I spent all my life until 1991 in Elland when I moved to Kent to work. I therefore have an affection for the town which I hope to convey through this web site. In 1974 I was studying for an ONC in Mechanical Engineering. As part of this course a General Studies subject was included. As a project, myself and three fellow students got together and decided to compile a history of Elland.

The aim of the booklet was to bring together information about the town of Elland into one brief history. It is brief because time did not permit a more comprehensive study. This and the absorption of Elland into the new Calderdale Metropolitan District made it difficult to gain access to detailed information.

We have tried to show the development of the town from before the Norman conquest, through the feudal system and local councils up to the end of self government for Elland. It should be stressed that this history is only about the original village of Elland, and in the main does not include Greetland and Stainland, or the other villages which were absorbed into the Urban District in 1937.

Elland today is a thriving industrial town situated between the larger towns of Halifax and Huddersfield. It is still surrounded by green fields and trees, but has come a long way from its early days as a village when the population lived from the land and numbered only a few hundred.