Woodlesford - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Woodlesford is a village

Village

A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...

in the metropolitan county

Metropolitan county

The metropolitan counties are a type of county-level administrative division of England. There are six metropolitan counties, which each cover large urban areas, typically with populations of 1.2 to 2.8 million...

of West Yorkshire

West Yorkshire

West Yorkshire is a metropolitan county within the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England with a population of 2.2 million. West Yorkshire came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972....

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, six miles south-east of Leeds city centre

Leeds City Centre

Leeds city centre is the central business district of Leeds, England. It is within the Leeds Central parliamentary constituency, represented by Hilary Benn as MP since a by-election in 1999...

. It is in the City of Leeds

City of Leeds

The City of Leeds is a local government district of West Yorkshire, England, governed by Leeds City Council, with the status of a city and metropolitan borough. The metropolitan district includes Leeds and the towns of Farsley, Garforth, Guiseley, Horsforth, Morley, Otley, Pudsey, Rothwell,...

metropolitan borough

Metropolitan borough

A metropolitan borough is a type of local government district in England, and is a subdivision of a metropolitan county. Created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972, metropolitan boroughs are defined in English law as metropolitan districts, however all of them have been granted or regranted...

. Woodlesford is formerly part of the Rothwell Urban District

Rothwell, West Yorkshire

Rothwell is a market town on the River Dolphin in the south east of the City of Leeds metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, situated between Oulton to the east, Belle Isle to the west, Woodlesford to the north east and Robin Hood to the south west. Swillington, Methley and Kippax are located...

Woodlesford is now a residential part of the commuter belt that services the city of Leeds

Leeds

Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...

. It has a diverse history. It once had a number of industries, including its own pottery, match factory, quarries, and Brewery. It was divided into two parts "Old Woodlesford" and "New Woodlesford". The old part of the village is situated to the north of the park up on the hill and contains the school, the chapel and former church. New Woodlesford related to the area on Aberford Road which is now dominated by 19th century terraces, the CO-OP store and "Howgate and Farrar" Butchers - the most recent business to open in Woodlesford (May 20th 2010).

It was the Home of Bentley's Yorkshire Bitter, until the brewery closed down in the latter half of the 20th century. The Bentley family left their mark upon the landscape building not only the brewery, but also Eshald Mansion & All Saints Church. The Church opened in 1880s and closed in the 1990s. It has since been redeveloped as a house and the Mansion divided into flats.

Originally Woodlesford was clearly separated from the neighbouring village of Oulton

Oulton, West Yorkshire

Oulton is a village in the City of Leeds metropolitan borough, West Yorkshire, England, between Leeds and Wakefield. It is at the junction of the A639 and A642 roads. Though now adjoining the village of Woodlesford, it was once quite separate...

but this is no longer the case due to the residential expansion of both villages. An official border runs between the two villages running through the centre of the Midland Hotel Pub and along Midland Street and then across to Holmsley Field Lane. Ironically, this places Oulton Library in Woodlesford and Woodlesford Post Office in Oulton. Woodlesford however is much larger in scale than Oulton. Woodlesford also extends as far as Bowers Row, formerly the St Aidan's Colliery and across to the M62.

Much of Woodlesford's expansion took place since the 19th century as a mining

Mining

Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...

village. Woodlesford boasted four operational pits at Bower's Row by 1896 all owned by T & R W Bower Ltd, managed by WS Blackburn. There was also mining at Rothwell

Rothwell, West Yorkshire

Colliery

Coal mining

The goal of coal mining is to obtain coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content, and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from iron ore and for cement production. In the United States,...

. When coal production ceased in 1983 the area went into decline though quickly recovered in large part due to its ideal position for commuters. This is because many major roads are located nearby including the M1

M1 motorway

The M1 is a north–south motorway in England primarily connecting London to Leeds, where it joins the A1 near Aberford. While the M1 is considered to be the first inter-urban motorway to be completed in the United Kingdom, the first road to be built to motorway standard in the country was the...

, M62

M62 motorway

The M62 motorway is a west–east trans-Pennine motorway in Northern England, connecting the cities of Liverpool and Hull via Manchester and Leeds. The road also forms part of the unsigned Euroroutes E20 and E22...

