Longwood Mechanics Institute

The following source list was originally available only on paper in one of the West Yorkshire Archive Service offices. It may have been compiled many years ago and could be out of date. It was designed to act as a signpost to records of interest on a particular historical subject, but may relate only to one West Yorkshire district, or be an incomplete list of sources available.

Longwood Mechanics Institute was established in 1844. At first, meetings and classes were held in the evening in Longwood Baptist Schoolroom. In April 1857 a joint project was set up between the Mechanics Institute and Longwood News Room to build a hall. A Joint Committee of the two bodies was formed and a public meeting was held on 13th June 1857 to explain the proposal to the people of Longwood. An amount of £160-10s-0d was raised at this meeting towards the cost of the hall and canvassers were appointed to tour the district collecting subscriptions. A second public meeting was held on 26th June and decided on a site for the building, on land leased from Sir Joseph Radcliffe, and a Building Committee was appointed.

From the start the hall was planned to include accommodation for a Day School. The foundation stone of the hall was laid on 30th September 1857. The hall was opened with further ceremony on 6th October 1858. The building comprised of classrooms for the Mechanics Institute, accommodation for a Day School, a concert hall, reading room and two cottages - one for the caretaker and one for the master of the Day School. The Day School opened in 1858.

In 1876 the school was transferred to the management of the Longwood School Board. By 1881 the school was overcrowded and various plans were considered to deal with this. Eventually the School Board built Goitfield Board School in 1883 - 1884 to serve as a boy's school. The scholars and headmaster of the school at the Mechanics Hall transferred into Goitfield when it opened in 1884.

The Mechanics Institute continued in existence, but with increasing provision of elementary education for all children in the later 19th century, the need for adult elementary education which had fuelled the Institute's original growth, declined. The Mechanics Hall has continued in use as a public hall owned by the people of Longwood and used for a variety of community purposes to the present day.

These records are held by WYAS Kirklees, collection reference KC580. Other records relating to the Institute can be found at collection reference KX248.