Where was Parrack, Huddersfield?

[alfindit]

Hi,
Quakers Benjamin Stead of Emley Park and Mary Brook of Longroid Bridge married at 'Parrack near Huddersfield' on April 5th 1772. There was a Friends' meeting house at Paddock near Huddersfield, but the record clearly says Parrack. Searches for Parrack have been fruitless. Was there such a place and, if so, does anyone know where it might be/have been?
Cheers,
Al

[arthurk]

I think it's almost certainly going to be Paddock, especially if this was a record made some distance away relying on a strong local accent. Paddock is adjacent to Longroyd Bridge, and I think at that date was the only Quaker meeting in Huddersfield.

With Quaker records there's often the possibility of cross-checking an entry in multiple sources: there's the local meeting (in this case I'm assuming Paddock), the Monthly Meeting (Brighouse) and the Quarterly Meeting (Yorkshire). Births, marriages and deaths/burials were recorded locally, but often in the registers for the higher level meetings as well, so it would be worth trying to find all of these to see if they confirm it.

[alfindit]

Thanks Arthurk,

I have 3 sources that name the place as Parrack, one of those is a short note extracting the detail, but the other is very comprehensive and has 'A true copy, Joshua Marsden, register to Pontefract Monthly Meeting' written in the margin and contains a transcription of the oaths and also lists all the guests. I'd have though someone at Pontefract would have known his Paddock from his Parrack, though it does say '...assembly of the aforesaid people elders and in their meeting house at Parrack near Huddersfield', so it was held at a meeting house rather than a home.

The third source is a Quaker Wakefield ledger containing an alphabetical list of Quaker names and their associated events and again it says 'Parrack, near Huddersfield'.

It is odd, but as you say, it is probably Paddock and a victim of 'Chinese whispers'.

[Drosybont]

In a Huddersfield Local History document 'Discovering Old Huddersfield' part 4, on page 72, available online, under the heading Paddock it says: 

"In early records the name appears as 'Parrack' which is an old northern counties version of the word paddock meaning an enclosed field."

Drosybont

[arthurk]

I'm not too sure of what meetings there were, but if Benjamin Stead was from the Emley area, perhaps he was a member of a meeting in or near Wakefield which reported to the Pontefract MM. So in this case the marriage could have been recorded in Paddock > Brighouse as well, particularly since that's where it might have taken place, and where Mary Brook could have been a member.

Added - nice find, Drosybont (posted while I was typing)

[alfindit]

Wow, Drosybont, that is amazing, thank you. I had considered it might be an old version of the place name, but was unable to find anything about it. Thanks again!

[arthurk]

See also Joseph Wright's Dialect Dictionary - I'd thought it was just a matter of pronunciation, but maybe it goes a bit deeper:

https://archive.org/details/englishdialectdi04wrig/page/426/mode/2up?view=theater

[Drosybont]

I think I've come across puddock meaning toad, Shakespeare maybe?  Hence the term of abuse.  But parrock meaning enclosure seems more likely for a placename.

Drosybont

[J.R.Ellam]

Hi

I think you are right about it being Paddock but unfortunately a lot of the parishes had an area called Paddock. I have seen it used in Kirkheaton, Kirkburton, etc. & the Paddock being mentioned is in Huddersfield so it would have said Huddersfield not near Huddersfield so I think it would be one of those in the other parishes.