FIELD SYSTEMS AND PLACE NAMES
OF OLD KNOTTINGLEY
TERRY SPENCER B.A. (Hons), Ph D.
GAZETTEER OF PLACE NAMES
The names featured in the Gazetteer are drawn from a variety of documentary sources, the following being the most useful sources of verification that the items featured are names associated with Knottingley past and/or present:-
Medieval Chartularies
Knottingley Enclosure Survey Award, 1793 & Maps 1800
Knottingley Parish Tithe Map & Apportionment 1842
Knottingley Ordnance Survey Map, 1st edition, 1852
Knottingley Ordnance Survey Map, 25” edition, 1892
Knottingley Ordnance Survey Map, 25” 2nd edition, 1907
Knottingley Street Plan (undated) – Copyright, J.C. Utting, Romford, Essex
Knottingley Select Vestry Minute Books 1823-1893
Knottingley Township Rate Books 1857-1902
Knottingley Census Returns 1841-1901
Deeds of Conveyance – West Yorkshire Archive Service, Wakefield
The principle sources of information concerning the origin and meaning of
the field and place names featured in this section are as follows:-
Field J. ‘English Field Names: A Dictionary’. (1989)
Muir R. ‘The New Reading the Landscape: Fieldwork in Landscape History (2000)
Muir R. & N. ‘Fields’, (1989)
Beckensall S. ‘Northumberland Field Names’, (undated)
Smith A.H. ‘Place Names of the West Riding of Yorkshire: Volume II’ (1953-54)
Notes concerning contents of Gazetteer:
In compiling this Gazetteer I have concentrated on places which have or
had historic links with the town of Knottingley. Many of the places included
have either disappeared or of those remaining have historic connections
which are not immediately apparent to many citizens of the town. It is the
contribution of such places to the town’s heritage which merits their
inclusion and whilst in can be justifiably argued that all elements within
the township contribute to its being to some extent, I have eschewed those
places with minimal historic value, leaving them to be recorded by future
local historians. On that basis I have enabled myself to disregard what is
to my mind, the deplorable practice of giving names to streets which have no
relevance whatsoever to the location. The practice, which was rife within
the town in the latter half of last century, not only betrays a woeful
ignorance on the part of the over imaginative guardians concerning the past
history of the town but militates against those of a future generation
seeking to record the historic development of the town for the benefit of
those who are to follow.
Terry Spencer