MELTHAM, a village, a township, a chapelry, and a sub-district, in the parish of Almondbury and district of Huddersfield, W. R. Yorkshire. The village stands in an open valley, under a moorland mountainous ridge, 3½ miles SW of Lockwood r. station, and 5 SW by S of Huddersfield; is a pleasant place; and has a post office‡ under Huddersfield, and fairs on the first Saturday of April and the Saturday after 11 Oct. The township comprises 4,525 acres. Real property, £11,675; of which £150 are in mines. Pop. in 1851,3,758; in 1861,4,046. Houses, 795. The manor is divided among five. A large proportion of the land is moor. Coal is found; and there are excellent building and flag stones. Industry is carried on in several woollen mills, two large cotton mills, dye-works, and an iron-foundry.—The chapelry is less extensive than the township. Pop., 3,456. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Ripen. Value, £275.* Patron, the Vicar of Almondbury. The church was rebuilt in 1786; was enlarged, and had a tower added in 1835; and is a plain stone structure. There are chapels for Baptists and Wesley an and a handsome Church school erected in 1867.—The sub-district comprises the townships of Meltham and South Crosland. Acres, 6,085. Pop., 6,840. Houses, 1,377.

(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))