Until recent times Milnsbridge was mostly centred on the woollen and worsted yarn textile industry, with mills situated along the riverside. These formerly relied on the river and the canal.
In the late 19th century Joseph Crowther and two of his sons moved from Marsden, West Yorkshire down the Colne Valley to Milnsbridge after purchasing two mills, where they began the successful production of woollen cloth.[1]
Union Mills, formerly home to John Crowther and Sons, is a mid-19th-century Grade II listed building.[2] Part of the mill, christened Crowther Village, was converted into 38 residential flats and was completed in 1997.[3][4]
The Scar Lane drill hall was completed in 1911.[5]
Today, there is less evidence of the cloth industry than there was, as most of the mill chimneys were removed when the mills were demolished or converted into housing. However, there are still many streets of 19th century terraced houses in the area; these were originally built as mill workers' houses.
Jack Ramsay in his book "Made in Huddersfield" describes Milnsbridge in 1989:
...for my own beliefs about the devastation and subsequent run-down feel of Milnsbridge are rooted in the very substance of the town's visual character, which is seen as being especially gloomy in the eyes of many local residents because the place is situated in the belly of the [Colne] valley and which has the psychological effect of making it appear somewhere rather morbid and inaccessible like a steelworks crowding the bottom of a hillside city.
Arthur Quarmby & Son, at Britannia Mills, manufactures pub-related items such as beer mats, mirrors and clocks. Trojan Plastics, at Britannia Mills, manufactures acrylic baths.
Milnsbridge spreads from Cowlersley - on the other side of the A62 Manchester Road - to Golcar, Longwood and Paddock. Since the demolition of the school on New Street (with its swimming pool) the main primary school in Milnsbridge has been Crow Lane School, with 11-18s either attending Royds Hall Academy, Salendine Nook High, All Saints Catholic High or Colne Valley High in Linthwaite. At the centre of Milnsbridge is the Baptist Chapel, a Grade II listed building founded in 1843,[6] but rebuilt in 2004.
