Ossett - the history of a Yorkshire town

Ossett's Old Houses

With the growing prosperity in the town during the 19th century as a result of the boom in rags, mungo, shoddy and woollen cloth manufacturing, many Ossett industrialists built fine houses to demonstrate their wealth. Park House, Wesley House and Green Mount are good examples of the excellent Victorian houses that began to appear in Ossett during the second half of the 19th century. However, there are still one or two very old houses in Ossett that date back even earlier to the 18th century. One such pair of cottages in Haggs Hill Road, Ossett date back possibly to 1745 or earlier.

In 1838, there were at least three large stone-built mansion-type houses in Ossett: Springstone House, Spur Hall and Longlands Hall. Springstone House is still in existence, however, the other two houses were demolished some years ago.

I am grateful to Alan Howe for permission to reproduce below just a small part of the extensive history he has written about the cottages at Haggs Hill Road and the lives of the Ossett people who lived in them. Alan is also responsible for the detailed history of the Pickard family who lived at Green Mount, Ossett, which I have quoted extensively to describe some of the history of the house.

Below: Numbers 7 and 9 Haggs Hill Road, Ossett, which are believed to date back to the early to mid 18th century.

7 & 9, Haggs Hill Road
Alan and Pat Howe live in one of a pair of semi-detached cottages on Haggs Hill Road and their son-in-law and daughter, Ashley and Emma Wild live in the other with their son Jack. It is thought that the cottages were at one time a farmhouse built by Joshua Haigh, a local landowner who lived at Longlands House in Ossett. In the deeds, Joshua Haigh is described as a woolstapler, gentleman landowner and county yeoman. He purchased the land for the farmhouse from Edmund Heron on the 23rd November 1744. The deed to the land refers to 'two butts of land lying in the said East Field between a close of the said Joshua Hepworth called Lights Brigg Pighles on the south and the land of Mr. Dawson on the North.' The land on which the farmhouse was built was copyhold and this required the consent of the Lord of the Manor of Wakefield prior to the sale. The transaction between Joshua Haigh and Edmund Heron was agreed at a 'Court Baron' held at Wakefield on the 18th January 1744. It is thought that the original farmhouse building was built by Haigh for his son, also Joshua Haigh who was born in 1739. Joshua Haigh senior died in 1784 and it is likely then that his son would have vacated the farmhouse or cottages to take up residence at Longlands House, which was off the Halifax to Wakefield turnpike road at Flushdyke.

The earliest references to the cottages is that shown in a Valuation Record for Ossett in 1774, which was ultimately used to raise money from taxes for the war with France during the American Revolution (after the French offered support to the Americans). The property is shown in the valuation record as being in the ownership of Joshua Haigh junior and is described as 'House and Lights Bridge Pighle'. Lights Bridge refers to the location of the property in a part of Ossett then known variously as Lights Bridge, Lights Brigg, Ossett Lightside, and occasionally as Low Common or Low Common End. 'Pighle' means a small area of land. The value of the property for tax purposes was £1 10s 0d, suggesting that it was larger than some of the other properties on Low Common. The record indicates that the house wasn't occupied by tenants, and it is more likely that the Haigh family occupied the building themselves. In 1773 Joshua Haigh was a woolstapler in Ossett. A woolstapler would buy raw wool and take it (by packhorse) to the homes of workers where it would be hand combed, spun into yarn and woven into cloth on handlooms. The finished product would be then collected by the woolstapler and sold at local Piece Halls in Bradford, Halifax, Leeds or Wakefield

The Land Tax record of 1788 appears to show a change in the occupation of the building and it is likely that it was now occupied by tenants for the first time. Possibly, it was at this time that the farmhouse building was divided into two separate cottages and used by the tenants for weaving cloth. The Land Tax records show that a Mark Pickard (born 1755 married to Hannah and with eight children) was living in a property on Ossett Low Common that was owned by Joshua Haigh, which was almost certainly the farmhouse or cottages. After Mark Pickard had died, followed by his widow Hannah, who died in the 1830s, their son Robert Pickard (born 1786) and his wife Nancy lived in one of the cottages with their nine children. The Pickard family were tenants and later owners of the cottages for close to 200 years, between approximately 1774 and 1945. The Pickards, living in Low Common, Ossett were traditionally weavers and woollen cloth workers and in 1841, there were 45 Pickards living in close proximity as members of six separate families.

