Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/Dewsbury

DEWSBURY, a market-town in the West Riding of Yorkshire, situated at the foot of a hill, on the left bank of the Calder, eight miles S. by W. of Leeds, on the Manchester and Leeds railway. The chief industries are the making of blankets, carpets, druggets, and worsted yarn. A mile from the town is Batley, the centre of the shoddy manufacture. Coal is worked in the neighbour hood of Dewsbury. The parish church of All Saints was for the most part rebuilt in the latter half of the 18th century ; the portions still preserved of the original structure are of great antiquity. Paulinus, first archbishop of York, about the year 627 preached in the district of Dewsbury, where Edwin, king of Northumbria, whom he converted to Christianity, had a royal mansion. Dewsbury is said to have been originally called Duis burgh, or the town of Dui, the tutelar god of the Brigantes. At Kirklees, in the parish of Dewsbury, is the tomb of Robin Hood. The population of the municipal borough of Dews- bury in 1851 was 14,019; in 1871 it was 24,764, while that of the parliamentary borough, which has an extended area, was 54,940. The municipal charter of the town was granted in 1862. It returns one member to Parliament.