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
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AGUIA COTTAGE
Built in 1862, this house, situated in Primrose Vale, was the residence of
Knottingley sea captain, John Martin, formerly of Tupmans Square, Racca
Green, as identified by a cache of documents discovered at Aguia Cottage
in 1981. The name of the house was also that of a 57 ton sloop built in
1884 of which Martin may have been the master.
AIMWELL PLACE
A long demolished terrace of houses which stood next to the shipbuilding yard
of William Worfolk at Skew Bridge. The row of buildings were named after the
57 ton sloop built by Worfolk for William Moorhouse in 1838.
AIRE STREET
The oldest and principal thoroughfare in Knottingley, running parallel to the
river from which it takes its name. Both residential and commercial, the
Street was the hub of activity within the town until the mid twentieth century
when a combination od social and economic change resulted in its decline. An
ill conceived and disastrous redevelopment scheme in the mid 1960s resulted in
the wholesale demolition of the Street so that today nothing remains to
indicate its former importance and prestige.
AMPITHEATRE The
Situated on land belonging to British Waterways lying between Jacksons Bridge
and Gaggs Bridge adjacent to the canal at the south side of Hill Top, the
amphitheatre was designed as the result of a collaboration between British
Waterways and the pupils of Knottingley High School. The structure was built
by the Wakefield division of the Groundwork organization at a cost of £60,000
and opened for public use in 1998. Thereafter the site provided a venue for a
diverse public activities but in Spring 2004 the structure was extensively
vandalized as a result of which it was closed to the public on safety grounds.
At the time of writing, the future of the amphitheatre is uncertain.
ARCADE The
A group of shops and offices standing at the south side of Hill Top east of
the junction of Weeland Road and Headlands Lane. The property was built by the
local firm of McLauchlan & Co., in the early 1960s and part of the complex
occupies the site of the former workhouse.
ASH GROVE
The site in Cow Lane has been a doctors’ surgery fro about 200 years. It was
also the site of the Cow Lane brewery during the period c1830-56 when the
medical practitioner, William Bywater, was resident there. The name Ash Grove
was not introduced until the last quarter of the nineteenth century when Dr.
Percival moved tp Knottingley from Leeds and named the site after his former
residence there.
ASHES CLOSE
This location does not feature in the Enclosure Award Schedule of 1793 but is
recorded in the ratebooks of the township in 1857 and 1859. By that time,
however, the town had been surveyed anew and a new map of the town drawn for
rate valuation purposes. Unfortunately, the map subsequently disappeared and
the name itself became defunct. Consequently, it is not possible to identify
the location of Ashes Close, the name of which presumably derives from its
nearness to a group of ash trees.
ASHLEY HOUSE
The residence of the Cliffe family, shipbuiders, at Low Green, approaching
Skew Bridge. The shipyard and house were later owned by John Garlick, a former
apprentice of Cliffe. The house was ultimately incorporated into the
shipbuiolding yard of John Harker & Co., Ltd., and the former residence was
used as a planning office but eventually demolished.
AUSTRALIAN POTTERY The
Built in the late 1850s by Lewis Woolf on a site adjacent to the Knottijngley
Pottery which he had recently purchased. The pottery, situated at the foot of
Ferrybridge Hill, was built to capitalize on the booming colonial trade, as
shown by the name. Woolf’s son and successor, Sydeny Woolf, became the M.P for
Pontefract Borough in 1880. A decline in trade overstretched his financial
resources and he was made bankrupt and had to resign his seat and surrender
the ownership of the Australian Pottery in 1885 The pottery was next in the
hands of the Horn Brothers until 1920 when it was sold to the Co Operative
Wholesale Society who closed it in 1929. In 1947 the property was purchased by
T.H. Newsome & Co., and has subsequently functioned as an oil refinery.
