HECKMONDWYKE, a town of England, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, on the Huddersfield and Bradford Railway, 2 miles N.W. of Dewsbury and 10 miles S.W. of Leeds. It occupies a gradually sloping site, and is somewhat irregularly built, although latterly it has assumed a more town-like appearance. It possesses a church dedicated to St James erected in 1831, a market-house erected in 1863, a working men’s club established in 1868, a mechanics’ institute founded in 1873, a chamber of commerce dating from the same year, and a literary institute established in 1878. There are three board schools, a national school, and a Roman Catholic school, the whole affording accommodation for 1600 scholars. Much has been done for the improvement of the town by draining, and under the provisions of the Dewsbury and Heckmondwyke Waterworks Act of 1876 an ample supply of water has been obtained for domestic and manufacturing purposes. A cemetery with chapels for churchmen and dissenters was formed in 1860. The chief manufacture is blankets, and there are also carpet factories, machine shops, dye works, and iron foundries. Coal is extensively wrought in the vicinity. The town is under the government of a local board of health established in 1853. The area of the township is about 700 acres. The population of the town, which in 1801 was only 1742, had in 1871 reached 8300, and is now estimated at 10,000.