Skelmanthorpe

SkelmanthorpeCommercial Road, SkelmanthorpeTextile Heritage Centre, SkelmanthorpeHuddersfield Road, SkelmanthorpeSkelmanthorpe is a village 7 miles south-east of Huddersfield town centre (8 miles by road).

It is the largest village in the civil parish run by Denby Dale Parish Council within the metropolitan district of Kirklees. The parish council is based at offices in Skelmanthorpe.

The village has a mixture of housing types including old stone houses and cottages from the 17th and 18th century, Victorian mill worker's homes, additions from an era of brickmaking and more modern housing built to match the traditional styles of the old stone cottages. One of the village cotteges is preserved as Skelmanthorpe Textile Heritage Centre in Queen Street.

Skelmanthorpe residents were once staunch worshippers at their local chapels, but there has been a decline in these in recent years. The Central Weslyan Methodist Church opened in Commercial Road in 1897 on the site of an earlier chapel dating from 1815. It closed in 1977 and was later converted to flats. Skelmanthorpe Weslyan Reform Church in Gib Lane held its last service in 2012. The remaining Methodist Church in the village, erected in 1836 and enlarged in 1864, is in Pilling Lane.

Kirklees Light RailwayTrade in the village grew around the industrial revolution and its mills, the largest of which was established at Saville Road. This now has a number of uses as Skelmanthorpe Business Park. There is also a Skelmanthorpe Technology Park, made up of more modern industrial units at Standback Way, a location which was originally the sidings of Skelmanthorpe station. Diverse light industry in Skelmanthorpe also includes the manufacture of cricket equipment at premises based in Commercial Road.

Skelmanthorpe has a halt on the Kirklees Light Railway, now rebranded as Whistlestop Valley. This uses the route of the branch line which ran from the Huddersfield-Penistone-Sheffield railway at Shepley to Clayton West. The branch line had survived the Beeching axe of the 1960s but eventually closed to passengers in 1983. Goods traffic at Skelmanthorpe station had ceased in 1964, but there were also private sidings at Skelmanthorpe to serve the Emley Moor colliery. Coal traffic came to an end in 1979 before the colliery itself closed in 1985.

Around Skelmanthorpe

Commercial Road, Skelmanthorpe

Shops in Skelmanthorpe are mostly along Commercial Road and include a Co-op, off-licence, butcher, bakery, florists, a home and gift shop, a card, gift and jewellery shop, a toy shop, bathroom centre, an estate agent, optician, vets, hairdressers and beauty salons, a shop selling chocolate and cheeses, a church charity shop and even a local pound shop.

The village has a pharmacy in Commercial Road.

Skelmanthorpe post office is in Commercial Road.

Skelmanthorpe Community Library and Denby Dale Parish Council offices

Skelmanthorpe Community Library is at the council offices at the corner of New Street and Commercial Road.

Friends of Skelmanthorpe Community Library Social media page

The Grove, Station Road, Skelmanthorpe

The Grove pub is in Station Road.

Tipsy Cow micro bar is in Commercial Road.

Skelmanthorpe has takeaways offering chinese meals, pizzas, curries, tandoori, sandwiches and fish and chips.

Places to eat in Skelmanthorpe include mediterranean and tapas and tandoori restaurants.

Skelmanthorpe Savoy Squash and Racketball Club is in Commercial Road in a building which was once the local cinema.

Skelmanthorpe Cricket Club, which was founded in 1870 and which plays in the Drakes Huddersfield Cricket League, is in Lidgett Lane.

Skelmanthorpe Cricket Club Social media page

Skelmanthorpe FC play in the Huddersfield and District league and are based at Thorpes Crescent.

Skelmanthorpe FC Social media page

Skelmanthorpe United Junior Football Club was formed in 2006, catering from under-9s upwards and based at Shelley College.

Skelmanthorpe United Web pages

St Aidan's CofE Academy (formerly First School) is in Smithy Lane.

St Aidan's CofE Academy

Skelmanthorpe Academy (formerly First and Nursery School) is in Elm Street.

Skelmanthorpe Academy website

Shelley College is on the border of Skelmanthorpe and Shelley at Huddersfield Road, Shelley.

Shelley College website

Skelmanthorpe Methodist Church

The anglican parish church of St Aidan, in Radcliffe Street, was consecrated in 1895.

St Aidan's Church website

Skelmanthorpe Methodist Church is in Pilling Lane.

Skelmanthorpe Methodist Church Web page

Local government

Civil parish council

Skelmanthorpe in the Skelmanthorpe ward of the civil parish run by Denby Dale Parish Council. The parish council offices are in Skelmanthorpe.

Denby Dale Parish Council website

Metropolitan district council

Skelmanthorpe is in the Denby Dale ward of Kirklees Council.

Kirklees Council website

Travel

Skelmanthorpe station

Skelmanthorpe station at Station Road is a halt on the Kirklees Light Railway, now rebranded as Whistlestop Valley.

Bus services

Denby Darts D1

Huddersfield Bus station - Aspley - Moldgreen - Dalton Wakefield Road - Waterloo - Fenay Bridge Penistone Road - Highburton - Kirkburton Turnshaw Road, George Street - Shelley Huddersfield Road - Skelmanthorpe - Scissett - Clayton West Chapel Hill - Scissett - Kitchenroyd - Denby Dale Village centre and station Penistone line.

Timetable at

Metro Timetables and information at

Team Pennine

Holmfirth Explorer X1 Daily (until mid-evening Mon-Sat, late afternoon on Sunday)

Holmfirth - Wooldale New Mill Road - New Mill - Shepley Marsh Lane, Lane Head Lane - Upper Cumberworth -
Denby Dale station Penistone Line - Denby Dale - Lower Cumberworth - Skelmanthorpe - Scissett - Clayton West Chapel Hill, Church Lane, High Street, The Green* , Scott Hill, Long Lane - Calder Grove - Wakefield

Schooltime journeys additionally visit Shelley College and/or Scissett Middle School.
*High Street and The Green at Clayton West served from mid-morning to mid-afternoon only.
Timetable at

Metro Timetables and information at

Team Pennine

99 Saturday only, three journeys (four between Skelmanthorpe and Denby Dale)

Barnsley Interchange - Wilthorpe - Darton - Kexborough - High Hoyland - Clayton West - Scissett - Skelmanthorpe - Lower Cumberworth - Upper Cumberworth - Denby Dale Station Penistone line - Denby Dale - Scissett - Clayton West - High Hoyland - Kexborough - Darton - Wilthorpe - Barnsley Interchange

Timetable (from July 16, 2022) at

Travel South Yorkshire. Timetables at

South Pennine Community Transport

Other places near Skelmanthorpe: Clayton West Denby Dale Emley Kitchenroyd Lower Cumberworth Scissett Shelley

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