, A1 and a newly constructed M1/A1 link road. There is also a small railway station

Woodlesford railway station

Woodlesford railway station serves Woodlesford in West Yorkshire, England. It lies on the Hallam Line and the Pontefract Line.-Service:Monday to Saturdays there is a half-hourly service to Leeds and an hourly service to Sheffield on the Hallam Line and hourly towards Knottingley on the Pontefract...

to the north-east of the village which provides frequent trains to Leeds, Barnsley, Sheffield & Goole from which services can be caught to all major cities throughout the country.

Most young children in the area attend the local Woodlesford Primary School. The school dates to the 19th Century and has steadily expanded the number of buildings on site including a major expansion in recent years. Woodlesford Primary is currently one of the highest scoring schools in the Leeds area for English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

, Maths

Mathematics

Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...

and Science

Science

Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...

and actively encourages pupils to participate in a wide range of sports. Many other young children attend the nearby Oulton Primary School. Most children between 11 and 16 attend the nearby Royds School

Royds School

Royds School, founded in 1956, is a school serving approximately 1,300 pupils in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The school was originally a Secondary Modern and is now a non-selective comprehensive serving Rothwell, south Leeds, and the surrounding areas. Since 2000, the school has provided...

located in Rothwell, many others commute further to either Brigshaw, Rodillian or Garforth

Garforth

Garforth is a town within the City of Leeds metropolitan borough, in West Yorkshire, England. The 2001 Census lists 23,892 residents in the Garforth and Swillington ward - 80.57% of which are homeowners, 20% more than the average for Leeds. Garforth itself has 15,394 of those people...

secondary schools.

At the centre of the village is a small park

Park

A park is a protected area, in its natural or semi-natural state, or planted, and set aside for human recreation and enjoyment, or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. It may consist of rocks, soil, water, flora and fauna and grass areas. Many parks are legally protected by...

which contains a football

Football (soccer)

Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...

pitch and recently constructed children's play area and skatepark

Skatepark

A skatepark is a purpose-built recreational environment made for skateboarding, BMX, aggressive inline skating and scooters. A skatepark may contain half-pipes, quarter pipes, spine transfers, handrails, funboxes, vert ramps, pyramids, banked ramps, full pipes, pools, bowls, snake runs stairsets,...

. The closest sports facility is Rothwell Sports Centre located in neighbouring Oulton. Night-life in the village is provided by three pubs

Public house

A public house, informally known as a pub, is a drinking establishment fundamental to the culture of Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. There are approximately 53,500 public houses in the United Kingdom. This number has been declining every year, so that nearly half of the smaller...

and other pubs and restaurant

Restaurant

A restaurant is an establishment which prepares and serves food and drink to customers in return for money. Meals are generally served and eaten on premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services...

s in the nearby area. Many people in the area often travel into Leeds

Leeds

or Wakefield

Wakefield

Wakefield is the main settlement and administrative centre of the City of Wakefield, a metropolitan district of West Yorkshire, England. Located by the River Calder on the eastern edge of the Pennines, the urban area is and had a population of 76,886 in 2001....

especially on Friday and Saturday nights. The village also contains a post office

Post office

A post office is a facility forming part of a postal system for the posting, receipt, sorting, handling, transmission or delivery of mail.Post offices offer mail-related services such as post office boxes, postage and packaging supplies...

, petrol station, convenience store

Convenience store

A convenience store, corner store, corner shop, commonly called a bodega in Spanish-speaking areas of the United States, is a small store or shop in a built up area that stocks a range of everyday items such as groceries, toiletries, alcoholic and soft drinks, and may also offer money order and...

, library

Library

In a traditional sense, a library is a large collection of books, and can refer to the place in which the collection is housed. Today, the term can refer to any collection, including digital sources, resources, and services...

, three newsagent

Newsagent

A newsagent's shop , newsagency or newsstand is a business that sells newspapers, magazines, cigarettes, snacks and often items of local interest. In Britain and Australia, these businesses are termed newsagents...

s and various other shops and food outlets.

