Ossett - the history of a Yorkshire town

Ossett Today

In 1971, Ossett had a population of just over 17,000 and thirty years later there were 21,000 people living in the town. Located just off junction 40 of the M1 motorway, Ossett's convenient position has attracted industry and resident commuters working in the major cities of the West Riding. Following three decades of gradual decline, Ossett has seen unprecedented growth in recent years. House prices increased from an average of £50,000 in 1998 to £130,000 in 2003, one of the largest in the U.K. and only rivalled by some parts of London and Cheshire.

In the 1970s, a forty acre site, adjoining the A638 Dewsbury-Wakefield road at Flushdyke, a feeder road off the M1 was zoned for industrial use. Longlands Industrial Estate has attracted many new businesses to the town, providing jobs and increased affluence, although it has to be said, ruining the residential nature of the area. Software company Team 17 were once based in Ossett and their most famous game "Worms" contains a Hell level with a sign saying "Welcome to Ossett".

One of the reasons for the influx of people to Ossett is the excellent performance of Ossett Academy and Sixth Form College, a specialist Technology and Sports College, which has some of the best academic results in the area. Ossett Academy (formerly Ossett School) was created in 1969 when Ossett Grammar School, which was originally founded in 1735, became a comprehensive. The Academy now has 1660 pupils and 196 staff. Ossett School became Ossett Academy in 2011. An academy school in England is a state-funded school which is directly funded by the Department for Education and is independent of local authority control.

After recent boundary changes, Ossett is now part of the Wakefield constituency. Simon Robert Lightwood (born 15 December 1980 in South Shields) was elected as the Labour Party Member of Parliament (MP) for Wakefield in the 2022 by-election, following the resignation of Conservative MP, Imran Ahmad Khan, who was forced to resign following his conviction for sexual assault of a minor. Lightwood was elected on the 23rd June 2022 with a 4,925 majority. He is also notable for being the last Member of Parliament to swear his Oath of Allegiance to Queen Elizabeth II, since his by-election was the last before her passing three months later. At the 2022 Labour Party Conference, Lightwood was appointed Shadow Minister for Buses and Taxis, taking over from Sam Tarry. Lightwood lives in the Calder Valley constituency with his husband, however has pledged to move into Wakefield following his election.

In the 2016 Referendum, 66.3 per cent of the Wakefield constituency opted to leave the European Union, compared to 33.6 per cent who wanted to stay in.

Within the town, local elections are usually closely contested between the Conservative and Labour Parties. The current local councillors for the Ossett ward after the 2023 Local Elections are Olivia Rowley (Labour); Nick Farmer (Conservative) and Tony Homewood (formerly Conservative, but now Independent after his resignation from the Conservative Party in November 2022). For the South Ossett and Horbury ward, the councillors are Darren Byford (Labour); Deb Nicholls (Labour) and Gwen Page (Labour).

Ossett has strong sporting traditions with a semi-professional football club Ossett United, Ossett Cricket and Athletics Club, Ossett Rugby Union Club, Ossett Trinity Rugby League Club, Ossett Sports Badminton Club, Low Laithes Golf Club, a Martial Arts Academy and a Pool & Snooker Club. There was an Ossett Football Club in the 1890s, they played in the original West Yorkshire League.

A thriving market town, Ossett holds a market on Tuesdays and Fridays. There is a Community Centre that hosts local hobby groups, a new Public Library coming soon in the Town Hall and one very crowded central Post Office following the mindless closure of Ossett's sub-Post Offices in the outlying districts. The Gawthorpe Maypole Feast and Procession has been held each May since 1874.

Under the Local Government Act of 1972, Ossett lost its Borough status in 1974 and became an unparished area in the Metropolitan Borough of Wakefield.

Above: The new 2022 Ossett History and Heritage Book and the newly repainted Gawthorpe Maypole.

