Batley Market Place Conservation Area

 

A detail of the pediment at the Zion Methodist Chapel

Continuing my brief exploration, having had a good look at the old textile warehouses/showrooms on Station Road and the listed buildings on Hick Lane, I walked along Commercial Street to the current commercial centre of Batley.

 

The former Burtons building

The former Burtons building was the only building of any architectural merit and I quickly passed by the various takeaways, nail bars, vape shops and other shops selling cheap goods - a feature of so many run down industrial towns, which once had a thriving economy - with these being omitted from the Batley Market Place Conservation Area (BMPCA).

 

The east and north elevations of Batley Town Hall

 

When planning my day out to Batley and Birstall, I used Google Street View to look at the area around Market Place and, although someone else had already photographed Batley Town Hall, Batley Library, the war memorial and other buildings, this part of Batley looked very attractive and reflects the sense of civic pride that existed in the textile producing centres of West Yorkshire. 

 

A keystone on the north elevation of the town hall

 

According to Pevsner, “Batley has nothing of municipal architecture to boast of. But the principal buildings are at least grouped facing a square, and such a civic open space is a blessing, where mills so much taller and bigger than any civic buildings, close in everywhere”. 

 

The west elevation of the town hall

 

The Classical style town hall was originally the Mechanics' Institute (1854), which was purchased by Batley Corporation in 1874, and then extended in 1905 by Walter Hanstock and Son. Hanstock had previously been in partnership with Michael Sheard and their works includes at least one of the warehouses on Station Road (c.1873), the West Yorkshire Union Bank (1871) on Hick Lane and the Zion Methodist Chapel (1869). 

 

The Zion Methodist Chapel

 

After taking a few photos of the chapel, which Historic England (HE) describe as having giant
Corinthian pilasters and a pediment with an eaves cornice supported on large console brackets and an oculus with scrolled foliage, I crossed over to Market Place. 

 

Nos. 1-12 Market Place

The west side is occupied by Nos.1-12, a terrace of 8 shops (c.1875) that HE describes as being “Built on a curved and sloping site with varied facades arranged A.A.B.B.B.C.D.C“ – to which I have to say that I have absolutely no idea what this means. 

 

Nos. 9 and 11 Market Place

 

Although I only spent a couple of minutes taking a few photos of the northern part of Market Place, my photos of Nos. 9 and 11 show that the details of the first floor windows are the same as those seen on Station Road, and they are surely another example of the work of Sheard and Hanstock. 

 

A sculpture at the steps on Market Place

 

Market Place and Market Square are located on quite steeply rising ground and I was interested to see sculptures next to the steps, which seem to depict rolls and folded cloth and bales of recycled wool – presumably reflecting Batley's shoddy and mungo industry – but a plaque and metal details had been stolen I haven't seen any information about this. 

 

A sculpture at the steps on Market Place

 

Moving on to the Grade II listed Batley Library (1906), which is another building designed by William Hanstock and Son and funded by Andrew Carnegie, I was aware that it wasn’t very long before the No. 283 bus to Birstall was due to arrive and I just took a few general record photos. 

 

Batley Library

 

As with the town hall and the other buildings surrounding the large open area formed by Market Square and Batley Memorial Park, I presume that this is another use of the Thornhill Rock, with rock-faced walling and ashlar for the dressings. 

 

A view up to the clock tower at Batley Library

Looking up to the clock tower from the entrance to the library, although I didn’t photograph any of the details, there are many fine examples of architectural sculpture on the arch above the entrance and on the pediment, which still retain sharp profiles. 

 

The former Christian Brethren Chapel

Continuing along Cambridge Street, set on the brow of the hill, the large imposing Broughton House was my next stop. It was originally built in the second half of the C19 as the Christian Brethren Chapel, before becoming a Methodist chapel that operated until 1971 and then occupied by the Batley and Birstall Royal Air Forces Association Club. 

 

The former Christian Brethren Chapel

Although not a listed building, it makes a significant contribution to the character of the BMPCA but the club closed in 2025. A planning application has since been made to convert it into a mosque and school, with an estimated £200,000 needed to fix the roof and damage caused by leaks. 

 

Batley war memorial

 

Entering Batley Memorial Park, I just took a few general photos of Batley war memorial (1923), which has a bronze statue of an infantryman with a rifle set on a tall massive sandstone column, before returning to Cambridge Street. 

 

Batley war memorial

The Grade II Listed Former Technical School, by Harry Bagshaw Buckley of Batley, is built with rock-faced sandstone walling with ashlar for the dressings. The original building, with large windows that provide plenty of light inside the building. was built in 18993, with the attached Stubley Memorial Wing added c.1900. 

 

Views of the Former Technical school

 

The fenestration seems to have been one of the important aspects of its design but, as with most of the historic architecture that I had encountered since leaving Batley railway station, fine architectural sculpture can be seen – the highlights being the raised lettering to describe both phases of the building and the mermaid above the doorway to the original building. 

