ALMONDBURY, a parish in the upper division of
the wapentake of AGBRIGG, West riding of the county
of YORK, comprising the chapelries of South Grassland,
Farnley-Tyas, Honley, Linthwaite, Lockwood, and Meltham,
a portion of the chapelry of Marsden, and the
townships of Almondbury, Austonley, Holme, Lingarths,
Nether Thong, and Upper Thong, and containing
23,979 inhabitants, of which number, 5679 are in the
township of Almondbury, if mile (S. E.) from lluddersfield.
The living is a vicarage, within the jurisdiction
of the peculiar court of the lord of the manor, rated
in the king's books at £20. 7. 11., and in the patronage
of the Governors of Clitheroe school. The church, dedicated
to All Saints, is in that character of the later
style of English architecture which prevails in the northern
counties. New churches have been erected at Crossland,
Linthwaite, and Nether Thong. There is a place
of worship for Wesleyan Methodists. This is supposed
to have been the Cambodunum of Antoninus -. here was a
royal palace belonging to the Anglo-Saxon monarchs, and
near its site is a hill, upon which are vestiges of a rampart
and the remains of a fortification. There arc numerous
manufactories for fancy goods and woollen cloth
in the parish. A free grammar school was founded by
letters patent of James I., the annual income of which
amounts to about £76, arising from lands and rentcharges
demised by Robert Nettlcton and other benefactors.
In 1724, Israel Wormall bequeathed laud, the
produce of which, after the decease of certain legatee?,
he directed to be applied towards instructing and apprenticing
poor children of this place.