Below: Rear of the cottages showing the now blocked door entrances at the rear first floor level. It is thought that these doorways were 'piece' or 'taking in' doors, which were set at first floor level in an exterior wall to facilitate the loading in and out of bulky materials like wool and yarn or finished items such as kerseys and broadcloths, which weighed 66lbs. A wooden walkway would have extended from the door to the raised land behind the cottages.

After Robert Pickard died in 1867 at the age of 81 from "general decay and pneumonia", the tenancy was taken on by one of their sons, Isaac Pickard (born 1818), a cow keeper (dairy), and now with his second wife Eliza. The couple lived at the cottages with their nine children until Isaac's death in 1886, aged 68. Once again, the tenancy was taken on by one of the Pickard family, this time by Isaac's son, also Isaac Pickard (born 1864). However, Isaac Pickard junior, who had been a weaver and a dealer in malt, but by then was a farmer and market gardener, went one step further than his ancestors and bought the cottages with 4.5 acres of land for £450 in February 1918 from the Misses Steele, who were by now the owners of the property. There were actually four separate, but connected pieces of land, in the conveyance. ‘Ikey Pickard’s Passage’, in Isaac’s ownership, linked the cottages and their garden to two larger pieces of land (of about 3 acres in total) known as Wheatley's Closes, which on modern maps would be located on the opposite side of Queens Drive near to the Two Brewers pub. The final area of land stood opposite the cottages on the other side of what was then South Parade. 'Ikey Pickard's' passage is now the entrance and vehicle access to the house known as 170A, Queens Drive, which was built in the 1980s.

The original owner of the cottages and land, Joshua Haigh had several children, but they all died childless. In 1880, the cottages were left by the Haighs to the Wheatley family who were related to them by marriage. Charles Wheatley J.P., a Mirfield colliery owner and gentleman landowner had no direct heirs and when he died in 1900, he left all his property (including the cottages) to his great niece, Eleanor Steele, wife of Adam Rivers Steele of Loddington Hall in Leicestershire. She died in 1910 and subsequently left the cottages to her two unmarried daughters Camilla and Mary Steele.

Isaac junior was the last of the Pickard family to live at the cottages and he died in 1945 (from a heart attack and chronic asthma) in the same cottage that he had been born in 81 years earlier. Isaac Pickard married Emma Quarmby (1865-1907) in 1890, but the couple had no children and the cottages passed to his "natural" daughter, Nora Quarmby (1898-1946), the daughter of his sister-in-law, Mary Ann Quarmby (born 1863). Mary Quarmby and her daughter Nora lived in the cottages with Isaac and his wife Emma from about 1900. When Emma Pickard died in 1907, Mary and Nora Quarmby remained at the cottages and it was Isaac who brought up Nora and she subsequently looked after Isaac in old age.

In July 1935, Nora Quarmby married John Harrop at the Springfield Independent Chapel in Dewsbury. The couple then went to live at number nine, where John Harrop carried on the market gardening business in his own right. Sadly, Nora died in November 1946, and the properties transferred into the ownership of her husband, John Harrop continued to live at number 9 until his death on 20th February 1980. As the properties came under new ownership, the large greenhouses behind number seven were demolished and the cottages were significantly modernised for life in the 21st century.

In the 1920s, Ossett Borough Council compulsory purchased the three or more acres of land referred to as 'Wheatley's Closes' for the development of Towngate. Wheatley's Closes would have had a significant value as prime residential building land. Sadly, that financial benefit would have accrued to the Council and not to Isaac’s Pickard's family.

Green Mount
There was another family of Pickards in Ossett who were almost certainly related to the Low Common Pickards described above. From humble beginnings they rose from shopkeepers to become wealthy millowners and two of these Pickard brothers each amassed a considerable fortune.

Ossett grocer and draper, George Pickard (born 1800) married Hannah Mitchell (born 1805) in 1824 and they had four children, two boys and two girls: Sarah, born in 1826; David born in 1830, Andrew born in 1835 and Hannah born in 1838. The family lived in a cottage on the site where Green Mount would later be built, where Southdale Road meets The Green. George Pickard died in 1852 and his wife Hannah in 1862. It is also thought that Sarah Pickard died in her teens sometime after 1841.

