It was known as the battle of the Mount and happened many years ago; long before GOR was grumpy, long before BSJ was sneaking around the blindside. And there is no written account as the locals were mainly illiterate at the time (no comments please).
It so happened that the then township of Dewsbury and the beautiful and largely rural Batley found themselves on opposite sides in some local dispute. A large crowd of some 3,000 is said to have gathered in fields overlooking Dewsbury. There is some dispute as to the name of the leader. Some say that he was called Mike son of Stephen, whilst others' aver that this was an affectation and that he was really called Mick son of Stivvie. Either way it would seem that most of the crowd then moved to 'the place of the owls'.
Although nominally Christian Dewsbury was a very primitive place (again no comments please!), and animalistic beliefs, and especially the worship of sheep, was still important to a large number of the population. In fact it is said that a tup was sacrificed and its head was used as a focal point for the the crowd, possibly even put on top of some sort of a joker to muster support.
Having gathered a few more supporters the Tup army marched towards Batley via Shaws Cross and through what is now known as the Grange valley. They are said to have met little resistance on the way. However, once down in the valley bottom they espied a solitary Batley warrior at the top of the hill known locally as the Mount. Mick (or Mike) despatched ten of his best warriors up the hill and a fierce fight ensued. The Batley warrior was driven back out of sight, but to everyones suprise he appeared ten minutes later at the top of the hill after apparently vanquishing his foes.
Mick sent the rest of his army up the hill apart from five of his biggest warriors and closest supporters. Incidentally, these were known as the flock or the pack or some such thing. Anyway, again the Batley warrior was driven back, but this time the battle lasted for over an hour. Still he appeared triumphant, if a little disheveled, at the top of the hill.
Now Mick was no coward, and he set off up the hill with his trusty flock. They were within twenty yards of the enemy when he saw an injured man crawling towards him. With a last dying breath he was heard to say:-
"GET BACK, ITS' A TRICK, THERES TWO OF THEM" Now the odd thing is this; although the peoples of Dewsbury and Batley get on very well these days, and although this piece of local history is largely forgotten, there remains in some modern day supporters of the sheep worshipping community a deep and primitive vestigial memory of the events. For example, the mere mention of Batley will cause some of them to mutter darkly about Mount Unpleasant, whilst others will avoid traditional visits to the Mount,especially if near a holy day such as Christmas or Easter,and even though their colleagues could do with their support.
Anymore nonsense anyone? Any doggeral? Any more shaggy dog storys?
