The Heavy Woollen District was built for the mills, and its stone terraces still carry the roofs that came with them: Welsh slate on most, stone slate on the older cottages, and lead valleys and chimneys that have had a hard life. Dewsbury Moor, Westtown, Thornhill Lees and Savile Town are full of this housing, and re-roofing it well is a matter of sorting and re-laying good slate on new battens and membrane, and getting the leadwork right.
Batley, Birstall and Heckmondwike add interwar and post-war semis on concrete tile, with the same flat-roofed garages and extensions you see everywhere, and the newer estates around Birstall and Gomersal bring us new-build and extension work.
Because we are so close, Dewsbury is where we can be quickest on an emergency. A slipped slate, a leak over the landing or a chimney moving in the wind is a short drive, not a day’s wait.
Getting to Dewsbury
Dewsbury town centre is about ten minutes from Morley. Batley, Birstall, Staincliffe, Hanging Heaton and Earlsheaton are closer still. Thornhill, Ravensthorpe and Mirfield are a quarter of an hour.
