Ackworth, West Yorkshire
Encyclopedia
Ackworth is a village and civil parish in the metropolitan borough of Wakefield
, West Yorkshire
, England
, situated between Pontefract
, Barnsley
and Doncaster
on the small River Went
. The village consists of four parts, High Ackworth, Low Ackworth, Ackworth Moortop, and Brackenhill. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 6,493.
, Hemsworth
and Wentworth
as well as Fryston and Allerton. The name was first recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Aceuurde and it is thought it became more formalised to 'Ackworth' in the 1800s.
from Britain. The Romans were active in the area around Ackworth with the nearby town of Castleford
being the location of Lagentium
, a Roman fort. The A639, the Roman road to York
also runs close to modern day Ackworth with a Roman milestone having being found near the junction of the road and Sandy Gate Lane on the parish boundary between Ackworth and Pontefract. In terms of Christianity it has been thought that the first church may have appeared in Ackworth between 750-800 with a well established tradition being that the monks of Lindisfarne
, escaping the Norse invasion, stopped there in around 875 bringing with them the body of Saint Cuthbert. Evidence of Norse settlement can also be found within the local area with place names such as 'Thorpe Audlin' and 'Grimethorpe' possibly descending from the Norse term 'thorpe' meaning a small settlement or a farm.
the Lord of a Manor which was capable of employing five ploughs. His vassal was the 'Humphrey' mentioned in the book who himself owned one and a half ploughs (approx a quarter of the manor) with the rest of the manor being apportioned between two farmers who in turn acted as Humphrys tenants. De lacy himself was a Norman knight who had received the land as a reward for his services to William the Conquerer and who had also built the first earth and timber 'motte and bailey' style castle in nearby Pontefract
. The entry in the Domesday Book suggests that the settlement of Ackworth would have been quite small as it recorded only 14 villagers and two smallholders. However as only the heads of families were recorded the more likely figure in terms of population at this time would be around thirty to forty people.
. The records showed that the Lord now had 240 bondsmen working for him and the value of the mill had gone up. It showed that Adam de Castleford had to pay 10 shillings rent for his land. His wife Isabella would go on to found the Chapel of Our Lady in Ackworth Church in 1333. In 1341 the Inquisitiones Nonarum stated that the only people living in Ackworth were those working in agriculture. It has been speculated that the village cross in the centre of the village was constructed by the same Isabella de Castleford who built the chapel in the church possibly dating the cross at around 1340. The cross itself was listed as a grade 2 building in 1968 with a description of being "late medieval" and describing the construction as being a "medieval shaft with tudor ball on top" and being "prominently sited near junction with Pontefract road".
of 1349, which will have killed many inhabitants. The black death had arrived in southern England in 1348 and by 1350 had killed a third of the population. In nearby Pontefract
it was estimated that around 40% of the population had been killed. A reminder of how communities communicated and traded in spite of plague remains in Ackworth to this day in the form of the Ackworth plague stone although it is thought that the stone dates from yet another outbreak of plague in 1645. Situated at the junction of Sandy Gate Lane on the road into Pontefract, the stone is also a grade 2 listed monument. Plague stones were described as "receptacles for sterilising coins in vineagar, normally at or close to parish boundaries." Indicating that the current location of the plague stone was the outer rim of the parish. The plague in 1645 was said to have killed 153 with the bodies been buried in a 'burial field' "crossed by the footpath from Ackworth to Hundhill." The area had possibly already been used as an area of mass burial after a skirmish earlier in the year between Roundhead
and Royalist
forces as part of the English Civil War
. The bubonic plague of 1645 was not confined to Ackworth, in Leeds over 1300 people were killed and a further 245 were thought to have died 'in and around the Wakefield area' with one theory being that the plague had been brought into the area by soldiers fighting in the Civil War. Another story of how the plague came to Ackworth was retold by Henry Thompson in the book 'A History of Ackworth School in its first 100 years'. He recounts the story of how a popular and well loved monk went to Rome and became "smitten by the plague and died". The monk, from the priory at Nostell would preach at the medieval cross in the centre of the village and was described as a "noble soul with a kindly heart" who was admired by young and old alike. After succumbing to the plague in Rome, his body was brought back and passed through Ackworth at which point "nothing could satisfy the ignorant but faithful love of the old hearers" and the coffin was opened. The village was then stricken with plague and the stone on Castle Syke Hill became "for many months the only contact between them and the outside world". Describing a transaction the book says "upon that stone the Ackworth purchaser dropped his money into a vessel of water, for which, a few hours afterwards, he found his return in merchandise." Of this tale the author comments "we make no idle comment on this history. We tell the tale as it was told to us."
in 1460 and the Battle of Towton
in 1461 were important battles in the Wars of the Roses. In 1489, fours years after the end of the War of the Roses, the new king Henry Tudor
levied a tax which caused an uprising in parts of Yorkshire. Thomas Howard, the Earl of Surrey
, was sent to quash the uprising after the Earl of Northumberland had been killed by the rebels. Howard managed to subdue the uprising and hanged the leaders in York. In 1492 a further uprising occurred in Ackworth of which little is known except that Howard once again subdued the insurgents. A further link to a historical battle could possibly be made with the Battle of Winwaed in 655 between Penda of Mercia
and Oswiu of Northumbria
, King of Berenicia. The battle was mentioned by Bede although the exact location of the battle is not known. Options include Oswestry in Shropshire, Winwick in Lancashire, Whinmoor north east of Leeds and between Wentbridge and Ackworth where the modern day A639, a former roman road, crosses the River Went
. The battle was seen as pivotal in English history in that Penda had been a powerful Pagan king and the victory of the Christian Oswiu could be seen as having effectively ended Anglo Saxon paganism.
The area around Ackworth was also a hotbed for dissent against the Dissolution of the Monasteries
by Henry VIII. A rebellion led by Robert Aske
and styled the Pilgrimage of Grace
was thought to have marched through Ackworth on the way to capturing Pontefract Castle in 1536. They were eventually defeated by an army sent by Henry with the leaders hanged at Tyburn
. amongst the hanged included a Nicholas Tempest of Ackworth. The nearby Priory of St. Oswald at Nostell would later be dissolved in 1540 with the land being bought by Rowland Winn. During the English Civil War
, the area around Ackworth was seen as being strongly Royalist with four divisions of volunteers being raised from Pontefract and the surrounding villages in order to garrison the castle. In 1645, Ackworth was occupied by Roundhead soldiers who caused some damage to the church and who were also responsible for replacing the cross at the top of the medieval cross in the center of the village with the present 'ball' shape which now sits there.
In more recent times the Ackworth war memorial opened in 1999 and commemorates the soldiers from Ackworth who died in the first and second world wars. From 1914-1918
80 soldiers were killed and in the war of 1939-1945
, 40 people lost their lives.
as they journeyed around the country with his body from 875 to 882. The church of St. Cuthbert in the centre of High Ackworth is believed to have taken its name from the time when the monks stopped in the village on their pilgrimage. The original church from the time of Saint Cuthbert and the Domesday Book is believed to have been replaced in the 14th century with a stone church and tower. This tower still exists but the church was renovated and restored around 1852 to 1854 when it is thought that the roof was lifted and additional windows added, all the present stained glass windows also date from this time. The restoration was necessary when in 1852 a fire had damaged the nave and chapel. During the restoration the remains of an earlier Norman chapel were found. The church today is a grade 2 listed building which was listed in 1968.
was the chaplain to Charles I of England
and it has been supposed that he attended the king at his execution in 1649. Bradley had been given the living of Castleford and Ackworth by the King but during the time of the Commonwealth of England
this was removed from him and given over to Thomas Birkbeck and Mr H Moorhouse. Bradley had sided with the Royalists in the English Civil War
and is recorded as being part of Sir George Wentworth's
division in the garrison of Pontefract Castle
. The castle had survived three successive sieges before Oliver Cromwell
set up headquarters at Knottingley and bombarded the castle. The castle was the last Royalist stronghold to surrender and only did so on 24 March 1649, two months after the beheading of Charles I
. During the period of the Commonwealth it was reported that Bradley "suffered intensively", his house was looted and "himself, his lady, and all his children turned out of doors to seek their bread in desolate places". A library that he had entrusted to a John Lake of Castleford was also "betrayed into the hands of his enemies." Following the end of the Commonwealth in 1660 the living of Ackworth was restored to him and Bradley became rector of St Cuthberts once more after Thomas Birkbeck was in turn ejected from the rectory. In 1666 he built two Almshouses on the village green for two poor widows and he died on 10 October 1673.
The school was opened by John Fothergill
who was described in the book as an "eminent physician of London and a man of much influence in the Society of Friends." Originally built as a branch of the Foundling Hospital
in London, work started on the building in 1757 and cost around £13,000 to build. The governors of the hospital, which was more accurately called the 'Hospital for the Maintenance and Education of Exposed and Deserted Young Children' had already established branch hospitals in Shrewsbury
, Chester
and Westerham
. Their move to Ackworth was as a result of the contemplation of the "great advantages from having one amongst the active and enterprising people of the northern counties." The hospital eventually closed in 1773 and remained empty for a number of years during which time it seems to have avoided both being turned into a "lunatic asylum" and "being sold and taken down for the materials.". It was on hearing that the building may be "disposed of" that Fothergill
made the purchase of not only the hospital but the 85 acres of surrounding lands for £7,000. The purchase in 1777 was then fully approved by the society of friends in 1778 and established as a school in 1779. Fothergill died in 1780 by which time 80 girls and 150 boys were being taught there.
Of its time as a foundling hospital
, 'A History of Ackworth School' paints an unflattering picture of the conditions within saying "disease and death carried off great numbers annually". Of the causes the book describes "starvation, and even murder, on the part of nurses who had the care of the infants, and of masters to whom the elder children were apprenticed".The book, a history of ackworth school, gives the following passage "disease and death carried off great numbers annually; starvation, and even murder, on the part of nurses who had the care of the infants, and of masters to whom the elder children were apprenticed, added to the mortality and, though the evidence is abundant of the untiring efforts of the directors to care for the children whilst in the hospital, and to protect their rights when they were apprenticed, evils and oppressions, unnumbered and insurmountable, paralyzed their exertions and the establishment was given up.A History of Ackworth School (1853), pages 4 & 5" Children were sent to Ackworth from London and other areas in which there was a branch of the hospital with the children made to work as; "idleness was the parent of vice", or so it was seen by the governors. In 1759 a "woolen manufactory" was established at the hospital with children spinning and weaving cloth which soon became in demand, so much so that in 1762 the profits were £500, a significant sum at the time. In addition to working in the woolen trade, other children worked on the farm and all were taught to mend their own clothes. Whilst at the hospital attempts were made to place the children as 'apprentices' for business owners in the local area. At times the demand for apprentices would be so high, the steward of the hospital, John Hargreaves, would have to write to the London board, asking for more to be sent. The high demand for apprentices in turn led to the checks on the people taking the apprentices being relaxed despite the instruction to ensure that all applicants for apprentices were tested to ensure suitability. As the demand grew and the checks became less "men unsuitable for the trust" were able to obtain credentials who were "treating the children they obtained on the strength of them, with little more with little short of barbarity, and in more than one case murderous cruelty." Some children would be apprenticed out as young as 6 and 7 years old with an apprenticeship initially lasting until the child reached 24 although in 1768 this changed to 21.There were many tales of cruelty of the apprentices after being placed away from the hospital, in 1765 a Mr. Brown of Leeds took 74 girls all of whom were seven years old and set them to work in his cloth business. Of the original 74, 22 died and an inspection revealed that the children were in a "dreadful condition of health" after having to stand up all day so much so that they had become weak in the hips, thighs and knees meaning that they could only "with difficulty crawl over the floor". The sanitary arrangements were described as being in a "shocking condition" and the sleeping arrangements described as "very unfit to refresh those weary limbs that have been kept the whole day to hard labour." The surviving children were taken back to Ackworth. Other examples of cruelty were a tile smith from Sheffield who was indicted for the murder of his apprentice, a boy named Nixon, but found 'not guilty'. In 1771 a William Butterworth was accused of the murder of one of his apprentices, Jemima Dixon after treating them in what was described as an "inhuman" way. 'A History of Ackworth School during its first 100 years' describes the treatment; "He had starved them within little short of their lives, had beaten their heads with shuttles, kicked them in the most brutal of all methods, and had subjected the little murdered one to the most revolting punishments that an utterly malignant nature could devise."A History of Ackworth School during its first 100 years, chapter 1
Following the closure of the foundling hospital in 1773, it was John Fothergill who arranged the purchase in 1777 which turned the building into a school for the Society of Friends. Fothergill was a prominent member of the society who was born in Yorkshire in Wensleydale
, educated in Sedburgh Grammer School and served an apprenticeship as an apothecary in Bradford
. He studied medicine in Edinburgh, graduating in 1736 before moving to London to set up practice. He was a keen botanist and developed an extensive garden at his home at Rooke Hall in Upton. A selection of sketches made of his flowers and plants, approximately 2000 of them, were sold after his death and eventually became the property of the Empress of Russia. Fothergill was also a contempary of Benjamin Franklin
and took a great interest in the relations between England and the American Colonies which were on the verge of war at the time. He had helped establish schools in New York
and Philadelphia and despite never having visited the colonies often saw patients crossing the Atlantic to seek his advice as a physician. His relationship with Franklin was formed as on the eve of conflict Franklin visited Europe to try to find a settlement between the two countries. Fothergill wrote a paper on how the two sides might agree and although this was accepted by Franklin it was rejected by the British government. Fothergill set up Ackworth School with the intention of setting it up as a "boarding school for the education of children whose parents were not rich". He took a great interest in the running of the school often travelling up from London to serve on the committee and to help with expenses before passing away in 1780. A hall built at the school in 1899 with seating for 400 people was named Fothergill Hall.
cuts through the village and the A638 Doncaster to Wakefield road and A628 from Barnsley to Pontefract are the main roads. The underlying geology of the area around High Ackworth comprises grey mud and silt stones associated with the Bolsovian series of rocks from the Upper Carboniferous period. An archaeological survey of the area in 2008 described the soils as "well developed based on a pale orange silty clay natural probably glacially developed outwash upon which has developed a pale grey silty clay subsoil and a silty loam topsoil".
and Hemsworth
. Norse placenames in the region also indicate that this carried on into the period of Scandinavian settlement with places appearing with the name 'Thorpe' which meant a small homestead or a farm. In the Domesday Book of 1086 it noted that Ackworth had a mill and that the land was capable of employing five ploughs. Accounts from 1296 indicated that the mill was still an important part of the community as its value had gone up and in 1341 the 'Inquisitiones Nonarum' noted that the only people living in Ackworth were those working in agriculture. The census of 1831 showed that 'agricultural labourer' was the most common profession in the area with a total of 100 men over the age of 20 being employed in this area. The second most populous occupation was in the field of 'retail and handicrafts' with 90 people employed. There were also 29 people classified as 'farmers employing labourers' and 13 people classified as 'farmers not employing labourers'. In the 1881 census agriculture was still a big employer, the second largest in the area, with 106 men and 1 woman being employed in this way. The largest occupation by this time for men however were those employed in the area of 'workers in various mineral substances'. For women the census showed that the most common occupation was in the field of 'domestic services or offices'.
The first stone quarry in the parish was said to have been opened by John Askew whose initials are said to be inscribed on the lintel of the Masons Arms pub in Moor Top, one of the oldest buildings in the parish. Green (1910), in his book Historical Antiquities of Ackworth, states the quarrying however was being carried out as early as 1611. In 1927 Kellys directory of the West Riding of Yorkshire confirmed that quarrying was still going strong and hinted that the stone was received by a global market saying "At Moor Top and Brackenhill are several large quarries, from which great quantities of stone are sent to all parts of England and abroad." Brackenhill was still described as somewhere where men employed by the stone quarries lived as well as those working in the Hemsworth colliery. The working mens club and institute in Moor Top was built in 1907 and was said to have cost £1,750.
on the Swinton and Knottingley branch of the London, Midland and Scottish and London and North Eastern railways." The Ackworth station was located in Low Ackworth on the road to the village of East Hardwick and closed in 1951. There was also a goods station at Ackworth Moor Top which was opened by the Brackenhill Light Railway in 1914 and closed in 1962. It ran from Brackenhill junction to Hemsworth Colliery and was predominately a goods service which only ran for 3 and a quarter miles. The route can still be seen in places today with the first mile from Brackenhill junction to Cherry Tree Farm still used by railway maintenance road vehicles and the section of the line from Mill Lane to Kinsley Common has been converted into a cycleway called the Tom Dando Way.
, a Quaker
-run boarding school
and day school for children aged between two to eighteen. There are three primary schools which are 'Ackworth Mill Dam junior and infants', 'Bell Lane junior and infants' and 'Ackworth Howard church of England voluntary controlled junior and infants school'. 'Oakfield Park' is a school for young people aged 11–19 who have learning difficulties.
Ackworth is a village and civil parish in the metropolitan borough of Wakefield
, West Yorkshire
, England
, situated between Pontefract
, Barnsley
and Doncaster
on the small River Went
. The village consists of four parts, High Ackworth, Low Ackworth, Ackworth Moortop, and Brackenhill. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 6,493.
, Hemsworth
and Wentworth
as well as Fryston and Allerton. The name was first recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Aceuurde and it is thought it became more formalised to 'Ackworth' in the 1800s.
from Britain. The Romans were active in the area around Ackworth with the nearby town of Castleford
being the location of Lagentium
, a Roman fort. The A639, the Roman road to York
also runs close to modern day Ackworth with a Roman milestone having being found near the junction of the road and Sandy Gate Lane on the parish boundary between Ackworth and Pontefract. In terms of Christianity it has been thought that the first church may have appeared in Ackworth between 750-800 with a well established tradition being that the monks of Lindisfarne
, escaping the Norse invasion, stopped there in around 875 bringing with them the body of Saint Cuthbert. Evidence of Norse settlement can also be found within the local area with place names such as 'Thorpe Audlin' and 'Grimethorpe' possibly descending from the Norse term 'thorpe' meaning a small settlement or a farm.
the Lord of a Manor which was capable of employing five ploughs. His vassal was the 'Humphrey' mentioned in the book who himself owned one and a half ploughs (approx a quarter of the manor) with the rest of the manor being apportioned between two farmers who in turn acted as Humphrys tenants. De lacy himself was a Norman knight who had received the land as a reward for his services to William the Conquerer and who had also built the first earth and timber 'motte and bailey' style castle in nearby Pontefract
. The entry in the Domesday Book suggests that the settlement of Ackworth would have been quite small as it recorded only 14 villagers and two smallholders. However as only the heads of families were recorded the more likely figure in terms of population at this time would be around thirty to forty people.
