Huddersfield Parish |
QUARMBY, in the parish of Huddersfield, Agbrigg-division of Agbrigg and Morley, liberty of Wakefield, 2 miles W. of Huddersfield, 8 from Halifax. Pop. including Lindley, 2,040, which being united, form a township.
Quarmby, anciently the seat of a family of that name. In the reign of King Edward III. 1341, Sir John Elland, being High Sheriff of Yorkshire, a quarrel took place between him and three neighbouring gentlemen: John de Lockwood, Sir Robert Beaumont, and Sir Hugh Quarmby; what occasioned the dispute does not appear, but it arose to such a dreadful height, as to cause the death of all the three, who were murdered in one night, by the Sheriff and his men; a circumstance that strongly marks the ferocious manners of the times. --Watson's History of Halifax.
The fate of Sir Hugh Quarmby is thus related by a poet of those days :-"He raisd the country round about, His friends and tenants all, And for his purpose picked out Stout sturdy men, and tall: Stout sturdy men, and tall: To Quarmby Hall they came by night, And there the Lord they slew; At that time Hugh of Quarmby hight, Before the country knew."