 

A mermaid on the Former Technical School

Before leaving the Conservation Area and going to find my bus stop on Wellington Street, I took a few quick snaps of Batley Public Baths (1893) – yet another building by Walter Hanstock. In recent years it had been able to maintain its running costs and, at the time of my visit, it was unused and boarded up and has since been put up for sale.

 

Views of Batley Public Baths

Listed Buildings on Hick Lane in Batley

 

The tympanum on the Union Rooms public house

Leaving Station Road and crossing over Bradford Road, I started my walk to the modern centre of Batley and stopped to take a couple of photos of the former warehouse and shop premises (c.1870), which is now occupied by the Batley Barless Fire Company. 

 

The building occupied by the Batley Barless Fire Company

Set on the corner of Bradford Road and Hick Lane, with a triangular plan and a curving corner bay is, it is designed in a Classical style and is built in Thornhill Rock ashlar but I only took photos of each elevation, from which I could see the Cheapside Mills and Hick Lane Mills, before continuing along Hick Lane. 

 

The building occupied by the Batley Barless Fire Company

 

On the opposite side of the road is the former mid to late C19 Midland Bank, which had last been used as The Bank public house but was to let at the time of my visit. It is built with sandstone ashlar, but the front elevation has very bold dressings and architectural features. 

 

The former Midland Bank

 

The ground floor, large quoins and voussoirs to the windows are rusticated, the cornice and moulded string course are bracketted and the porch has scrolled brackets with large festooned consoles that support a full entablature with a balcony. 

 

Keystones on the former Midland Bank

 

The most interesting features are the large keystones with well carved figure heads, which remind me of the very many keystones that I have seen in Dewsbury and also in Ossett. I have not yet come across any Historic England (HE) listing description that refers to the sculptor, although Leeds based sculptors such as John Wormald Appleyard and Mawer and Ingle could easily have made use of the Great Northern Railway to transport their work to Batley. 

 

The Methodist Sunday School

 

Continuing along Hick Lane, my next stop was the Methodist Sunday School, which HE yet again very loosely describes as having a date of c.1870. The main elevation is north facing and with it being in the shade I couldn’t really make these out from a distance, but the upper windows have pilaster surrounds with Corinthian capitals. 

 

The pediment of the Wesleyan Methodist Church

Next door to this is the former Wesleyan Methodist Church (c.1861), which the Dictionary of Methodism in Britain and Ireland attributes to the architect J. Simpson and closed in 1956. The architectural features, especially the windows, are very similar to the Sunday School and it is therefore likely that he also designed this. 

 

 

The Wesleyan Methodist Church

A little further along Hick Lane is the Union Rooms public house owned by JD Wetherspoon, which typically occupy listed buildings, and is described by HE as the Barclays Bank Building but which was originally built for the West Riding Union Bank in 1877. 

 

The Union Rooms public house

 

I presume that the sandstone used here is also Thornhill Rock and the intricate carving and raised lettering on the porch have retained their sharp profiles, which is also a feature of the architectural sculpture that I had seen on the warehouses on Station Road.

 

The porch of the Union Rooms public house

 

The tympanum is described by HE as having a round carved plate with 3 shields, with the centre one bearing the Huddersfield coat of arms. I didn’t take the time to look at the fine details, but my photograph of one of the foliated capitals shows ears of wheat and wood mice.

A capital on the porch of the Union Rooms public house

Station Road in Batley - Part 2

 

Nos. 13-23 Station Road

Carrying on down Station Road in Batley, Nos. 20-22 and Nos. 16-18 are further examples of warehouses/showrooms that were erected c.1870 and are described in the Station Road Conservation Area Appraisal (SACAA) as intended to parade the wealth and prestige of the wool manufacturing firms that built them to display their wares to buyers brought in by the railway.

 

Nos. 16-22 Station Road

They are designed with essentially Classical features and proportions and built with what I again presume to be the Thornhill Rock, with a combination of square headed and round headed windows, prominent keystones, pilasters and rusticated quoins, with a very different style to those further up Station Road. 

 

Nos. 12-14 Station Road

Nos. 12-14 or not listed, but it retains its loading doors and lifting beam, and Nos. 35-37 on the north side of Station Road prove further examples of quite ornate warehouses. An edited version of the Historic England (HE) description of the stonework refers to ‘dressed stone facade with deeply coursed rock-faced stone to ground floor and quoins with very heavily rock-faced voussoirs and surrounds to the ground floor windows and doors’. 

 

Rock-faced voussoirs on No. 37 Station Road.

 

Nos. 31-33, on the corner of Station Road and Warehouse Street is, built with sandstone walling with a batted finish, ashlar quoins and dressings and vermiculated masonry at basement level. The ground floor windows are round arched with 2 round arched lights and a circle above, and have a central engaged colonnette with a foliated capital. 