. The records showed that the Lord now had 240 bondsmen working for him and the value of the mill had gone up. It showed that Adam de Castleford had to pay 10 shillings rent for his land. His wife Isabella would go on to found the Chapel of Our Lady in Ackworth Church in 1333. In 1341 the Inquisitiones Nonarum stated that the only people living in Ackworth were those working in agriculture. It has been speculated that the village cross in the centre of the village was constructed by the same Isabella de Castleford who built the chapel in the church possibly dating the cross at around 1340. The cross itself was listed as a grade 2 building in 1968 with a description of being "late medieval" and describing the construction as being a "medieval shaft with tudor ball on top" and being "prominently sited near junction with Pontefract road".
of 1349, which will have killed many inhabitants. The black death had arrived in southern England in 1348 and by 1350 had killed a third of the population. In nearby Pontefract
it was estimated that around 40% of the population had been killed. A reminder of how communities communicated and traded in spite of plague remains in Ackworth to this day in the form of the Ackworth plague stone although it is thought that the stone dates from yet another outbreak of plague in 1645. Situated at the junction of Sandy Gate Lane on the road into Pontefract, the stone is also a grade 2 listed monument. Plague stones were described as "receptacles for sterilising coins in vineagar, normally at or close to parish boundaries." Indicating that the current location of the plague stone was the outer rim of the parish. The plague in 1645 was said to have killed 153 with the bodies been buried in a 'burial field' "crossed by the footpath from Ackworth to Hundhill." The area had possibly already been used as an area of mass burial after a skirmish earlier in the year between Roundhead
and Royalist
forces as part of the English Civil War
. The bubonic plague of 1645 was not confined to Ackworth, in Leeds over 1300 people were killed and a further 245 were thought to have died 'in and around the Wakefield area' with one theory being that the plague had been brought into the area by soldiers fighting in the Civil War. Another story of how the plague came to Ackworth was retold by Henry Thompson in the book 'A History of Ackworth School in its first 100 years'. He recounts the story of how a popular and well loved monk went to Rome and became "smitten by the plague and died". The monk, from the priory at Nostell would preach at the medieval cross in the centre of the village and was described as a "noble soul with a kindly heart" who was admired by young and old alike. After succumbing to the plague in Rome, his body was brought back and passed through Ackworth at which point "nothing could satisfy the ignorant but faithful love of the old hearers" and the coffin was opened. The village was then stricken with plague and the stone on Castle Syke Hill became "for many months the only contact between them and the outside world". Describing a transaction the book says "upon that stone the Ackworth purchaser dropped his money into a vessel of water, for which, a few hours afterwards, he found his return in merchandise." Of this tale the author comments "we make no idle comment on this history. We tell the tale as it was told to us."
in 1460 and the Battle of Towton
in 1461 were important battles in the Wars of the Roses. In 1489, fours years after the end of the War of the Roses, the new king Henry Tudor
levied a tax which caused an uprising in parts of Yorkshire. Thomas Howard, the Earl of Surrey
, was sent to quash the uprising after the Earl of Northumberland had been killed by the rebels. Howard managed to subdue the uprising and hanged the leaders in York. In 1492 a further uprising occurred in Ackworth of which little is known except that Howard once again subdued the insurgents. A further link to a historical battle could possibly be made with the Battle of Winwaed in 655 between Penda of Mercia
and Oswiu of Northumbria
, King of Berenicia. The battle was mentioned by Bede although the exact location of the battle is not known. Options include Oswestry in Shropshire, Winwick in Lancashire, Whinmoor north east of Leeds and between Wentbridge and Ackworth where the modern day A639, a former roman road, crosses the River Went
. The battle was seen as pivotal in English history in that Penda had been a powerful Pagan king and the victory of the Christian Oswiu could be seen as having effectively ended Anglo Saxon paganism.
The area around Ackworth was also a hotbed for dissent against the Dissolution of the Monasteries
by Henry VIII. A rebellion led by Robert Aske
and styled the Pilgrimage of Grace
was thought to have marched through Ackworth on the way to capturing Pontefract Castle in 1536. They were eventually defeated by an army sent by Henry with the leaders hanged at Tyburn
. amongst the hanged included a Nicholas Tempest of Ackworth. The nearby Priory of St. Oswald at Nostell would later be dissolved in 1540 with the land being bought by Rowland Winn. During the English Civil War
, the area around Ackworth was seen as being strongly Royalist with four divisions of volunteers being raised from Pontefract and the surrounding villages in order to garrison the castle. In 1645, Ackworth was occupied by Roundhead soldiers who caused some damage to the church and who were also responsible for replacing the cross at the top of the medieval cross in the center of the village with the present 'ball' shape which now sits there.
In more recent times the Ackworth war memorial opened in 1999 and commemorates the soldiers from Ackworth who died in the first and second world wars. From 1914-1918
80 soldiers were killed and in the war of 1939-1945
, 40 people lost their lives.
as they journeyed around the country with his body from 875 to 882. The church of St. Cuthbert in the centre of High Ackworth is believed to have taken its name from the time when the monks stopped in the village on their pilgrimage. The original church from the time of Saint Cuthbert and the Domesday Book is believed to have been replaced in the 14th century with a stone church and tower. This tower still exists but the church was renovated and restored around 1852 to 1854 when it is thought that the roof was lifted and additional windows added, all the present stained glass windows also date from this time. The restoration was necessary when in 1852 a fire had damaged the nave and chapel. During the restoration the remains of an earlier Norman chapel were found. The church today is a grade 2 listed building which was listed in 1968.
was the chaplain to Charles I of England
and it has been supposed that he attended the king at his execution in 1649. Bradley had been given the living of Castleford and Ackworth by the King but during the time of the Commonwealth of England
this was removed from him and given over to Thomas Birkbeck and Mr H Moorhouse. Bradley had sided with the Royalists in the English Civil War
and is recorded as being part of Sir George Wentworth's
division in the garrison of Pontefract Castle
. The castle had survived three successive sieges before Oliver Cromwell
set up headquarters at Knottingley and bombarded the castle. The castle was the last Royalist stronghold to surrender and only did so on 24 March 1649, two months after the beheading of Charles I
. During the period of the Commonwealth it was reported that Bradley "suffered intensively", his house was looted and "himself, his lady, and all his children turned out of doors to seek their bread in desolate places". A library that he had entrusted to a John Lake of Castleford was also "betrayed into the hands of his enemies." Following the end of the Commonwealth in 1660 the living of Ackworth was restored to him and Bradley became rector of St Cuthberts once more after Thomas Birkbeck was in turn ejected from the rectory. In 1666 he built two Almshouses on the village green for two poor widows and he died on 10 October 1673.
The school was opened by John Fothergill
who was described in the book as an "eminent physician of London and a man of much influence in the Society of Friends." Originally built as a branch of the Foundling Hospital
in London, work started on the building in 1757 and cost around £13,000 to build. The governors of the hospital, which was more accurately called the 'Hospital for the Maintenance and Education of Exposed and Deserted Young Children' had already established branch hospitals in Shrewsbury
, Chester
and Westerham
. Their move to Ackworth was as a result of the contemplation of the "great advantages from having one amongst the active and enterprising people of the northern counties." The hospital eventually closed in 1773 and remained empty for a number of years during which time it seems to have avoided both being turned into a "lunatic asylum" and "being sold and taken down for the materials.". It was on hearing that the building may be "disposed of" that Fothergill
made the purchase of not only the hospital but the 85 acres of surrounding lands for £7,000. The purchase in 1777 was then fully approved by the society of friends in 1778 and established as a school in 1779. Fothergill died in 1780 by which time 80 girls and 150 boys were being taught there.
Of its time as a foundling hospital
, 'A History of Ackworth School' paints an unflattering picture of the conditions within saying "disease and death carried off great numbers annually". Of the causes the book describes "starvation, and even murder, on the part of nurses who had the care of the infants, and of masters to whom the elder children were apprenticed".The book, a history of ackworth school, gives the following passage "disease and death carried off great numbers annually; starvation, and even murder, on the part of nurses who had the care of the infants, and of masters to whom the elder children were apprenticed, added to the mortality and, though the evidence is abundant of the untiring efforts of the directors to care for the children whilst in the hospital, and to protect their rights when they were apprenticed, evils and oppressions, unnumbered and insurmountable, paralyzed their exertions and the establishment was given up.A History of Ackworth School (1853), pages 4 & 5" Children were sent to Ackworth from London and other areas in which there was a branch of the hospital with the children made to work as; "idleness was the parent of vice", or so it was seen by the governors. In 1759 a "woolen manufactory" was established at the hospital with children spinning and weaving cloth which soon became in demand, so much so that in 1762 the profits were £500, a significant sum at the time. In addition to working in the woolen trade, other children worked on the farm and all were taught to mend their own clothes. Whilst at the hospital attempts were made to place the children as 'apprentices' for business owners in the local area. At times the demand for apprentices would be so high, the steward of the hospital, John Hargreaves, would have to write to the London board, asking for more to be sent. The high demand for apprentices in turn led to the checks on the people taking the apprentices being relaxed despite the instruction to ensure that all applicants for apprentices were tested to ensure suitability. As the demand grew and the checks became less "men unsuitable for the trust" were able to obtain credentials who were "treating the children they obtained on the strength of them, with little more with little short of barbarity, and in more than one case murderous cruelty." Some children would be apprenticed out as young as 6 and 7 years old with an apprenticeship initially lasting until the child reached 24 although in 1768 this changed to 21.There were many tales of cruelty of the apprentices after being placed away from the hospital, in 1765 a Mr. Brown of Leeds took 74 girls all of whom were seven years old and set them to work in his cloth business. Of the original 74, 22 died and an inspection revealed that the children were in a "dreadful condition of health" after having to stand up all day so much so that they had become weak in the hips, thighs and knees meaning that they could only "with difficulty crawl over the floor". The sanitary arrangements were described as being in a "shocking condition" and the sleeping arrangements described as "very unfit to refresh those weary limbs that have been kept the whole day to hard labour." The surviving children were taken back to Ackworth. Other examples of cruelty were a tile smith from Sheffield who was indicted for the murder of his apprentice, a boy named Nixon, but found 'not guilty'. In 1771 a William Butterworth was accused of the murder of one of his apprentices, Jemima Dixon after treating them in what was described as an "inhuman" way. 'A History of Ackworth School during its first 100 years' describes the treatment; "He had starved them within little short of their lives, had beaten their heads with shuttles, kicked them in the most brutal of all methods, and had subjected the little murdered one to the most revolting punishments that an utterly malignant nature could devise."A History of Ackworth School during its first 100 years, chapter 1
Following the closure of the foundling hospital in 1773, it was John Fothergill who arranged the purchase in 1777 which turned the building into a school for the Society of Friends. Fothergill was a prominent member of the society who was born in Yorkshire in Wensleydale
, educated in Sedburgh Grammer School and served an apprenticeship as an apothecary in Bradford
. He studied medicine in Edinburgh, graduating in 1736 before moving to London to set up practice. He was a keen botanist and developed an extensive garden at his home at Rooke Hall in Upton. A selection of sketches made of his flowers and plants, approximately 2000 of them, were sold after his death and eventually became the property of the Empress of Russia. Fothergill was also a contempary of Benjamin Franklin
and took a great interest in the relations between England and the American Colonies which were on the verge of war at the time. He had helped establish schools in New York
and Philadelphia and despite never having visited the colonies often saw patients crossing the Atlantic to seek his advice as a physician. His relationship with Franklin was formed as on the eve of conflict Franklin visited Europe to try to find a settlement between the two countries. Fothergill wrote a paper on how the two sides might agree and although this was accepted by Franklin it was rejected by the British government. Fothergill set up Ackworth School with the intention of setting it up as a "boarding school for the education of children whose parents were not rich". He took a great interest in the running of the school often travelling up from London to serve on the committee and to help with expenses before passing away in 1780. A hall built at the school in 1899 with seating for 400 people was named Fothergill Hall.
cuts through the village and the A638 Doncaster to Wakefield road and A628 from Barnsley to Pontefract are the main roads. The underlying geology of the area around High Ackworth comprises grey mud and silt stones associated with the Bolsovian series of rocks from the Upper Carboniferous period. An archaeological survey of the area in 2008 described the soils as "well developed based on a pale orange silty clay natural probably glacially developed outwash upon which has developed a pale grey silty clay subsoil and a silty loam topsoil".
and Hemsworth
. Norse placenames in the region also indicate that this carried on into the period of Scandinavian settlement with places appearing with the name 'Thorpe' which meant a small homestead or a farm. In the Domesday Book of 1086 it noted that Ackworth had a mill and that the land was capable of employing five ploughs. Accounts from 1296 indicated that the mill was still an important part of the community as its value had gone up and in 1341 the 'Inquisitiones Nonarum' noted that the only people living in Ackworth were those working in agriculture. The census of 1831 showed that 'agricultural labourer' was the most common profession in the area with a total of 100 men over the age of 20 being employed in this area. The second most populous occupation was in the field of 'retail and handicrafts' with 90 people employed. There were also 29 people classified as 'farmers employing labourers' and 13 people classified as 'farmers not employing labourers'. In the 1881 census agriculture was still a big employer, the second largest in the area, with 106 men and 1 woman being employed in this way. The largest occupation by this time for men however were those employed in the area of 'workers in various mineral substances'. For women the census showed that the most common occupation was in the field of 'domestic services or offices'.
The first stone quarry in the parish was said to have been opened by John Askew whose initials are said to be inscribed on the lintel of the Masons Arms pub in Moor Top, one of the oldest buildings in the parish. Green (1910), in his book Historical Antiquities of Ackworth, states the quarrying however was being carried out as early as 1611. In 1927 Kellys directory of the West Riding of Yorkshire confirmed that quarrying was still going strong and hinted that the stone was received by a global market saying "At Moor Top and Brackenhill are several large quarries, from which great quantities of stone are sent to all parts of England and abroad." Brackenhill was still described as somewhere where men employed by the stone quarries lived as well as those working in the Hemsworth colliery. The working mens club and institute in Moor Top was built in 1907 and was said to have cost £1,750.
on the Swinton and Knottingley branch of the London, Midland and Scottish and London and North Eastern railways." The Ackworth station was located in Low Ackworth on the road to the village of East Hardwick and closed in 1951. There was also a goods station at Ackworth Moor Top which was opened by the Brackenhill Light Railway in 1914 and closed in 1962. It ran from Brackenhill junction to Hemsworth Colliery and was predominately a goods service which only ran for 3 and a quarter miles. The route can still be seen in places today with the first mile from Brackenhill junction to Cherry Tree Farm still used by railway maintenance road vehicles and the section of the line from Mill Lane to Kinsley Common has been converted into a cycleway called the Tom Dando Way.
, a Quaker
-run boarding school
and day school for children aged between two to eighteen. There are three primary schools which are 'Ackworth Mill Dam junior and infants', 'Bell Lane junior and infants' and 'Ackworth Howard church of England voluntary controlled junior and infants school'. 'Oakfield Park' is a school for young people aged 11–19 who have learning difficulties.
Ackworth is a village and civil parish in the metropolitan borough of Wakefield
, West Yorkshire
, England
, situated between Pontefract
, Barnsley
and Doncaster
on the small River Went
. The village consists of four parts, High Ackworth, Low Ackworth, Ackworth Moortop, and Brackenhill. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 6,493.
, Hemsworth
and Wentworth
as well as Fryston and Allerton. The name was first recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Aceuurde and it is thought it became more formalised to 'Ackworth' in the 1800s.
from Britain. The Romans were active in the area around Ackworth with the nearby town of Castleford
being the location of Lagentium
, a Roman fort. The A639, the Roman road to York
also runs close to modern day Ackworth with a Roman milestone having being found near the junction of the road and Sandy Gate Lane on the parish boundary between Ackworth and Pontefract. In terms of Christianity it has been thought that the first church may have appeared in Ackworth between 750-800 with a well established tradition being that the monks of Lindisfarne
, escaping the Norse invasion, stopped there in around 875 bringing with them the body of Saint Cuthbert. Evidence of Norse settlement can also be found within the local area with place names such as 'Thorpe Audlin' and 'Grimethorpe' possibly descending from the Norse term 'thorpe' meaning a small settlement or a farm.
the Lord of a Manor which was capable of employing five ploughs. His vassal was the 'Humphrey' mentioned in the book who himself owned one and a half ploughs (approx a quarter of the manor) with the rest of the manor being apportioned between two farmers who in turn acted as Humphrys tenants. De lacy himself was a Norman knight who had received the land as a reward for his services to William the Conquerer and who had also built the first earth and timber 'motte and bailey' style castle in nearby Pontefract
. The entry in the Domesday Book suggests that the settlement of Ackworth would have been quite small as it recorded only 14 villagers and two smallholders. However as only the heads of families were recorded the more likely figure in terms of population at this time would be around thirty to forty people.
. The records showed that the Lord now had 240 bondsmen working for him and the value of the mill had gone up. It showed that Adam de Castleford had to pay 10 shillings rent for his land. His wife Isabella would go on to found the Chapel of Our Lady in Ackworth Church in 1333. In 1341 the Inquisitiones Nonarum stated that the only people living in Ackworth were those working in agriculture. It has been speculated that the village cross in the centre of the village was constructed by the same Isabella de Castleford who built the chapel in the church possibly dating the cross at around 1340. The cross itself was listed as a grade 2 building in 1968 with a description of being "late medieval" and describing the construction as being a "medieval shaft with tudor ball on top" and being "prominently sited near junction with Pontefract road".
of 1349, which will have killed many inhabitants. The black death had arrived in southern England in 1348 and by 1350 had killed a third of the population. In nearby Pontefract
it was estimated that around 40% of the population had been killed. A reminder of how communities communicated and traded in spite of plague remains in Ackworth to this day in the form of the Ackworth plague stone although it is thought that the stone dates from yet another outbreak of plague in 1645. Situated at the junction of Sandy Gate Lane on the road into Pontefract, the stone is also a grade 2 listed monument. Plague stones were described as "receptacles for sterilising coins in vineagar, normally at or close to parish boundaries." Indicating that the current location of the plague stone was the outer rim of the parish. The plague in 1645 was said to have killed 153 with the bodies been buried in a 'burial field' "crossed by the footpath from Ackworth to Hundhill." The area had possibly already been used as an area of mass burial after a skirmish earlier in the year between Roundhead
and Royalist
forces as part of the English Civil War
. The bubonic plague of 1645 was not confined to Ackworth, in Leeds over 1300 people were killed and a further 245 were thought to have died 'in and around the Wakefield area' with one theory being that the plague had been brought into the area by soldiers fighting in the Civil War. Another story of how the plague came to Ackworth was retold by Henry Thompson in the book 'A History of Ackworth School in its first 100 years'. He recounts the story of how a popular and well loved monk went to Rome and became "smitten by the plague and died". The monk, from the priory at Nostell would preach at the medieval cross in the centre of the village and was described as a "noble soul with a kindly heart" who was admired by young and old alike. After succumbing to the plague in Rome, his body was brought back and passed through Ackworth at which point "nothing could satisfy the ignorant but faithful love of the old hearers" and the coffin was opened. The village was then stricken with plague and the stone on Castle Syke Hill became "for many months the only contact between them and the outside world". Describing a transaction the book says "upon that stone the Ackworth purchaser dropped his money into a vessel of water, for which, a few hours afterwards, he found his return in merchandise." Of this tale the author comments "we make no idle comment on this history. We tell the tale as it was told to us."
in 1460 and the Battle of Towton
in 1461 were important battles in the Wars of the Roses. In 1489, fours years after the end of the War of the Roses, the new king Henry Tudor
levied a tax which caused an uprising in parts of Yorkshire. Thomas Howard, the Earl of Surrey
, was sent to quash the uprising after the Earl of Northumberland had been killed by the rebels. Howard managed to subdue the uprising and hanged the leaders in York. In 1492 a further uprising occurred in Ackworth of which little is known except that Howard once again subdued the insurgents. A further link to a historical battle could possibly be made with the Battle of Winwaed in 655 between Penda of Mercia
and Oswiu of Northumbria
, King of Berenicia. The battle was mentioned by Bede although the exact location of the battle is not known. Options include Oswestry in Shropshire, Winwick in Lancashire, Whinmoor north east of Leeds and between Wentbridge and Ackworth where the modern day A639, a former roman road, crosses the River Went
. The battle was seen as pivotal in English history in that Penda had been a powerful Pagan king and the victory of the Christian Oswiu could be seen as having effectively ended Anglo Saxon paganism.
