Kirklees

Kirkburton

Kirklees, metropolitan borough, metropolitan county of West Yorkshire, historic county of Yorkshire, northern England. It takes its name from Kirklees Hall (17th century), whose estate houses a small Cistercian priory (1155) and the reputed grave of Robin Hood. The borough includes the towns of Holmfirth, Kirkburton, Mirfield, Heckmondwike, Cleckheaton, Dewsbury, and Batley as well as a number of small rural villages. Huddersfield is its largest town and its administrative centre.

The borough extends from flat-topped and heather-clad gritstone moorland in the Pennines to more-open, industrialized valleys. From Huddersfield, in the River Colne valley, a metropolitan area sprawls into the River Calder valley and north and east into the River Spen valley. The borough developed as a centre of woolen textile manufacture during the 19th century, but other industries, such as engineering, supplanted textiles as the economic mainstay during the 20th century. Area 158 square miles (410 square km). Pop. (2001) 388,567; (2011) 422,458.