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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YARDS |
KELLETTS ROPEWALK
The ropewalk lay alongside the canal occupying the ground between the
canal and Marsh Lane from Shepherds Bridge to Trundles Lane. Founded by
David Kellett circa 1860, unlike its competitors, this ropewalk adopted
mechanised production and therefore continued in operation long after the
others within the town ceased to exist, closing down in August 1932 when
Kellett relocated to Hull.
KERSHAW HOLES
Two adjacent sites situated in the former South Field which were being
excavated by Shackleton & Co., in the late eighteenth century for the
underlying limestone deposits. Nearby was Kershaw Lane which connected the
Simpsons and Hazel lanes. The appellation ‘Kershaw’ may derive from reference
to the presence of hawthorn trees, the fruit of which are known as haws, for
the name is also presented as Kirkaw in some documents but it seems more
probable that Kershaw is a personal name element.
KEMP BANK
Lying on the eastern outskirts of the township, north of Weeland Road
between the road and the river, the name is probably a corruption of Hemp Bank
indicating land where hemp was grown for textile manufacture and rope making,
for both processes are recorded within the town in the sixteenth century.
KING’S HOUSES The
Originally in the possession of the monks of Maux, the property, situated
in Aire Street, was possessed by the Crown following the dissolution of the
monasteries in the period 1536-40 and thereafter became a storehouse. It has
been speculated that the site may have provided lodging for Oliver Cromwell
during the third siege of Pontefract Castle in 1648.
By the eighteenth century the building was divided into five domestic
dwellings known as the King’s Houses, doubtless so named because of the
previous ownership of the property. The old houses were knocked down and
replaced by a brick-built terrace in 1912 and this in turn was demolished as
part of the Aire Street redevelopment scheme about 1970.
KINGS MILLS The
Centrally situated on the demesne land alongside the river, the wheel was
removed in 1990 but the race of the former water mill may still be seen. The
mill was one of three which are recorded as occupying the site in the Middle
Ages (with others also situated on the opposite river bank).
The original mill was erected in the post Conquest period and belonged to the
lord of the manor, the manorial inhabitants being compelled to use the mill
for grinding their corn.
In 1399 the manorial overlord, Henry Bolingbroke, Duke of Lancaster, usurped
the English throne and thereafter the mills became known as the Kings Mills.
Following the demise of the last of the Ingram family in the mid eighteenth
century, the possession passed to the proprietors of the Aire & Calder
Navigation Co., who farmed out the mill. The most celebrated tenant was
William Jackson who held the tenancy for 43 years from 1830. The mill ceased
production for a period following the end of Jackson’s tenure and were
eventually reopened by Ellis Williamson. Following his death in 1908 they were
operated for a time by the Croysdale family who also occupied the mill at
Whitley Bridge. Following the nationalisation of the waterways in 1948 the
Kings Mills were purchased by the Donovan family but were amalgamated to form
the Allied Mills group some decades later.
KING’S STANDARD The
Situated at the highest point of the Womersley Road, this site provides a
panoramic view over the Downlands and the surrounding countryside and for this
reason an observation post was built here during the Second World War for use
by the local volunteer Observer Corps. The name of the site has been the
subject of fanciful speculation for many years but the original name was the
King’s Stand, being an elevated hide within Cridling Park towards which deer
and game were driven to be ‘picked off’ by the waiting dignitaries concealed
there.
KIPPING GARTH
A group of three semi-detached houses at Sunny Bank built in 1937 and
named after J.W. Kipping, manager of the local tar distillery and a director
of the Lyon & Lyon Group. Kipping himself lived at Arkendale Villas, Cow Lane,
which he inherited from his father-in-law, John Harker, in 1911, until moving
to West Mount, a detached house on Ferrybridge Hill in the mid 1920s.
KITCHEN CHAIR / CLOSES
A series of strip holdings situated within the Middle Field. The
appellation Kitchen Chair suggests the name was prompted by some aspect of its
appearance but there is nothing in the shape of the land to suggest such
imagery. It is possible that linguistic transmutation rather than imagery
holds the key to the name, for instance, in Holley in Leicestershire, a field
named Oustreng (eastern) Meadow became identified as Austrian Meadow. Such
corruption may well be applicable in respect of Kitchen Chair. Whatever
relevance the name had originally is now, alas, lost in antiquity.
KNOTTINGLEY BREWERY
Prior to the early nineteenth century most local publicans brewed their
own beer but in October 1801 a partnership of Edward Gaggs, Mark Carter and
Robert Seaton, leased space on the site of the former Wildbore manor house,
Hill Top, and commenced in business as common (i.e. public) brewers. Early in
1807 a site was chosen for a new purpose-built brewery at Mill Close, a little
further up Hill Top, and this opened in 1809.
