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 |
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H |
I-J |
K-L |
M-N |
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P |
Q-R |
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T-U |
V-W |
YARDS |
CANAL BRIDGES The
The cutting of the Aire & Calder Canal through Knottingley between
1820-26, necessitated the construction of a series of road bridges within
the township. Of the seven principal bridges those known as Gaggs Bridge,
Jackson Bridge and Butler Bridge were named after the families owning the
land in their locality. The name of Shepherds Bridge is less certain and
may be either a personal or occupational name. Cow Lane Bridge is self
explanatory and likewise Skew Bridge which lies diagonally askew the canal
near the eastern edge of the town. Calder Grange Bridge lies at the
eastern extreme of the town.
Two minor bridges, the Mill Bridge adjacent to the Kings Mills, and
Trundles Bridge, covering the canal junction at the northern end of
Trundles Lane, were originally stone built but in the late twentieth
century were replaced by more functional but less aesthetically pleasing
steel bridges.
Butler Bridge, leading from Hill Top to the commercial and residential
centre on the riverside below Kings Mills was demolished when the original
canal bridges were replaced in 1877-78, at which time the crowns of the
rebuilt Cow Lane Bridge, Shepherds Bridge and Skew Bridge, were raised to
enable the passage of larger vessels beneath. Simultaneously. The access
to the towpath at Shepherds Bridge was moved from the Sunny Bank side to
the eastern side of the bridge.
In the 1990s work was undertaken to strengthen the Cow Lane, Shepherds and
Skew bridges.
CATHOLIC CHURCH The
Knottingley became a Catholic parish in 1964 and the first Catholic Church
was built on the Hill Top site of the former Ingram manor house. Within a few
years the church was destroyed by an arson attack and the present one,
dedicated to St Michael, was erected upon the same site in 1996.
CATTLELAITHES LANE
A lane on the western fringe of Knottingley, leading to the grazing or
pastureland on the edge of the South Field near to the boundary with
Darrington. The name is recorded as Cattle Layer in 1771 which probably
derived from Cattleleases. More recently the location was referred to as
Cattle Leys Lane. The word derives from the Old English ‘laes’ meaning
meadowlands. After harvest the cattle were turned out into the great fields to
graze the stubble and to manure the soil.
CHAPEL STREET
From its eleventh century foundation until 1725 the church dedicated to St
Botolph served as a chapel of ease for the inhabitants of Knottingley which
formed part of the parish of Pontefract, hence the designation of the street
in which the church stood, as Chapel Street. Although the township was made a
perpetual curacy in 1725, it remained part of the parish of All Saints,
Pontefract, until 1789 by which date the street name was so well established
that it remained unchanged thereafter.
CHARLES HOUSE
Originally a private residence situated at Fernley green close to the east
end of the Liquorice lane, this property became a beerhouse known as the
Beehive following the passing of the Wellington Act in 1830. Following the
withdrawal of the licence in 1926 the premises were sold and for many years
were used as offices by the adjacent coopers firm, declining into a state of
dereliction before finally being demolished in the 1960s.
CHELSEA HOUSE
Standing at the junction of Aire Street, marsh End and Cow Lane, Chelsea
House is one of three Knottingley residences, named after types of pottery and
belonging to members of the Poulson family, local earthenware manufacturers.
The other two residences are Dresden House (off Glebe Lane, Hill Top) and
Wedgwood House (Ropewalk). The properties have long ceased to belong to the
Poulson's. Chelsea House was latterly the residence of K.U.D.C. Chairman,
Pilgrim Gross.
CHERRY TREE HOUSE
Situated at Low Green, this building was a pair of houses belonging to
John Pickering by the late eighteenth century, having been a single unit at an
earlier date.
The house may have been the original site of the Cherry Tree Inn for one
Robert Pickering is listed as an innkeeper in 1752 and the relocation of the
Cherry Tree Inn to a site at the junction of Cow Lane and Marsh End by the
early nineteenth century under the proprietorship of James Pickering, may have
enabled the former location, consisting of a public and a private area, to be
converted into two separate dwellings.
CHESTNUTS The
The name of a large detached house which formerly occupied land lying
between the Wakefield – Goole Road and Simpsons Lane, close to Cattlelaithes
Lane, and named from the avenue of horse chestnut trees lining the long
driveway.
