The early history of the Irish in Huddersfield is obscure. The first mention of the Irish in Huddersfield as a sizeable community concerns the decision in 1832 to build a chapel to encourage the Irish workforce to stay. According to Fr. Francis X. Singleton in his history of St. Patrick’s church published in 1932 the church was built using contributions from local industrialists. Their motivation was that the Irish workers would not stay if there was no chapel for them to worship in. Some support for this is offered by the appeal printed in the Laity’s Directory for 1829. for more click here