Meanwhile, the two boys, David and Andrew had done well and by 1871, David (41) is a "Cloth Manufacturing Master" employing 100 women, 20 boys and 90 men. In fact, he was then in partnership with Mark Wilby and they were the co-owners of Manor Mill, Ossett which was used for rag grinding and scribbling. David is still single and is living with his unmarried sister Hannah (32) at the Pickard homestead on the Green. Andrew (35) is also single, but had moved to live in lodgings in Leeds where he is described as a "Woollen Manufacturer", with mill premises in Aire Street, Leeds.

Green Mount was built in the grounds of the old Pickard homestead on the Green in 1875 by David Pickard and the new house reflected the wealth that he had achieved in business at his mill, which was believed to have been located in Healey Road. The homestead that the Pickards had lived in was a tenanted cottage so presumably David Pickard had bought the land and the cottage to build Green Mount.

By 1881, all the Pickards are still unmarried, but now living at Green Mount with David Pickard is 'George Pickard' aged 10 and born in Leeds, described as David's son. David Pickard died at the early age of 52 on the 6th July 1882 without leaving a will. His estate passed to his next of kin, which was his brother Andrew, suggesting that his 'son' George was not legally recognised. Andrew Pickard had moved to live at Green Mount after his brother's death and he himself was to die on the 18th September 1890, aged 54. Andrew Pickard did not die in testate like his elder brother and he left the majority of his estate to his sister Hannah Pickard. However, he also made reference in his will to "George Pickard, the adopted son of my late brother David Pickard deceased" leaving him part of his estate "in trust for when he reaches the age of 21" with his sister Hannah acting as the trustee. Andrew left £198,447 gross and £164,093 net, a considerable sum in 1890, and the equivalent to about £15 million today based on the RPI.

Hannah Pickard died on the 29th June 1891, leaving £140,000 and with no heirs, the family fortune was inherited by David Pickard's adopted son George who was now 21. Hannah's will was dated 9th June 1891 and in it she left Green Mount and "four acres of land bought from Messrs. Wheatley" by her brother Andrew to young George Pickard, "the Pickard family having lived there for nearly a century past." Hannah also left a long list of legacies to various people and organisations (see sidebar for full details).

The final twist in the story relates to young George Pickard, who as an adopted son of the late David Pickard had inherited a significant fortune and also Green Mount, which Hannah Pickard had left to him, presumably to keep the house in the Pickard family a little longer. George died in the June quarter of 1892 aged 21. It is not known who inherited the Pickard fortune, but on the 25th May 1894, in the High Court of Justice Chancery Division, Mr. Justice North presided over a case, which was testing the Wills of the late Hannah and Andrew Pickard on behalf of the heir of the late George Pickard "if he was the lawful child of David Pickard." George's heir was one F.R. Hird, but his relationship to George is unknown as is the outcome of the Chancery court case. The 'Ossett Observer' for the 25th May 1894 carried the following report about the Pickard Will Case:

"The case reappeared in the Chancery Division before Justice North yesterday. Mr. Swinfen Eady, Q.C., for the executors, said that the point to be decided was as to ten legacies to relatives of £1,000 each. The affidavit of William Emslay read that he and the co-trustees three months after Andrew Pickard's death appropriated a certain mortgage, and subsequently paid interest for six months to the legatees. The question was whether the appropriation was properly made. Mr Humphries, for the next of kin, contested the validity of the alleged appropriation.

His Lordship, after reviewing the facts as brought forward, said that the question was simply one of fact, and he could not doubt, as the two surviving trustees both certified to the fact, that the appropriation had been made, thought it would have been more satisfactory if, at the time of making it, some memorandum in writing had been made."

However, the Pickard family will be remembered for the huge sums they bequeathed to worthy causes. Between 1893 and 1928, fifty-seven lives were saved by the two Peterhead lifeboats each named "George Pickard", which were built after Andrew Pickard generously gave considerable sums of money in his Will for the construction of the five lifeboats to be named after the Ossett Pickard family. Only two lifeboats were actually built as far as I am aware and both were based at the fishing port of Peterhead, near Aberdeen. The first "George Pickard" was built in 1893 at a cost of £489 and the second "George Pickard" was built in 1897 at a cost of £603.