The village railway station

Woodlesford railway station

operates 7 days a week, with services running every 30 minutes Monday - Saturday (every hour on Sundays) on the Hallam Line (Leeds - Sheffield); and the Pontefract Line (Leeds - Knottingley (with limited services continuing onto Goole)). The service offers a fast connection to Leeds City Centre

Leeds

, with a journey time of 8 minutes. Train services to Leeds

Leeds

depart from Platform 1. Platform 2 (accessed via a footbridge over the Railway line) operates services outbound towards Castleford

Castleford

Castleford is the largest of the "five towns" district in the metropolitan borough of the City of Wakefield, in West Yorkshire, England. It is near Pontefract, and has a population of 37,525 according to the 2001 Census, but has seen a rise in recent years and is now around 45-50,000. To the north...

, Normanton

Normanton

Normanton is the name of several places:In England:*Normanton, Derbyshire*Normanton, Leicestershire*Normanton, Lincolnshire*Normanton, Nottinghamshire*Normanton, Rutland*Normanton, West Yorkshire**Normanton...

, Glasshoughton

Glasshoughton

Glasshoughton is an area of Castleford in West Yorkshire, England, that borders on Pontefract. It is home to the Xscape indoor ski slope and leisure centre, the Junction 32 Outlet Shopping Village, a DIY superstore, a hotel, a pub and a number of fast food restaurants, which were built on the site...

, Pontefract Monkhill, Knottingley

Knottingley

Knottingley is a town within the metropolitan borough of the City of Wakefield in West Yorkshire, England on the River Aire and the A1 road. It has a population of 13,503....

, Wakefield Kirkgate, Darton

Darton

Darton is a village in the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley , on the border with West Yorkshire. According to the 2001 UK census, it has a population of approximately 14,927...

, Barnsley

Barnsley

Barnsley is a town in South Yorkshire, England. It lies on the River Dearne, north of the city of Sheffield, south of Leeds and west of Doncaster. Barnsley is surrounded by several smaller settlements which together form the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley, of which Barnsley is the largest and...

, Wombwell

Wombwell

Wombwell is a small town near Barnsley, located in the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley in South Yorkshire, England. It has a population of 15,180.Its name's origin may mean "Womba's Well", or "well in a hollow"....

, Elsecar

Elsecar

Elsecar is a village forming part of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley in South Yorkshire, England. Like many villages in the area, it was for many years a coal mining village until the widespread pit closures during the 1980s. Elsecar is next to the villages of Hoyland and Jump.Elsecar is...

, Chapeltown (South Yorkshire)

Chapeltown, South Yorkshire

Chapeltown is in northern Sheffield, in South Yorkshire, England. It forms part of the Ecclesfield civil parish. There is a wide variety of shops, pubs and restaurants as well as a supermarket...

, Meadowhall

Meadowhall

Meadowhall is an indoor shopping centre in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. It lies three miles north east of Sheffield city centre and four miles from Rotherham town centre....

and Sheffield

Sheffield

Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...

. Between quarters 3 and 4 of the calendar year, the Steam Powered Scarborough Spa Express

Scarborough Spa Express

The Scarborough Spa Express is a regular summer heritage steam locomotive service between York and Scarborough via Harrogate and Leeds. It is operated by the West Coast Railway Company, however has been operated in previous years by different companies, including the Railway Touring...

train operates services to Scarborough on Tuesdays and Thursdays, calling at Platform 2 of Woodlesford railway station

Woodlesford railway station

at 12:01 pm. Passengers are able to experience Scarborough for 3 hours, before the return journey stops at Woodlesford railway station

Woodlesford railway station

at approximately 7 pm.

The village also boasts its own Army Cadet Force unit (part of Yorkshire North & West ACF) which meets on Mondays and Thursdays 19:00 - 21:00 which is situated next to Oulton Library and the playing field/skate park. The detachment is open to boys and girls aged between 13 and 18.

On 20 January 2010, one of the village's public houses, The White Hart closed to the public. The White Hart was located at 40 Church Street and was Woodlesford's largest pub. The demolition of the building commenced on 15 November 2010 and the land is to be used for the construction of 3 houses and 4 bungalows.

Location grid

External links

Local History
LS26.org.uk - area website - Woodlesford was in this parish
- Yorkshire (N&W) ACF Website

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