Batley (All Saints)

BATLEY (All Saints), a parish, in the union of Dewsbury, partly in the Lower division of the wapentake of Agbrigg, and partly in the wapentake of Morley, W. riding of York; containing 14,278 inhabitants, of whom 7076 are in the township of Batley, 2 miles (N.) from Dewsbury. This place is of great antiquity, its name signifying in Saxon "the Field of Batt or Batta;" it is noticed in the Domesday survey as having a church, which was granted in the reign of Henry I. to the canons of St. Oswald in Nostal Priory. The manor was for eighteen generations held by the Copley family. The parish comprises 6390 acres, of which 2140 are in the township of Batley, 2590 in that of Morley, 1120 in that of Gildersome, and 540 in that of Churwell; the two former are in the Agbrigg division, and the two latter in that of Morley. The soil is fertile, and the substratum abounds with coal and freestone of good quality; the population is partly agricultural, but mostly employed in the manufacture of woollen-cloths, blankets, pilot-cloth, carpets, coverlets, and flushings. The village is pleasantly situated on the Dewsbury and Gomersal road, in a valley watered by a small rivulet; and is very extensive. The Living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £16. 11. 8.; net income, £200; patrons, alternately, the Earls of Cardigan and Wilton. The tithes for the township of Batley were commuted for land in 1803. The church, which was rebuilt in the reign of Henry VI., is a handsome structure in the later English style, with a square machicolated tower: on the north of the chancel is the chapel belonging to Howley Hall, the seat of Lord Saville in the reigns of James I. and Charles I., to whom he was councillor of state. At Gildersome and Morley are district churches. There are places of worship for Baptists, Independents, Methodists of the New Connexion, and Wesleyans. A free grammar school was founded by the Rev. William Lee, who, in 1612, endowed it with a house and garden for the master, and with lands now producing an income of £133.