Skelmanthorpe is a clustered village 8 miles (13 km) south-east of Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. According to the 2011 census, the village has 4,549 inhabitants. The village sits on the south (right) bank of the first river-like flow, from three small headwaters (uniting in the northwest corner of the parish), of the Dearne. It is part of the civil parish of Denby Dale in the Kirklees Borough, the main local authority. Name The village was recorded as Scelmertorp in the Domesday Book in the year 1086 AD. The name itself derives from the Norse personal name Skjaldmarr and thorp; thus having the meaning of an "outlying farmstead of a man called Skjaldmarr". Shat Locals know it as "Shat", which appears to be an abbreviation of "Shatterers", the name by which the locals are known. Local labour was taken on during construction of the railway to break or 'shatter' rocks as well as work on the excavations. These unskilled labourers were referred to as Shatterers. The Doctor Who actress Jodie Whittaker has explained the origins of the term and referred to herself as a "Shat lass". History Origins The village was probably founded during the Viking invasion in the 9th century, as they moved inland from the North Sea. There is no record of the village in the earlier Roman times. Domesday Book The entry for Skelmanthorpe in the Domesday Book of 1086 states: Manors & Berewick. In Turulsetone and Berceworde and Scelmertorp, Alric and Aldene had nine carcucates of land to be taxed, and there may be five ploughs there. Ilbert now has it, and it is waste. Value in King Edwards time 4 pounds. Wood pasture one mile long and as much broad. The comment "and it is waste." is a direct result of the Harrying of the North of 1069. William the Conqueror had difficulties subduing his northern subjects, leading to the order to "spare neither man nor beast, but to kill, burn and destroy" being issued. This left Skelmanthorpe and much of Yorkshire a wasteland for about nine years. Skelmanthorpe Feast During the 1770s, Skelmanthorpe Feast was a riotous affair with bull and bear-baiting and organised dog fights on the village green. A quote from John Taylor, who compiled a biography of Skelmanthorpe-born preacher Isaac Marsden (1807–1882), records that "Public houses were crowded with drunken revellers, who caroused all day and made night hideous with quarrels and