It is impossible to say when a settlement first developed at Brighouse, although there is ample evidence for prehistoric and Roman occupation in the district. Cremation urns containing burnt human remains, from prehistoric burials, have been found at Castle Hill, Raistrick, and a Roman coin hoard was discovered at Hove Edge in the 18th century. The line of a major Roman trans-Pennine road is believed to cross the Calder at Snake Hill to the east of Huddersfield Bridge.
In the early Middle Ages the principal settlement in the district was at Raistrick and it is not until 1240 that we have the first documentary reference to Brighouse itself.
Brighouse formed part of the Manor of Wakefield, an extensive landholding given to the Warenne family soon after the Norman conquest.
As Brighouse grew in importance a twice-yearly manorial court was held in the town to settle disputes arising in the district.
Documentary sources reveal that there was a cornmill on the north bank of the River Calder by the late 12th century. This was known initially as Raistrick Mill and only later as Brighouse Mill. Around 1500 a fulling mill, for treating cloth, was built downstream from the bridge. This was known as Lower Mill.
Brighouse was joined to the canal system in the 1760s, a cut with a single lock being used to by-pass the two mill weirs. In 1786 the canal was extended further up the Calder valley. These developments caused a period of expansion in the river/canalside areas of the town. The Brighouse to Huddersfield Turnpike Act of 1823 resulted in a new bridge being erected and would have helped fuel these developments, as would the coming of the railway in 1854.
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