Ovenden

OVENDEN, a township, in the parish and union of Halifax, wapentake of Morley, W. riding of York; adjoining the town of Halifax, and containing 11,799 inhabitants. This township is included in the ancient parochial chapelry of Illingworth, and its northern division now forms the ecclesiastical district of Bradshaw. It comprises by computation 5295 acres, of which 1742, formerly open common, were inclosed under the provisions of an act of parliament, in 1814. The surface is varied, and the higher grounds command a view over Halifax and the surrounding country; in the upper district are coal-pits and stone-quarries in extensive operation. The township consists of numerous detached houses irregularly built, and of several scattered hamlets; and is situated on the road to Keighley and Craven, between the river Hebble and a stream called Ovenden Brook, which latter separates it from the township of North Owram. The inhabitants are principally employed in cotton, woollen, silk, and worsted mills, and the hand-loom weaving of damasks and lastings. In the village of Illingworth is the church of St. Mary, a neat edifice with a square tower, built in 1777, on the site of a former structure; it was much injured by fire in Dec. 1841, owing to the over-heating of the flues, but an ample subscription was immediately entered into for its restoration: the organ is said to be the finest to be met with in any village church in this part of the kingdom. Attached is a spacious cemetery. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £170, with a glebehouse, erected in 1838; patron, the Vicar of Halifax. The tithes of the township were commuted for land in 1814. There are places of worship for Wesleyans, Independents, Primitive Methodists, and Methodists of the New Connexion.