The house was the residence of the Bagley family, glass manufacturers, in the
late nineteenth century but was eventually owned and occupied by Mr Sam Gregg,
a pattern maker, who is alleged to have won the house and the adjacent foundry
in a poker game in the early 1900s. The new proprietor renamed the business as
the Model Foundry and resided at the Chestnuts which served as a family home
and business centre. The surrounding land included tennis courts, bowling
green, and extensive flower beds, shrubberies and orchard. In the 1970s,
Knottingley Council considered the purchase of the property for conversion
into a youth club but the proposal never came to fruition and the estate was
privately purchased, following which the house was demolished, the chestnut
trees cut down and the land used for development as a private housing estate.
CHRIST CHURCH
As Knottingley developed residentially during the nineteenth century a
separate ecclesiastical parish was created for East Knottingley and a new
church, known as Christ Church, was built on land donated by Mrs Seaton and
known as Seatons Croft.
The foundation stone was laid by William Moorhouse of Marine Villa who had
been instrumental in obtaining funds to facilitate construction and the church
was consecrated by the Archbishop of York in October 1848.
Oral tradition states that one of the masons employed in the construction of
the church was Tom Sayers the famed bare knuckle champion of Great Britain.
In 1941 the two parishes of the town were reunited and Christ Church was
deconsecrated in 1968 and demolished in the early 1970s.
CHURCH LANE
A lane leading from the peasant tofts and crofts in Aire Street to the
demesne and sole entrance to the parish church in Chapel Street. Originally it
was merely a dirt path connecting with the Back Lane but by the eighteenth
century contained a number of dwelling houses. Today it is a flagged path
lying between and running parallel to upper Aire Street and the new Croft
road.
CHURCH STREET HOUSE
A large detached town house of the late eighteenth-early nineteenth
century standing opposite the Chapel Street entrance to St Botolph’s Church.
The property appears never to have had a formal name bestowed upon it. The
house is referred to as Church Street House in 1872 but this name appears to
have been for ease of identification rather than a formal designation of the
dwelling which was the residence of the Jackson family by the 1830s and
remained in their possession for almost half a century. The house was part of
a complex of buildings which included stables, stable yard and outbuildings.
In 1875 the newly established local School Board acquired the property and
converted it for use as a schoolroom, teacher’s and caretaker’s residences and
by the 1930s the house was in use as the W.R.C.C. Divisional Education Offices
with a clinic standing at right angles to the schoolrooms. In the 1950s the
house became the Knottingley Branch Library and the clinic section was used by
Stephen House, a manufacturer of leather goods. When the premises were again
vacated in the 1970s the former dwelling served briefly as the base of the
Knottingley Boxing Club before passing into a period of abandonment and
decline. The property was subsequently purchased and has been recently
refurbished.
CLAYPIT CLOSE
A small two rood partition of a larger modern five acre field bearing the
same name, the small portion presumably being the actual clay pit. This parcel
of land was situated on the edge of the South Field at the boundary with
Darrington parish and is probably the ‘Claywick’ site referred to below.
CLAYTON GARTH
Originally a selion or strip holding in the Low Field which was presumably
identified by the surname of the landholder.
CLAYWICK CLOSE / LANE
The element clay comes from the Old English ‘Claeg’ whilst the Old English
‘wic’ indicates land used for a special purpose, in this case presumably, the
extraction of clay for use in the making of domestic utensils. Claywick Lane
was therefore the access way to a parcel of land with clayey soil. Claywick
Close, also known as Claypit Close, was situated in the Middle Field near
Waterfield Hill.
CLAYWOOD CLOSE
A plot of land adjacent to Claypit Close. The name Claywood clearly
predates the clearance of trees in order to extend the area of the great South
Field.
CLIFF SIDE
A misnomer for
a location on the east side of Womersley Road. The edge of the cliff was
originally a field balk, separating furlongs lying within the East Field of
the common field system and the cliff was created by the excavation of the
limestone underlying the adjoining land during the nineteenth century.
CLOSE The
Situated to the south side of Weeland Road at Hill Top, and bounded on the
south side by the series of closes which now form Knottingley Playing Fields,
this parcel of land was purchased early in the twentieth century by Tom
Jackson, one of the founding partners of the glass container manufacturers,
Jackson Bros., Ltd., upon which a detached residence was erected and named as
The Close. The house was referred to colloquially as ‘Crooked Villa’ by many
contemporaries who alleged, albeit without proof, that the building had been
financed from money obtained from Victor Wild and the Allen brothers, Tom and
William, who had originally formed part of the subsequently dissolved business
partnership. The property was originally named as Jacksonville but was
retitled when someone altered the name board to ‘Pinchville’ which action some
ascribe to John Jackson’s habit of stopping a ½ hours pay from employees
caught slacking or laughing.
