Marsden Moor, Huddersfield

Gelatine silver print entitled 'Marsden Moor, Huddersfield' by Ian Beesley. Produced for the commission `Through the Mill:, The Story of Yorkshire Wool in Photographs'. 1985-1987'.

This is the desolate and windswept landscape of Luddite country for it was in this region that Ned Ludd found much support for his machine breaking activities in 1811/12. It was at Marsden that William Horsfall employed 400 workers in his mill where he introduced the new shearing frames which threatened the livelihood of the handcroppers. On Tuesday, 8th April, 1812 Horsfall was passing terrain like this on his journey from Huddersfield to Marsden when two assassins fired at him from behind a drystone wall. Horsfall's death, and the attack on Rawfolds mill, ultimately led to the leading 17 Luddites being hanged at York in the following year.