Sowerby, West Yorkshire

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Sowerby is a village in the Calderdale area of West Yorkshire in England, near the larger village of Sowerby Bridge, to the south-west of Halifax. The Grid reference for Sowerby is SE042234

The name Sowerby, is made up from the Norse Sor for sour and suffixed with by representing a parish area. Although outsiders persistantly follow the cartographers error in pronunciation, the local pronunciation follows the original Norse saw-bi.

Sowerby was the centre of the Sowerby parliamentary constituency until the 1983 general election, when the constituency was expanded and renamed Calder Valley.

The town appears in the Domesday book and was one of Calderdale's most important, long before Halifax assumed that particular role. The district of Sorbyshire, a large stretch of forest centred around the town of Sowerby leading down the Ryburn and Calder valleys and almost upto Halifax itself, was at one time an important Royal chase.

There has long existed a local legend describing the former existence of a castle in the town, situated upon the aptly named Castle Hill. Suprisingly, the truth of this legend has now been confirmed by archaeological research, discovering the foundations of a Norman motte-and-bailey castle upon that very same spot.

Once home to many chapels and churches of several Christian denominations, St. Peter's, an Anglican church of remarkable architectural interest, is now the main focus of religious worship in the town.

A famous son of the town is John Tillotson, 'The people's priest', Archbishop of Canterbury between 1691 and 1693, who became known for his lack of tolerance over certain abuses of the church which had become inherent, and also for his insistence on leading a religious life as opposed to simply theologizing about it. A statue of Tillotson still exists in St. Peter's church and an avenue is named after him in the lower end of the town.

Longfield house, on Dean lane, is currently home to the MP for Greater Grimsby, Austin Mitchell, and the nearby mansion of Fieldhouse was the seat of the illustrious Stansfeld family, who contributed much to the local community, including building St. Peter's church.

Another character of note was a certain Robert Hood who lived in the early 1200's and who was established as an outlaw in local magistrates records, this for the crime of hunting the King's deer in a Royal chase. It seems he continued this pursuit without much fear of reprisal as his two sons Richard and John were also later accused of the same crimes. Some amateur historians have pointed out the possibility that in these three we could be looking at another example of the ubiquitous Robin Hood character. However, what marks them apart was that they represented Robin Hood for the first time as a righteous rebel, rather than the brigand he began life as and remained for so long. There has even been some low-level speculation as to whether John Hood was in fact the 'Little John' of Robin Hood legend, little referring to the fact he was the younger brother of the two.