From Mayall's Annals of Yorkshire 1734 - 1736
"The inhabitants of Ossett, a village three miles from Wakefield, have been employed in making broad woollen cloth from time out of mind. In this year the weavers, etc., employed in that trade, had to work 15 hours every day for eight pence. A horn was blown at five o’clock in the morning, the time for beginning, and at eight at night, the time for leaving their work. The clothiers had to take their goods to Leeds to sell, and had to stand in Briggate in all sorts of weather.

About the year 1736, Richard Wilson, a resident of Ossett, made two pieces of broadcloth; he carried one of them on his head to Leeds and sold it. The merchant being in want of the fellow piece, he went from Leeds to Ossett, then carried the other piece to Leeds, and then walked to Ossett again; he walked about forty miles that day."

That sturdy and forcible spirit is what has made Ossett the flourishing place it is today. The incident we have quoted is characteristic of the old-time industry of the place. At one time Ossett could boast of well over a hundred manufacturers - chiefly handloom weavers who worked at home. Most of the houses had looms in them, and Ossett was musical with the sound of their working, whilst a manufacturer who had a small mill and employed from ten to twenty people was considered to be in a big way of business. When a person could buy a bag of wool and a bit of mungo - the local name for rag-wool and had a family to assist him, he became a manufacturer. These small manufacturers carried their pieces to Leeds; either - like the aforesaid Richard Wilson - on their heads or backs, or on the backs of donkeys. In the Cloth Hall at Leeds the pieces were displayed on stalls for the inspection of the merchants. These forerunners of the woollen industry of today traded in a very small way, and to receive an order for half a dozen or a dozen pieces was doing business on the grand scale.

Above: Typical handloom used by Ossett cloth makers of the 19th and 18th centuries.

Frequently these humble people had to sell their pieces fresh from the loom in order to get supplies of money for the purchase of wool for the next piece. Wool at this time was brought from Leeds to Bradford by road. There was no standard rate of wages as there is now, and when a certain manufacturer had an order in a time of depression, he called his men together and told them he could not accept the order unless they agreed to take 3d. per string less. The men would hold a meeting in the fields and agree to the reduction rather than face a further period of idleness. Wages were very low as compared with recent earnings. A fettler or woolyer would earn from 9s to 11s. a week, while, in the words of an old manufacturer,them that piecened billy - the youngsters would earn 4s. 9d. a week working full time. There were few workpeople who averaged a pound a week sixty years ago. The old hand loom system died hard; indeed, it lingered on until the early years of this century, when the last of the Ossett handloom weavers passed away at the patriarchal age of ninety. The old order had given place to the power loom - an innovation that was long and sorely resented by the old weavers. How many and radical have been the changes wrought in and by the power loom! - from "The Town and Trade of Ossett" published 1927

This Richard Wilson referred to above was one of the founders of the Green Chapel (later Ossett Congregational Church) in Ossett with his brother Robert Wilson who was my direct ancestor. At this time, in the early part of the 18th century, Ossett had a population of about 2,000 and many were self-employed cloth weavers like Richard and Robert Wilson. With this web site, I hope to share some of the history of Ossett that I have been able to collect over the last few years as I researched my Wilson family roots in the town. I have gathered a good selection of pictures and information about Ossett from a number of sources and I have tried to acknowledge those sources wherever possible. I hope none of the pictures on this site are copyrighted, but if they are, do please let me know and I will remove them.

Although Ossett doesn't have an official coat of arms, the design above has been universally accepted as the unoffocial coat of arms. It has been widely seen over the years on various Ossett keepsakes such as Silver Jubilee mugs, postcards and some official Town Hall documentation. The design features the three principal industries of the town: wool and shoddy mills, coal mining and agriculture. The sheep signifies the importance of wool and the white rose is the symbol of Yorkshire. The Latin transcription, attributable to Ossett Grammar School headmaster Mr. M. Frankland who joined the school in 1881, means roughly "useless things made useful by skill". It is a reference to turning rags into mungo or shoddy - one of Ossett's major industries in the 19th and 20th century.

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Site updated: 1.11.2023

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