The area around Ackworth was also a hotbed for dissent against the Dissolution of the Monasteries
by Henry VIII. A rebellion led by Robert Aske
and styled the Pilgrimage of Grace
was thought to have marched through Ackworth on the way to capturing Pontefract Castle in 1536. They were eventually defeated by an army sent by Henry with the leaders hanged at Tyburn
. amongst the hanged included a Nicholas Tempest of Ackworth. The nearby Priory of St. Oswald at Nostell would later be dissolved in 1540 with the land being bought by Rowland Winn. During the English Civil War
, the area around Ackworth was seen as being strongly Royalist with four divisions of volunteers being raised from Pontefract and the surrounding villages in order to garrison the castle. In 1645, Ackworth was occupied by Roundhead soldiers who caused some damage to the church and who were also responsible for replacing the cross at the top of the medieval cross in the center of the village with the present 'ball' shape which now sits there.
In more recent times the Ackworth war memorial opened in 1999 and commemorates the soldiers from Ackworth who died in the first and second world wars. From 1914-1918
80 soldiers were killed and in the war of 1939-1945
, 40 people lost their lives.
as they journeyed around the country with his body from 875 to 882. The church of St. Cuthbert in the centre of High Ackworth is believed to have taken its name from the time when the monks stopped in the village on their pilgrimage. The original church from the time of Saint Cuthbert and the Domesday Book is believed to have been replaced in the 14th century with a stone church and tower. This tower still exists but the church was renovated and restored around 1852 to 1854 when it is thought that the roof was lifted and additional windows added, all the present stained glass windows also date from this time. The restoration was necessary when in 1852 a fire had damaged the nave and chapel. During the restoration the remains of an earlier Norman chapel were found. The church today is a grade 2 listed building which was listed in 1968.
was the chaplain to Charles I of England
and it has been supposed that he attended the king at his execution in 1649. Bradley had been given the living of Castleford and Ackworth by the King but during the time of the Commonwealth of England
this was removed from him and given over to Thomas Birkbeck and Mr H Moorhouse. Bradley had sided with the Royalists in the English Civil War
and is recorded as being part of Sir George Wentworth's
division in the garrison of Pontefract Castle
. The castle had survived three successive sieges before Oliver Cromwell
set up headquarters at Knottingley and bombarded the castle. The castle was the last Royalist stronghold to surrender and only did so on 24 March 1649, two months after the beheading of Charles I
. During the period of the Commonwealth it was reported that Bradley "suffered intensively", his house was looted and "himself, his lady, and all his children turned out of doors to seek their bread in desolate places". A library that he had entrusted to a John Lake of Castleford was also "betrayed into the hands of his enemies." Following the end of the Commonwealth in 1660 the living of Ackworth was restored to him and Bradley became rector of St Cuthberts once more after Thomas Birkbeck was in turn ejected from the rectory. In 1666 he built two Almshouses on the village green for two poor widows and he died on 10 October 1673.
The school was opened by John Fothergill
who was described in the book as an "eminent physician of London and a man of much influence in the Society of Friends." Originally built as a branch of the Foundling Hospital
in London, work started on the building in 1757 and cost around £13,000 to build. The governors of the hospital, which was more accurately called the 'Hospital for the Maintenance and Education of Exposed and Deserted Young Children' had already established branch hospitals in Shrewsbury
, Chester
and Westerham
. Their move to Ackworth was as a result of the contemplation of the "great advantages from having one amongst the active and enterprising people of the northern counties." The hospital eventually closed in 1773 and remained empty for a number of years during which time it seems to have avoided both being turned into a "lunatic asylum" and "being sold and taken down for the materials.". It was on hearing that the building may be "disposed of" that Fothergill
made the purchase of not only the hospital but the 85 acres of surrounding lands for £7,000. The purchase in 1777 was then fully approved by the society of friends in 1778 and established as a school in 1779. Fothergill died in 1780 by which time 80 girls and 150 boys were being taught there.
Of its time as a foundling hospital
, 'A History of Ackworth School' paints an unflattering picture of the conditions within saying "disease and death carried off great numbers annually". Of the causes the book describes "starvation, and even murder, on the part of nurses who had the care of the infants, and of masters to whom the elder children were apprenticed".The book, a history of ackworth school, gives the following passage "disease and death carried off great numbers annually; starvation, and even murder, on the part of nurses who had the care of the infants, and of masters to whom the elder children were apprenticed, added to the mortality and, though the evidence is abundant of the untiring efforts of the directors to care for the children whilst in the hospital, and to protect their rights when they were apprenticed, evils and oppressions, unnumbered and insurmountable, paralyzed their exertions and the establishment was given up.A History of Ackworth School (1853), pages 4 & 5" Children were sent to Ackworth from London and other areas in which there was a branch of the hospital with the children made to work as; "idleness was the parent of vice", or so it was seen by the governors. In 1759 a "woolen manufactory" was established at the hospital with children spinning and weaving cloth which soon became in demand, so much so that in 1762 the profits were £500, a significant sum at the time. In addition to working in the woolen trade, other children worked on the farm and all were taught to mend their own clothes. Whilst at the hospital attempts were made to place the children as 'apprentices' for business owners in the local area. At times the demand for apprentices would be so high, the steward of the hospital, John Hargreaves, would have to write to the London board, asking for more to be sent. The high demand for apprentices in turn led to the checks on the people taking the apprentices being relaxed despite the instruction to ensure that all applicants for apprentices were tested to ensure suitability. As the demand grew and the checks became less "men unsuitable for the trust" were able to obtain credentials who were "treating the children they obtained on the strength of them, with little more with little short of barbarity, and in more than one case murderous cruelty." Some children would be apprenticed out as young as 6 and 7 years old with an apprenticeship initially lasting until the child reached 24 although in 1768 this changed to 21.There were many tales of cruelty of the apprentices after being placed away from the hospital, in 1765 a Mr. Brown of Leeds took 74 girls all of whom were seven years old and set them to work in his cloth business. Of the original 74, 22 died and an inspection revealed that the children were in a "dreadful condition of health" after having to stand up all day so much so that they had become weak in the hips, thighs and knees meaning that they could only "with difficulty crawl over the floor". The sanitary arrangements were described as being in a "shocking condition" and the sleeping arrangements described as "very unfit to refresh those weary limbs that have been kept the whole day to hard labour." The surviving children were taken back to Ackworth. Other examples of cruelty were a tile smith from Sheffield who was indicted for the murder of his apprentice, a boy named Nixon, but found 'not guilty'. In 1771 a William Butterworth was accused of the murder of one of his apprentices, Jemima Dixon after treating them in what was described as an "inhuman" way. 'A History of Ackworth School during its first 100 years' describes the treatment; "He had starved them within little short of their lives, had beaten their heads with shuttles, kicked them in the most brutal of all methods, and had subjected the little murdered one to the most revolting punishments that an utterly malignant nature could devise."A History of Ackworth School during its first 100 years, chapter 1
Following the closure of the foundling hospital in 1773, it was John Fothergill who arranged the purchase in 1777 which turned the building into a school for the Society of Friends. Fothergill was a prominent member of the society who was born in Yorkshire in Wensleydale
, educated in Sedburgh Grammer School and served an apprenticeship as an apothecary in Bradford
. He studied medicine in Edinburgh, graduating in 1736 before moving to London to set up practice. He was a keen botanist and developed an extensive garden at his home at Rooke Hall in Upton. A selection of sketches made of his flowers and plants, approximately 2000 of them, were sold after his death and eventually became the property of the Empress of Russia. Fothergill was also a contempary of Benjamin Franklin
and took a great interest in the relations between England and the American Colonies which were on the verge of war at the time. He had helped establish schools in New York
and Philadelphia and despite never having visited the colonies often saw patients crossing the Atlantic to seek his advice as a physician. His relationship with Franklin was formed as on the eve of conflict Franklin visited Europe to try to find a settlement between the two countries. Fothergill wrote a paper on how the two sides might agree and although this was accepted by Franklin it was rejected by the British government. Fothergill set up Ackworth School with the intention of setting it up as a "boarding school for the education of children whose parents were not rich". He took a great interest in the running of the school often travelling up from London to serve on the committee and to help with expenses before passing away in 1780. A hall built at the school in 1899 with seating for 400 people was named Fothergill Hall.
cuts through the village and the A638 Doncaster to Wakefield road and A628 from Barnsley to Pontefract are the main roads. The underlying geology of the area around High Ackworth comprises grey mud and silt stones associated with the Bolsovian series of rocks from the Upper Carboniferous period. An archaeological survey of the area in 2008 described the soils as "well developed based on a pale orange silty clay natural probably glacially developed outwash upon which has developed a pale grey silty clay subsoil and a silty loam topsoil".
and Hemsworth
. Norse placenames in the region also indicate that this carried on into the period of Scandinavian settlement with places appearing with the name 'Thorpe' which meant a small homestead or a farm. In the Domesday Book of 1086 it noted that Ackworth had a mill and that the land was capable of employing five ploughs. Accounts from 1296 indicated that the mill was still an important part of the community as its value had gone up and in 1341 the 'Inquisitiones Nonarum' noted that the only people living in Ackworth were those working in agriculture. The census of 1831 showed that 'agricultural labourer' was the most common profession in the area with a total of 100 men over the age of 20 being employed in this area. The second most populous occupation was in the field of 'retail and handicrafts' with 90 people employed. There were also 29 people classified as 'farmers employing labourers' and 13 people classified as 'farmers not employing labourers'. In the 1881 census agriculture was still a big employer, the second largest in the area, with 106 men and 1 woman being employed in this way. The largest occupation by this time for men however were those employed in the area of 'workers in various mineral substances'. For women the census showed that the most common occupation was in the field of 'domestic services or offices'.
The first stone quarry in the parish was said to have been opened by John Askew whose initials are said to be inscribed on the lintel of the Masons Arms pub in Moor Top, one of the oldest buildings in the parish. Green (1910), in his book Historical Antiquities of Ackworth, states the quarrying however was being carried out as early as 1611. In 1927 Kellys directory of the West Riding of Yorkshire confirmed that quarrying was still going strong and hinted that the stone was received by a global market saying "At Moor Top and Brackenhill are several large quarries, from which great quantities of stone are sent to all parts of England and abroad." Brackenhill was still described as somewhere where men employed by the stone quarries lived as well as those working in the Hemsworth colliery. The working mens club and institute in Moor Top was built in 1907 and was said to have cost £1,750.
on the Swinton and Knottingley branch of the London, Midland and Scottish and London and North Eastern railways." The Ackworth station was located in Low Ackworth on the road to the village of East Hardwick and closed in 1951. There was also a goods station at Ackworth Moor Top which was opened by the Brackenhill Light Railway in 1914 and closed in 1962. It ran from Brackenhill junction to Hemsworth Colliery and was predominately a goods service which only ran for 3 and a quarter miles. The route can still be seen in places today with the first mile from Brackenhill junction to Cherry Tree Farm still used by railway maintenance road vehicles and the section of the line from Mill Lane to Kinsley Common has been converted into a cycleway called the Tom Dando Way.
, a Quaker
-run boarding school
and day school for children aged between two to eighteen. There are three primary schools which are 'Ackworth Mill Dam junior and infants', 'Bell Lane junior and infants' and 'Ackworth Howard church of England voluntary controlled junior and infants school'. 'Oakfield Park' is a school for young people aged 11–19 who have learning difficulties.
and England fast bowler, Graham Stevenson
, was born in Ackworth. John Gully
, the pugilist, horseracer and Member of Parliament
, is buried at High Ackworth in his private burial ground. Luke Howard
, amateur meteorologist
and namer of the clouds, lived at Ackworth Court. His daughter, Rachel, founded the Howard School, behind which is a Plymouth Brethren
burial ground. Theodore Kitching
, Secretary to General
William Booth
and a Commissioner in The Salvation Army
, was born in Ackworth in 1866. Dave Cooper
and Graham Bilbrough, former members of the 1970s TV and chart group Child
, are residents of Ackworth.
City of Wakefield
The City of Wakefield is a local government district of West Yorkshire, England, with the status of a city and metropolitan borough. Wakefield is the district's administrative centre. The district includes the "Five Towns" of Normanton, Pontefract, Featherstone, Castleford and Knottingley. Other...
, 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...
, situated between Pontefract
Pontefract
Pontefract is an historic market town in West Yorkshire, England. Traditionally in the West Riding, near the A1 , the M62 motorway and Castleford. It is one of the five towns in the metropolitan borough of the City of Wakefield and has a population of 28,250...
, 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...
and Doncaster
Doncaster
Doncaster is a town in South Yorkshire, England, and the principal settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster. The town is about from Sheffield and is popularly referred to as "Donny"...
on the small River Went
River Went
The River Went is a river in Yorkshire, England. It rises close to Featherstone and flows eastward, joining the River Don at Reedholme Common.A possible site of the Battle of Winwaed is believed to be located somewhere along the valley of the Went.-Route:...
. The village consists of four parts, High Ackworth, Low Ackworth, Ackworth Moortop, and Brackenhill. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 6,493.
Toponymy
The origins of the name of the village are unclear although it is thought that the name may have derived from one of two sources; the first from the Anglo Saxon words 'Ake' or 'Aken' meaning 'oak' and 'uurt' with the word 'worth' meaning an enclosure or homestead; the second is that it could derive from the Anglo Saxon name 'Acca' which when added to the word 'worth' could mean 'Acca's worth' or 'Acca's enclosure'. A number of place names around the area show that the Anglo Saxons had influence in the region. Words such as 'worth' and also 'tun', meaning an enclosure or farmstead, are repeatedly found in place names around the area such as BadsworthBadsworth
Badsworth is a village and civil parish in the City of Wakefield metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 583. The village is located south of Pontefract....
, Hemsworth
Hemsworth
Hemsworth is a small town and civil parish on the edge of West Yorkshire, England. It forms part of the City of Wakefield, and has a population of 13,311....
and Wentworth
Wentworth
-People:* Baron Wentworth , the Wentworth peerage, several men and women.* D'Arcy Wentworth , surgeon in the early days of Sydney, Australia, and father of William Charles Wentworth I....
as well as Fryston and Allerton. The name was first recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Aceuurde and it is thought it became more formalised to 'Ackworth' in the 1800s.
Early history
Considering the Anglo Saxon origins of the name, the area around Ackworth could have been settled in around 500-600 by settlers from modern day Denmark, Germany and Holland following the departure of the RomansRoman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
from Britain. The Romans were active in the area around Ackworth with the nearby town of 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...
being the location of Lagentium
Lagentium
Lagentium or Legiolum was the Roman name for the fort and surrounding civilian settlement which was built around the year 74 by the Roman Empire. The English town of Castleford, West Yorkshire, is now built on what was the fort....
, a Roman fort. The A639, the Roman road to York
York
York is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence...
also runs close to modern day Ackworth with a Roman milestone having being found near the junction of the road and Sandy Gate Lane on the parish boundary between Ackworth and Pontefract. In terms of Christianity it has been thought that the first church may have appeared in Ackworth between 750-800 with a well established tradition being that the monks of Lindisfarne
Lindisfarne
Lindisfarne is a tidal island off the north-east coast of England. It is also known as Holy Island and constitutes a civil parish in Northumberland...
, escaping the Norse invasion, stopped there in around 875 bringing with them the body of Saint Cuthbert. Evidence of Norse settlement can also be found within the local area with place names such as 'Thorpe Audlin' and 'Grimethorpe' possibly descending from the Norse term 'thorpe' meaning a small settlement or a farm.
Domesday Book
The first mention of the village can be found in the Domesday Book of 1086 which says "Manor in Ackworth. Erdulf & Osulf have six carucates of land to be taxed, where there might be five ploughs. Humphry now holds it of Ilbert. [Humphry] himself has there one plough and a half, and fourteen villains, and two boors. There is a Church there, and priest; one mill, of sixteen pence. Value in King Edward's time four pounds, now three pounds. Domesday Book 107. Land of Ilbert de Lacy" Ilbert de Lacy was according to the Domesday BookDomesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
the Lord of a Manor which was capable of employing five ploughs. His vassal was the 'Humphrey' mentioned in the book who himself owned one and a half ploughs (approx a quarter of the manor) with the rest of the manor being apportioned between two farmers who in turn acted as Humphrys tenants. De lacy himself was a Norman knight who had received the land as a reward for his services to William the Conquerer and who had also built the first earth and timber 'motte and bailey' style castle in nearby Pontefract
Pontefract Castle
Pontefract Castle is a castle in the town of Pontefract, in the City of Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England. It was the site of the demise of Richard II of England, and later the place of a series of famous sieges during the English Civil War-History:...
. The entry in the Domesday Book suggests that the settlement of Ackworth would have been quite small as it recorded only 14 villagers and two smallholders. However as only the heads of families were recorded the more likely figure in terms of population at this time would be around thirty to forty people.
