This book is a very straightforward exploration of my hometown* through the ages, with text and pictures dug up and expertly compiled by Christopher Scargill and Richard Lee; the selected photos do a grand service to the surprisingly eminent and regionally impactful town, which is far from deserving of its current if-heard-of-at-all it'll be because of either inter-racial tensions or other chavvy plots.
But nay, Dewsbury was once the beating heart of gluey gooey sociocultural virality in the centre of Yorkshire - playing important central roles in both medieval church-planting efforts and the post-Reformation Wesleyan renewal movement, as well as various secular reforms to democratic and women's/workers rights - especially around the cotton-spinning industry,** and it had a crest of coalmines surrounding it to boot. Then the industrial revolution entrenched an unequal power balance*** in the textile industries surround it, then the mines started becoming less and less profitable, then Thatcher happened - so, there you have Dewsbury today. But if you are curious about its past, which reveals a lot about how stuff changed - and so damn quickly! - in the Victorian era - then this would be a decent little primer. Its photos aren't the most interesting in the world but then it is basically just socioeconomic history rather than theatrically artistesh - so who cares. Very decent book for its given purpose.****
* Plus all surrounding mini-towns, Batley, Soothill, Thornhill Lees, Mirfield, Ravensthorpe, etc. We're an old town; listed in the Domesday book itself as "Ettone" [which evolved by the by into several distinct Eatons, these all being mini-towns well absorbed within Dewsbury's range as it became the centre of local socioeconomic gravity at its late-18th early-19th century peak]; translates as "wasteland".
** Pretty much all the blankets used by all the soldiers on both sides of the American Civil War were made in Dewsbury, which I think is a pretty cool factoid. Although my fave new factoid from this book is that a stone-carved dog, that sits atop the 13th century-old Moot Hall, would purportedly leap down into the church square at 11AM every Shrove Tuesday when the Pancake Bell was rung. I need to do more research into this, I know. An extra cool factual add-on to this is that Dewsbury-spun garments could be made considerably cheaper than importing foreign cotton while their makers still got relatively fair pay - cos they properly and attentively recycled fabric/material for 'scrap'-wear.
*** Oh yeah - while being a completely apolitical book, this book has some pretty hefty and recurrent themes of unrest, revolt, state and civilian violence; radical shit happened in our mad little country's backstory, don't you know.
**** The prime purpose of course being taking the York out of any sense of Capitality in its own micro-climate, Yorkshire - as York City lost 72-0 against Dewsbury in November 1915 playoffs in - boxing? Football? Rugby? I can't tell from the picture but we thrashed ya. Also in terms of generic town planning - standard terraced-housing with decent living space & a garden per house were drawn up in 1914 for Dewsbury, however the war took over as the fund priority - but these plans were pretty much coped en masse when construction of new housing for the urban masses began in the 1920's-30's. Obviously I'm only mostly joking with all this talk of motive for the post - I am genuinely interested in the character and colour and textures of the places that have shaped me through my time on this Earth.
But nay, Dewsbury was once the beating heart of gluey gooey sociocultural virality in the centre of Yorkshire - playing important central roles in both medieval church-planting efforts and the post-Reformation Wesleyan renewal movement, as well as various secular reforms to democratic and women's/workers rights - especially around the cotton-spinning industry,** and it had a crest of coalmines surrounding it to boot. Then the industrial revolution entrenched an unequal power balance*** in the textile industries surround it, then the mines started becoming less and less profitable, then Thatcher happened - so, there you have Dewsbury today. But if you are curious about its past, which reveals a lot about how stuff changed - and so damn quickly! - in the Victorian era - then this would be a decent little primer. Its photos aren't the most interesting in the world but then it is basically just socioeconomic history rather than theatrically artistesh - so who cares. Very decent book for its given purpose.****
* Plus all surrounding mini-towns, Batley, Soothill, Thornhill Lees, Mirfield, Ravensthorpe, etc. We're an old town; listed in the Domesday book itself as "Ettone" [which evolved by the by into several distinct Eatons, these all being mini-towns well absorbed within Dewsbury's range as it became the centre of local socioeconomic gravity at its late-18th early-19th century peak]; translates as "wasteland".
** Pretty much all the blankets used by all the soldiers on both sides of the American Civil War were made in Dewsbury, which I think is a pretty cool factoid. Although my fave new factoid from this book is that a stone-carved dog, that sits atop the 13th century-old Moot Hall, would purportedly leap down into the church square at 11AM every Shrove Tuesday when the Pancake Bell was rung. I need to do more research into this, I know. An extra cool factual add-on to this is that Dewsbury-spun garments could be made considerably cheaper than importing foreign cotton while their makers still got relatively fair pay - cos they properly and attentively recycled fabric/material for 'scrap'-wear.
*** Oh yeah - while being a completely apolitical book, this book has some pretty hefty and recurrent themes of unrest, revolt, state and civilian violence; radical shit happened in our mad little country's backstory, don't you know.
**** The prime purpose of course being taking the York out of any sense of Capitality in its own micro-climate, Yorkshire - as York City lost 72-0 against Dewsbury in November 1915 playoffs in - boxing? Football? Rugby? I can't tell from the picture but we thrashed ya. Also in terms of generic town planning - standard terraced-housing with decent living space & a garden per house were drawn up in 1914 for Dewsbury, however the war took over as the fund priority - but these plans were pretty much coped en masse when construction of new housing for the urban masses began in the 1920's-30's. Obviously I'm only mostly joking with all this talk of motive for the post - I am genuinely interested in the character and colour and textures of the places that have shaped me through my time on this Earth.
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