A few Historical Snippets from Highburton

 Marking the site of the medieval market, the steps at the base probably date from the 14th century, the shaft and ball from the 18th or 19th. The cross stands at the top of Far Dene at its junction with Town Gate andHall Lane.

Originally called "Bertone" in the Domesday Book

At the time of the opening of the Highburton school (now HIghburton Village Hall) £600 had been raised and in that year a Grand Bazaar was held, as part of the traditional Trinity Feast, in aid of the building fund. The newspaper report of this event says that it included an exhibition of curiosities, among them “six original Bulls of the Popes of Rome (quite harmless) issued in 1286, 1352, 1367, 1427, 1447 .

The Huddersfield-Kirkburton Branch Line opened in 1867, serving,, and Kirkburton. It was unusual in that it was operated by the London and North Western Railway company in an area where the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway company had a virtual monopoly. Plans to extend the line to never materialised and so Kirkburton remained at the end of the line. It was primarily used for the transportation of goods, although passenger services ran until 1930. The line continued to be used to transport goods until 1965, when a combination of road haulage and a decline in industry lead to closure.

When Mrs Fisher retired after 23 years of serving meals from the kitchen, she recalled washing up in a pot sink in a cloakroom with a supply of hot water in a tin bath with a fireguard around it on a wooden floor worn thin by 80 years of children’s feet running and sliding. One day her feet went through the floor and her legs dangled in the cellar. Luckily she was unhurt and the outcome was beneficial – a new concrete tiled floor!

There were other reasons for poor attendance at the school– a fair in the village, a circus, afeast, hay-making, potato picking, a rumour that those who did attend were going to be vaccinated and, inevitably, the weather. Snow in several years closed the school. For a whole week in 1895 and in February 1932 it was “yards high”. If we think 1979 was a bad year, then note that in January 1881 all work had to be done on slates because the ink was frozen in the inkwells” - a familiar explanation, the heating apparatus was out of repair. On February 11th 1926, the offices were “frozen and would not flush”.