[4] During Saxon times, Heckmondwike was a "berewick" or independent village in the manor of Gomersal, which, before 1066, was held by Dunstan and Gamel.

The Poll Tax of 1379 records seven families in Heckmondwike, about 35 people: including one named Thomas of Stubly.

Most lived in isolated farmsteads such as Stubley Farm, on high ground overlooking the marshy Spen Valley floor.

Elizabeth Gaskell's biography of Charlotte Brontë in 1857 described the inhabitants of Heckmondwike as "a chapel-going people, very critical of their sermons, tyrannical to their ministers and violent radicals".

[6] Located at the edge of the Pennine hills, the land rises to the north, east and south of the town centre.

In 1894 Heckmondwike Urban District Council was established and was incorporated into Kirklees in the local government reorganisation of 1974.

The Heckmondwike electoral ward includes Millbridge, Flush, and Norristhorpe in Liversedge south of the A62 road.