OXENHOPE CONSERVATION AREAS
Historical development of the conservation areas
Oxenhope stands at the head of the Worth Valley and is situated 1 mile to the south of Haworth. It was formerly within the Wapentake of Morley and the Honour of Pontefract. Ecclesiastically Oxenhope was part of Haworth chapelry which consisted of four hamlets, Haworth, Stanbury, Near Oxenhope and Far Oxenhope. The parish of Oxenhope was formed in 1845, the church of St Mary the Virgin being built and consecrated in 1849.
Oxenhope was probably one of the many medieval/post-medieval scattered settlements to be found on the Pennine uplands, that comprised small groups of dwellings rather than nucleated villages. These small settlements were purposely located on dry, drained, and sheltered ground suitable for cultivation, between the exposed moorlands and the valley bottoms. Water draining from the uplands also provided an ample supply of water.
Oxenhope is not recorded in the Domesday Records of 1086, but is documented in 1191 as Oxope and Oxenehope by 1193. The place-name probably meant 'Oxen Valley', the Old English term hop meaning valley. The settlement was described as a hamlet of Haworth in 1345/46, but appears to have been divided by the 14th century, with Moorhouse Beck forming the boundary between the two hamlets. Old Oxenhope (SE029351) was the centre for Near Oxenhope, with Lower Town and Upper Town in the hamlet of Far Oxenhope. Monks of Nostell Priory also held land at Far Oxenhope, which comprised, in the late 15th century, a messuage, one bovate of land and an eighth part of the vill (Faull and Moorhouse 1981, 393).
Early maps dating from the 18th century record the development of Oxenhope. A Map of Yorkshire by Thomas Jefferys, published 1775, identifies the two groups of settlement, Oxnop, and Far Oxnop. Oxnop, c. 1 mile south-west of Haworth, was the larger settlement in this period with a group of c. 9 structures situated to each side of Marsh Lane. The recorded structures were not identified by Jeffreys, but would have included the manorial Oxhope Mill, documented in 1595, and Haworth Grammar School which been established here in 1638. Old Oxenhope Mill (Worsted), which stood on the site of the manorial mill, and Oxenhope House are recorded within this complex on the Ordnance Survey map of 1852. According to Jeffreys' map of 1775 the settlement stood on the only major north-south route that crossed the valley here in this period, which ran from Keighley and Haworth towards Hebden Bridge. Far Oxnop in 1775 appears to have had no established route-way prior to the construction of the Lees and Hebden Bridge Turnpike Road which had been authorised in 1816 and subsequently diverted traffic away from the former Keighley route. By the mid-19th century Far Oxnop, or Upper Town and Lower Town, c. 1 mile to the south-east of Oxnop, had become the larger settlement of the two (O.S. 1852). Development of Upper Town and Lower Town was most likely due to the construction of the turnpike route and the migration of population away from the higher valley slopes towards the mills and spinning and weaving sheds which had been established within this area in the valley bottom.
In the post-medieval period agriculture and cloth making were the main occupations at Oxenhope and the vicinity, where woollen cloth manufacture supplemented the agricultural income. There is evidence of clothiers and the woollen industry from at least the 17th century. It is believed that woollen manufacture mainly declined in the area around 1700 with the introduction of worsted production. Census returns of 1841 and 1851 indicate over 65% of the male population were occupied in the worsted industry. Agriculture and textile manufacture remained the main occupations into the 20th century, with other industries including coal mining and the quarrying of sandstone and flags. The development of the textile trade is reflected in the growth of population where census returns for Haworth, including Oxenhope and Stanbury, record a total population of 3,164 inhabitants in 1801, rising to 6,848 in 1851, and 8,023 by 1891. The textile industry played an important part of the economy in this area until at least 1973.
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