on the banks of the River Calder. Numerous Anglian graves have been found in Dewsbury and [[Thornhill, West Yorkshire|Thornhill]].<ref>{{cite web |first=Pete |last=Piwowarski |url=http://www.huddersfield1.co.uk/huddersfield/tolson/angles_danes/anglian_abbeys.htm |title=Huddersfield One – Tolson Museum Booklets – Angles, Danes and Norse in the District of Huddersfield |publisher=Huddersfield1.co.uk |access-date=22 April 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130622070019/http://www.huddersfield1.co.uk/huddersfield/tolson/angles_danes/anglian_abbeys.htm |archive-date=22 June 2013}}</ref>
[[File:Dewsbury Minster.jpg|thumb|[[Dewsbury Minster]]]]
[[Dewsbury Minster]] lies near the [[River Calder, West Yorkshire|River Calder]], traditionally on the site where [[Paulinus of York|Paulinus]] preached. Some of the visible stonework in the nave is Saxon, and parts of the church also date to the 13th century. The tower houses "Black Tom", a bell which is rung each Christmas Eve, one toll for each year since Christ's birth, known as the "Devil's Knell", a tradition dating from the 15th century. The bell was given by Sir Thomas de Soothill, in penance for murdering a servant boy in a fit of rage. The tradition was commemorated on a [[Royal Mail]] postage stamp in 1986.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bdb.co.za/shackle/articles/bells.htm|title=Eric Shackle's eBook – Bells|access-date=10 September 2016}}</ref>

In the Domesday Book of 1086, Dewsbury was in Morley wapentake, but with a recorded population of only nine households it was a relatively small settlement at that time.<ref>[https://opendomesday.org/place/SE2421/dewsbury/ Open Domesday: Dewsbury]. Accessed February 2021.</ref> The Agbrigg and Morley wapentakes were administratively combined into the [[Agbrigg and Morley]] wapentake in the 13th century. When they were separated for administrative purposes in the mid-19th century, Dewsbury parish had grown to straddle the border between both wapentakes, hence being mainly in the Lower Division of the Wapentake of Agbrigg.<ref>[https://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/YKS/WRY/Dewsbury/Dewsbury37 DEWSBURY: Geographical and Historical information from the year 1837.] GENUKI.org website, accessed February 2021.</ref>

Dewsbury market was established in the 14th century for local clothiers. Occurrences of the [[Bubonic plague|plague]] in 1593 and 1603 closed the market and it reopened in 1741.<ref>{{cite web |title=Dewsbury Kirklees Cousins |url=https://kirkleescousins.co.uk/places/dewsbury/|accessdate=3 May 2022}}</ref>

Throughout the [[Middle Ages]], Dewsbury retained a measure of importance in ecclesiastical terms, collecting tithes from as far away as [[Halifax, West Yorkshire|Halifax]] in the mid-14th century. [[John Wesley]] visited the area five times in the mid-18th century, and the first [[Methodist]] Society was established in 1746. Centenary Chapel on Daisy Hill commemorates the centenary of this event, and the Methodist tradition remained strong in the town.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nowthen.org/articles/singlearticle.php?targetid=755&rcode=75&bcode=26 |title=Nowthen Dewsbury: Central Methodist Church |access-date=30 December 2005 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930001438/http://www.nowthen.org/articles/singlearticle.php?targetid=755&rcode=75&bcode=26 |archive-date=30 September 2007}}</ref>