Horsforth

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Horsforth

Town Street,Horsforth
Town Street, Horsforth
Horsforth (West Yorkshire)
Horsforth

Horsforth shown within West Yorkshire
Population 21,562 (2001 Census)
OS grid reference SE236376
Metropolitan borough City of Leeds
Metropolitan county West Yorkshire
Region Yorkshire and the Humber
Constituent country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town LEEDS
Postcode district LS18
Dialling code 0113
Police West Yorkshire
Fire West Yorkshire
Ambulance Yorkshire
European Parliament Yorkshire and the Humber
UK Parliament Pudsey
List of places: UK • England • Yorkshire

Coordinates: 53°50′03″N 1°38′34″W / 53.83413, -1.64288

Horsforth is a suburb of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England.

Horsforth was considered to have the largest population of any village in the United Kingdom during the latter part of the nineteenth century. It became officially part of Leeds metropolitan district in 1974. It became a town in 1999.

Contents

[edit] History

Horsforth first appeared in the 1086 Domesday Book (as Horseford, Horseforde, Hoseforde) and its name is from horse and ford. This refers to a river crossing situated somewhere in shallow water along the River Aire, probably used for the transportation of woollen goods to and from Pudsey, Shipley and Bradford. The original ford was situated off Calverley Lane (near the Calverley Bridge Zero Waste Sort Site), but was replaced by a stone footbridge at the turn of the 19th Century.

The three unnamed Saxon thegns that held the land at the conquest gave way to the King and then lesser Norman nobles,[citation needed] but it was not long after this that most of the village came under the control of Kirkstall Abbey, a nearby Cistercian house founded in 1152.

After the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539, Horsforth was partitioned and sold off to five families, one of which was the Stanhopes who achieved supremacy and controlled the village for the next three hundred years. The estate record of the Stanhopes are regarded as one of the most extensive and important collections of its kind, complementing the extensive mediaeval record associated with Kirkstall Abbey's activities.

Up until the mid nineteenth century Horsforth was a small agricultural community. It expanded rapidly with the growth of the nearby industrial centre of Leeds. Industrially, Horsforth has a long history of producing high quality stone from its quarries. Not only did it supply Kirkstall Abbey with building materials and millstones in the medieval period, it provided the stone for Scarborough seafront and sent its prized sandstone from its Golden Bank quarry as far afield as Egypt. Situated on Horsforth Beck were a string of mills serving the textile trade, but a large area of the village still reflects its original function as an agricultural community.

Between 1861 and 1862, there was an outbreak of typhoid in Horsforth.[1]

In the late nineteenth century it achieved note as the village with the largest population in England. Railways, turnpike roads, tramways, and the nearby canal made it a focus for almost all forms of public and commercial transport and sealed its fate as a dormitory suburb of Leeds. Despite its large population and extensive commercial activity this role appears to have stopped it achieving independent town status and it remained a village (as Horsforth urban district) until its inclusion in the City of Leeds metropolitan district when this was created in 1974. However, in 1999 a parish council was created for the area, which then exercised its right to declare Horsforth a town.

Horsforth Museum[2] has collections and displays that aim to illustrate aspects of life set against the backdrop of the changing role of the village.

During World War II the £241,000 required to build the corvette HMS Aubretia was raised entirely by the people of Horsforth. In 2000 the then US President Bill Clinton acknowledged Horsforth's contribution to the war effort in a letter sent to local MP Paul Truswell[3]. The letter now resides in the museum.

[edit] Location Grid


North: Yeadon
West: Rawdon Horsforth East: Moor Grange
South: Hawksworth

[edit] Communications

[edit] Rail

Horsforth railway station is on the Leeds to Harrogate line. The Station itself is actually situated within the Cookridge boundaries, as it is on the Cookridge side of Moseley beck.

Newlay station, which was built as part of the Midland Railway, was renamed Newlay & Horsforth station in 1889. This station was situated south of the River Aire and was accessible from Horsforth on Pollard Lane (the road connecting Horsforth to Bramley).[4] The station, which was on the Airedale Line (Leeds-Shipley-Skipton), was renamed Newlay station in 1961. It closed on 22 March 1965, along with other stations on the Airedale Line: Armley Canal Road, Kirkstall, Calverley & Rodley and Apperley Bridge.

[edit] Bus

The town is served by First Leeds bus routes:

[edit] Air

Leeds Bradford International Airport

[edit] Education

Leeds Trinity & All Saints, a college accredited by the University of Leeds, is on Brownberrie Lane. It is known as TASC, or TASC Island, by its students.

The main secondary school is Horsforth School[5].

The main primary schools in Horsforth are;

  • West End Lane Primary School
  • St Margarets Primary School
  • Horsforth Newlaithes Junior School
  • Westbrook Lane Primary School
  • Broadgate Lane Primary School
  • St. Mary's RC Primary School
  • Horsforth Featherbank Infant School

[edit] Independent school

  • Froebelian School (ages 3-11)

[edit] Churches

The main churches in Horsforth are;

  • Lister Hill Baptist Church
  • Cragg Hill Baptist Church
  • Woodside Methodist Church
  • St Margaret's Church of England
  • St James Woodside Church of England
  • St Mary's Roman Catholic Church
  • Willow Green Christian Fellowship
  • Central Methodist Church
  • Grove Methodist church
  • Tinity and All Saints (Catholic Institution)
  • Verona Fathers - Comboni Missionaries
  • Link fellowship
  • Horsforth Congregation of Jehovah's witnesses

[edit] Pubs and bars

Horsforth has an ever increasing number of pubs and bars. Longstanding pubs in Horsforth include:

  • The Black Bull
  • The Bridge
  • The Fleece
  • The Fox and Hounds
  • The Grey Horse
  • The Horsforth Hotel
  • The Old Ball
  • The Old Kings Arms
  • The Queens Arms
  • The Ringway
  • The Woodside

Newer bars are: The Sand Bar, Town Street Tavern, Bar 62, Bar 166 and the Severed Head (all on Town Street) and Suburban Style Bar and Kobe on New Road Side.

A regular event in Horsforth is the 'Horsforth Mile' pub crawl. This usually starts off at the Fox and Hounds next to the railway station, although this is regarded by many as being in Cookridge, so an alternative is to begin at The Old Ball, and meander through at least 10 pubs in the town.

[edit] Notable people from Horsforth

[edit] External links

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City of Leeds
Topics
Culture
Districts

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Epidemiological Society of London, Transactions (in GoogleBooks)
  2. ^ Horsforth Museum, Leeds - Yorkshire - UK Attraction
  3. ^ Storm over U-boat film, BBC News, 2 June 2000
  4. ^ Multi Map
  5. ^ Horsforth school official website
  6. ^ Profile
  7. ^ David Oxtoby Info from redfern gallery
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