In the 1960s, The Close was purchased by Knottingley Urban District Council
and converted into the administrative offices of the Council. Following the
reorganisation of local government early in the following decade, the K.U.D.C.
was abolished and The Close became the property of the Wakefield Metropolitan
District Council who subsequently used it as a Housing Department office.
COCK GARTH
A parcel of land a little over 3 acres in extent lying at the north side of
the Croft near Cow Lane end and later known as the Orchard. The appellation is
commonly used to denote the habitat of woodcocks and was probably an early
clearing in which the birds settled in the evening and breeding season and
were frequently netted to provide food.
COMMERCIAL DOCKYARD The
Situated in Cow Lane at the east end of the Bendles and occupying the land in
front of the former Commercial (now Steam Packet) Inn from which the dockyard
took its name, this shipbuilding and repair yard, also known as Carpenter’s
Yard, was operated by Robert Garlick and later by John Branford who also had a
canal carrying business, his hauling horses being kept in stables in the
nearby Bendles. It was from this site that the first screw steamer, the
Message, was launched in 1893.
COMMON The
The common land was situated at the eastern end of Knottingley and as its name
implies, was wasteland held in commonality by the manorial inhabitants. The
common was a most valuable area as it provided free grazing for livestock,
roots, beech mast and nuts (pannage) for pigs, turf (turbury) for fuel and
building purposes and firewood. The area of commonland extended eastwards from
Knottingley as far as Hut Green (Eggborough) and was held in severalty by the
inhabitants of Beal, Kellington, Stubbs and Whitley until its enclosure at the
end of the eighteenth century. Today the bulk of the land is arable but to the
north side of Common Lane there is some industrial activity, the two principal
firms being a chemical works, established in the 1950s and Kellingley Colliery
constructed in the following decade.
COMMON LANE
The pathway from Low Green providing access to the common or waste land at the
east end of the township.
COMMON LANE HOUSE
A detached house situated at the west side of Cridling Park Lane at the edge
of Knottingley Common. The house was built in the late eighteenth century by
John Blackburn, a ships carpenter with workshop, stable, dovecote and
brewhouse, and features in both the Enclosure Award (1793) and the Tithe
Apportionment (1842). At the latter date it was occupied by Mary and Richard
Blackburn, probably the widow and son of the builder. By the late 1850s the
house and garden, comprising two roods 23 perches of land, belonged to Richard
Blackburn but was occupied by one Samuel Gill. The holding passed briefly into
the trusteeship of the Long family, resident at the Old (Wildbore) Manor
House, Knottingley, and by the 1860s was in the hands of James Afflic, a
descendant of the Blackburns. Between the 1870s and 1920 the owner was George
William Carter, erstwhile brewer of Knottingley and was then obtained by
George Burdin. Following his incapacity and eventual death the house was
deserted and in the early 1940s provided a periodic hideaway for a couple of
local Army deserters when sought by the military police. By the 1950s the
property was in an advanced state of dereliction and was eventually
demolished.
The house was never formally named. John Blackburn is said to have referred to
it as ‘Ducalfield Hall’ and it was affectionately known as ‘Honeysuckle
Cottage’ by Burdin. So strong was the association of the site with the former
family that the adjacent Cridling Park Road, the exclusive entrance route to
Near Park Farm prior to 1817, was renamed as Blackburn Lane.
CONGREGATIONAL (UNITED REFORMED)
CHURCH
A group of nonconformist worshippers came to the township from Pontefract in
1804 using the cottage of Dame Gawthorpe until 1807 when a chapel was built in
Gaggs Yard off Aire Street. By 1848 the chapel was too small and the present
one was built in the Croft costing in excess of £1,000, including the price of
the site. In 1955 major alterations were undertaken. The gallery was removed
and the building was sub-divided horizontally, the church being on the upper
floor and the Sunday School on the lower. There was also an adjacent Sunday
schoolroom, used as a meeting room for church and public events. The room was
demolished in the late 1950s when the Garden Lane area was developed for
housing. The church has a graveyard which includes the grave of Dr William
Bywater, a prominent medical practitioner and businessman within the town in
the mid nineteenth century.