In 1900, Green Mount was owned by Samuel Ellis, a woollen manufacturer but by 1915, the house had changed hands again, belonging now to Mr. George Henry Briggs. The Briggs family kept a little 'zoo' in what is now the garage of Green Mount where they had birds, a donkey and various other pets. Mr. G.H. Briggs died in the December quarter of 1915 and the family left the house soon afterwards.

Above: The rear of Green Mount, which is located on the junction of Southdale Road and the Green. The house was built in 1875 by Ossett mill owner David Pickard (1830-1882).

Above: Green Mount in 2007. The building shown above at the side of the house has now been demolished and, as can be seen, another building is being constructed in its place.

Croft House
About 1875, Joshua Whitaker J.P., a wealthy Ossett maltster with malt kilns in Manor Road built Croft House, which had stables, a coach-house, a lodge, gardens, vineries and about five acres of land in front of the house. Whitaker was born in West Ardsley in 1804 to the same parents as Joseph Whitaker (1802-1884), who was the patriarch of the famous Whitaker dynasty based in Palermo, Sicily. Joshua Whitaker's fine new house was located on New Street in Ossett and he died there on the 30th October 1882 aged 78. Whitaker married his first wife Sarah Kaye (1805-1876) in the June quarter of 1851 in Dewsbury when they were both into middle age. Sadly, it seems that Sarah Whitaker didn't live long enough to enjoy Croft House and she died in 1876. The couple had lived at Little Town End and Back Lane, Ossett before Croft House was built.

When he was 73, Whitaker married for the second time to 47 year-old spinster Anna Mary Petty (1830-1891) on the 25th October 1877 in Hornsey, north London. The couple lived at Croft House after their marriage with three servants: a ladies maid, a cook and a housemaid. The big house must have seemed empty and more so when the census was taken in April 1881 because Joshua Whitaker was staying at the Grand Pump Room Hotel in Bath, apparently without his wife. There were no children or direct heirs and the house was sold to Ossett millowner William Langley after the death of Whitaker's second wife Anna in 1891 under the terms of Joshua Whitaker's will. William Langley had a mill on Dale Street, next to the Horse and Jockey public house that was demolished in 1973.

In 1927, Ossett Borough Council bought the house, cottage and 3.5 acres of land, and on Tuesday 19th June 1928, Croft House was re-opened as a Child Welfare Centre, Education Office and School Clinic at a total cost of £4,700 including building purchase costs, structural modifications and internal furnishings. Thousands of Ossett children (including me) were inoculated there against a myriad of nasty diseases such as whooping cough, polio and measles. The building was finally demolished in April 1984 to make way for a new and modern Health Centre.

Above: Croft House just before demolition in April 1984 to make way for the new Sycamore House Health Centre. Croft House Nursery School, in the grounds of Croft House was opened in 1974 and closed in 2004.

Wesley House
Wesley House was built by Ossett dyer William Gartside in the 1870s. After his death in 1888, it was proposed at a public meeting in October 1888, that the Wesley House estate, consisting the house and 14 acres of land should be purchased by the Local Board for £9,700, with the intention of converting the residence into offices and the grounds into a public park. Rival local towns such as Morley and Batley had both been given land for public parks and the Local Board of Ossett was proposing to build new offices. The public meeting was very poorly attended, despite much publicity in the town. The two members of the Local Board who supported the scheme, and organised the meeting, Mr. Eli Townend and Mr. F.L. Fothergill had to accept that there was little enthusiasm among Ossett residents and from other Local Board members for their scheme, which was quietly dropped.

Instead, Ossett mungo manufacturer Edward Clay bought the Wesley House estate, and the Clay family have lived there now for over a hundred years. It was noted in an 'Ossett Observer' in 1927 that "among those who rented pews at the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel in Wesley Street was William Gartside, who lived opposite in Wesley House, and Edward Clay, the founder of the firm that still bears his name."