Ackworth in the middle ages
Estate accounts for 1296 showed that Ackworth had developed in the time since the Domesday BookDomesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
. The records showed that the Lord now had 240 bondsmen working for him and the value of the mill had gone up. It showed that Adam de Castleford had to pay 10 shillings rent for his land. His wife Isabella would go on to found the Chapel of Our Lady in Ackworth Church in 1333. In 1341 the Inquisitiones Nonarum stated that the only people living in Ackworth were those working in agriculture. It has been speculated that the village cross in the centre of the village was constructed by the same Isabella de Castleford who built the chapel in the church possibly dating the cross at around 1340. The cross itself was listed as a grade 2 building in 1968 with a description of being "late medieval" and describing the construction as being a "medieval shaft with tudor ball on top" and being "prominently sited near junction with Pontefract road".
The Black Death and Bubonic Plague
One reason given for the construction of the cross is that it was built as a memorial to a plague, possibly the black deathBlack Death
The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350. Of several competing theories, the dominant explanation for the Black Death is the plague theory, which attributes the outbreak to the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Thought to have...
of 1349, which will have killed many inhabitants. The black death had arrived in southern England in 1348 and by 1350 had killed a third of the population. In nearby Pontefract
Pontefract
Pontefract is an historic market town in West Yorkshire, England. Traditionally in the West Riding, near the A1 , the M62 motorway and Castleford. It is one of the five towns in the metropolitan borough of the City of Wakefield and has a population of 28,250...
it was estimated that around 40% of the population had been killed. A reminder of how communities communicated and traded in spite of plague remains in Ackworth to this day in the form of the Ackworth plague stone although it is thought that the stone dates from yet another outbreak of plague in 1645. Situated at the junction of Sandy Gate Lane on the road into Pontefract, the stone is also a grade 2 listed monument. Plague stones were described as "receptacles for sterilising coins in vineagar, normally at or close to parish boundaries." Indicating that the current location of the plague stone was the outer rim of the parish. The plague in 1645 was said to have killed 153 with the bodies been buried in a 'burial field' "crossed by the footpath from Ackworth to Hundhill." The area had possibly already been used as an area of mass burial after a skirmish earlier in the year between Roundhead
Roundhead
"Roundhead" was the nickname given to the supporters of the Parliament during the English Civil War. Also known as Parliamentarians, they fought against King Charles I and his supporters, the Cavaliers , who claimed absolute power and the divine right of kings...
and Royalist
Cavalier
Cavalier was the name used by Parliamentarians for a Royalist supporter of King Charles I and son Charles II during the English Civil War, the Interregnum, and the Restoration...
forces as part of the English Civil War
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
. The bubonic plague of 1645 was not confined to Ackworth, in Leeds over 1300 people were killed and a further 245 were thought to have died 'in and around the Wakefield area' with one theory being that the plague had been brought into the area by soldiers fighting in the Civil War. Another story of how the plague came to Ackworth was retold by Henry Thompson in the book 'A History of Ackworth School in its first 100 years'. He recounts the story of how a popular and well loved monk went to Rome and became "smitten by the plague and died". The monk, from the priory at Nostell would preach at the medieval cross in the centre of the village and was described as a "noble soul with a kindly heart" who was admired by young and old alike. After succumbing to the plague in Rome, his body was brought back and passed through Ackworth at which point "nothing could satisfy the ignorant but faithful love of the old hearers" and the coffin was opened. The village was then stricken with plague and the stone on Castle Syke Hill became "for many months the only contact between them and the outside world". Describing a transaction the book says "upon that stone the Ackworth purchaser dropped his money into a vessel of water, for which, a few hours afterwards, he found his return in merchandise." Of this tale the author comments "we make no idle comment on this history. We tell the tale as it was told to us."
Battles and conflicts
The area around Ackworth has been the scene for a number of historically important battles, the Battle of WakefieldBattle of Wakefield
The Battle of Wakefield took place at Sandal Magna near Wakefield, in West Yorkshire in Northern England, on 30 December 1460. It was a major battle of the Wars of the Roses...
in 1460 and the Battle of Towton
Battle of Towton
In 1461, England was in the sixth year of the Wars of the Roses, a series of civil wars between the Houses of York and Lancaster over the English throne. The Lancastrians backed the reigning King of England, Henry VI, an indecisive man who suffered bouts of madness...
in 1461 were important battles in the Wars of the Roses. In 1489, fours years after the end of the War of the Roses, the new king Henry Tudor
Henry VII of England
Henry VII was King of England and Lord of Ireland from his seizing the crown on 22 August 1485 until his death on 21 April 1509, as the first monarch of the House of Tudor....
levied a tax which caused an uprising in parts of Yorkshire. Thomas Howard, the Earl of Surrey
Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk
Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk, KG, Earl Marshal , styled Earl of Surrey from 1483 to 1514, was the only son of John Howard, 1st Duke of Norfolk by his first wife, Katherine Moleyns...
, was sent to quash the uprising after the Earl of Northumberland had been killed by the rebels. Howard managed to subdue the uprising and hanged the leaders in York. In 1492 a further uprising occurred in Ackworth of which little is known except that Howard once again subdued the insurgents. A further link to a historical battle could possibly be made with the Battle of Winwaed in 655 between Penda of Mercia
Penda of Mercia
Penda was a 7th-century King of Mercia, the Anglo-Saxon kingdom in what is today the English Midlands. A pagan at a time when Christianity was taking hold in many of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, Penda took over the Severn Valley in 628 following the Battle of Cirencester before participating in the...
and Oswiu of Northumbria
Oswiu of Northumbria
Oswiu , also known as Oswy or Oswig , was a King of Bernicia. His father, Æthelfrith of Bernicia, was killed in battle, fighting against Rædwald, King of the East Angles and Edwin of Deira at the River Idle in 616...
, King of Berenicia. The battle was mentioned by Bede although the exact location of the battle is not known. Options include Oswestry in Shropshire, Winwick in Lancashire, Whinmoor north east of Leeds and between Wentbridge and Ackworth where the modern day A639, a former roman road, crosses the River Went
River Went
The River Went is a river in Yorkshire, England. It rises close to Featherstone and flows eastward, joining the River Don at Reedholme Common.A possible site of the Battle of Winwaed is believed to be located somewhere along the valley of the Went.-Route:...
. The battle was seen as pivotal in English history in that Penda had been a powerful Pagan king and the victory of the Christian Oswiu could be seen as having effectively ended Anglo Saxon paganism.
The area around Ackworth was also a hotbed for dissent against the Dissolution of the Monasteries
Dissolution of the Monasteries
The Dissolution of the Monasteries, sometimes referred to as the Suppression of the Monasteries, was the set of administrative and legal processes between 1536 and 1541 by which Henry VIII disbanded monasteries, priories, convents and friaries in England, Wales and Ireland; appropriated their...
by Henry VIII. A rebellion led by Robert Aske
Robert Aske (political leader)
Robert Aske was an English lawyer who became the leader of rebellion in York. He led the Pilgrimage of Grace in 1536 and was executed by Henry VIII for treason in 1537.-Biography:...
and styled the Pilgrimage of Grace
Pilgrimage of Grace
The Pilgrimage of Grace was a popular rising in York, Yorkshire during 1536, in protest against Henry VIII's break with the Roman Catholic Church and the Dissolution of the Monasteries, as well as other specific political, social and economic grievances. It was done in action against Thomas Cromwell...
was thought to have marched through Ackworth on the way to capturing Pontefract Castle in 1536. They were eventually defeated by an army sent by Henry with the leaders hanged at Tyburn
Tyburn
Tyburn is a former village just outside the then boundaries of London that was best known as a place of public execution.Tyburn may also refer to:* Tyburn , river and historical water source in London...
. amongst the hanged included a Nicholas Tempest of Ackworth. The nearby Priory of St. Oswald at Nostell would later be dissolved in 1540 with the land being bought by Rowland Winn. During the English Civil War
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
, the area around Ackworth was seen as being strongly Royalist with four divisions of volunteers being raised from Pontefract and the surrounding villages in order to garrison the castle. In 1645, Ackworth was occupied by Roundhead soldiers who caused some damage to the church and who were also responsible for replacing the cross at the top of the medieval cross in the center of the village with the present 'ball' shape which now sits there.
In more recent times the Ackworth war memorial opened in 1999 and commemorates the soldiers from Ackworth who died in the first and second world wars. From 1914-1918
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
80 soldiers were killed and in the war of 1939-1945
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, 40 people lost their lives.
The Church of St. Cuthbert
The first recorded mention of a church in Ackworth was made in the Domesday Book of 1086 when it noted "There is a Church there, and priest." Prior to this mention it is believed that there has been a church in Ackworth from around the year 750. Ackworth is noted in the porch of a church in Durham as been one of the places where the body of Saint Cuthbert was taken by monks from LindisfarneLindisfarne
Lindisfarne is a tidal island off the north-east coast of England. It is also known as Holy Island and constitutes a civil parish in Northumberland...
as they journeyed around the country with his body from 875 to 882. The church of St. Cuthbert in the centre of High Ackworth is believed to have taken its name from the time when the monks stopped in the village on their pilgrimage. The original church from the time of Saint Cuthbert and the Domesday Book is believed to have been replaced in the 14th century with a stone church and tower. This tower still exists but the church was renovated and restored around 1852 to 1854 when it is thought that the roof was lifted and additional windows added, all the present stained glass windows also date from this time. The restoration was necessary when in 1852 a fire had damaged the nave and chapel. During the restoration the remains of an earlier Norman chapel were found. The church today is a grade 2 listed building which was listed in 1968.
Thomas Bradley
Upon entering the church of St Cuthbert there is a stone font which bears a Latin inscription which when translated reads "Thomas Bradley D.D. Rector. H A. and T C, Churchwardens. This font, thrown down in the war of the Fanatics, was set up again in the year 1663." Thomas BradleyThomas Bradley (priest)
Thomas Bradley was born in 1596 or 1597, the son of Henry Bradley of Wokingham in Berkshire and his wife, Barbara daughter of Walter Lane of Reading in the same county. He was educated at Exeter College, Oxford and was admitted to the degree of Doctor of Divinity...
was the chaplain to Charles I of England
Charles I of England
Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...
and it has been supposed that he attended the king at his execution in 1649. Bradley had been given the living of Castleford and Ackworth by the King but during the time of the Commonwealth of England
Commonwealth of England
The Commonwealth of England was the republic which ruled first England, and then Ireland and Scotland from 1649 to 1660. Between 1653–1659 it was known as the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland...
this was removed from him and given over to Thomas Birkbeck and Mr H Moorhouse. Bradley had sided with the Royalists in the English Civil War
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
and is recorded as being part of Sir George Wentworth's
George Wentworth (of Woolley)
Sir George Wentworth was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1640 to 1642. He fought for the Royalist army in the English Civil War....
division in the garrison of Pontefract Castle
Pontefract Castle
Pontefract Castle is a castle in the town of Pontefract, in the City of Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England. It was the site of the demise of Richard II of England, and later the place of a series of famous sieges during the English Civil War-History:...
. The castle had survived three successive sieges before Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....
set up headquarters at Knottingley and bombarded the castle. The castle was the last Royalist stronghold to surrender and only did so on 24 March 1649, two months after the beheading of Charles I
Charles I of England
Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...
. During the period of the Commonwealth it was reported that Bradley "suffered intensively", his house was looted and "himself, his lady, and all his children turned out of doors to seek their bread in desolate places". A library that he had entrusted to a John Lake of Castleford was also "betrayed into the hands of his enemies." Following the end of the Commonwealth in 1660 the living of Ackworth was restored to him and Bradley became rector of St Cuthberts once more after Thomas Birkbeck was in turn ejected from the rectory. In 1666 he built two Almshouses on the village green for two poor widows and he died on 10 October 1673.
Ackworth School and the Society of Friends
In the book 'A History of Ackworth School', written in 1853, Ackworth was described as a "neat agricultural village, situate(d) about three miles from Pontefract, and closely bordering on the great Yorkshire manufactories". When further describing the area, the book places great importance on the location of the school to the village saying; "It is so completely removed from any great line of road, either of the old system or the new, that but for the world-wide celebrity it has obtained from the Society of Friends from it's association with their school, it is probable that, at least as it regards them, it would have slumbered in undisturbed repose amidst the well cultivated lands by which it is surrounded."The school was opened by John Fothergill
John Fothergill (physician)
John Fothergill FRS was an English physician, plant collector, philanthropist and Quaker.- Life and work :...
who was described in the book as an "eminent physician of London and a man of much influence in the Society of Friends." Originally built as a branch of the Foundling Hospital
Foundling Hospital
The Foundling Hospital in London, England was founded in 1741 by the philanthropic sea captain Thomas Coram. It was a children's home established for the "education and maintenance of exposed and deserted young children." The word "hospital" was used in a more general sense than it is today, simply...
in London, work started on the building in 1757 and cost around £13,000 to build. The governors of the hospital, which was more accurately called the 'Hospital for the Maintenance and Education of Exposed and Deserted Young Children' had already established branch hospitals in Shrewsbury
Shrewsbury
Shrewsbury is the county town of Shropshire, in the West Midlands region of England. Lying on the River Severn, it is a civil parish home to some 70,000 inhabitants, and is the primary settlement and headquarters of Shropshire Council...
, Chester
Chester
Chester is a city in Cheshire, England. Lying on the River Dee, close to the border with Wales, it is home to 77,040 inhabitants, and is the largest and most populous settlement of the wider unitary authority area of Cheshire West and Chester, which had a population of 328,100 according to the...
and Westerham
Westerham
Westerham is a town and civil parish in the Sevenoaks District of Kent, in South East England with 5,000 people. The parish is south of the North Downs, ten miles west of Sevenoaks. It covers 5800 acres . It is recorded as early as the 9th century, and was mentioned in the Domesday Book in a...
. Their move to Ackworth was as a result of the contemplation of the "great advantages from having one amongst the active and enterprising people of the northern counties." The hospital eventually closed in 1773 and remained empty for a number of years during which time it seems to have avoided both being turned into a "lunatic asylum" and "being sold and taken down for the materials.". It was on hearing that the building may be "disposed of" that Fothergill
John Fothergill (physician)
John Fothergill FRS was an English physician, plant collector, philanthropist and Quaker.- Life and work :...
made the purchase of not only the hospital but the 85 acres of surrounding lands for £7,000. The purchase in 1777 was then fully approved by the society of friends in 1778 and established as a school in 1779. Fothergill died in 1780 by which time 80 girls and 150 boys were being taught there.
The Foundling Hospital
Of its time as a foundling hospital
Foundling hospital
A foundling hospital was originally an institution for the reception of foundlings, i.e., children who had been abandoned or exposed, and left for the public to find and save...
, 'A History of Ackworth School' paints an unflattering picture of the conditions within saying "disease and death carried off great numbers annually". Of the causes the book describes "starvation, and even murder, on the part of nurses who had the care of the infants, and of masters to whom the elder children were apprenticed".The book, a history of ackworth school, gives the following passage "disease and death carried off great numbers annually; starvation, and even murder, on the part of nurses who had the care of the infants, and of masters to whom the elder children were apprenticed, added to the mortality and, though the evidence is abundant of the untiring efforts of the directors to care for the children whilst in the hospital, and to protect their rights when they were apprenticed, evils and oppressions, unnumbered and insurmountable, paralyzed their exertions and the establishment was given up.A History of Ackworth School (1853), pages 4 & 5" Children were sent to Ackworth from London and other areas in which there was a branch of the hospital with the children made to work as; "idleness was the parent of vice", or so it was seen by the governors. In 1759 a "woolen manufactory" was established at the hospital with children spinning and weaving cloth which soon became in demand, so much so that in 1762 the profits were £500, a significant sum at the time. In addition to working in the woolen trade, other children worked on the farm and all were taught to mend their own clothes. Whilst at the hospital attempts were made to place the children as 'apprentices' for business owners in the local area. At times the demand for apprentices would be so high, the steward of the hospital, John Hargreaves, would have to write to the London board, asking for more to be sent. The high demand for apprentices in turn led to the checks on the people taking the apprentices being relaxed despite the instruction to ensure that all applicants for apprentices were tested to ensure suitability. As the demand grew and the checks became less "men unsuitable for the trust" were able to obtain credentials who were "treating the children they obtained on the strength of them, with little more with little short of barbarity, and in more than one case murderous cruelty." Some children would be apprenticed out as young as 6 and 7 years old with an apprenticeship initially lasting until the child reached 24 although in 1768 this changed to 21.There were many tales of cruelty of the apprentices after being placed away from the hospital, in 1765 a Mr. Brown of Leeds took 74 girls all of whom were seven years old and set them to work in his cloth business. Of the original 74, 22 died and an inspection revealed that the children were in a "dreadful condition of health" after having to stand up all day so much so that they had become weak in the hips, thighs and knees meaning that they could only "with difficulty crawl over the floor". The sanitary arrangements were described as being in a "shocking condition" and the sleeping arrangements described as "very unfit to refresh those weary limbs that have been kept the whole day to hard labour." The surviving children were taken back to Ackworth. Other examples of cruelty were a tile smith from Sheffield who was indicted for the murder of his apprentice, a boy named Nixon, but found 'not guilty'. In 1771 a William Butterworth was accused of the murder of one of his apprentices, Jemima Dixon after treating them in what was described as an "inhuman" way. 'A History of Ackworth School during its first 100 years' describes the treatment; "He had starved them within little short of their lives, had beaten their heads with shuttles, kicked them in the most brutal of all methods, and had subjected the little murdered one to the most revolting punishments that an utterly malignant nature could devise."A History of Ackworth School during its first 100 years, chapter 1
John Fothergill
Following the closure of the foundling hospital in 1773, it was John Fothergill who arranged the purchase in 1777 which turned the building into a school for the Society of Friends. Fothergill was a prominent member of the society who was born in Yorkshire in Wensleydale
Wensleydale
Wensleydale is the valley of the River Ure on the east side of the Pennines in North Yorkshire, England.Wensleydale lies in the Yorkshire Dales National Park – one of only a few valleys in the Dales not currently named after its principal river , but the older name, "Yoredale", can still be seen...
, educated in Sedburgh Grammer School and served an apprenticeship as an apothecary in Bradford
Bradford
Bradford lies at the heart of the City of Bradford, a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, in Northern England. It is situated in the foothills of the Pennines, west of Leeds, and northwest of Wakefield. Bradford became a municipal borough in 1847, and received its charter as a city in 1897...
. He studied medicine in Edinburgh, graduating in 1736 before moving to London to set up practice. He was a keen botanist and developed an extensive garden at his home at Rooke Hall in Upton. A selection of sketches made of his flowers and plants, approximately 2000 of them, were sold after his death and eventually became the property of the Empress of Russia. Fothergill was also a contempary of Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin
Dr. Benjamin Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A noted polymath, Franklin was a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, musician, inventor, satirist, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat...
and took a great interest in the relations between England and the American Colonies which were on the verge of war at the time. He had helped establish schools in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
and Philadelphia and despite never having visited the colonies often saw patients crossing the Atlantic to seek his advice as a physician. His relationship with Franklin was formed as on the eve of conflict Franklin visited Europe to try to find a settlement between the two countries. Fothergill wrote a paper on how the two sides might agree and although this was accepted by Franklin it was rejected by the British government. Fothergill set up Ackworth School with the intention of setting it up as a "boarding school for the education of children whose parents were not rich". He took a great interest in the running of the school often travelling up from London to serve on the committee and to help with expenses before passing away in 1780. A hall built at the school in 1899 with seating for 400 people was named Fothergill Hall.
