FIELD SYSTEMS AND PLACE NAMES
OF OLD KNOTTINGLEY

TERRY SPENCER B.A. (Hons), Ph D.

INTRODUCTION : BEGINNINGS : DOMESDAY : PORT OF KNOTTINGLEY :
MANORIAL RE-ORGANISATION

GAZETTEER OF PLACE NAMES

INDEX | A-B | C-D | E-F | G | H | I-J | K-L | M-N | O | P | Q-R | S | T-U | V-W | YARDS |

The names featured in the Gazetteer are drawn from a variety of documentary sources, the following being the most useful sources of verification that the items featured are names associated with Knottingley past and/or present:-

• Medieval Chartularies
• Knottingley Enclosure Survey Award, 1793 & Maps 1800
• Knottingley Parish Tithe Map & Apportionment 1842
• Knottingley Ordnance Survey Map, 1st edition, 1852
• Knottingley Ordnance Survey Map, 25” edition, 1892
• Knottingley Ordnance Survey Map, 25” 2nd edition, 1907
• Knottingley Street Plan (undated) – Copyright, J.C. Utting, Romford, Essex
• Knottingley Select Vestry Minute Books 1823-1893
• Knottingley Township Rate Books 1857-1902
• Knottingley Census Returns 1841-1901
• Deeds of Conveyance – West Yorkshire Archive Service, Wakefield

The principle sources of information concerning the origin and meaning of the field and place names featured in this section are as follows:-

• Field J. ‘English Field Names: A Dictionary’. (1989)
• Muir R. ‘The New Reading the Landscape: Fieldwork in Landscape History (2000)
• Muir R. & N. ‘Fields’, (1989)
• Beckensall S. ‘Northumberland Field Names’, (undated)
• Smith A.H. ‘Place Names of the West Riding of Yorkshire: Volume II’ (1953-54)

Notes concerning contents of Gazetteer:

In compiling this Gazetteer I have concentrated on places which have or had historic links with the town of Knottingley. Many of the places included have either disappeared or of those remaining have historic connections which are not immediately apparent to many citizens of the town. It is the contribution of such places to the town’s heritage which merits their inclusion and whilst in can be justifiably argued that all elements within the township contribute to its being to some extent, I have eschewed those places with minimal historic value, leaving them to be recorded by future local historians. On that basis I have enabled myself to disregard what is to my mind, the deplorable practice of giving names to streets which have no relevance whatsoever to the location. The practice, which was rife within the town in the latter half of last century, not only betrays a woeful ignorance on the part of the over imaginative guardians concerning the past history of the town but militates against those of a future generation seeking to record the historic development of the town for the benefit of those who are to follow.

Terry Spencer

INDEX | A-B | C-D | E-F | G | H | I-J | K-L | M-N | O | P | Q-R | S | T-U | V-W | YARDS |

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