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 |
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T-U |
V-W |
YARDS |
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