BACK LANE
A linear settlement such as the first phase of habitation at Knottingley
usually consisted of peasant homes (tofts), fronted by land used for
cultivation or pasture (e.g. the Flatts). Each of the rown of tofts had a
small area of land at the rear, known as a croft, which was cultivated by the
peasant family as a means of subsistence. Behind the peasant holding and
running parallel to the front of the rown of tofts, was a pathway known as the
back lane. The adjacency of the lane to the crofts resulted in the names Back
Lane and Croft becoming synonymous at Knottingley. Interestingly, with the
advent of metalled roads in the nineteenth century the made up part between
Cow Lane and Primrose Hill was referred to as the Croft and the unmade dirt
track west of Primrose Hill connecting with Chapel Street was known as
Longwood’s Walk with the connecting path between this location and Aire Street
being named as Back Lane.
BANK DOLE
Situated at the eastern end of the township in a bend of the riverbank, and
marking the probable boundary of the original communal field system, the land
was one of the hay meadows and the name is derived from the Old English term
which signifies the division and apportionment of newly gained land into
individual shares. The use of the term ‘dole’ by previous generations of local
inhabitants as a name for unemployment benefit probably derives from this
practice.
BANK DOLE REACH
The stretch of river between two bends was named a reach. Bank Dole Reach is
that section of the river Aire extending in a northerly direction from
Knottingley Lock to the West Ings, thus the lock is known as Bank Dole Lock.
BANKS CLOSE
An enclosure of
land adjacent to Banks Lane (c.f. infra) occupying the space between that
location and Weeland Road. Just over an acre in extent, the close originally
formed and entity with Banks Garth, being bisected by a footpath, later
designated Banks Lane. The existence of the footpath, effectively created a
division which resulted in the two portions becoming separate plots. Banks
Close was derelict and overgrown for several generations before being adopted
for residential development in the 1960s. From the late 1930s the land was
earmarked as the site for a cinema and plans were drawn up and approved but
the advent of the Second World War, followed by the eventual decline of cinema
attendances meant that the project never reached fruition.
BANKS GARTH
The term ‘garth’ means either an enclosure or garden and therefore the name
may indicate a personal holding, originally of asserted land, the origins of
which may lie in the land clearances of the twelfth century. Most probably,
however, the name derives from a site for bean crops situated near a slope or
shallow embankment constructed as a marker for a field boundary such as that
formed by the nearby balk, Spawd Bone Lane.
The Garth was an enclosure of a little over two acres lying on the west side
of Banks Lane and originally part of Banks Close but bisected by the footpath
so that by the late eighteenth century the two elements were regarded as
separate plots.
The field was first used by Knottingley Town Cricket Club in 1875 but
thereafter the Club played at Howards Field until the turn of the twentieth
century when the Banks Garth field became the regular venue for the Club’s
matches. Messrs Bagley & Co., became the owners of the field in 1918 but it
has continued to be tenanted by Knottingley Town Cricket Club to the present
time.
BANKS HOUSE
Recorded in the Enclosure Award Schedule of 1793 as occupying two small sites
at the northern end of Banks Lane. The Census of 1861 shows the site as that
of the Anvil Inn, occupied by John Fell, described as an anchorsmith and
Innkeeper. The Inn had been established by Fell late in the previous decade,
presumably in the premises named Banks House, the identity of which is
unrecorded from that time. By the 1890s however, a terrace of houses erected
adjoining the Anvil Inn bore the name Banks Houses, presumably by association
with the original Banks House.
BANKS LANE
Originally Banks Lane was the name given to that part of Weeland Road which
may be identified as lying between the present Anvil Inn and the junction with
the east end of Morley Lane. Following the development of Weeland Road and its
increasing use by vehicular traffic, the footpath which ran behind the inn and
terminated to the west of Morley Lane increasingly served as an important
pathway providing access between Aire Street and the early common field system
via England Lane and Spawd Bone Lane. Through common usage the name Banks Lane
was transferred to the footpath, the former location becoming merely
identified as Weeland Road. As late as the 1860s, however, the original route
was commonly referred to as an ‘occupation road’, being used to access the
agricultural land and limestone quarries lying to the south and west of the
township. Until the 1960s the Banks Lane footpath was much used by pedestrians
from the England Lane estate but with the demolition of Aire Street and the
increase in car ownership the route became virtually disused and became
overgrown by brambles on its most northerly section between Banks Garth
cricket field and Jackson’s (Anvil) bridge. The route was subsequently
reopened but is little used.