Above: Wesley House, Wesley Street pictured in about 1906. The couple stood in the left hand doorway are Edward Clay J.P. (1844-1921) and his second wife Amy (nee Blackburn). Edward Clay was the founder of the Ossett firm of Edward Clay and Sons, Mungo Manufacturers, and the first elected mayor of Ossett in 1890-91 after Ossett was incorporated as a Borough on the 16th July 1890. He was elected mayor again in 1893-94 and had served as Chairman of the Local Board of Health in 1880 and again in 1883. He was president of the Chamber of Commerce and a Guardian of the Poor, one of the first Borough Magistrates and took a prominent part in public life for many years. The boy in the right hand doorway is Edward Wilson Clay (1898-1979), their grandson.

Above: Tennis courts at the rear of Wesley House, Wesley Street about 1906. The gentleman enjoying his pipe and seated at the left of the picture is John Arthur Clay (1870-1918) and immediately to his right is his wife Annie Lois Clay (nee Wilson, 1866-1942). The boy is Edward Wilson Clay (1898-1979) with two of his Aunt Hildas. The lady with the white hat is Hilda Mary Wilson (1879-1954) and the lady on the right is also Hilda Mary Wilson (nee Pemberton, 1871-1957), the wife of Ossett artist Eli Marsden Wilson and the sister-in-law of the other two ladies in the picture.

Edward Clay was the son of Jacob Clay, who kept the Carpenter's Arms in Bank Street for many years. He started off as a hand loom weaver and later started off in business as a rag merchant and mungo manufacturer. Mr. Clay was also a partner in the old firm of Giggal and Clay, wool extractors at Healey New Mill. The business that Edward Clay started is still in existence today (2007) in Wesley Street as Edward Clay and Son, flock and mattress filling manufacturers. The business was carried on first by Edward Wilson Clay and, after his death in 1979 by his sons and grandsons.

Green Lea
Green Lea is located down Healey Road and dates back to before 1890 and not to be confused with another Green Lea on Southdale Road, where a Miss E. Lodge had her corset business in 1915. Calder House and Grange View, the one time residence of John William Smith (1844-1915), the owner of Healey Old Mill are in the very near vicinity of Green Lea. The house has now been divided in to at least two separate residences, with one very recently on the market (2006.) Also, a new development is a nail studio in the grounds of Green Lea.

Above: Green Lea in 2007, set in a commanding position overlooking the Calder valley

West Wells House
Between 1871 and 1881, West Wells House became the residence of Mr. Charles Thornes Philips, (born 4th August 1837), the son of Ossett grocer and prominent Wesleyan, William Phillips and his wife Mary. Phillips was the principal director of C.T. Phillips and Son, merino, mungo and shoddy manufacturers, with premises located at Queen Street, Wakefield Road and Whitley Spring Mill, Flushdyke. He was also interested in coal mining, and at one time financed the colliery company, which worked a small mine at Runtlings Lane.

Charles Philips was deeply involved in local public life. He was chairman of Ossett magistrates around the turn of the 19th century; the secretary of the old Mechanic's Institute in 1852; member of the old Board of Surveyors in 1865; vice chairman in 1866; chairman of the Local Board in 1872 and 1874; the first president of the Chamber of Commerce; the provisional Mayor of Ossett in 1890; a former trustee and treasurer of the White Cloth Hall in Leeds and also a West Riding Magistrate.

Above: A wintry 1958 picture of West Wells House, Ossett and gardens after a heavy snow fall.

In 1898, Phillips vacated West Wells House and retired from business to live at Rushden Lodge, Scarborough with his daughter Clara after his wife Esther (nee Tolson) died in 1900. She was the daughter of the Mr. Thomas Tolson, carpet manufacturer, Flushdyke. Charles Phillips died at the age of 82 in December 1918 and was buried in the Wesleyan Burial Ground at South Parade. His only son, Mr. Thomas W. Phillips, an ex-mayor of Ossett, who lived at Mallin House, Ossett, died in 1915 aged 50. However, the business at Whitley Spring Mill, Flushdyke was continued after the death of the two principals.

Sowood House
In 1893, Sowood House was occupied by the Greenwood family, who were principally surgeons. The patriarch was John William Greenwood (b. 1833 in Ossett) and a previous Medical Officer of Health to the Ossett Local Board. There was also William Greenwood (b. 1862 in Ossett), Surgeon and Medical Officer and Public Vaccinator for Ossett District of the Dewsbury Union and George Spencer Greenwood (b. 1861 in Ossett) L.H.C.P. Lond. D.P.H., Surgeon and Medical Officer of Health to the Corporation. Another Greenwood was Bransby Greenwood (b. 1864 in Ossett), solicitor of the firm Tennant, Nevin and Greenwood, the Green, Ossett, and of the same family. There was a fourth son named Claude Greenwood, born in Ossett in 1866 but it is not known if he also went into the medical profession like his two elder brothers and father.