Geography
At 53°30′0"N 1°20′0.8"W Ackworth is bound by the City of Wakefield to the west, Pontefract to the north, with the villages of Thorpe Audlin and Kirk Smeaton to the east and Hemsworth to the south. The small River WentRiver Went
The River Went is a river in Yorkshire, England. It rises close to Featherstone and flows eastward, joining the River Don at Reedholme Common.A possible site of the Battle of Winwaed is believed to be located somewhere along the valley of the Went.-Route:...
cuts through the village and the A638 Doncaster to Wakefield road and A628 from Barnsley to Pontefract are the main roads. The underlying geology of the area around High Ackworth comprises grey mud and silt stones associated with the Bolsovian series of rocks from the Upper Carboniferous period. An archaeological survey of the area in 2008 described the soils as "well developed based on a pale orange silty clay natural probably glacially developed outwash upon which has developed a pale grey silty clay subsoil and a silty loam topsoil".
Demography
The census of 2001 counted a population of 6,364 49.2% of whom were men and 50.8% women. The census statistics compared Ackworth with the rest of the Wakefield district and also with the rest of England. In terms of ethnicity 97.7% of people classified themselves as 'white' which was much higher than the national average of 90.9%. In terms of religion 79.2% of people classified themselves as 'Christian' which again was higher than the national average of 71.7%, the next highest religious group were those who classified themselves as 'no religion' with 11% of the population identifying which was lower than the national average of 14.6% and the district average of 11.7%. Work information showed that 67.8% of people were 'economically active' higher than the Wakefield district which was 64.3% and the national average of 66.9%. In terms of educational attainment, the figure of 21.5% of people with a degree level 'qualification or higher' was significantly more than the rest of the Wakefield district which only had 12.5%, a figure in turn much lower than the national average of 19.9%.| Year | 1801 | 1811 | 1821 | 1831 | 1841 | 1851 | 1881 | 1891 | 1901 | 1911 | 1921 | 1931 | 1951 | 1961 | 2001 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 1,432 | 1,322 | 1,575 | 1,660 | 1,828 | 1,835 | 2,222 | 2,647 | 3,394 | 4,183 | 4,831 | 4,370 | 4,360 | 4,089 | 6,364 |
Agriculture
Agriculture seems to have played an important role in the development of the area around Ackworth since the times when it was first settled particularly considering the meaning of the name 'worth' which was Anglo Saxon for enclosure or homestead. Other names around the area indicate that farming was a key feature of the economy during the development of Ackworth and the areas around Ackworth such as BadsworthBadsworth
Badsworth is a village and civil parish in the City of Wakefield metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 583. The village is located south of Pontefract....
and Hemsworth
Hemsworth
Hemsworth is a small town and civil parish on the edge of West Yorkshire, England. It forms part of the City of Wakefield, and has a population of 13,311....
. Norse placenames in the region also indicate that this carried on into the period of Scandinavian settlement with places appearing with the name 'Thorpe' which meant a small homestead or a farm. In the Domesday Book of 1086 it noted that Ackworth had a mill and that the land was capable of employing five ploughs. Accounts from 1296 indicated that the mill was still an important part of the community as its value had gone up and in 1341 the 'Inquisitiones Nonarum' noted that the only people living in Ackworth were those working in agriculture. The census of 1831 showed that 'agricultural labourer' was the most common profession in the area with a total of 100 men over the age of 20 being employed in this area. The second most populous occupation was in the field of 'retail and handicrafts' with 90 people employed. There were also 29 people classified as 'farmers employing labourers' and 13 people classified as 'farmers not employing labourers'. In the 1881 census agriculture was still a big employer, the second largest in the area, with 106 men and 1 woman being employed in this way. The largest occupation by this time for men however were those employed in the area of 'workers in various mineral substances'. For women the census showed that the most common occupation was in the field of 'domestic services or offices'.
Stone quarrying
Quarrying was also an important industry with quarries around the areas of Moor Top and Brackenhill. There is a long tradition of quarrying and masonry in the area with the production of building stone and high quality grindstones produced used by the agricultural and tool making industries. Saywell (1894) describes Brackenhill as being "almost entirely inhabited by stoneworkers" and says that Moor Top consists of "several good houses, the rest are the cottages of miners and quarryworkers". Saywell also describes "extensive quarrying" operations in the south and southwest of area around Ackworth with stone running "near the surface" in many areas. He describes the Ackworth Stone as "good, but in places it is exceptionally soft, and unfit for building purposes, which accounts for so many faults". In 1848 'A Topographical History of Great Britain' describes "extensive quarries" of stone to be found in Moor Top and describes an abundant supply of "freestone of excellent quality".The first stone quarry in the parish was said to have been opened by John Askew whose initials are said to be inscribed on the lintel of the Masons Arms pub in Moor Top, one of the oldest buildings in the parish. Green (1910), in his book Historical Antiquities of Ackworth, states the quarrying however was being carried out as early as 1611. In 1927 Kellys directory of the West Riding of Yorkshire confirmed that quarrying was still going strong and hinted that the stone was received by a global market saying "At Moor Top and Brackenhill are several large quarries, from which great quantities of stone are sent to all parts of England and abroad." Brackenhill was still described as somewhere where men employed by the stone quarries lived as well as those working in the Hemsworth colliery. The working mens club and institute in Moor Top was built in 1907 and was said to have cost £1,750.
Coal mining
Saywell (1894) had said that "coal abounds in the vicinity" and told of how, in 1860, an experimental bore of 153 feet was drilled in Long Lane but coal was "not reached". He also said that "rich veins of iron are known to exist, at certain points, especially in Low Ackworth, inasmuch as many of the natural water springs are strongly oxidised." Picturing Ackworth in fifty years time he summised that "it is not a too great stretch of imagination to predict that in fifty years' time, or even less, the picturesque village of Ackworth will have be-come one of the busiest mining centres of the West Riding of Yorkshire."Hemsworth Colliery
The Hemsworth Colliery was sunk in 1876 and was initially called 'Fitzwilliam Main' By 1879 the pit employed over 300 men and boys who traveled from Kinsley, Hemsworth, Ackworth and Crofton in order to work. In 1879 an explosion killed five people including three men from Brackenhill. The Wakefield Express described the injuries of one of the men, John Mann, saying that he suffered a "compound fracture of the skull and also a scalp wound, his right arm had been fractured, and he was burnt in a shocking manner on the head, face, chest and back". The paper reported that "the poor fellow expired about nine o’clock the same night." Following the disaster the colliery was taken over by the Hemsworth Colliery Coal Company in 1880, went into liquidation in 1890 and was in turn bought by the 'New Hemsworth Colliery Coal Company'. In 1904 the mine became 'Fitzwilliam-Hemsworth collieries' and in 1907 became just 'Hemsworth colliery'. Kellys directory of 1927 noted that the area of Brackenhill was "inhabited chiefly by the men employed in the stone quarries and the Hemsworth colliery." A colliery was also sunk in Ackworth around 1910-1912.Transport
The village is set aside two main roads, the A638 from Wakefield to Doncaster and the A628 from Barnsley to Pontefract. The Angel pub and the Boot & Shoe were at one time stopping places for stagecoaches as they made there way through the village, a route which would have taken them through Bell Lane, at one time a main thoroughfare which even now has an old stone signpost at its junction.Rail services
A number of railway stations formerly served the village with its location in relation to them described in 1927 as being "3 miles from Hemsworth station on a branch line of the London and North Eastern railway from Doncaster to Wakefield, 3 miles south of Pontefract, 2 (miles) from the Featherstone station on the Wakefield and Goole branch of the Lancashire and Yorkshire railway, and 1 mile from the Ackworth stationAckworth railway station
Ackworth railway station was a railway station serving Ackworth in the English county of West Yorkshire.-History:The station was opened by the Swinton and Knottingley Joint Railway, which became a joint railway between the London, Midland and Scottish Railway and the London and North Eastern...
on the Swinton and Knottingley branch of the London, Midland and Scottish and London and North Eastern railways." The Ackworth station was located in Low Ackworth on the road to the village of East Hardwick and closed in 1951. There was also a goods station at Ackworth Moor Top which was opened by the Brackenhill Light Railway in 1914 and closed in 1962. It ran from Brackenhill junction to Hemsworth Colliery and was predominately a goods service which only ran for 3 and a quarter miles. The route can still be seen in places today with the first mile from Brackenhill junction to Cherry Tree Farm still used by railway maintenance road vehicles and the section of the line from Mill Lane to Kinsley Common has been converted into a cycleway called the Tom Dando Way.
Schools in Ackworth
Ackworth is home to a number of schools including Ackworth SchoolAckworth School
Ackworth School is an independent school located in the village of High Ackworth, near Pontefract, West Yorkshire, England. It is one of eight Quaker Schools in England. The school is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference and SHMIS . The Head is Kathryn Bell, who succeeded...
, a Quaker
Religious Society of Friends
The Religious Society of Friends, or Friends Church, is a Christian movement which stresses the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. Members are known as Friends, or popularly as Quakers. It is made of independent organisations, which have split from one another due to doctrinal differences...
-run boarding school
Boarding school
A boarding school is a school where some or all pupils study and live during the school year with their fellow students and possibly teachers and/or administrators. The word 'boarding' is used in the sense of "bed and board," i.e., lodging and meals...
and day school for children aged between two to eighteen. There are three primary schools which are 'Ackworth Mill Dam junior and infants', 'Bell Lane junior and infants' and 'Ackworth Howard church of England voluntary controlled junior and infants school'. 'Oakfield Park' is a school for young people aged 11–19 who have learning difficulties.
Ackworth is a village and civil parish in the metropolitan borough of Wakefield
City of Wakefield
The City of Wakefield is a local government district of West Yorkshire, England, with the status of a city and metropolitan borough. Wakefield is the district's administrative centre. The district includes the "Five Towns" of Normanton, Pontefract, Featherstone, Castleford and Knottingley. Other...
, 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...
, situated between Pontefract
Pontefract
Pontefract is an historic market town in West Yorkshire, England. Traditionally in the West Riding, near the A1 , the M62 motorway and Castleford. It is one of the five towns in the metropolitan borough of the City of Wakefield and has a population of 28,250...
, 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...
and Doncaster
Doncaster
Doncaster is a town in South Yorkshire, England, and the principal settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster. The town is about from Sheffield and is popularly referred to as "Donny"...
on the small River Went
River Went
The River Went is a river in Yorkshire, England. It rises close to Featherstone and flows eastward, joining the River Don at Reedholme Common.A possible site of the Battle of Winwaed is believed to be located somewhere along the valley of the Went.-Route:...
. The village consists of four parts, High Ackworth, Low Ackworth, Ackworth Moortop, and Brackenhill. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 6,493.
Toponymy
The origins of the name of the village are unclear although it is thought that the name may have derived from one of two sources; the first from the Anglo Saxon words 'Ake' or 'Aken' meaning 'oak' and 'uurt' with the word 'worth' meaning an enclosure or homestead; the second is that it could derive from the Anglo Saxon name 'Acca' which when added to the word 'worth' could mean 'Acca's worth' or 'Acca's enclosure'. A number of place names around the area show that the Anglo Saxons had influence in the region. Words such as 'worth' and also 'tun', meaning an enclosure or farmstead, are repeatedly found in place names around the area such as BadsworthBadsworth
Badsworth is a village and civil parish in the City of Wakefield metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 583. The village is located south of Pontefract....
, Hemsworth
Hemsworth
Hemsworth is a small town and civil parish on the edge of West Yorkshire, England. It forms part of the City of Wakefield, and has a population of 13,311....
and Wentworth
Wentworth
-People:* Baron Wentworth , the Wentworth peerage, several men and women.* D'Arcy Wentworth , surgeon in the early days of Sydney, Australia, and father of William Charles Wentworth I....
as well as Fryston and Allerton. The name was first recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Aceuurde and it is thought it became more formalised to 'Ackworth' in the 1800s.
Early history
Considering the Anglo Saxon origins of the name, the area around Ackworth could have been settled in around 500-600 by settlers from modern day Denmark, Germany and Holland following the departure of the RomansRoman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
from Britain. The Romans were active in the area around Ackworth with the nearby town of 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...
being the location of Lagentium
Lagentium
Lagentium or Legiolum was the Roman name for the fort and surrounding civilian settlement which was built around the year 74 by the Roman Empire. The English town of Castleford, West Yorkshire, is now built on what was the fort....
, a Roman fort. The A639, the Roman road to York
York
York is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence...
also runs close to modern day Ackworth with a Roman milestone having being found near the junction of the road and Sandy Gate Lane on the parish boundary between Ackworth and Pontefract. In terms of Christianity it has been thought that the first church may have appeared in Ackworth between 750-800 with a well established tradition being that the monks of Lindisfarne
Lindisfarne
Lindisfarne is a tidal island off the north-east coast of England. It is also known as Holy Island and constitutes a civil parish in Northumberland...
, escaping the Norse invasion, stopped there in around 875 bringing with them the body of Saint Cuthbert. Evidence of Norse settlement can also be found within the local area with place names such as 'Thorpe Audlin' and 'Grimethorpe' possibly descending from the Norse term 'thorpe' meaning a small settlement or a farm.
Domesday Book
The first mention of the village can be found in the Domesday Book of 1086 which says "Manor in Ackworth. Erdulf & Osulf have six carucates of land to be taxed, where there might be five ploughs. Humphry now holds it of Ilbert. [Humphry] himself has there one plough and a half, and fourteen villains, and two boors. There is a Church there, and priest; one mill, of sixteen pence. Value in King Edward's time four pounds, now three pounds. Domesday Book 107. Land of Ilbert de Lacy" Ilbert de Lacy was according to the Domesday BookDomesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
the Lord of a Manor which was capable of employing five ploughs. His vassal was the 'Humphrey' mentioned in the book who himself owned one and a half ploughs (approx a quarter of the manor) with the rest of the manor being apportioned between two farmers who in turn acted as Humphrys tenants. De lacy himself was a Norman knight who had received the land as a reward for his services to William the Conquerer and who had also built the first earth and timber 'motte and bailey' style castle in nearby Pontefract
Pontefract Castle
Pontefract Castle is a castle in the town of Pontefract, in the City of Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England. It was the site of the demise of Richard II of England, and later the place of a series of famous sieges during the English Civil War-History:...
. The entry in the Domesday Book suggests that the settlement of Ackworth would have been quite small as it recorded only 14 villagers and two smallholders. However as only the heads of families were recorded the more likely figure in terms of population at this time would be around thirty to forty people.
Ackworth in the middle ages
Estate accounts for 1296 showed that Ackworth had developed in the time since the Domesday BookDomesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
. The records showed that the Lord now had 240 bondsmen working for him and the value of the mill had gone up. It showed that Adam de Castleford had to pay 10 shillings rent for his land. His wife Isabella would go on to found the Chapel of Our Lady in Ackworth Church in 1333. In 1341 the Inquisitiones Nonarum stated that the only people living in Ackworth were those working in agriculture. It has been speculated that the village cross in the centre of the village was constructed by the same Isabella de Castleford who built the chapel in the church possibly dating the cross at around 1340. The cross itself was listed as a grade 2 building in 1968 with a description of being "late medieval" and describing the construction as being a "medieval shaft with tudor ball on top" and being "prominently sited near junction with Pontefract road".
The Black Death and Bubonic Plague
One reason given for the construction of the cross is that it was built as a memorial to a plague, possibly the black deathBlack Death
The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350. Of several competing theories, the dominant explanation for the Black Death is the plague theory, which attributes the outbreak to the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Thought to have...
of 1349, which will have killed many inhabitants. The black death had arrived in southern England in 1348 and by 1350 had killed a third of the population. In nearby Pontefract
Pontefract
Pontefract is an historic market town in West Yorkshire, England. Traditionally in the West Riding, near the A1 , the M62 motorway and Castleford. It is one of the five towns in the metropolitan borough of the City of Wakefield and has a population of 28,250...
it was estimated that around 40% of the population had been killed. A reminder of how communities communicated and traded in spite of plague remains in Ackworth to this day in the form of the Ackworth plague stone although it is thought that the stone dates from yet another outbreak of plague in 1645. Situated at the junction of Sandy Gate Lane on the road into Pontefract, the stone is also a grade 2 listed monument. Plague stones were described as "receptacles for sterilising coins in vineagar, normally at or close to parish boundaries." Indicating that the current location of the plague stone was the outer rim of the parish. The plague in 1645 was said to have killed 153 with the bodies been buried in a 'burial field' "crossed by the footpath from Ackworth to Hundhill." The area had possibly already been used as an area of mass burial after a skirmish earlier in the year between Roundhead
Roundhead
"Roundhead" was the nickname given to the supporters of the Parliament during the English Civil War. Also known as Parliamentarians, they fought against King Charles I and his supporters, the Cavaliers , who claimed absolute power and the divine right of kings...
and Royalist
Cavalier
Cavalier was the name used by Parliamentarians for a Royalist supporter of King Charles I and son Charles II during the English Civil War, the Interregnum, and the Restoration...
forces as part of the English Civil War
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
. The bubonic plague of 1645 was not confined to Ackworth, in Leeds over 1300 people were killed and a further 245 were thought to have died 'in and around the Wakefield area' with one theory being that the plague had been brought into the area by soldiers fighting in the Civil War. Another story of how the plague came to Ackworth was retold by Henry Thompson in the book 'A History of Ackworth School in its first 100 years'. He recounts the story of how a popular and well loved monk went to Rome and became "smitten by the plague and died". The monk, from the priory at Nostell would preach at the medieval cross in the centre of the village and was described as a "noble soul with a kindly heart" who was admired by young and old alike. After succumbing to the plague in Rome, his body was brought back and passed through Ackworth at which point "nothing could satisfy the ignorant but faithful love of the old hearers" and the coffin was opened. The village was then stricken with plague and the stone on Castle Syke Hill became "for many months the only contact between them and the outside world". Describing a transaction the book says "upon that stone the Ackworth purchaser dropped his money into a vessel of water, for which, a few hours afterwards, he found his return in merchandise." Of this tale the author comments "we make no idle comment on this history. We tell the tale as it was told to us."