BARNCASTLE
Land situated in Longlands Field on which a barn-like structure may have stood
or, alternatively, a peasant holding on which beans were grown and originally
referred to as ‘bean acre’ but becoming corrupted to ‘barnacle’ before being
further transformed as Barncastle.
BARNCASTLE BOTTOM
An area of land in excess of four acres lying within the South Field which
probably derives its name from the fact that it is the lower of two parcels of
land bearing the name Barncastle, the upper one being located off Spawd Bone
Lane and the lower in the area of the present Warwick estate.
BARTONS COTTAGES
Cottages and homestead situated at Low Green and occupied by the Barton family
throughout the nineteenth century and the first half of the following one. The
site was originally developed by the consolidation of strip holdings for
residential and occupational use in the post feudal area. The Barton’s were
joiners, cabinet makers and wheel wrights and in the mid nineteenth century
George Barton held the contract to make coffins for the deceased paupers of
the township. At the turn of the last century Edwain Barton was a
horticulturalist but the last occupant, Mr Tom Barton, repaired cycles on the
site. The cottages and workshops were demolished during the second half of the
twentieth century.
BELL VUE COTTAGES
The name means ‘beautiful view’, a fairly common nineteenth century
appellation. Probably named here for the vista of verdant meadowland and marsh
surrounding the Marsh End site of this pair of houses when erected in the
nineteenth century.
BENDLES HOUSE
Built at the north side of Bendles Field and occupying the site which now
forms the eastern end of Weeland Crescent. Following the establishment of
Bagley’s Glassworks in May 1871, the house was the home of John Wild, one of
the founding partners, until his death in 1884. The house was gradually
encompassed by the glassworks and was eventually sold to the Company and
demolished to facilitate further expansion of the works early in the twentieth
century.
BENDLES LANE
Originally part of the Racca lands, the site was an element of the early two
field system in the early Middle Ages which following the breakdown of
feudalism was exploited for its clay and limestone deposits/ The irregular
landscape arising in consequence of sporadic excavation may have prompted the
designation of the area as the ‘Bend Hills’, a term which was commonly used in
the late eighteenth – early nineteenth century. The terms ‘Bendals’ and
‘Bendels’ which are also a feature of that period may merely be variant
spellings of Bendles. In modern times the name is associated with the pathway
which runs parallel to the south side of the canal and connects Weeland Road
with Cow Lane but in earlier times the whole area lying west of Racca Green to
the route of Weeland Road and between that roads southern flank and the
present day Ropewalk, was known as the Bendles. Bendles Lane originally ran in
a north-south direction and its earliest form was probably a headland
separating the two field system. Prior to the last quarter of the nineteenth
century the original Bendles Lane was part of a route connecting Racca Field
Lane (Womersley Road) and Primrose Hill along which limestone was carted from
the quarries at the south of the town to the staithes on the river bank.
Folowing the establishment of the glassworks of bagley, Wild & Co., in 1871
and its subsequent expansion, the lane was incorporated into the glassworks
yard, its southern end still forming the main entrance to the factory site.
BENDLES ROPEWALK
One of six ropewalks which were once located within Knottingley township, the
Bendles Ropewalk was situated at the southern end of the original Bendles Lane
on its eastern side. The earliest known owner was Samuel Atkinson who was also
a brewer and the owner of the now defunct Roper’s Arms Inn which took its name
from the proprietor’s occupation. The ropewalk was still in existence at the
time of the construction of Christ Church vicarage on an adjacent plot in 1850
but was eventually closed down and the site absorbed into the glassworks
complex of Bagley & Co.
