Ledston
Ledston is a village and civil parish 3 miles (5 km) north of Castleford and 10 miles (16 km) east of Leeds in the county of West Yorkshire, England.[1] The village is in the City of Leeds metropolitan borough. It had a population of 400 in 2001,[2] which decreased slightly to 394 at the 2011 Census.[3]
Ledston is first mentioned in 1086, and on through the Middle Ages, in forms like Ledestun(e), Ledestona.[4] The name seems to refer to Leeds (or the Old English precursor of this name, Loidis, which denoted a region rather than a town), meaning the tūn ('settlement, estate') belonging to Leeds.[5]
Ledston Hall was the home of Lady Elizabeth Hastings, daughter of the 7th Earl of Huntingdon, known to everyone as "Lady Betty". The hall was originally a grange and chapel built by the monks of Pontefract Priory. It is a grade I listed building, and several associated buildings and garden features are also listed.[6]
Ledston Hall featured in the television show Most Haunted:Live on 27 October 2007, but was called "Wheler Priory" for security reasons at the time (Wheler being the surname of the last family owning the hall).[7]
Ledston is also home to the Ledston Equine Centre located in the stables of Ledston Hall.[8]
Ledston lies to the east of the A656 road,[1] and there was a railway station named after the village on the Castleford to Garforth line, though this station was actually adjacent to Allerton Bywater Colliery. The village also had a colliery named after it, Ledston Luck, which was connected to the railway via an aerial ropeway up to Micklefield.[9] The colliery, like the railway station, was some distance away from the village from which it took its name, being actually only 0.62 miles (1 km) east of Kippax.[1] Ledston Luck Colliery closed in 1986[10] and the site is now a local nature reserve.[11]
References
- 1 2 3 "289" (Map). Leeds. 1:25,000. Explorer. Ordnance Survey. 2015. ISBN 9780319244869.
- ↑ Office for National Statistics : Census 2001 : Parish Headcounts : Leeds Retrieved 7 May 2017
- ↑ "Civil Parish population 2011". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 28 February 2016.
- ↑ Ekwall, Eilert (1960). The concise Oxford dictionary of English place-names (4 ed.). Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. 293. ISBN 0-19-869103-3.
- ↑ Watts, Victor; Insley, John; Gelling, Margaret (2004). The Cambridge dictionary of English place-names : based on the collections of the English Place-Name Society (2 ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 366. ISBN 9780521362092.
- ↑ Historic England. "Ledston Hall (Grade I) (1237569)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 7 May 2017.
- ↑ "Watch Most Haunted Live Season 6 Full Episodes". OVGuide. Retrieved 7 May 2017.
- ↑ "Ledstone Equine Centre". ledstonequinecentre.co.uk. Retrieved 7 May 2017.
- ↑ "SE43 (includes Leeds" (Map). SE43. 1:25,000. Ordnance Survey. 1954.
- ↑ "Pit closures, year by year". BBC News. 5 March 2004. Retrieved 7 May 2017.
- ↑ "Ledston Luck Yorkshire Wildlife Trust | Love Yorkshire, Love Wildlife". www.ywt.org.uk. Retrieved 7 May 2017.
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ledston. |
- The ancient parish of Ledsham: historical and genealogical information at GENUKI (Ledston was in this parish).
- Historic England. "Ledston Hall, grade I (428817)". Images of England.
- Historic England. "Ledston Lodge, in Ledston Park, grade I (428808)". Images of England.
- Historic England. "Barn at Ledston Hall, grade I (428822)". Images of England.
- Historic England. "Ledston Hall entrance gates and lodges, grade I (428818)". Images of England.
- Historic England. "Stable block at Ledston Hall, grade I (428821)". Images of England.
Coordinates: 53°45′N 1°21′W / 53.750°N 1.350°W