The business fell into the sole control of the Carter family by 1840 and they
remained in control until in 1892, when the grandson of Mark Carter sold the
business to members of the newly established public limited company. The new
concern retained the tile of Carters’ Knottingley Brewery and although on site
brewing ceased in 1935 following the acquisition of the firm by Bentley’s
Yorkshire Breweries, the name continued. In the mid 1960s the company was
taken over by Whitbread plc., and the brewery ceased to operate as an
administrative base. It was closed and demolished soon after. The site is now
occupied by a private housing estate.
KNOTTINGLEY CEMETERY
Growing urbanisation and attendant population growth during the first half
of the nineteenth century posed problems concerning space for the disposal of
the dead within the church burial ground. Following the establishment of a
Board of Health at Knottingley in 1853 and the enactment of legislation
concerning provision of public cemeteries, negotiations were undertaken
concerning the establishment of a public cemetery for the township.
Land known as Park Balk Close (Womersley Road) was sold to the town by William
Moorhouse for £500 in March 1858 and the cemetery was consecrated by the
Archbishop of York the following year. The first interment was that of
14-year-old David Thompson on the 8th June 1859.
KNOTTINGLEY DOG TRACK
Established in June 1939 on land in Gas House (West Ings) Lane and known
officially as Knottingley Sports Stadium, the history of this venture was
ill-starred from its inception. Within a month of the opening the Second World
War commenced and this led to the suspension of activity for the duration. The
immediate post war period saw the reopening of the dog track but fuel
shortages impaired its operation.
In an ingenious attempt to overcome the power cuts which prevented use of the
electric ‘hare’ the management resorted to the use of manual control. The lure
was fastened to one end of a length of stout cord and the other was attached
to the tyreless rim of a bicycle wheel suspended above the ground. The effort
proved largely unreliable, however, and as a result the track was closed
shortly afterwards. The abandoned site stood derelict for some years before
being cleared and all material sign of this abortive venture has long since
disappeared.
KNOTTINGLEY POTTERY
The earliest local pottery was established in 1793 on lane a few hundred
yards to the east of Ferrybridge Lane and close to the west end of the Holes.
The site belonged to Timothy Smith, a coal proprietor, who joined with William
Tomlinson, a grocer, and John Seaton, a banker, to establish the company known
as Knottingley Pottery.
In 1851 Lewis Woolf, a London china merchant, took a five year lease on the
pottery and purchased the premises in 1856. At the same time, Woolf
established the Australian Pottery nearby and under him and his son Sydney,
the business flourished until an economic recession in 1883 caused the
bankruptcy of the latter.
The business was eventually taken over y the Horn Brothers who traded until
1920 when the two elements were separated. Production on the Knottingley
Pottery site was undertaken from 1926 by Sefton & Brown (later by the Brown
family alone) and then under various forms of management until under the aegis
of Cauldren Potteries, the pottery closed in June 2003.
KNOTTINGLEY SOUTH POTTERY
c.f. South Moor Pottery (infra)
LABOUR EXCHANGE The
An L shaped single storey building situated at the top end of Racca Green
at its junction with Weeland Road. The rustic brick facing and hipped roof
with its clay tiles are redolent of the period, the premises being built as a
labour exchange in 1938 to assist the implementation of government policy to
combat the high level of unemployment arising from the economic depression of
the previous decade. The new building replaced the original Labour Exchange,
housed in premises in Aire Street.
With the creation of Job Centres from the 1980s the old Labour Exchange became
redundant and the premises were sold and subsequently let out to commercial
organisations. At the present time the former labour Exchange is used as a
‘betting shop’.
LANES The
By the 13th century when the term ‘lane’ was widely adopted to indicate a
minor track of footpath through fields and woods, most such paths were already
of considerable antiquity while many others developed from former balks,
ridgeways and headlands marking the boundaries of elements within the communal
field system.
Knottingley has at least 50 lanes, a few of which have, with the passage of
time, been upgraded as roads. A few have become associated with modern
industries, others have lost their identity or in some cases are in danger of
doing so due to physical change in their surroundings. Knottingley lanes
include: -
Back Lane, Banks Lane, Bendles Lane,
Blackburn Lane, Brewery Lane, Bridge Lane, Carr lane, Cattlelaithe Lane,
Claywick Lane, Common Lane, Cow Lane, England Lane, Ferrybridge (Road) Lane,
Foundry Lane, Foreg Hill Lane, Flagg Lane, Garden Lane, Gardland Lane, Glebe
Lane, Grove Lane, Hazel Lane, Headlands Lane, Heald Lane, Holes Lane,
Hollingworth Lane, Ings Lane, Kershaw Lane, Liquorice Lane, Marine Villa
(Road) Lane, a.k.a. Shiften, Shitten lane, Ratten Row, Rotten Row), Marlpit
Lane, Marsh Lane, Middle Lane, Mill Fields Lane, Mirey Butt Lane, Morley Lane,
Narrow Lane (a.k.a. Dark Lane), Orchard Lane, Pottery Lane (a.k.a. Stagg
Lane), Racca Field Lane (a.k.a. Womersley Road), Shilling Hill Lane, Ship
Lane, Simpsons Lane, Southfield Lane, South Moor Lane, Sowgate Lane, Spawd (Spald)
Bone Lane, Springfield Lane, Stocking Lane, Tithe Barn (Road) Lane, Trundles
Lane, Water Lane, Waterfield Lane.