BEN KALODYNE TERRACE
Something of a misnomer as the property consisted of two dwelling houses
located at the forefront of Tupmans Yard, Racca Green, one of which was
occupied by Captain Benjamin Tupman. The origin of the name is not known but
Mr. Ron Gosney has posited the theory that it may have been derived from the
fusion of Tupman’s forename with that of his wife who was Belgian born. The
theory is lent further substance by the fact that Captain Tupman named one of
his sailing ships ‘Kalodyne’, presumably in honour of his wife.
BETHEL The
A terrace of houses situated at the lower end of Aire Street close by the
former Palace Cinema. The houses are sub divisions of the building known as
Bethel which served as a mission house for mariners. The façade of the
building had a plaque, subsequently covered by plaster, on which was inscribed
the text of Genesis chapter 20 verse 19, “And He called the name of that place
Bethel.” Oral tradition has it that the building was erected in 1811 and was
originally intended to be a chapel. However, as the extant deeds only date
from 1908 it is not possible to confirm the assertion.
A pair of brick built houses to the west of Womersley Road, one being the
erstwhile residence of Lewis G. Creaser, a director of Bagley & Co., and
K.U.D.C. Chairman 1942 & 1949, are also named Bethel House. Creaser also had a
forbear named Bethel Creaser.
BEULAH PLACE
A disparate group of nineteenth century houses, mainly of rendered limestone
construction, which stood slightly to the east of a row of three dwellings off
Racca Field Lane (Womersley Road) in the former Racca Field, known as Field
Cottages, situated close to the present railway crossing. Nothing is known of
the original owner of the properties beyond the fact that the Old Testament
name suggest a degree of religious fervour. Field Cottages and the adjacent
Beulah Place were demolished in the second half of last century and the site
is now occupied by Beulah Court Sheltered Housing complex.
BLACKBURN LANE
A latterday name for Cridling Park Road, running across the western edge of
Knottingley Common and named from the association with the house and homestead
built by John Blackburn in the late eighteenth century. C.f. Common Lane
House, infra.
BLACKSMITH’S FORGES
In a developing township in an era of horse drawn transport, it is not
surprising that a growing number of blacksmiths should feature within the town
during the nineteenth and early decades of the twentieth century. Census
returns record the number of resident blacksmiths between 5 in 1841 and 23
half a century later, although the latter figure also included those following
their craft within the shipyards and in workshops of allied trades as opposed
to roadside forges. By 1901 a dozen blacksmiths are listed and even as late as
the mid twentieth century, two forges were operational ; those belonging to
Birkett, off Banks Lane, and Swales, located on the canalside near Shepherds
Bridge.
BOARD SCHOOLS The
Products of the Education Act of 1870. A local School Board had been
established as early as 1872 and following an abortive attempt to commandeer
the existing National School, premises were obtained opposite the church in
Chapel Street in June 1874. The mixed Board School was housed in converted
stables, the former stable yard forming the new school playground when the
school opened in January 1875. Part of the money used to establish the school
was provided from the sale of the defunct Knottingley Workhouse.
In 1885 a new board school was opened in the Holes, replacing a run down
infants’ school, and this was followed by the erection of a new Board School
on a site at Weeland Road which opened in 1894, the Chapel Street School being
retained for use by boys and the Weeland Road school for girls. The former
site was commonly known as ‘Low’ Board School; the latter as the ‘Top’ Board
School. Eventually, under the aegis of the West Riding County Council
Education Department, the system was changed with both schools adopting mixed
pupilage, the Chapel Street school becoming an infants’ school, serving as a
feeder for the Weeland Road Junior School.
BONE MILL GARTH
One of a series of small plots of land known as the Mill Closes, Bone Mill
Garth was an enclosure situated near the bone mill which was located to the
east of the King’s Mills, standing between William Shaw’s bone mill and the
Mill Close dry dock adjacent to the river bank. Both the dry dock and the bone
mill appear to have suffered adversely following the opening of the Aire &
Calder Canal between Knottingley and Ferrybridge in 1826 and became defunct
shortly afterwards. Another bone mill was situated between Longwoods Walk and
Aire Street in the second half of the nineteenth century but nothing is known
of the proprietor(s) and by 1890 the buildings were standing derelict.
