ALL OUR Three Nuns inn is steeped in history
Oliver Cromwell may well have stayed at the inn in 1644 en route to his victory at the Battle of Marston Moor. There is after all a record of a skirmish between Royalist and Parliamentarians at the foot of nearby Kirklees Wood in 1643.
Fast forward another couple of hundred years and you find the Inn was a favoured meeting place of the Luddites as they drew up their demands for fair wages and their plans for direct action against mill owners.
In 1812 it was used as the meeting place, prior to their ill-fated assembly at the nearby Dumb Steeple and the subsequent attack on Rawfolds Mill, Cleckheaton. A collection of their weapons was discovered hidden in the ceiling in the 1920s.
Charlotte Bronte would also have known the Inn well during the time when she was a student and a teacher at Roe Head School, a few hundred yards away.
Her biographer, Mrs Gaskell, mentions the Inn and wonders about its origins in her book Life of Charlotte Bronte.
Against this rich background of history, the decision was still taken in 1939 to demolish it and replace it with a new one situated just behind the original inn.
However, during its demolition, a 14th century half-timbered house was found encased in the stone exterior, which caused something of a sensation in the district. But the demolition still went ahead.
Thousands came to see this amazing specimen of 14th century architecture, reputed to have connections with Robin Hood, as explained in All Our Yesterdays last week.
A quaint wooden structure, possessing many features of absorbing interest, revealed itself as the demolition progressed. Remarkably, the pub was left standing, and in full use, while its replacement was being built, and drinks were being sold right up to the opening of the new one.
It was no surprise to those fighting to save it that during its demolition a great deal of local history would be uncovered, but too late, the bulldozers had got rid of it.
Although it has never been verified, some historians believe that it had not been used as an inn during the 14th century, but had been erected as a guest house to accommodate visitors to the Kirklees Nunnery there.
While the old pub was being demolished, a newspaper photographer managed to secure pictures, of the timbered roof of the original
14th century portion of the house as well as many other features of interest.
The original 14th century inn was made of oak, ash, elm and chestnut, which in all probability, were grown on the Kirklees Estate, owned by Sir George Armytage.
The wooden pegs with which the hefty timbers had been secured were as sound on the day of demolition as when first inserted.
There are some who believe that the inn is much older than first believed and could date back to Tudor time.
All the land in front of the old Inn was utilised for road widening, and the rest of the yard was laid with tarmac to be used as a car park. ■■The Three Nuns, scene of some ghostly goings-on as previously reported by the Examiner, is now a Miller & Carter Steakhouse.