Battles and conflicts
The area around Ackworth has been the scene for a number of historically important battles, the Battle of WakefieldBattle of Wakefield
The Battle of Wakefield took place at Sandal Magna near Wakefield, in West Yorkshire in Northern England, on 30 December 1460. It was a major battle of the Wars of the Roses...
in 1460 and the Battle of Towton
Battle of Towton
In 1461, England was in the sixth year of the Wars of the Roses, a series of civil wars between the Houses of York and Lancaster over the English throne. The Lancastrians backed the reigning King of England, Henry VI, an indecisive man who suffered bouts of madness...
in 1461 were important battles in the Wars of the Roses. In 1489, fours years after the end of the War of the Roses, the new king Henry Tudor
Henry VII of England
Henry VII was King of England and Lord of Ireland from his seizing the crown on 22 August 1485 until his death on 21 April 1509, as the first monarch of the House of Tudor....
levied a tax which caused an uprising in parts of Yorkshire. Thomas Howard, the Earl of Surrey
Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk
Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk, KG, Earl Marshal , styled Earl of Surrey from 1483 to 1514, was the only son of John Howard, 1st Duke of Norfolk by his first wife, Katherine Moleyns...
, was sent to quash the uprising after the Earl of Northumberland had been killed by the rebels. Howard managed to subdue the uprising and hanged the leaders in York. In 1492 a further uprising occurred in Ackworth of which little is known except that Howard once again subdued the insurgents. A further link to a historical battle could possibly be made with the Battle of Winwaed in 655 between Penda of Mercia
Penda of Mercia
Penda was a 7th-century King of Mercia, the Anglo-Saxon kingdom in what is today the English Midlands. A pagan at a time when Christianity was taking hold in many of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, Penda took over the Severn Valley in 628 following the Battle of Cirencester before participating in the...
and Oswiu of Northumbria
Oswiu of Northumbria
Oswiu , also known as Oswy or Oswig , was a King of Bernicia. His father, Æthelfrith of Bernicia, was killed in battle, fighting against Rædwald, King of the East Angles and Edwin of Deira at the River Idle in 616...
, King of Berenicia. The battle was mentioned by Bede although the exact location of the battle is not known. Options include Oswestry in Shropshire, Winwick in Lancashire, Whinmoor north east of Leeds and between Wentbridge and Ackworth where the modern day A639, a former roman road, crosses the River Went
River Went
The River Went is a river in Yorkshire, England. It rises close to Featherstone and flows eastward, joining the River Don at Reedholme Common.A possible site of the Battle of Winwaed is believed to be located somewhere along the valley of the Went.-Route:...
. The battle was seen as pivotal in English history in that Penda had been a powerful Pagan king and the victory of the Christian Oswiu could be seen as having effectively ended Anglo Saxon paganism.
The area around Ackworth was also a hotbed for dissent against the Dissolution of the Monasteries
Dissolution of the Monasteries
The Dissolution of the Monasteries, sometimes referred to as the Suppression of the Monasteries, was the set of administrative and legal processes between 1536 and 1541 by which Henry VIII disbanded monasteries, priories, convents and friaries in England, Wales and Ireland; appropriated their...
by Henry VIII. A rebellion led by Robert Aske
Robert Aske (political leader)
Robert Aske was an English lawyer who became the leader of rebellion in York. He led the Pilgrimage of Grace in 1536 and was executed by Henry VIII for treason in 1537.-Biography:...
and styled the Pilgrimage of Grace
Pilgrimage of Grace
The Pilgrimage of Grace was a popular rising in York, Yorkshire during 1536, in protest against Henry VIII's break with the Roman Catholic Church and the Dissolution of the Monasteries, as well as other specific political, social and economic grievances. It was done in action against Thomas Cromwell...
was thought to have marched through Ackworth on the way to capturing Pontefract Castle in 1536. They were eventually defeated by an army sent by Henry with the leaders hanged at Tyburn
Tyburn
Tyburn is a former village just outside the then boundaries of London that was best known as a place of public execution.Tyburn may also refer to:* Tyburn , river and historical water source in London...
. amongst the hanged included a Nicholas Tempest of Ackworth. The nearby Priory of St. Oswald at Nostell would later be dissolved in 1540 with the land being bought by Rowland Winn. During the English Civil War
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
, the area around Ackworth was seen as being strongly Royalist with four divisions of volunteers being raised from Pontefract and the surrounding villages in order to garrison the castle. In 1645, Ackworth was occupied by Roundhead soldiers who caused some damage to the church and who were also responsible for replacing the cross at the top of the medieval cross in the center of the village with the present 'ball' shape which now sits there.
In more recent times the Ackworth war memorial opened in 1999 and commemorates the soldiers from Ackworth who died in the first and second world wars. From 1914-1918
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
80 soldiers were killed and in the war of 1939-1945
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, 40 people lost their lives.
The Church of St. Cuthbert
The first recorded mention of a church in Ackworth was made in the Domesday Book of 1086 when it noted "There is a Church there, and priest." Prior to this mention it is believed that there has been a church in Ackworth from around the year 750. Ackworth is noted in the porch of a church in Durham as been one of the places where the body of Saint Cuthbert was taken by monks from LindisfarneLindisfarne
Lindisfarne is a tidal island off the north-east coast of England. It is also known as Holy Island and constitutes a civil parish in Northumberland...
as they journeyed around the country with his body from 875 to 882. The church of St. Cuthbert in the centre of High Ackworth is believed to have taken its name from the time when the monks stopped in the village on their pilgrimage. The original church from the time of Saint Cuthbert and the Domesday Book is believed to have been replaced in the 14th century with a stone church and tower. This tower still exists but the church was renovated and restored around 1852 to 1854 when it is thought that the roof was lifted and additional windows added, all the present stained glass windows also date from this time. The restoration was necessary when in 1852 a fire had damaged the nave and chapel. During the restoration the remains of an earlier Norman chapel were found. The church today is a grade 2 listed building which was listed in 1968.
Thomas Bradley
Upon entering the church of St Cuthbert there is a stone font which bears a Latin inscription which when translated reads "Thomas Bradley D.D. Rector. H A. and T C, Churchwardens. This font, thrown down in the war of the Fanatics, was set up again in the year 1663." Thomas BradleyThomas Bradley (priest)
Thomas Bradley was born in 1596 or 1597, the son of Henry Bradley of Wokingham in Berkshire and his wife, Barbara daughter of Walter Lane of Reading in the same county. He was educated at Exeter College, Oxford and was admitted to the degree of Doctor of Divinity...
was the chaplain to Charles I of England
Charles I of England
Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...
and it has been supposed that he attended the king at his execution in 1649. Bradley had been given the living of Castleford and Ackworth by the King but during the time of the Commonwealth of England
Commonwealth of England
The Commonwealth of England was the republic which ruled first England, and then Ireland and Scotland from 1649 to 1660. Between 1653–1659 it was known as the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland...
this was removed from him and given over to Thomas Birkbeck and Mr H Moorhouse. Bradley had sided with the Royalists in the English Civil War
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
and is recorded as being part of Sir George Wentworth's
George Wentworth (of Woolley)
Sir George Wentworth was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1640 to 1642. He fought for the Royalist army in the English Civil War....
division in the garrison of Pontefract Castle
Pontefract Castle
Pontefract Castle is a castle in the town of Pontefract, in the City of Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England. It was the site of the demise of Richard II of England, and later the place of a series of famous sieges during the English Civil War-History:...
. The castle had survived three successive sieges before Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....
set up headquarters at Knottingley and bombarded the castle. The castle was the last Royalist stronghold to surrender and only did so on 24 March 1649, two months after the beheading of Charles I
Charles I of England
Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...
. During the period of the Commonwealth it was reported that Bradley "suffered intensively", his house was looted and "himself, his lady, and all his children turned out of doors to seek their bread in desolate places". A library that he had entrusted to a John Lake of Castleford was also "betrayed into the hands of his enemies." Following the end of the Commonwealth in 1660 the living of Ackworth was restored to him and Bradley became rector of St Cuthberts once more after Thomas Birkbeck was in turn ejected from the rectory. In 1666 he built two Almshouses on the village green for two poor widows and he died on 10 October 1673.
Ackworth School and the Society of Friends
In the book 'A History of Ackworth School', written in 1853, Ackworth was described as a "neat agricultural village, situate(d) about three miles from Pontefract, and closely bordering on the great Yorkshire manufactories". When further describing the area, the book places great importance on the location of the school to the village saying; "It is so completely removed from any great line of road, either of the old system or the new, that but for the world-wide celebrity it has obtained from the Society of Friends from it's association with their school, it is probable that, at least as it regards them, it would have slumbered in undisturbed repose amidst the well cultivated lands by which it is surrounded."The school was opened by John Fothergill
John Fothergill (physician)
John Fothergill FRS was an English physician, plant collector, philanthropist and Quaker.- Life and work :...
who was described in the book as an "eminent physician of London and a man of much influence in the Society of Friends." Originally built as a branch of the Foundling Hospital
Foundling Hospital
The Foundling Hospital in London, England was founded in 1741 by the philanthropic sea captain Thomas Coram. It was a children's home established for the "education and maintenance of exposed and deserted young children." The word "hospital" was used in a more general sense than it is today, simply...
in London, work started on the building in 1757 and cost around £13,000 to build. The governors of the hospital, which was more accurately called the 'Hospital for the Maintenance and Education of Exposed and Deserted Young Children' had already established branch hospitals in Shrewsbury
Shrewsbury
Shrewsbury is the county town of Shropshire, in the West Midlands region of England. Lying on the River Severn, it is a civil parish home to some 70,000 inhabitants, and is the primary settlement and headquarters of Shropshire Council...
, Chester
Chester
Chester is a city in Cheshire, England. Lying on the River Dee, close to the border with Wales, it is home to 77,040 inhabitants, and is the largest and most populous settlement of the wider unitary authority area of Cheshire West and Chester, which had a population of 328,100 according to the...
and Westerham
Westerham
Westerham is a town and civil parish in the Sevenoaks District of Kent, in South East England with 5,000 people. The parish is south of the North Downs, ten miles west of Sevenoaks. It covers 5800 acres . It is recorded as early as the 9th century, and was mentioned in the Domesday Book in a...
. Their move to Ackworth was as a result of the contemplation of the "great advantages from having one amongst the active and enterprising people of the northern counties." The hospital eventually closed in 1773 and remained empty for a number of years during which time it seems to have avoided both being turned into a "lunatic asylum" and "being sold and taken down for the materials.". It was on hearing that the building may be "disposed of" that Fothergill
John Fothergill (physician)
John Fothergill FRS was an English physician, plant collector, philanthropist and Quaker.- Life and work :...
made the purchase of not only the hospital but the 85 acres of surrounding lands for £7,000. The purchase in 1777 was then fully approved by the society of friends in 1778 and established as a school in 1779. Fothergill died in 1780 by which time 80 girls and 150 boys were being taught there.
The Foundling Hospital
Of its time as a foundling hospital
Foundling hospital
A foundling hospital was originally an institution for the reception of foundlings, i.e., children who had been abandoned or exposed, and left for the public to find and save...
, 'A History of Ackworth School' paints an unflattering picture of the conditions within saying "disease and death carried off great numbers annually". Of the causes the book describes "starvation, and even murder, on the part of nurses who had the care of the infants, and of masters to whom the elder children were apprenticed".The book, a history of ackworth school, gives the following passage "disease and death carried off great numbers annually; starvation, and even murder, on the part of nurses who had the care of the infants, and of masters to whom the elder children were apprenticed, added to the mortality and, though the evidence is abundant of the untiring efforts of the directors to care for the children whilst in the hospital, and to protect their rights when they were apprenticed, evils and oppressions, unnumbered and insurmountable, paralyzed their exertions and the establishment was given up.A History of Ackworth School (1853), pages 4 & 5" Children were sent to Ackworth from London and other areas in which there was a branch of the hospital with the children made to work as; "idleness was the parent of vice", or so it was seen by the governors. In 1759 a "woolen manufactory" was established at the hospital with children spinning and weaving cloth which soon became in demand, so much so that in 1762 the profits were £500, a significant sum at the time. In addition to working in the woolen trade, other children worked on the farm and all were taught to mend their own clothes. Whilst at the hospital attempts were made to place the children as 'apprentices' for business owners in the local area. At times the demand for apprentices would be so high, the steward of the hospital, John Hargreaves, would have to write to the London board, asking for more to be sent. The high demand for apprentices in turn led to the checks on the people taking the apprentices being relaxed despite the instruction to ensure that all applicants for apprentices were tested to ensure suitability. As the demand grew and the checks became less "men unsuitable for the trust" were able to obtain credentials who were "treating the children they obtained on the strength of them, with little more with little short of barbarity, and in more than one case murderous cruelty." Some children would be apprenticed out as young as 6 and 7 years old with an apprenticeship initially lasting until the child reached 24 although in 1768 this changed to 21.There were many tales of cruelty of the apprentices after being placed away from the hospital, in 1765 a Mr. Brown of Leeds took 74 girls all of whom were seven years old and set them to work in his cloth business. Of the original 74, 22 died and an inspection revealed that the children were in a "dreadful condition of health" after having to stand up all day so much so that they had become weak in the hips, thighs and knees meaning that they could only "with difficulty crawl over the floor". The sanitary arrangements were described as being in a "shocking condition" and the sleeping arrangements described as "very unfit to refresh those weary limbs that have been kept the whole day to hard labour." The surviving children were taken back to Ackworth. Other examples of cruelty were a tile smith from Sheffield who was indicted for the murder of his apprentice, a boy named Nixon, but found 'not guilty'. In 1771 a William Butterworth was accused of the murder of one of his apprentices, Jemima Dixon after treating them in what was described as an "inhuman" way. 'A History of Ackworth School during its first 100 years' describes the treatment; "He had starved them within little short of their lives, had beaten their heads with shuttles, kicked them in the most brutal of all methods, and had subjected the little murdered one to the most revolting punishments that an utterly malignant nature could devise."A History of Ackworth School during its first 100 years, chapter 1
John Fothergill
Following the closure of the foundling hospital in 1773, it was John Fothergill who arranged the purchase in 1777 which turned the building into a school for the Society of Friends. Fothergill was a prominent member of the society who was born in Yorkshire in Wensleydale
Wensleydale
Wensleydale is the valley of the River Ure on the east side of the Pennines in North Yorkshire, England.Wensleydale lies in the Yorkshire Dales National Park – one of only a few valleys in the Dales not currently named after its principal river , but the older name, "Yoredale", can still be seen...
, educated in Sedburgh Grammer School and served an apprenticeship as an apothecary in Bradford
Bradford
Bradford lies at the heart of the City of Bradford, a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, in Northern England. It is situated in the foothills of the Pennines, west of Leeds, and northwest of Wakefield. Bradford became a municipal borough in 1847, and received its charter as a city in 1897...
. He studied medicine in Edinburgh, graduating in 1736 before moving to London to set up practice. He was a keen botanist and developed an extensive garden at his home at Rooke Hall in Upton. A selection of sketches made of his flowers and plants, approximately 2000 of them, were sold after his death and eventually became the property of the Empress of Russia. Fothergill was also a contempary of Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin
Dr. Benjamin Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A noted polymath, Franklin was a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, musician, inventor, satirist, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat...
and took a great interest in the relations between England and the American Colonies which were on the verge of war at the time. He had helped establish schools in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
and Philadelphia and despite never having visited the colonies often saw patients crossing the Atlantic to seek his advice as a physician. His relationship with Franklin was formed as on the eve of conflict Franklin visited Europe to try to find a settlement between the two countries. Fothergill wrote a paper on how the two sides might agree and although this was accepted by Franklin it was rejected by the British government. Fothergill set up Ackworth School with the intention of setting it up as a "boarding school for the education of children whose parents were not rich". He took a great interest in the running of the school often travelling up from London to serve on the committee and to help with expenses before passing away in 1780. A hall built at the school in 1899 with seating for 400 people was named Fothergill Hall.
Geography
At 53°30′0"N 1°20′0.8"W Ackworth is bound by the City of Wakefield to the west, Pontefract to the north, with the villages of Thorpe Audlin and Kirk Smeaton to the east and Hemsworth to the south. The small River WentRiver Went
The River Went is a river in Yorkshire, England. It rises close to Featherstone and flows eastward, joining the River Don at Reedholme Common.A possible site of the Battle of Winwaed is believed to be located somewhere along the valley of the Went.-Route:...
cuts through the village and the A638 Doncaster to Wakefield road and A628 from Barnsley to Pontefract are the main roads. The underlying geology of the area around High Ackworth comprises grey mud and silt stones associated with the Bolsovian series of rocks from the Upper Carboniferous period. An archaeological survey of the area in 2008 described the soils as "well developed based on a pale orange silty clay natural probably glacially developed outwash upon which has developed a pale grey silty clay subsoil and a silty loam topsoil".
Demography
The census of 2001 counted a population of 6,364 49.2% of whom were men and 50.8% women. The census statistics compared Ackworth with the rest of the Wakefield district and also with the rest of England. In terms of ethnicity 97.7% of people classified themselves as 'white' which was much higher than the national average of 90.9%. In terms of religion 79.2% of people classified themselves as 'Christian' which again was higher than the national average of 71.7%, the next highest religious group were those who classified themselves as 'no religion' with 11% of the population identifying which was lower than the national average of 14.6% and the district average of 11.7%. Work information showed that 67.8% of people were 'economically active' higher than the Wakefield district which was 64.3% and the national average of 66.9%. In terms of educational attainment, the figure of 21.5% of people with a degree level 'qualification or higher' was significantly more than the rest of the Wakefield district which only had 12.5%, a figure in turn much lower than the national average of 19.9%.| Year | 1801 | 1811 | 1821 | 1831 | 1841 | 1851 | 1881 | 1891 | 1901 | 1911 | 1921 | 1931 | 1951 | 1961 | 2001 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 1,432 | 1,322 | 1,575 | 1,660 | 1,828 | 1,835 | 2,222 | 2,647 | 3,394 | 4,183 | 4,831 | 4,370 | 4,360 | 4,089 | 6,364 |
Agriculture
Agriculture seems to have played an important role in the development of the area around Ackworth since the times when it was first settled particularly considering the meaning of the name 'worth' which was Anglo Saxon for enclosure or homestead. Other names around the area indicate that farming was a key feature of the economy during the development of Ackworth and the areas around Ackworth such as BadsworthBadsworth
Badsworth is a village and civil parish in the City of Wakefield metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 583. The village is located south of Pontefract....
and Hemsworth
Hemsworth
Hemsworth is a small town and civil parish on the edge of West Yorkshire, England. It forms part of the City of Wakefield, and has a population of 13,311....
