| Huddersfield sits at the confluence of | | | | old, Iron Age hill fort, itself probably |
| the rivers Colne and Holme, whose waters | | | | built on even earlier settlements, and |
| and valleys have drawn people to the | | | | it is this rather than the more |
| area for thousands of years. In common | | | | conspicuous 19th century addition that |
| with much of Northern England it has | | | | lends the site its status as Scheduled |
| been inhabited or settled at one time or | | | | Ancient Monument as well as its true |
| another by Mesolithic, Neolithic and | | | | historic value. |
| Bronze Age man, Ancient Britons, Romans, | | | | Although Huddersfield and its |
| Angles, Jutes and Saxons as well as by | | | | surrounding area is thought to have been |
| conquering Norsemen and Normans. | | | | continuously settled for at least the |
| Set out in any direction from the town | | | | last 4,000 years, the expansion and |
| centre and you can be sure that you will | | | | prosperity of the town is owed |
| be treading on ground traversed by our | | | | principally to its proto-industrial and |
| earliest forbears, Roman Legions, | | | | industrial past. Huddersfield was above |
| Pictish raiders, Viking invaders, and | | | | all a Georgian and Victorian construct |
| Saxon kings - there was once a Saxon | | | | and this legacy is visible wherever you |
| court at Almondbury. | | | | go, evidenced by canals, converted |
| Castle Hill near Huddersfield together | | | | textile mills, Victorian shopping |
| with its Victoria Tower is | | | | arcades and the fine architecture of St |
| unquestionably the town's most | | | | George's Square and beyond. |
| recognizable landmark. The castle in | | | | Before the arrival of the industrialists |
| question was the one built on the hill | | | | however, the district of Huddersfield |
| near Almondbury in the reign of King | | | | was variously a patchwork of linked |
| Stephen (1135-1154) but demolished two | | | | settlements, a baronial manor ruled over |
| centuries later. Construction work on | | | | by the King's Tenant-in-Chief, a centre |
| Victoria Tower, built to commemorate the | | | | for the wool trade and a market town by |
| 60th year of the reign of Queen | | | | Royal Charter. When the machine age was |
| Victoria, was completed in 1899 (in the | | | | born, the area became a focus for the |
| 62nd year of her reign). However, these | | | | Luddite rebellion spreading up from |
| facts are not what makes Castle Hill so | | | | Nottinghamshire and became infamous |
| valuable. | | | | through the murder of a local |
| The true importance of Castle Hill is | | | | manufacturer. |
| found in the remains of its 2,500 year | | | | |