In the 1950s, part of the house served as Doctor Stoker's surgery and possibly his home.

Above: Sowood House pictured in 2007 and now a Grade II listed building. The house was sold in 2004 for £470,000 and now accommodates a unisex hairdresser's shop and beauty salon.

Westfield House
Westfield House is located along Wesley Street, on the opposite side of the road to Wesley House, but some distance further away from the town centre.

Above: Westfield House pictured in 2007 from Wesley Street

After first occupying the house shown below, which is close to Westfield House, John Westerman went on to build Westfield Mill on the opposite side of Wesley Street, and he then moved into the newly built Westfield House (above). By 1927, the house was occupied by Ossett rag merchants John W. Hewitt (b. 1866) and Herbert W. Hewitt who had premises in Wesley Street.

Above: This house, number 33 Wesley Street was built for John Westerman around 1850. In the 1851 census Westerman was a master clothier and rag dealer, employing 24 men and 30 women. Westerman's rag warehouse was located adjacent to this house and was demolished about 1975. The house then became the manse for the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel from about 1870 until 1971. In 1971 it was purchased by Brian Smith.

Sowood Farmhouse
One of Ossett's few listed buildings, Sowood Farmhouse has been occupied by the Brook family for many generations.

Built in 1689, on the site of a medieval manor that was in existence in 1302, and built possibly re-using timbers from the original manor house.

Scott's Yard: 1708-2008
In early 2008, Richard Spurr and his partner Rachel Pickard, the owners of Scott's Yard, off Manor Road, Ossett contacted me via this website to ask if I would be interested in researching the history of their house, which they believed may date back to the 18th Century. When they bought the house in 2007, Richard and Rachel had been presented with a collection of original deeds and documents tracing the history of the houses in Scott's Yard back to 1859.

Above: The only house now left in Scott's Yard is actually numbers 6, 7 and 8 combined into one dwelling. The building extends a considerable distance to the side and rear and is much larger than this photograph of the front elevation suggests.

The scope of researching the history of Scott's Yard was always going to be beyond my modest level of expertise and I was lucky that my friend, Alan Howe took an interest in the project. Alan has an encyclopaedic knowledge of the intricate workings of the West Yorkshire Archives Service (WYAS) in Wakefield and the Yorkshire Archaeological Society (YAS) in Leeds.

What follows is entirely Alan's work, completed over a period of several months and many long hours, but somewhat condensed to fit this web site. It includes freehold Deed Memorials, the Ossett Inclosure Order 1813, Land Tax records 1781-1832 and the Wakefield Manorial Court Baron copyhold document records. Alan also examined the Ossett Survey and Valuation of 1774, held in the private collection of local historian, John Goodchild in Wakefield.

Scott's Yard is located on Manor Road, Ossett adjacent to the Victoria public house. Over the years, the area has been known variously as Ossett Commonside and by several spellings of the curiously named Giggal Hill (Giggle Hill and Jiggle Hill). It is likely that this name was derived from the Giggal family, who owned land and property to the north of Manor Road at the junction of the Green. This area was previously known as Giggal Hill Bottom.

In 2007, the present owners of Scott's Yard purchased the land and the dwellings standing there, exactly 200 years after the land first came into the possession of the Scott family in 1807. The existing 2008 property (pictured above) comprises three earlier dwellings, built in the 19th century or earlier, but with the addition of a later 1960s extension on the eastern side of the older buildings.

The Wilbys
Before 1807, the land was owned by Isaac Wilby, who like many others in Ossett was a clothier. The Ossett Survey and Valuation of March 1774 shows land and property, described simply as "housing" and "croft" in the ownership of Isaac Wilby, who was born in Ossett in 1743. Isaac's father was also called Isaac and he was born in 1717. The Wakefield Manorial Court Rolls suggest that Isaac Wilby senior may well have acquired the land from his brother Joseph Wilby in 1750. Isaac Wilby's ancestors can be traced back to the birth of Jonathan Wilby of Ossett in 1653 and examination of early 18th century Court Rolls suggest that the family may have owned the land in the 17th century.