. Norse placenames in the region also indicate that this carried on into the period of Scandinavian settlement with places appearing with the name 'Thorpe' which meant a small homestead or a farm. In the Domesday Book of 1086 it noted that Ackworth had a mill and that the land was capable of employing five ploughs. Accounts from 1296 indicated that the mill was still an important part of the community as its value had gone up and in 1341 the 'Inquisitiones Nonarum' noted that the only people living in Ackworth were those working in agriculture. The census of 1831 showed that 'agricultural labourer' was the most common profession in the area with a total of 100 men over the age of 20 being employed in this area. The second most populous occupation was in the field of 'retail and handicrafts' with 90 people employed. There were also 29 people classified as 'farmers employing labourers' and 13 people classified as 'farmers not employing labourers'. In the 1881 census agriculture was still a big employer, the second largest in the area, with 106 men and 1 woman being employed in this way. The largest occupation by this time for men however were those employed in the area of 'workers in various mineral substances'. For women the census showed that the most common occupation was in the field of 'domestic services or offices'.
Stone quarrying
Quarrying was also an important industry with quarries around the areas of Moor Top and Brackenhill. There is a long tradition of quarrying and masonry in the area with the production of building stone and high quality grindstones produced used by the agricultural and tool making industries. Saywell (1894) describes Brackenhill as being "almost entirely inhabited by stoneworkers" and says that Moor Top consists of "several good houses, the rest are the cottages of miners and quarryworkers". Saywell also describes "extensive quarrying" operations in the south and southwest of area around Ackworth with stone running "near the surface" in many areas. He describes the Ackworth Stone as "good, but in places it is exceptionally soft, and unfit for building purposes, which accounts for so many faults". In 1848 'A Topographical History of Great Britain' describes "extensive quarries" of stone to be found in Moor Top and describes an abundant supply of "freestone of excellent quality".The first stone quarry in the parish was said to have been opened by John Askew whose initials are said to be inscribed on the lintel of the Masons Arms pub in Moor Top, one of the oldest buildings in the parish. Green (1910), in his book Historical Antiquities of Ackworth, states the quarrying however was being carried out as early as 1611. In 1927 Kellys directory of the West Riding of Yorkshire confirmed that quarrying was still going strong and hinted that the stone was received by a global market saying "At Moor Top and Brackenhill are several large quarries, from which great quantities of stone are sent to all parts of England and abroad." Brackenhill was still described as somewhere where men employed by the stone quarries lived as well as those working in the Hemsworth colliery. The working mens club and institute in Moor Top was built in 1907 and was said to have cost £1,750.
Coal mining
Saywell (1894) had said that "coal abounds in the vicinity" and told of how, in 1860, an experimental bore of 153 feet was drilled in Long Lane but coal was "not reached". He also said that "rich veins of iron are known to exist, at certain points, especially in Low Ackworth, inasmuch as many of the natural water springs are strongly oxidised." Picturing Ackworth in fifty years time he summised that "it is not a too great stretch of imagination to predict that in fifty years' time, or even less, the picturesque village of Ackworth will have be-come one of the busiest mining centres of the West Riding of Yorkshire."Hemsworth Colliery
The Hemsworth Colliery was sunk in 1876 and was initially called 'Fitzwilliam Main' By 1879 the pit employed over 300 men and boys who traveled from Kinsley, Hemsworth, Ackworth and Crofton in order to work. In 1879 an explosion killed five people including three men from Brackenhill. The Wakefield Express described the injuries of one of the men, John Mann, saying that he suffered a "compound fracture of the skull and also a scalp wound, his right arm had been fractured, and he was burnt in a shocking manner on the head, face, chest and back". The paper reported that "the poor fellow expired about nine o’clock the same night." Following the disaster the colliery was taken over by the Hemsworth Colliery Coal Company in 1880, went into liquidation in 1890 and was in turn bought by the 'New Hemsworth Colliery Coal Company'. In 1904 the mine became 'Fitzwilliam-Hemsworth collieries' and in 1907 became just 'Hemsworth colliery'. Kellys directory of 1927 noted that the area of Brackenhill was "inhabited chiefly by the men employed in the stone quarries and the Hemsworth colliery." A colliery was also sunk in Ackworth around 1910-1912.Transport
The village is set aside two main roads, the A638 from Wakefield to Doncaster and the A628 from Barnsley to Pontefract. The Angel pub and the Boot & Shoe were at one time stopping places for stagecoaches as they made there way through the village, a route which would have taken them through Bell Lane, at one time a main thoroughfare which even now has an old stone signpost at its junction.Rail services
A number of railway stations formerly served the village with its location in relation to them described in 1927 as being "3 miles from Hemsworth station on a branch line of the London and North Eastern railway from Doncaster to Wakefield, 3 miles south of Pontefract, 2 (miles) from the Featherstone station on the Wakefield and Goole branch of the Lancashire and Yorkshire railway, and 1 mile from the Ackworth stationAckworth railway station
Ackworth railway station was a railway station serving Ackworth in the English county of West Yorkshire.-History:The station was opened by the Swinton and Knottingley Joint Railway, which became a joint railway between the London, Midland and Scottish Railway and the London and North Eastern...
on the Swinton and Knottingley branch of the London, Midland and Scottish and London and North Eastern railways." The Ackworth station was located in Low Ackworth on the road to the village of East Hardwick and closed in 1951. There was also a goods station at Ackworth Moor Top which was opened by the Brackenhill Light Railway in 1914 and closed in 1962. It ran from Brackenhill junction to Hemsworth Colliery and was predominately a goods service which only ran for 3 and a quarter miles. The route can still be seen in places today with the first mile from Brackenhill junction to Cherry Tree Farm still used by railway maintenance road vehicles and the section of the line from Mill Lane to Kinsley Common has been converted into a cycleway called the Tom Dando Way.
Schools in Ackworth
Ackworth is home to a number of schools including Ackworth SchoolAckworth School
Ackworth School is an independent school located in the village of High Ackworth, near Pontefract, West Yorkshire, England. It is one of eight Quaker Schools in England. The school is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference and SHMIS . The Head is Kathryn Bell, who succeeded...
, a Quaker
Religious Society of Friends
The Religious Society of Friends, or Friends Church, is a Christian movement which stresses the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. Members are known as Friends, or popularly as Quakers. It is made of independent organisations, which have split from one another due to doctrinal differences...
-run boarding school
Boarding school
A boarding school is a school where some or all pupils study and live during the school year with their fellow students and possibly teachers and/or administrators. The word 'boarding' is used in the sense of "bed and board," i.e., lodging and meals...
and day school for children aged between two to eighteen. There are three primary schools which are 'Ackworth Mill Dam junior and infants', 'Bell Lane junior and infants' and 'Ackworth Howard church of England voluntary controlled junior and infants school'. 'Oakfield Park' is a school for young people aged 11–19 who have learning difficulties.
Ackworth is a village and civil parish in the metropolitan borough of Wakefield
City of Wakefield
The City of Wakefield is a local government district of West Yorkshire, England, with the status of a city and metropolitan borough. Wakefield is the district's administrative centre. The district includes the "Five Towns" of Normanton, Pontefract, Featherstone, Castleford and Knottingley. Other...
, 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...
, situated between Pontefract
Pontefract
Pontefract is an historic market town in West Yorkshire, England. Traditionally in the West Riding, near the A1 , the M62 motorway and Castleford. It is one of the five towns in the metropolitan borough of the City of Wakefield and has a population of 28,250...
, 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...
and Doncaster
Doncaster
Doncaster is a town in South Yorkshire, England, and the principal settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster. The town is about from Sheffield and is popularly referred to as "Donny"...
on the small River Went
River Went
The River Went is a river in Yorkshire, England. It rises close to Featherstone and flows eastward, joining the River Don at Reedholme Common.A possible site of the Battle of Winwaed is believed to be located somewhere along the valley of the Went.-Route:...
. The village consists of four parts, High Ackworth, Low Ackworth, Ackworth Moortop, and Brackenhill. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 6,493.
Toponymy
The origins of the name of the village are unclear although it is thought that the name may have derived from one of two sources; the first from the Anglo Saxon words 'Ake' or 'Aken' meaning 'oak' and 'uurt' with the word 'worth' meaning an enclosure or homestead; the second is that it could derive from the Anglo Saxon name 'Acca' which when added to the word 'worth' could mean 'Acca's worth' or 'Acca's enclosure'. A number of place names around the area show that the Anglo Saxons had influence in the region. Words such as 'worth' and also 'tun', meaning an enclosure or farmstead, are repeatedly found in place names around the area such as BadsworthBadsworth
Badsworth is a village and civil parish in the City of Wakefield metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 583. The village is located south of Pontefract....
, Hemsworth
Hemsworth
Hemsworth is a small town and civil parish on the edge of West Yorkshire, England. It forms part of the City of Wakefield, and has a population of 13,311....
and Wentworth
Wentworth
-People:* Baron Wentworth , the Wentworth peerage, several men and women.* D'Arcy Wentworth , surgeon in the early days of Sydney, Australia, and father of William Charles Wentworth I....
as well as Fryston and Allerton. The name was first recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Aceuurde and it is thought it became more formalised to 'Ackworth' in the 1800s.
Early history
Considering the Anglo Saxon origins of the name, the area around Ackworth could have been settled in around 500-600 by settlers from modern day Denmark, Germany and Holland following the departure of the RomansRoman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
from Britain. The Romans were active in the area around Ackworth with the nearby town of 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...
being the location of Lagentium
Lagentium
Lagentium or Legiolum was the Roman name for the fort and surrounding civilian settlement which was built around the year 74 by the Roman Empire. The English town of Castleford, West Yorkshire, is now built on what was the fort....
, a Roman fort. The A639, the Roman road to York
York
York is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence...
also runs close to modern day Ackworth with a Roman milestone having being found near the junction of the road and Sandy Gate Lane on the parish boundary between Ackworth and Pontefract. In terms of Christianity it has been thought that the first church may have appeared in Ackworth between 750-800 with a well established tradition being that the monks of Lindisfarne
Lindisfarne
Lindisfarne is a tidal island off the north-east coast of England. It is also known as Holy Island and constitutes a civil parish in Northumberland...
, escaping the Norse invasion, stopped there in around 875 bringing with them the body of Saint Cuthbert. Evidence of Norse settlement can also be found within the local area with place names such as 'Thorpe Audlin' and 'Grimethorpe' possibly descending from the Norse term 'thorpe' meaning a small settlement or a farm.
Domesday Book
The first mention of the village can be found in the Domesday Book of 1086 which says "Manor in Ackworth. Erdulf & Osulf have six carucates of land to be taxed, where there might be five ploughs. Humphry now holds it of Ilbert. [Humphry] himself has there one plough and a half, and fourteen villains, and two boors. There is a Church there, and priest; one mill, of sixteen pence. Value in King Edward's time four pounds, now three pounds. Domesday Book 107. Land of Ilbert de Lacy" Ilbert de Lacy was according to the Domesday BookDomesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
the Lord of a Manor which was capable of employing five ploughs. His vassal was the 'Humphrey' mentioned in the book who himself owned one and a half ploughs (approx a quarter of the manor) with the rest of the manor being apportioned between two farmers who in turn acted as Humphrys tenants. De lacy himself was a Norman knight who had received the land as a reward for his services to William the Conquerer and who had also built the first earth and timber 'motte and bailey' style castle in nearby Pontefract
Pontefract Castle
Pontefract Castle is a castle in the town of Pontefract, in the City of Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England. It was the site of the demise of Richard II of England, and later the place of a series of famous sieges during the English Civil War-History:...
. The entry in the Domesday Book suggests that the settlement of Ackworth would have been quite small as it recorded only 14 villagers and two smallholders. However as only the heads of families were recorded the more likely figure in terms of population at this time would be around thirty to forty people.
Ackworth in the middle ages
Estate accounts for 1296 showed that Ackworth had developed in the time since the Domesday BookDomesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
. The records showed that the Lord now had 240 bondsmen working for him and the value of the mill had gone up. It showed that Adam de Castleford had to pay 10 shillings rent for his land. His wife Isabella would go on to found the Chapel of Our Lady in Ackworth Church in 1333. In 1341 the Inquisitiones Nonarum stated that the only people living in Ackworth were those working in agriculture. It has been speculated that the village cross in the centre of the village was constructed by the same Isabella de Castleford who built the chapel in the church possibly dating the cross at around 1340. The cross itself was listed as a grade 2 building in 1968 with a description of being "late medieval" and describing the construction as being a "medieval shaft with tudor ball on top" and being "prominently sited near junction with Pontefract road".
The Black Death and Bubonic Plague
One reason given for the construction of the cross is that it was built as a memorial to a plague, possibly the black deathBlack Death
The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350. Of several competing theories, the dominant explanation for the Black Death is the plague theory, which attributes the outbreak to the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Thought to have...
of 1349, which will have killed many inhabitants. The black death had arrived in southern England in 1348 and by 1350 had killed a third of the population. In nearby Pontefract
Pontefract
Pontefract is an historic market town in West Yorkshire, England. Traditionally in the West Riding, near the A1 , the M62 motorway and Castleford. It is one of the five towns in the metropolitan borough of the City of Wakefield and has a population of 28,250...
it was estimated that around 40% of the population had been killed. A reminder of how communities communicated and traded in spite of plague remains in Ackworth to this day in the form of the Ackworth plague stone although it is thought that the stone dates from yet another outbreak of plague in 1645. Situated at the junction of Sandy Gate Lane on the road into Pontefract, the stone is also a grade 2 listed monument. Plague stones were described as "receptacles for sterilising coins in vineagar, normally at or close to parish boundaries." Indicating that the current location of the plague stone was the outer rim of the parish. The plague in 1645 was said to have killed 153 with the bodies been buried in a 'burial field' "crossed by the footpath from Ackworth to Hundhill." The area had possibly already been used as an area of mass burial after a skirmish earlier in the year between Roundhead
Roundhead
"Roundhead" was the nickname given to the supporters of the Parliament during the English Civil War. Also known as Parliamentarians, they fought against King Charles I and his supporters, the Cavaliers , who claimed absolute power and the divine right of kings...
and Royalist
Cavalier
Cavalier was the name used by Parliamentarians for a Royalist supporter of King Charles I and son Charles II during the English Civil War, the Interregnum, and the Restoration...
forces as part of the English Civil War
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
. The bubonic plague of 1645 was not confined to Ackworth, in Leeds over 1300 people were killed and a further 245 were thought to have died 'in and around the Wakefield area' with one theory being that the plague had been brought into the area by soldiers fighting in the Civil War. Another story of how the plague came to Ackworth was retold by Henry Thompson in the book 'A History of Ackworth School in its first 100 years'. He recounts the story of how a popular and well loved monk went to Rome and became "smitten by the plague and died". The monk, from the priory at Nostell would preach at the medieval cross in the centre of the village and was described as a "noble soul with a kindly heart" who was admired by young and old alike. After succumbing to the plague in Rome, his body was brought back and passed through Ackworth at which point "nothing could satisfy the ignorant but faithful love of the old hearers" and the coffin was opened. The village was then stricken with plague and the stone on Castle Syke Hill became "for many months the only contact between them and the outside world". Describing a transaction the book says "upon that stone the Ackworth purchaser dropped his money into a vessel of water, for which, a few hours afterwards, he found his return in merchandise." Of this tale the author comments "we make no idle comment on this history. We tell the tale as it was told to us."
Battles and conflicts
The area around Ackworth has been the scene for a number of historically important battles, the Battle of WakefieldBattle of Wakefield
The Battle of Wakefield took place at Sandal Magna near Wakefield, in West Yorkshire in Northern England, on 30 December 1460. It was a major battle of the Wars of the Roses...
in 1460 and the Battle of Towton
Battle of Towton
In 1461, England was in the sixth year of the Wars of the Roses, a series of civil wars between the Houses of York and Lancaster over the English throne. The Lancastrians backed the reigning King of England, Henry VI, an indecisive man who suffered bouts of madness...
in 1461 were important battles in the Wars of the Roses. In 1489, fours years after the end of the War of the Roses, the new king Henry Tudor
Henry VII of England
Henry VII was King of England and Lord of Ireland from his seizing the crown on 22 August 1485 until his death on 21 April 1509, as the first monarch of the House of Tudor....
levied a tax which caused an uprising in parts of Yorkshire. Thomas Howard, the Earl of Surrey
Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk
Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk, KG, Earl Marshal , styled Earl of Surrey from 1483 to 1514, was the only son of John Howard, 1st Duke of Norfolk by his first wife, Katherine Moleyns...
, was sent to quash the uprising after the Earl of Northumberland had been killed by the rebels. Howard managed to subdue the uprising and hanged the leaders in York. In 1492 a further uprising occurred in Ackworth of which little is known except that Howard once again subdued the insurgents. A further link to a historical battle could possibly be made with the Battle of Winwaed in 655 between Penda of Mercia
Penda of Mercia
Penda was a 7th-century King of Mercia, the Anglo-Saxon kingdom in what is today the English Midlands. A pagan at a time when Christianity was taking hold in many of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, Penda took over the Severn Valley in 628 following the Battle of Cirencester before participating in the...
and Oswiu of Northumbria
Oswiu of Northumbria
Oswiu , also known as Oswy or Oswig , was a King of Bernicia. His father, Æthelfrith of Bernicia, was killed in battle, fighting against Rædwald, King of the East Angles and Edwin of Deira at the River Idle in 616...
, King of Berenicia. The battle was mentioned by Bede although the exact location of the battle is not known. Options include Oswestry in Shropshire, Winwick in Lancashire, Whinmoor north east of Leeds and between Wentbridge and Ackworth where the modern day A639, a former roman road, crosses the River Went
River Went
The River Went is a river in Yorkshire, England. It rises close to Featherstone and flows eastward, joining the River Don at Reedholme Common.A possible site of the Battle of Winwaed is believed to be located somewhere along the valley of the Went.-Route:...
. The battle was seen as pivotal in English history in that Penda had been a powerful Pagan king and the victory of the Christian Oswiu could be seen as having effectively ended Anglo Saxon paganism.
The area around Ackworth was also a hotbed for dissent against the Dissolution of the Monasteries
Dissolution of the Monasteries
The Dissolution of the Monasteries, sometimes referred to as the Suppression of the Monasteries, was the set of administrative and legal processes between 1536 and 1541 by which Henry VIII disbanded monasteries, priories, convents and friaries in England, Wales and Ireland; appropriated their...
by Henry VIII. A rebellion led by Robert Aske
Robert Aske (political leader)
Robert Aske was an English lawyer who became the leader of rebellion in York. He led the Pilgrimage of Grace in 1536 and was executed by Henry VIII for treason in 1537.-Biography:...
and styled the Pilgrimage of Grace
Pilgrimage of Grace
The Pilgrimage of Grace was a popular rising in York, Yorkshire during 1536, in protest against Henry VIII's break with the Roman Catholic Church and the Dissolution of the Monasteries, as well as other specific political, social and economic grievances. It was done in action against Thomas Cromwell...
was thought to have marched through Ackworth on the way to capturing Pontefract Castle in 1536. They were eventually defeated by an army sent by Henry with the leaders hanged at Tyburn
Tyburn
Tyburn is a former village just outside the then boundaries of London that was best known as a place of public execution.Tyburn may also refer to:* Tyburn , river and historical water source in London...
