Guided Tour of Dewsbury Arcade and West Yorkshire Victorian Society AGM
Our 2026 AGM takes place in Dewsbury, a fine West Yorkshire market town which was once the heart of the 'shoddy' wool recycling industry. Our AGM venue, the 1889 Holton and Fox designed Grade II* Town Hall, has recently been renovated and the Grade II 1899 Arcade (optional hard hat tour) is currently being repaired and refurbished.
Walk: Halifax ‘perhaps the best Victorian town centre in England’, Led by Mike Ashworth
Halifax has an incredible wealth of surviving listed Victorian public, civic, commercial and industrial buildings in and around a fairly compact centre.
Walk: Burley in Leeds, Led by June Diamond
See how the Leeds suburb of Burley emerged as a Victorian centre on this walking tour led by the Victorian Society's West Yorkshire group.
Ilkley, from village Spa to Victorian resort – a walk with Alex Cockshott
Ilkley started as a village with fresh air and pure cold water. It had an increasing number of visitors in the Victorian era. With the arrival of the railway station in 1865, and the Middleton family starting land sales against a planned grid, the village expanded. We shall look at how the town centre developed, including the Grove.
Exploring Oldham’s heritage as the “cotton-spinning capital of the world.
This magnificent Victorian town park was built by the people of Oldham during the cotton famine, sparked by the American Civil war. Now registered Grade II* it opened in 1865 and we will see its restored features, listed monuments and structures and well-maintained planting.