 

Nos. 31-33 Station Road

 

Continuing to Soothill Lane, HE describe Nos. 13-23 as formerly industrial or warehousing, with an ashlar Italian Gothic facade, and has alternating voussoirs of Thornhill Rock and red sandstone to the first floor window arches, which suggests that the architect was the same one responsible for the former Xclusive nightclub, Nos. 32-40 and Nos. 24-26. 

 

Nos. 13-23 Station Road

I didn’t cross over the road to look at it details, but HE describe the ground floor windows as having carved grotesque bats and beasts at their points of intersection and foliated capitals including acanthus, vines, thistles, roses and passion flowers to the ground floor openings. 

 

The south-west elevation of Nos. 13-23 Station Road

On the opposite side of the road is the Jessops building, which was built in 1924 as a factory by Jessops Tailors, a successful tailoring business that was originally founded c.1880 by George Jessop and his son Henry. 

 

The Jessops building

 

Although I didn’t take a photo of Nos. 2-8 Station Road, except a detail, the blue plaque on this Classical style warehouse briefly describes the history of this company and how it acquired premises in the immediately vicinity to expand the business. 

 

The blue plaque on Nos. 2-8 Station Road

 

At the triangular junction of Station Road and Bradford Road, I was very surprised to encounter a large structure, comprising three diminishing sized arches stacked up on each other, but there was no information to tell me what it was. 

 

Batley Arch

 

Looking more closely at this structure, I was interested to see that is decorated with bat motifs carved in relief, with details of ears of corn to reflect the local corn mills, and topped with a couple of bat sculptures, one of which has had its wing broken. To either side of each arch, there is a miniature building with a steep pyramidal roof in the same style as that seen at Nos. 13-23. 

 

A detail of the Batley Arch

 

I have since discovered that the Batley Arch or Bats Monument is the work of Rory McNally and Chloe Cookson and was erected in 1995 as a gateway to the Station Road Conservation Area, as part of the Batley City Challenge, and was designed to reflect the town's history. 

 

A detail of the Batley Arch

 

Station Road in Batley - Part 1

 

The arch above the doorway to No. 40 Station Road

My introduction to Batley, with the wonderful architectural sculpture at No. 51 Station Road, was completely unexpected and, as with the very many textile warehouses that I had seen on Bond Street and Wellington Road in Dewsbury, the blue plaque attached to this states that it was designed to impress visitors arriving on the train.

 

The blue plaque on No. 51 Station Road

Attached to No. 51 are the remains of another warehouse and office (c.1870), which Historic England (HE) describe as being in the Italian Gothic style and was recently used as the Xclusive nightclub, but which seemed to be unoccupied at the time of my visit.

 

The former Xclusive nightclub (L)

 

I only took a photo of the rock faced walling at basement level, which looks to be another example of the fine grained Thornhill Rock that has differentially weathered to reveal both plane and cross-bedding. The same sandstone has been used for the ashlar masonry above, but I was more interested in the red sandstone that is used for the alternate voussoirs in the blind arches.

 

Rock faced walling at the former Xclusive nightclub

 

I could not get near enough to have a close look at this red stone, but I normally associate this with Red Mansfield stone, a dolomitic sandstone that is a variety of the Upper Permian Cadeby Formation and is thought to have been formed as a sandbank at the mouth of a river.

 

No. 40 Station Road

On the opposite side of the road, this red sandstone is also seen in the voussoirs of Nos. 32 to 40 Station Road (c.1870) - another set of warehouses that are designed in the same Italian Gothic architectural style as the Xclusive nightclub – but following a fire only Nos. 32 and 40 remain.

 

No. 32 Station Road

 

HE make no mention of the architects that designed any of these buildings, and Kirklees Council have no records, but it is very possible that they were the work of Michael Sheard and Walter Hanstock, whose practice was responsible for several mills and commercial premises in Batley. Vivien Tomlinson's Family History does make a reference to a warehouse for Abraham Brooke (c.1873), although the specific building is not mentioned.

 

A carving of a squirrel on No. 32 Station Road

Unlike the Xclusive nightclub, the ground floor window arches are decorated by finely carved floral details and animals, with the pilasters on No. 32 being decorated with a squirrel and flowers, which still retain their very sharp details.

 

Intricately carved flowers on No. 32 Station Road

 

Continuing down Station Road, Nos. 24 and 26 (c.1870) are again described by HE as warehouses in the Italian Gothic style, with the design of the first floor windows being identical to the buildings mentioned above.

 

Nos. 24 and 26 Station Road

The architectural details of the ground floor and second floor, however, are more typical of the Neoclassical style, with square headed windows and string courses, central engaged columns to the second floor windows and richly foliate capitals to the ground floor pilasters.

 

A capital on Nos. 24 and 26 Station Road