CO-OPERATIVE STORE The
A large red brick building of the early twentieth century situated on the
roadside at Hill Top. With the advent of local supermarket shopping in the
1960s the trade of the Co-operative store declined and the building was closed
and demolished. Ironically Morrisons supermarket occupies the site today.
COW LANE
One of the principal manorial routes, this lane connected the primary area of
settlement (Aire Street) with the secondary area of settlement at Racca Green
and the tertiary area at Fernley Green. Cow Lane provided access for
livestock to the grazing and watering areas at the riverside. Clear
documentary evidence exists indicating the embodiment of ancient grazing
rights in individual holdings in the post feudal era with citizens dwelling in
Racca Green and Cow Lane being allocated “horse or beast gates” on Brotherton
Marsh.
CRIDLING PARK ROAD
An unmade cart and bridle track running across the western edge of Knottingley
Common. Prior to 1817 when an alternative route leading off Womersley Road was
laid, the Cridling Park Road was the sole means of access to Near Park Farm.
The new route proving more popular, the older road was less used and following
the establishment of a house and homestead by John Blackburn in the late
eighteenth century, the lane formerly known as Cridling Park Road became known
as Blackburn Lane.
CROOKED FAR SHOTT
A landholding (shutt, or shott being a variant name for such an area
customarily about ten acres in size) situated in the Longlands furlong of the
great South Field. The term ‘far’ comes from the Old English ‘feor’ indicating
land at some distance from the settlement area, as confirmed by reference to
the Enclosure Map. The site has a clearly discernible bow or curve along its
length which explains the prefix ‘Crooked’. The terms ‘Fur’ and ‘Fir’ which
are also found in references to this land may be ascribed to linguistic
distortions over time rather than being topographical or locational
characteristics.
DARK LANE
A lane also known as Narrow Lane, originally a footpath connecting the demesne
land with the highway to Pontefract and the South Field beyond and now
erroneously regarded as the upper part of Holes Lane, being the unmade part
located to the west of Ferrybridge Road. The original name probably arose in
consequence of the shade cast by the overhanging trees which lined either side
of the narrow path.
DECONTAMINATION CENTRE The
Standing next to the Salvation Army citadel, Weeland Road, this building was
erected about 1940 as a precautionary measure to counter the possible use of
gas or other chemical elements by enemy aircraft in raids on the civilian
population. In the post war period the building was used as a W.R.C.C. dental
clinic and eventually sold as commercial premises.
DEMESNE
Manorial land reserved for the exclusive use of the lord of the manor and
worked by the inhabitants of the manor on a day labour basis in return for
land held of the lord. At Knottingley the demesne was situated between Weeland
Road at Hill Top and the river and reached from a point slightly east of
Chapel Street to the western fringe of The Holes.
DEPOT ROAD / FIELD
The name given to the roadway which was constructed in the mid nineteenth
century to provide access to the coal staithes alongside the Wakefield-Goole
railway line from Racca Field Lane (Womersley Road) to the east and England
Lane to the west, bisected by Middle Lane. The road, which followed the line
of a medieval footpath crossing Racca Field, curved in a semi-circle round an
extensive area of land known as Depot Field at the eastern edge of which stood
the Pickling Tank. The road was owned and maintained by the L.M.S. Railway
Company and public access was stopped each New Year’s Day morning by workmen
who placed a chain across the ends of the road to assert the Company’s legal
control.
DEREINGS
An enclosure of land which prior to assortment was associated with presence of
deer.
DOG GEORGE’S
Now an outbuilding of Thistleton farm. Dog breaking was a fringe occupation in
the town in the mid nineteenth century with Henry Smith and his son, Thomas,
being listed in the 1851 census as resident on the site and subsequently at
Racca Green. The site name presumably derives from a former resident dog
breaker named George Smith, the family being recorded at Common Lane end in
the early nineteenth century with Edward Smith listed as a gamekeeper and dog
trainer in 1828.
DOG TAIL CLOSE / FLATT
At first consideration a name induced by topographical imagery but more likely
to derive from the profusion of dog-tail grass on or adjacent to the site.
Dog Tail Close was a furlong in the South Field but an alternative one acre
site in the Low Field was known as Dog Tails, perhaps from the original strips
of land.
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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