BATLEY, municipal borough, West Riding of Yorkshire, England, 8m. S.S.W. of Leeds. Pop. (1931) 34,573. It is at the junction between the E. Pennines and the Yorkshire Plain, and as such became an important market town in the i8th and early i9th century. Its situation on the south-west Yorkshire coalfield led to its rapid development as an industrial town, though it was overshadowed by the more favourably situated Dewsbury and Wakefield. The town became the centre of the heavy woollen trade, manufacturing pilot cloths, druggets, flushings, etc. The working up of old material as "shoddy" is largely carried on. Modern processes (1918-28), especially the utilization of artificial silk, have centred around Dewsbury, Batley and Wakefield. The secondary industries based on the coalfield, such as the iron f oundries and manufacturing of machinery, have suffered severely during the trade depression since 1918. The town is included since 1918 in the Parliamentary Borough of Batley and Morley. It is served by the L.N.E.R. and L.M.S.R. lines.