BOTTOM FIELD
A furlong name for a portion of land within the great East Field and lying
adjacent to the Racca Field to the north. The Bottom Field is now covered by
part of the Broomhill housing estate. A part of the Bottom Field lying to the
left side of Broomhill Avenue was used as an unofficial playground by children
resident on the estate between the time of the construction of the first
Council houses in the late 1920s and the building of the flats on the site as
part of the extension of the estate in the mid 1950s.
BROCKHOLES
Peasant strips close to the site of badger setts located in the great South
Field close to the edge of the field boundaries of Ferrybridge and Pontefract.
The name also features in several additional areas of the town fields.
BROOKLYN HOUSE
A brick-built town house of the 1880s situated on the west side of Cow Lane
between garden Lane and the Croft. The house is believed to have belonged to
Captain William Johnson, a master mariner, who was a member of Knottingley
Select Vestry from 1881-1891 and was nominated as Overseer of the Poor in 1874
and 1875 but was unelected.
In the early 1920s the house
became the residence of Mr Harry Gregg of Gregg & Co., glass manufacturers,
and during the 1950s was the home of Mr R Grayson, taxi proprietor.
BROOM HILL
A barely perceptible rise in the elevation of land lying to the east of
Womersley Road, marked by the houses at the top end and named Broomhill Avenue
is the site of the original Broom Hill which was so named from the abundance
of the broom plant. The name is derived from the Old English brom’, indicating
the antiquity of the site.
BULL HORN CLOSE
Named in ancient documents and in the Enclosure Award Schedule, this site is
of great antiquity. The name may be derived from the Old English ‘hyme’,
meaning a nook or corner of land and may therefore have acquired the Old
English name ‘Bulherne’ because its shape suggested a beast’s horn. The
allotment to Thomas Farnhill numbered as plot 412 in the South Field on the
Enclosure Map of 1800 bears the exact shape of a bull’s horn and is named in
the Schedule as Bull Horn Close.
BULLOCK CLOSE
Referred to in a document of 1675 this site may be named from the land where a
bull was kept. The site does not appear under the name Bullock Close in the
1793 Enclosure Survey but is probably that named as Bullock, being a four acre
rectangular plot lying north of the South Moor (Lane) Road near the town end
of the former common land.
BURDLES
The name may be a derivative of ‘burnt land’, arising from the method of
clearing stubs of shrubs and trees as part of the process of assortment in
order to increase the amount of land for cultivation. Alternatively, the
phonetic element of the name has much in common with ‘fardles’ and may derive
from that word which meant a bundle or burden and may therefore have been an
ironic adaptation, indicating poor quality land which was burdensome to work.
The one acre enclosure was situated at the top end of the Bendles and was
triangular shaped.
BUTLER BRIDGE
One of the original bridges constructed over the canal between 1820-26,
providing access to the river from Hill Top and situated between Gaggs Bridge
and Mill Bridge. The diversion of river traffic following the opening of the
canal in 1826 resulted in the decline of the river trade and when it was
decided to replace the original canal bridges of the town some decades later,
it was also decided to demolish the largely redundant Butler Bridge. Elements
of the foundations of the bridge may still be seen on the opposite side of the
canal from the towpath just south of Kings Mills.
BUTLER GARTH
A three acre enclosure originally part of the Middle Field. The site is a
personal place name, the Butler family being prominent residents within the
township by the late eighteenth century.
BUTTLEBANK
The name is recorded in the sixteenth century. The original location is
uncertain but the name may be one which earlier identified the site later
known as Sunny Bank. Buttlebank may derive from the combination of the terms
‘butt’ and ‘bank’ which were common features found at the edges of the common
fields. Alternatively, the ‘Buttle’ element may denote a bank where buttercups
grew in profusion. Again, favouring a south facing site such as Sunny Bank.
BUTTS CLOSE
Not all furlongs were of precise geometric shape. The curvatures of some
furlong boundaries meant that not all doles of land were rectangular but that
some, located at the edges of the arable land were small irregularly shaped
pieces known as gores or butts.
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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