Huddersfield is a large market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, West Yorkshire, England. Huddersfield was a prominent mill town in the industrial revolution. To the town's west are the Pennines, south is the River Holme's discharge into the similar-sized Colne. The town's historic county is the West Riding of Yorkshire.
The rivers around the town provided the volumes of soft water required for textile treatment in the large weaving sheds which were associated with an economic boom in the early part of the Industrial Revolution. The town has much neoclassical Victorian architecture centrally, among which its railway station which is in the rarest category of statutory recognition and protection (a Grade I listed building) – described by John Betjeman as "the most splendid station façade in England", second only to St Pancras, London. Fronting St George's Square, it was renovated for £4 million and accordingly won the Europa Nostra award for architecture.
It hosts the University of Huddersfield and three colleges: Greenhead College, Kirklees College and Huddersfield New College. Two-time British Prime Minister Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson and film star James Mason were born in the town. Jodie Whittaker, the 13th actor to play Doctor Who, was born in Skelmanthorpe.
The town is the birthplace of rugby league; its rugby league team, Huddersfield Giants, play in the Super League. Huddersfield also has a football team, Huddersfield Town, who currently compete in the Championship.Huddersfield parliamentary constituency was created in 1832. The town is Kirklees's administrative centre and largest settlement in the borough. The borough has been under a unitary authority since 1987, previously under county control with the West Riding of Yorkshire county from 1889 and West Yorkshire county took over from 1974.
By 1961, the town's population had reached 130,652. It had a population of 162,949 at the 2011 census, in the West Yorkshire Built-up Area. It is 14 miles (23 km) south-west of Leeds, 12 miles (19 km) west of Wakefield, 23 miles (37 km) north-west of Sheffield and 24 miles (39 km) north-east of Manchester.