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By Charles Soderlund © 03/2014
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Gildersome is a village and civil parish in the City of Leeds 5 miles (7 km) south west of Leeds city centre in West Yorkshire, England. Gildersome was an urban district, established in 1894. In 1937 it was absorbed into the Municipal Borough of Morley. In 1974 the borough was abolished and combined with neighbouring authorities in the City of Leeds.
My mother's family, the Bilbroughs, lived in Gildersome for over one hundred and twenty years (1770 - 1900). While researching my family's history, I accumulated a great deal of material related to their village. Since Gildersome's history on the internet has been sparse, piecemeal and often incorrect, I hope this website will bring together those web references and my own research, in a logical and interesting yet informative manner.
Special thanks go to Brian Appleyard in Perth, Australia and John Bedford in West Yorkshire for all their help ! The History of Gildersome is looking for readers to contribute stories, facts and photographs, especially from the 1960s back. If you feel you have something relevant and copyright free, please contact me:
Charles Soderlund Primary Works About Gildersome and Nearby Morley History:
"History of Gildersome and the Booth Family" : Written by Philip Booth and completed in 1920. Though it contains some detailed genealogy on the Booth family of Gildersome, it also is the best source for historic fact. I urge all those interested in Gildersome history to read it or at least browse its pages. In 1999, Damian Fox did a reprint, cleaning up mistakes and formatting errors. This completely searchable digital copy presented here is that reprint, digitized by Peter Booth.
Click on the cover page above. |
Please Note!
Special thanks go to Andrew Bedford, the History of Gildersome's contributing writer, and my friend! SEE WHAT 'S NEW: Click here Links to Pages in this History:
Old Photos
Around Gildersome Under Construction Branch End and Town Street Turton Hall and College Ave The Green, Greenside and Finkle Lane Town End, Harthill and the Bottoms Church St, to Moor Head Under Construction Gelderd Road and the Railway Street Lane and The Street Under Construction Odds and Ends (miscellaneous items) Recently Added History: Origin of the Name Gildersome and the Normans Gildersome as a Medieval Deer Park Ironworking in Medieval Gildersome Gildersome in the Middle Ages The Morley Old Chapel Protest 1663 Farnley Wood Plot Joshua Greathead Reminiscences Events: A Roman coin and a Roman road New Robbers Attack The Parsonage Luddites attack Gildersome 1850s Scrapbook 1918 in Newspaper Clippings The War Memorial Unveiled The Roll of the Fallen 1914-1918 Gildersome’s Kriegsgefangenen Places: The Manor House Harthill House Turton Hall Park House The Woodlands Highfield Mills The Old Hall Gildersome's Workhouse The New School on the Green Gildersome’s Old National School Gildersome's New National School Gildersome's Board Schools St. Peter's Baptist Church Andrew Hill Farm People: People with a connection to Gildersome Highwayman John Nevison Hudson's Holiday to the Lake District Gildersome's Gentleman Burglar A biography of Joshua Greatheed New Under construction Greatheed Gildersome in old: Maps Census and Lists |
"Morley, Ancient and Modern" : Written by William Smith F.S.A.S. published in 1886. Searchable.
Other relevant titles by Smith are:
"Old Yorkshire"
"The Registers of Topcliffe and Morley in the West Riding"
"Rambles About Morley" Click on the cover page right.
Other relevant titles by Smith are:
"Old Yorkshire"
"The Registers of Topcliffe and Morley in the West Riding"
"Rambles About Morley" Click on the cover page right.
"History of the Baptist Church at Gildersome" : Compiled by William Radford Bilbrough and published in 1888. Not Searchable.
This copy was in the safe in the office of Gildersome Baptist Church. The church wardens were kind enough to let me photograph the pages with my digital camera. The lighting was bad and I was in a rush so I missed a page or two and others are blurry. Oops! It's a big file and takes a little bit of time to load. Sorry!
Click on the cover page right.
This copy was in the safe in the office of Gildersome Baptist Church. The church wardens were kind enough to let me photograph the pages with my digital camera. The lighting was bad and I was in a rush so I missed a page or two and others are blurry. Oops! It's a big file and takes a little bit of time to load. Sorry!
Click on the cover page right.
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Other Interesting Links:
Norrison Scatcherd's "History of Morley" "The History of Morley Old Chapel and Its Ministers, from the Earliest Times" Morley & District Family History Group Morley Community Archives |
"Journey of a Lost Manuscript"
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The rediscovery in a country town in Australia of a 16th century manuscript believed destroyed by fire. by Lorraine Smith
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 Click on photo to go to the Website.
ABOUT THE STORY
When an old parchment was found inside a copy of Alice in Wonderland in a second-hand bookshop, everything about it was a mystery. Discovered to be an Elizabethan manuscript, this is the enthralling story of its travels from Gildersome, Yorkshire in 1583 to Warrnambool, Victoria in 2013. It is a journey with so many twists and lucky escapes it should be a novel - but this is a true story. |
