Birkby, West Yorkshire
Encyclopedia
Birkby is a large multi-cultural suburb close to the town centre in Huddersfield
Huddersfield
Huddersfield is a large market town within the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, in West Yorkshire, England, situated halfway between Leeds and Manchester. It lies north of London, and south of Bradford, the nearest city....

, in the Kirklees
Kirklees
The Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees is a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, England. It has a population of 401,000 and includes the settlements of Batley, Birstall, Cleckheaton, Denby Dale, Dewsbury, Heckmondwike, Holmfirth, Huddersfield, Kirkburton, Marsden, Meltham, Mirfield and Slaithwaite...

 borough of West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire is a metropolitan county within the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England with a population of 2.2 million. West Yorkshire came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972....

, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. It has a population of 6,700.

It has a catholic primary school, St. Patrick's. It has a semi-rural atmosphere. The area is home to a large white and Asian population and there are four mosques in the area. Elsewhere, the suburb contains two Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...

 chapels, a Buddhist centre, as well as a meetinghouse for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The centre of Birkby, located around the east of Blacker Road and the north of St John's Road, has a high concentration of Asian retailers and food outlets, serving the local Asian community.

It is believed that the name Birkby means 'a village inhabited by people of both Viking and ancient Briton origins.'

From the study of old ordnance survey maps,much of the district of Birkby remained largely rural well into the 20th century, with the original settlement lying close to the town centre. Bay Hall, a local historic house dates from the 16th century but was largely restored in 1895. A date plaque on the residence indicates this.
Birkby can effectively be bisected into two distinct areas; St Johns road being the main thoroughfare. Birkby is generally more affluent to the north and west of the main thoroughfare. This can be seen with a comparison of a south Birkby postcode HD2 2RT having an average home price of £121,892 and a northern Birkby postcode of HD2 2DU having an average home price of £450,000. However, this only shows a general indication with anomalies across the area. Recently, Birkby has seen significant residential development, as the Hopkinson's valve works has been redeveloped for housing.

A very affluent suburb during Victorian times, Birkby sits in the idyllic Grimescar Valley, a greenbelt
Green belt
A green belt or greenbelt is a policy and land use designation used in land use planning to retain areas of largely undeveloped, wild, or agricultural land surrounding or neighbouring urban areas. Similar concepts are greenways or green wedges which have a linear character and may run through an...

area of Huddersfield. Birkby contains Norman Park, a small park with a play area and war memorial, which commemorates those who died in the First World War.
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