The land was copyhold and required the consent of the Lord of the Manor of Wakefield for any transfers of ownership or significant tenancies. In 1806, Isaac Wilby died and left his estate to his six children. His son David Wilby (born 1765) inherited the land and buildings that were to become Scott's Yard, which along with adjacent ownerships, was described in Isaac Wilby's 1802 Will as:

"All that copyhold messuage, dwelling house or tenement situate at Ossett Common Side aforesaid where I now dwell with the new erected barn shop and the remainder of my croft, together with all the other outbuildings, rights, member's privileges and appurtenances thereto belonging except and always reserved out of this devise unto my said sons John, Jonathan and Benjamin the privilege of fetching water from the draw well to and for their own use."

The Wilby family were clothiers with interests in the fulling mill and dye works at Healey. By the beginning of the 19th century, this branch of the family also owned a significant amount of land on Ossett Common Side (on both sides of Giggal Hill). This included the area which was to become known as Scott's Yard, then a croft with a range of outbuildings and a newly erected barn. The site may also have included a dwelling or dwellings and it is certain that three of Isaac Wilby's sons, David, Benjamin and Jonathan were living there or thereabouts in 1810. The Ossett Inclosure Act of 1807 and subsequent order of 1813 shows the family in, or close to, the Yard. Maps show buildings and premises on and adjacent to the site, which are described as "ancient", suggesting that they would date at least to the 18th century. An area owned by Charles Scott (later known as Happy Land) is described as being "bounded on the west by ancient Inclosures now or late belonging to David Wilby". This was Scott's Yard.

David inherited the yard in 1806, but he was not to own it long and in 1807, confirmed by a session of the Court Baron of Wakefield in 1808, he sold Scott's Yard and other land and property that he had inherited from his father to Joseph Scott, book-keeper and Yeoman of Ossett.

The Scotts
Joseph Scott was born about 1750 and came from a family of Ossett clothiers who vied with the Wilby family and others to become the major land owners on Giggal Hill and Middle Common. The family can be traced back to Benjamin Scott of Ossett who was born about 1695. It seems likely that the Scotts did not live in the Yard preferring the area to the east known then as Ossett Middle Common and later as Park Square. The family had a number of lands and property here and in the area now known as Fairfields. The Ossett Inclosure Order of 1813 shows Joseph living on Middle Common Road (at the junction of Station Road and Park Square). His brother Charles lived on the opposite side of Middle Common Road (Station Road) in a property on Scott Road.

Joseph Scott’s Last Will and Testament of 1837 has him leaving his not insignificant estate in equal shares to his five siblings or their children. Scott’s Yard was left to his brother David’s four surviving children and over the next 20 years David’s son Samuel becomes sole owner of the site. It is likely that this period is one of the most active in the history of the Yard. There is evidence around this time of housing development elsewhere on Giggal Hill and the Victoria Public House was built in the late 1850’s.The Ordnance Survey map of 1851 shows three  buildings on the site and a conveyance of 1859,in the possession of the present owners, makes reference to the site being the location of a barn ‘now pulled down’ and  refers to five dwellings. This 1859 conveyance transferred the Yard from Samuel Scott to his only son Henry Castile Scott.  It is likely that the five dwellings referred to in this Deed  includes at least one of the three dwellings which now comprise the existing building known as number 7 Scott’s Yard.

Above: Plan showing the layout of properties in Scott’s Yard (probably) between about 1870 and 1970. Numbers 6,7 and 8 are now(2008) combined into a single dwelling. The area outlined in red was sold to J & M Asquith Ltd in the early 1970’s.

In 1891 a Wakefield Court Baron document refers to five dwellings and the Ordnance Survey map in the mid 1890’s shows eight dwellings on the site in the positions shown above.

Analysis of Census information between 1861 and 1901 show a number of families living in, or close to, the Yard including the family of Nathan Wilby (junior and senior) who lived here between 1861 and at least 1901. Nathan was the great-grandson of Isaac Wilby who owned the site in 1774. Even though Isaac’s son, David, sold the site to Joseph Scott in 1807 the Wilby’s were still living here almost a hundred years later. Nathan Wilby died in 1916. The census provides no evidence that the Scotts lived here at any time between 1841 and 1901 and earlier records show Joseph Scott, the site owner, living elsewhere on Middle Common. Scott’s Yard it may be but it appears that the family never actually lived here and it seems probable that Joseph Scott purchased the site for its investment potential. It was a good decision.