LIME GROVE / CLOSE
The Hill Top site situated next to Mill Close in which Mark Carter built a
brewery in 1808. Lime Grove Close was the chosen site for the adjacent family
residence which was named Lime Grove. Following the sale of the brewery by
George William Carter in 1892 the house served for a few years as the home of
the manager of the new limited company trading as Carters’ Knottingley Brewery
Co., Ltd., before being used solely as the company offices. In later years the
house was used as a private school and leasehold residence before being
converted into flats. The Brewery was acquired by Bentley’s Yorkshire Beers in
1935 and then by Whitbread & Co. in the 1960s. At this point the property
became redundant and was demolished. The location is now the site of Bradley’s
Bungalows, a private housing estate.
LIME ROUTES The
The extension of limestone excavation into the former common fields to the
south and west of the town resulted in the establishment of a series of
clearly defined routes between the quarries and the waterways. The six
principal ones were: -
Racca Field Lane – Bendles Lane –
Primrose Hill – Aire Street.
Middle Field Lane – Banks Lane – Chapel Street – Aire Street.
Waterfield Lane – England Lane – Banks Lane – Chapel Street – Aire Street.
Ridgeway – Spawd Bone Lane – Forge Hill – Holes.
Simpsons Lane – Headlands Lane – Hill Top – Forge Hill – Holes.
Warren Hill – Dar (Narrow) Lane – Holes.
Originally the routes terminated at the
riverside but after 1828, at the canalside.
LIQUORICE LANE
A narrow footpath running to the south of Manor Fold and connecting Racca
and Low Green. The name is probably of mid eighteenth century origin for at
that time an unsuccessful attempt was made to establish the liquorice
confectionery trade at Knottingley to challenge that of Thomas Dunhill at
nearby Pontefract.
LITTLE CLOSE
A small area of only 37 perches lying adjacent to Holes Lane at its
junction with Ferrybridge Hill. Originally part of the manorial demesne land,
the name is self explanatory.
LODGING HOUSES
As early as 1840 paupers, denied access to the parish workhouse because of
lack of space, were provided with accommodation in a lodging house in an
unspecified location within the township. By the middle of the nineteenth
century Aire Street had two lodging houses, catering mainly for casual
labourers and at the end of the century there was a lodging house in Waggon &
Horses Yard, a second lower down in Aire Street and a third in Back Lane. A
smaller lodging house also existed at Hill Top at this time, albeit catering
for a smaller, more genteel clientele. The Back Lane accommodation continued
in use well into the last century before being closed down in 1925 as
unsuitable for use as a common lodging house. An application to restore the
premises to their former use with accommodation for 22 lodgers was rejected in
1926 and the premises were eventually demolished.
LONG ROW
c.f. Jacksonville supra.
LONGWALL CLOSE
The location is unknown but Great Wall Close may be an alternative name in
which case the site was to the east of Waterfield lane off England lane and
thus in the Middle Field. The appellation ‘wall’ probably indicates an
individually owned plot enclosed by a wall, doubtless constructed of local
limestone, or, alternatively, the presence of a boundary marker separating the
Middle and South Fields.
LONGWOOD / LONGWOOD CLOSES
Three parcels of land situated close to the boundary of the East Field and
land belonging to Kellington parish. The name may refer to the woodland which
existed prior to the laying out of the East Field and from which the closes
were cleared by individual labour. Alternatively, the name may indicate
ownership by the Longwood family.
LONGWOODS WALK
The Longwood family were resident in Knottingley by the late sixteenth
century when William Longwood was indicted for encroaching on public land on
the Flatts in Aire Street and stopping up a water course there. Longwood’s
Walk was a former balk between cultivation strips which later became a path
connecting Chapel Street with the Croft.
LOW CROSS
A landmark monument corresponding to the High Cross (c.f. supra) and
situated at the eastern edge of the demesne land close to Church Lane. The
area is marked today by the high rise flats known as Low Cross Court.
LOW DUCKS
A linguistic corruption of Low Docks, being the shipyard sites situated
near Fernley Green which were established following the opening of the Aire &
Calder Canal in 1826. The ‘High Dock’ was probably the one situated on the
canal bank at the Bendles adjacent to the Commercial Inn but may have been the
riverside dockyard located at Mill Close.
LOW SHOTT FLATT
An irregularly shaped parcel of land having six corners which was part of
Waithwaite furlong in the South Field, standing slightly distant from the
south side of Pontefract Road, on or near the site now occupied by Knottingley
railway station. The terms ‘shott’ and ‘flatt’ are both used to identify
furlongs in the common field system of agriculture. As this parcel of land is
shown as a ‘L’ shaped configuration on the Enclosure Map of 1800 we may assume
it was carved out of a series of strips running in one direction and a second
series running at right angles to it.
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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