Hartshead Church, Luddites, Patrick Bronte and Robin Hood

A wet day in October - autumn has well and truly arrived.  Hartshead lies between Brighouse and Mirfield.  The map was unhelpful, that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.  Either that or all roads lead to Robert Town.

Hartshead Church is best known these days as one of Patrick Bronte's curacies.  He lived in the farm across the way from the church during his time here and it was during his stay that the Luddites' protest about the loss of their jobs to mechanisation became violent. 

Their attack on Rawfolds Mill in April 1812 led to the deaths of some of the protesters.  The funerals for the men who were left at Rawfolds or who died after capture were highly publicised but it is also believed that some badly injured men escaped from the mill and died elsewhere.  These men were buried quietly in Hartshead Churchyard according to legend and according to Patrick Bronte. 

They aren't the only mysterious burials in the churchyard.  There is a medieval slab near the door that allegedly belongs to Robin Hood, though this is clearly a matter of some argument.   More real is the trunk of the ancient yew tree in the middle of the church yard, the stocks across the road and the twelfth century tower.  Much of the church was rebuilt in 1881 but the South door is also Norman in origin