The 1859 Conveyance, by which Henry Castile Scott was to inherit the Yard from his father Samuel, refers to five dwellings on the site. By the 1890’s this has increased to eight and these dwellings are providing homes for some 39 men women and children. Henry Castile Scott, who lived at Mona Cottage (Park Square fronting onto Manor Road), died in 1912 leaving Scott’s Yard and Mona Cottage to his four surviving children. The last surviving child, Anna Louisa Scott, died in 1943 and Scotts Yard was sold thus bringing to an end some 136 years of ownership by the Scotts.

A Conveyance of 1944 shows six dwellings on the site and it is likely that numbers 4 and 5 had been demolished by this time. It is also probable that numbers 1,2 and 3 were demolished in the 1960’s when other housing clearance was taking place on the Giggal Hill part of Manor Road. The 1944 deed is the first to record the site as ‘Scott’s Yard’ In the mid 1960’s an extension was added to the remaining buildings (numbers 6,7 and 8) and this is the configuration which remains in 2008.

And so, the property known as Scott’s Yard appears never to have been the home of the Scott family even though they owned the site for 136 years between 1807 and 1943.On the other hand the Wilby family who owned the site until 1807 lived here or hereabouts for at least 127 years between 1774 and 1901. Indeed they probably owned the Yard  before 1700 and stayed beyond 1901 (Nathan Wilby, who lived here in the second half of the 19th century, died in 1916)

Perhaps anticipating some problems in the disposition of his estate, including Scott’s Yard, in his Will of 1802 Isaac Wilby issued the following warning  to his beneficiaries:

"and lastly I do hereby expressly state my mind to be that if any of my said Sons or Daughter or her husband or any of my said Grandsons shall be dissatisfied with his her or their respective devise or legacy and shall cause any law suit or disturbance or give each other any Unnecessary Trouble in such case I do hereby revoke and make void all such devise or legacy as is hereby given  to him or her who shall cause any such law suit or give Unnecessary Trouble  and I do hereby give devise and bequeath the same unto the others of my children…in equal shares" 

In contrast Samuel Scott in conveying his estate, including Scott’s Yard, to his son Henry Castile Scott in 1859 had this to say to his only child:

“Now this Indenture Witnesseth that for and in consideration of the natural love and affection which the said Samuel Scott has and bears towards his son the said Henry Castile Scott and for his advancement in the world and for other good causes and considerations him hereunto moving…….”

The Scott and the Wilby families were clothiers by trade and by the early 1800s it seems that the Wilbys were near the end of a dynasty whilst the Scotts were continuing to build and expand theirs. Where once they were owners the Wilby family became tenants of the family to whom they had sold Scott’s Yard in 1807.

But nothing lasts forever and by 1943 the Scotts too were no more thus bringing to an end 250 years or so of ownership by the two families.

Henry Castile Scott's daughter Anna Louise Scott’s estate sold the site to Alfred Ernest Ellis in 1943 following her death. It was only after 1943 that documentation refers to the site as ‘Scott’s Yard’. This was the year the land ceased to be owned by the Scotts after 136 years of ownership.

Following Mr Ellis’ death his executors sold the site to Isaac and Joan Adeline Hughes in tranches over a 20 year period from 1951. The Hughes sold the site to Robert Dale in 1986. It was sold again in 2002 and purchased by Richard and Rachel Spurr in 2007.  

Before 1859, a Barn, probably built about 1800, was on part of the site. It seems likely that numbers 1,2 and 3 were built in the 1880’s and demolished in the 1960’s. Numbers 7 and 8 may have been built at the same time or possibly in the 1850’s. Numbers 4,5 and 6 appear likely to be earlier than 1859, in part due to the configuration of The Victoria built about that time. Numbers 4 and 5 were demolished between 1913 and 1943. An extension was built to numbers 7 and 8 in 1964 and numbers 6,7 and 8 became a single dwelling in 1968. At one point in time Scott's Yard provided homes for 39 people including earlier Spurr and Pickard families.

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