page_title: Cleckheaton
section_title: Early history
hierarchical_section_title: Cleckheaton / History / Early history
caption_attribution_description: English: Whitechapel Church - Whitechapel Road, Cleckheaton, West Yorkshire, England.
context_page_description: Cleckheaton is a town in the Metropolitan borough of Kirklees, in West Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is situated south of Bradford, east of Brighouse, west of Batley and south-west of Leeds. It is at the centre of the Spen Valley and was the major town in the former borough of Spenborough.
  Cleckheaton has a history as a mill town, although this industry has now all but vanished.
context_section_description: The Spen Valley was once heavily wooded.  Evidence of human habitation in Mesolithic and Neolithic times has been found in the area.  Roman remains have been found in the valley and it is thought that roads from York to Chester, and from settlements in Halifax and Wakefield, passed through Cleckheaton and the junction gave rise to a staging post.
  Cleckheaton was in the ancient parish of Birstall. A chapel of ease, known as the White Chapel (later Whitechapel) was established.
caption: Whitechapel Church
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