It’s a Yorkshire town perhaps best known for its big market or as the birthplace of Betty Boothroyd but a national heritage body is now adding a more surprising label to Dewsbury: the greenest town in 19th-century England.
Historic England has undertaken new research that reveals the importance of the town as an international centre for recycled cloth during the Industrial Revolution.
It has led to the listing, announced on Friday, of 12 buildings in the town and one upgraded in order to give them greater protection and recognition.
Sarah Charlesworth, Historic England’s listing team leader for the north of England, said the listings would help “to tell the story of Dewsbury’s contribution to the development of England’s textile industry and recycling.
“In the 19th century it was probably the greenest town in England.”
It is a great line and one that is completely justified, said her colleague Jane Jackson, who has led the Dewsbury project.
“They were recycling woollen cloth from all round the world really. Great masses of cloth were shipped in … Dewsbury had three railway stations because there were so many wagons coming in.”
The area was known for its production of woollen cloth and it was thanks to someone in Batley discovering the process of recycling it that it took off in Dewsbury.
The population in Dewsbury was about 1,000 at the end of the 18th century. By 1851 it had increased to 14,000 as a result of the production of heavy cloth made from recycled rags.
The town specialised in the production of two types of yarn – known as shoddy and mungo – that were often used to make soldiers’ great coats and blankets.
Dewsbury essentially kept the British army warm for over a century. “It prospered in periods of wartime,” said Jackson. “Rags and old clothes were coming in from all over the world.”
The growing affluence and confidence of Dewsbury was reflected in its architecture, much of it influenced by Italian Renaissance Revival style.
“When people think of weaving and wool and fabric they think of mills but actually what survives the most in Dewsbury are the warehouses,” said Jackson.
“But they don’t look like warehouses. They look like nice, tall 19th-century stone buildings.”
The buildings being listed at Grade II include warehouses at 18, 20 and 22 Bond Street, the former Dewsbury Union building, and a block of textile warehouses on Wellington Street.
The town’s opulent late-Victorian town hall is being upgraded to a Grade II* listing.
King George V and Queen Mary visited the town hall in 1912 and again in 1918, to show their appreciation for the manufacture of shoddy cloth for first world war army uniforms.
The new listings are part of a wider Dewsbury heritage action zone, a five-year project with Kirklees council aimed at reviving the town centre through the restoration and reuse of its historical buildings.
Jackson said the buildings and their purpose were things the people of Dewsbury should be proud of.
“The quality of Dewsbury’s architectural heritage has been unrecognised and that’s why the listing is so important.”
