Clifton

CLIFTON, a hamlet in Hartshead

Clifton St John the Evangelist

Clifton is a long scattered village, on a steep declivity, on the northern side of the vale of Calder, about one mile west of from Hartshead, in the ancient parish of Dewsbury, and one and half mile from Brighouse.
The church of St John’s the Evangelist, a chapel of ease to Hartshead, is a cruciform structure of stone in the early English style, completed in 1860, at a cost of about £2,200, raised by grant from the Ripon Church Diocesan Building Society and the Incorporated Society, added to subscription from friends and parishioners; among whom the Rev. T. Atkinson late incumbent, gave £500, H. W. Wickham,esq. £300.
Sir George Armytage gave the site, together with the stone used in the erection of the Church; the communion service of plate, which is very handsome, was presented by Mrs William Armytage, of Ash Grove, and other friends.
Cotton and woollen card and wire manufacturers are extensively carried on here. Coal and building stone abound. Kirklees Hall is the beautiful seat of Sir George Armytage Bart. J.P. Who is lord of the manor and principal landowner: the mansion is delightfully situated in a well-wooded park. Kirkless is reputed to be the burial place of Robin Hood.
The land is chiefly in pasture. The population in 1861 was 1,873 (1871) 2,109; the area is included with Hartshead; rateable value £9,606.

Kirklees Hall built originally from the ruins of Kirklees Priory and further extended in the C18th by the celebrated architects Robert Adams and John Carr, was the ancestral home of the Armytage Family for 400 yrs (See Armytage Pedigree)