Clayton West

Clayton West is a village in the parish of Denby Dale, in Kirklees, West Yorkshire, England. It had a population of 4.386 (2021 census) and 2,704 in 2008. It is south-east of Huddersfield and north-west of Barnsley. History The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in the period from about 1760 to sometime between 1820 and 1840. The Industrial Revolution had brought a migration of the population to the Dearne Valley where abundant water was available for manufacturers, so people lived away from the church. Both Clayton West and Scissett had grown so rapidly that there were people still alive in 1873 that could remember the expansion. Although the parish of Scissett had been created in 1839, yet Clayton West remained as a part of High Hoyland. By 1865 eleven coal mines existed in the Dearne Valley. The Clayton West village coal mine (pit), "Park Mill", closed in 1989, having been somewhat bypassed by the events of the UK miners strike (1984–85). Park Mill Colliery operated for over 100 years. There is evidence of 700 years of mining in the adjacent village of Emley. Records from the 13th century indicate that monks from Byland Abbey mined and smelted iron ore. They mined using bell pits. A pit was sunk to a depth of 7 meters and worked outward from the bottom of the shaft. Pits dating back to the 16th century can be seen off Woodhouse Lane. Evidence of bell pits is also clearly visible in the woodlands around Duke Wood, down the hill from Cliffe Woods, in Clayton West. Joseph Norton was the owner of a number of mines around the 1870s which he used to mine to produce coal to power his textile mills located at Cuttlehurst and in Scissett. One of these was a mine in Duke Wood. This shaft still acts as an emergency exit and air vent for the privately owned "Flacks" mine, the only mine still operating in the village.