. amongst the hanged included a Nicholas Tempest of Ackworth. The nearby Priory of St. Oswald at Nostell would later be dissolved in 1540 with the land being bought by Rowland Winn. During the English Civil War
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
, the area around Ackworth was seen as being strongly Royalist with four divisions of volunteers being raised from Pontefract and the surrounding villages in order to garrison the castle. In 1645, Ackworth was occupied by Roundhead soldiers who caused some damage to the church and who were also responsible for replacing the cross at the top of the medieval cross in the center of the village with the present 'ball' shape which now sits there.
In more recent times the Ackworth war memorial opened in 1999 and commemorates the soldiers from Ackworth who died in the first and second world wars. From 1914-1918
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
80 soldiers were killed and in the war of 1939-1945
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, 40 people lost their lives.
The Church of St. Cuthbert
The first recorded mention of a church in Ackworth was made in the Domesday Book of 1086 when it noted "There is a Church there, and priest." Prior to this mention it is believed that there has been a church in Ackworth from around the year 750. Ackworth is noted in the porch of a church in Durham as been one of the places where the body of Saint Cuthbert was taken by monks from LindisfarneLindisfarne
Lindisfarne is a tidal island off the north-east coast of England. It is also known as Holy Island and constitutes a civil parish in Northumberland...
as they journeyed around the country with his body from 875 to 882. The church of St. Cuthbert in the centre of High Ackworth is believed to have taken its name from the time when the monks stopped in the village on their pilgrimage. The original church from the time of Saint Cuthbert and the Domesday Book is believed to have been replaced in the 14th century with a stone church and tower. This tower still exists but the church was renovated and restored around 1852 to 1854 when it is thought that the roof was lifted and additional windows added, all the present stained glass windows also date from this time. The restoration was necessary when in 1852 a fire had damaged the nave and chapel. During the restoration the remains of an earlier Norman chapel were found. The church today is a grade 2 listed building which was listed in 1968.
Thomas Bradley
Upon entering the church of St Cuthbert there is a stone font which bears a Latin inscription which when translated reads "Thomas Bradley D.D. Rector. H A. and T C, Churchwardens. This font, thrown down in the war of the Fanatics, was set up again in the year 1663." Thomas BradleyThomas Bradley (priest)
Thomas Bradley was born in 1596 or 1597, the son of Henry Bradley of Wokingham in Berkshire and his wife, Barbara daughter of Walter Lane of Reading in the same county. He was educated at Exeter College, Oxford and was admitted to the degree of Doctor of Divinity...
was the chaplain to Charles I of England
Charles I of England
Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...
and it has been supposed that he attended the king at his execution in 1649. Bradley had been given the living of Castleford and Ackworth by the King but during the time of the Commonwealth of England
Commonwealth of England
The Commonwealth of England was the republic which ruled first England, and then Ireland and Scotland from 1649 to 1660. Between 1653–1659 it was known as the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland...
this was removed from him and given over to Thomas Birkbeck and Mr H Moorhouse. Bradley had sided with the Royalists in the English Civil War
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
and is recorded as being part of Sir George Wentworth's
George Wentworth (of Woolley)
Sir George Wentworth was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1640 to 1642. He fought for the Royalist army in the English Civil War....
division in the garrison of Pontefract Castle
Pontefract Castle
Pontefract Castle is a castle in the town of Pontefract, in the City of Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England. It was the site of the demise of Richard II of England, and later the place of a series of famous sieges during the English Civil War-History:...
. The castle had survived three successive sieges before Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....
set up headquarters at Knottingley and bombarded the castle. The castle was the last Royalist stronghold to surrender and only did so on 24 March 1649, two months after the beheading of Charles I
Charles I of England
Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...
. During the period of the Commonwealth it was reported that Bradley "suffered intensively", his house was looted and "himself, his lady, and all his children turned out of doors to seek their bread in desolate places". A library that he had entrusted to a John Lake of Castleford was also "betrayed into the hands of his enemies." Following the end of the Commonwealth in 1660 the living of Ackworth was restored to him and Bradley became rector of St Cuthberts once more after Thomas Birkbeck was in turn ejected from the rectory. In 1666 he built two Almshouses on the village green for two poor widows and he died on 10 October 1673.
Ackworth School and the Society of Friends
In the book 'A History of Ackworth School', written in 1853, Ackworth was described as a "neat agricultural village, situate(d) about three miles from Pontefract, and closely bordering on the great Yorkshire manufactories". When further describing the area, the book places great importance on the location of the school to the village saying; "It is so completely removed from any great line of road, either of the old system or the new, that but for the world-wide celebrity it has obtained from the Society of Friends from it's association with their school, it is probable that, at least as it regards them, it would have slumbered in undisturbed repose amidst the well cultivated lands by which it is surrounded."The school was opened by John Fothergill
John Fothergill (physician)
John Fothergill FRS was an English physician, plant collector, philanthropist and Quaker.- Life and work :...
who was described in the book as an "eminent physician of London and a man of much influence in the Society of Friends." Originally built as a branch of the Foundling Hospital
Foundling Hospital
The Foundling Hospital in London, England was founded in 1741 by the philanthropic sea captain Thomas Coram. It was a children's home established for the "education and maintenance of exposed and deserted young children." The word "hospital" was used in a more general sense than it is today, simply...
in London, work started on the building in 1757 and cost around £13,000 to build. The governors of the hospital, which was more accurately called the 'Hospital for the Maintenance and Education of Exposed and Deserted Young Children' had already established branch hospitals in Shrewsbury
Shrewsbury
Shrewsbury is the county town of Shropshire, in the West Midlands region of England. Lying on the River Severn, it is a civil parish home to some 70,000 inhabitants, and is the primary settlement and headquarters of Shropshire Council...
, Chester
Chester
Chester is a city in Cheshire, England. Lying on the River Dee, close to the border with Wales, it is home to 77,040 inhabitants, and is the largest and most populous settlement of the wider unitary authority area of Cheshire West and Chester, which had a population of 328,100 according to the...
and Westerham
Westerham
Westerham is a town and civil parish in the Sevenoaks District of Kent, in South East England with 5,000 people. The parish is south of the North Downs, ten miles west of Sevenoaks. It covers 5800 acres . It is recorded as early as the 9th century, and was mentioned in the Domesday Book in a...
. Their move to Ackworth was as a result of the contemplation of the "great advantages from having one amongst the active and enterprising people of the northern counties." The hospital eventually closed in 1773 and remained empty for a number of years during which time it seems to have avoided both being turned into a "lunatic asylum" and "being sold and taken down for the materials.". It was on hearing that the building may be "disposed of" that Fothergill
John Fothergill (physician)
John Fothergill FRS was an English physician, plant collector, philanthropist and Quaker.- Life and work :...
made the purchase of not only the hospital but the 85 acres of surrounding lands for £7,000. The purchase in 1777 was then fully approved by the society of friends in 1778 and established as a school in 1779. Fothergill died in 1780 by which time 80 girls and 150 boys were being taught there.
The Foundling Hospital
Of its time as a foundling hospital
Foundling hospital
A foundling hospital was originally an institution for the reception of foundlings, i.e., children who had been abandoned or exposed, and left for the public to find and save...
, 'A History of Ackworth School' paints an unflattering picture of the conditions within saying "disease and death carried off great numbers annually". Of the causes the book describes "starvation, and even murder, on the part of nurses who had the care of the infants, and of masters to whom the elder children were apprenticed".The book, a history of ackworth school, gives the following passage "disease and death carried off great numbers annually; starvation, and even murder, on the part of nurses who had the care of the infants, and of masters to whom the elder children were apprenticed, added to the mortality and, though the evidence is abundant of the untiring efforts of the directors to care for the children whilst in the hospital, and to protect their rights when they were apprenticed, evils and oppressions, unnumbered and insurmountable, paralyzed their exertions and the establishment was given up.A History of Ackworth School (1853), pages 4 & 5" Children were sent to Ackworth from London and other areas in which there was a branch of the hospital with the children made to work as; "idleness was the parent of vice", or so it was seen by the governors. In 1759 a "woolen manufactory" was established at the hospital with children spinning and weaving cloth which soon became in demand, so much so that in 1762 the profits were £500, a significant sum at the time. In addition to working in the woolen trade, other children worked on the farm and all were taught to mend their own clothes. Whilst at the hospital attempts were made to place the children as 'apprentices' for business owners in the local area. At times the demand for apprentices would be so high, the steward of the hospital, John Hargreaves, would have to write to the London board, asking for more to be sent. The high demand for apprentices in turn led to the checks on the people taking the apprentices being relaxed despite the instruction to ensure that all applicants for apprentices were tested to ensure suitability. As the demand grew and the checks became less "men unsuitable for the trust" were able to obtain credentials who were "treating the children they obtained on the strength of them, with little more with little short of barbarity, and in more than one case murderous cruelty." Some children would be apprenticed out as young as 6 and 7 years old with an apprenticeship initially lasting until the child reached 24 although in 1768 this changed to 21.There were many tales of cruelty of the apprentices after being placed away from the hospital, in 1765 a Mr. Brown of Leeds took 74 girls all of whom were seven years old and set them to work in his cloth business. Of the original 74, 22 died and an inspection revealed that the children were in a "dreadful condition of health" after having to stand up all day so much so that they had become weak in the hips, thighs and knees meaning that they could only "with difficulty crawl over the floor". The sanitary arrangements were described as being in a "shocking condition" and the sleeping arrangements described as "very unfit to refresh those weary limbs that have been kept the whole day to hard labour." The surviving children were taken back to Ackworth. Other examples of cruelty were a tile smith from Sheffield who was indicted for the murder of his apprentice, a boy named Nixon, but found 'not guilty'. In 1771 a William Butterworth was accused of the murder of one of his apprentices, Jemima Dixon after treating them in what was described as an "inhuman" way. 'A History of Ackworth School during its first 100 years' describes the treatment; "He had starved them within little short of their lives, had beaten their heads with shuttles, kicked them in the most brutal of all methods, and had subjected the little murdered one to the most revolting punishments that an utterly malignant nature could devise."A History of Ackworth School during its first 100 years, chapter 1
John Fothergill
Following the closure of the foundling hospital in 1773, it was John Fothergill who arranged the purchase in 1777 which turned the building into a school for the Society of Friends. Fothergill was a prominent member of the society who was born in Yorkshire in Wensleydale
Wensleydale
Wensleydale is the valley of the River Ure on the east side of the Pennines in North Yorkshire, England.Wensleydale lies in the Yorkshire Dales National Park – one of only a few valleys in the Dales not currently named after its principal river , but the older name, "Yoredale", can still be seen...
, educated in Sedburgh Grammer School and served an apprenticeship as an apothecary in Bradford
Bradford
Bradford lies at the heart of the City of Bradford, a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, in Northern England. It is situated in the foothills of the Pennines, west of Leeds, and northwest of Wakefield. Bradford became a municipal borough in 1847, and received its charter as a city in 1897...
. He studied medicine in Edinburgh, graduating in 1736 before moving to London to set up practice. He was a keen botanist and developed an extensive garden at his home at Rooke Hall in Upton. A selection of sketches made of his flowers and plants, approximately 2000 of them, were sold after his death and eventually became the property of the Empress of Russia. Fothergill was also a contempary of Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin
Dr. Benjamin Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A noted polymath, Franklin was a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, musician, inventor, satirist, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat...
and took a great interest in the relations between England and the American Colonies which were on the verge of war at the time. He had helped establish schools in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
and Philadelphia and despite never having visited the colonies often saw patients crossing the Atlantic to seek his advice as a physician. His relationship with Franklin was formed as on the eve of conflict Franklin visited Europe to try to find a settlement between the two countries. Fothergill wrote a paper on how the two sides might agree and although this was accepted by Franklin it was rejected by the British government. Fothergill set up Ackworth School with the intention of setting it up as a "boarding school for the education of children whose parents were not rich". He took a great interest in the running of the school often travelling up from London to serve on the committee and to help with expenses before passing away in 1780. A hall built at the school in 1899 with seating for 400 people was named Fothergill Hall.
Geography
At 53°30′0"N 1°20′0.8"W Ackworth is bound by the City of Wakefield to the west, Pontefract to the north, with the villages of Thorpe Audlin and Kirk Smeaton to the east and Hemsworth to the south. The small River WentRiver Went
The River Went is a river in Yorkshire, England. It rises close to Featherstone and flows eastward, joining the River Don at Reedholme Common.A possible site of the Battle of Winwaed is believed to be located somewhere along the valley of the Went.-Route:...
cuts through the village and the A638 Doncaster to Wakefield road and A628 from Barnsley to Pontefract are the main roads. The underlying geology of the area around High Ackworth comprises grey mud and silt stones associated with the Bolsovian series of rocks from the Upper Carboniferous period. An archaeological survey of the area in 2008 described the soils as "well developed based on a pale orange silty clay natural probably glacially developed outwash upon which has developed a pale grey silty clay subsoil and a silty loam topsoil".
Demography
The census of 2001 counted a population of 6,364 49.2% of whom were men and 50.8% women. The census statistics compared Ackworth with the rest of the Wakefield district and also with the rest of England. In terms of ethnicity 97.7% of people classified themselves as 'white' which was much higher than the national average of 90.9%. In terms of religion 79.2% of people classified themselves as 'Christian' which again was higher than the national average of 71.7%, the next highest religious group were those who classified themselves as 'no religion' with 11% of the population identifying which was lower than the national average of 14.6% and the district average of 11.7%. Work information showed that 67.8% of people were 'economically active' higher than the Wakefield district which was 64.3% and the national average of 66.9%. In terms of educational attainment, the figure of 21.5% of people with a degree level 'qualification or higher' was significantly more than the rest of the Wakefield district which only had 12.5%, a figure in turn much lower than the national average of 19.9%.| Year | 1801 | 1811 | 1821 | 1831 | 1841 | 1851 | 1881 | 1891 | 1901 | 1911 | 1921 | 1931 | 1951 | 1961 | 2001 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 1,432 | 1,322 | 1,575 | 1,660 | 1,828 | 1,835 | 2,222 | 2,647 | 3,394 | 4,183 | 4,831 | 4,370 | 4,360 | 4,089 | 6,364 |
Agriculture
Agriculture seems to have played an important role in the development of the area around Ackworth since the times when it was first settled particularly considering the meaning of the name 'worth' which was Anglo Saxon for enclosure or homestead. Other names around the area indicate that farming was a key feature of the economy during the development of Ackworth and the areas around Ackworth such as BadsworthBadsworth
Badsworth is a village and civil parish in the City of Wakefield metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 583. The village is located south of Pontefract....
and Hemsworth
Hemsworth
Hemsworth is a small town and civil parish on the edge of West Yorkshire, England. It forms part of the City of Wakefield, and has a population of 13,311....
. Norse placenames in the region also indicate that this carried on into the period of Scandinavian settlement with places appearing with the name 'Thorpe' which meant a small homestead or a farm. In the Domesday Book of 1086 it noted that Ackworth had a mill and that the land was capable of employing five ploughs. Accounts from 1296 indicated that the mill was still an important part of the community as its value had gone up and in 1341 the 'Inquisitiones Nonarum' noted that the only people living in Ackworth were those working in agriculture. The census of 1831 showed that 'agricultural labourer' was the most common profession in the area with a total of 100 men over the age of 20 being employed in this area. The second most populous occupation was in the field of 'retail and handicrafts' with 90 people employed. There were also 29 people classified as 'farmers employing labourers' and 13 people classified as 'farmers not employing labourers'. In the 1881 census agriculture was still a big employer, the second largest in the area, with 106 men and 1 woman being employed in this way. The largest occupation by this time for men however were those employed in the area of 'workers in various mineral substances'. For women the census showed that the most common occupation was in the field of 'domestic services or offices'.
Stone quarrying
Quarrying was also an important industry with quarries around the areas of Moor Top and Brackenhill. There is a long tradition of quarrying and masonry in the area with the production of building stone and high quality grindstones produced used by the agricultural and tool making industries. Saywell (1894) describes Brackenhill as being "almost entirely inhabited by stoneworkers" and says that Moor Top consists of "several good houses, the rest are the cottages of miners and quarryworkers". Saywell also describes "extensive quarrying" operations in the south and southwest of area around Ackworth with stone running "near the surface" in many areas. He describes the Ackworth Stone as "good, but in places it is exceptionally soft, and unfit for building purposes, which accounts for so many faults". In 1848 'A Topographical History of Great Britain' describes "extensive quarries" of stone to be found in Moor Top and describes an abundant supply of "freestone of excellent quality".The first stone quarry in the parish was said to have been opened by John Askew whose initials are said to be inscribed on the lintel of the Masons Arms pub in Moor Top, one of the oldest buildings in the parish. Green (1910), in his book Historical Antiquities of Ackworth, states the quarrying however was being carried out as early as 1611. In 1927 Kellys directory of the West Riding of Yorkshire confirmed that quarrying was still going strong and hinted that the stone was received by a global market saying "At Moor Top and Brackenhill are several large quarries, from which great quantities of stone are sent to all parts of England and abroad." Brackenhill was still described as somewhere where men employed by the stone quarries lived as well as those working in the Hemsworth colliery. The working mens club and institute in Moor Top was built in 1907 and was said to have cost £1,750.
Coal mining
Saywell (1894) had said that "coal abounds in the vicinity" and told of how, in 1860, an experimental bore of 153 feet was drilled in Long Lane but coal was "not reached". He also said that "rich veins of iron are known to exist, at certain points, especially in Low Ackworth, inasmuch as many of the natural water springs are strongly oxidised." Picturing Ackworth in fifty years time he summised that "it is not a too great stretch of imagination to predict that in fifty years' time, or even less, the picturesque village of Ackworth will have be-come one of the busiest mining centres of the West Riding of Yorkshire."Hemsworth Colliery
The Hemsworth Colliery was sunk in 1876 and was initially called 'Fitzwilliam Main' By 1879 the pit employed over 300 men and boys who traveled from Kinsley, Hemsworth, Ackworth and Crofton in order to work. In 1879 an explosion killed five people including three men from Brackenhill. The Wakefield Express described the injuries of one of the men, John Mann, saying that he suffered a "compound fracture of the skull and also a scalp wound, his right arm had been fractured, and he was burnt in a shocking manner on the head, face, chest and back". The paper reported that "the poor fellow expired about nine o’clock the same night." Following the disaster the colliery was taken over by the Hemsworth Colliery Coal Company in 1880, went into liquidation in 1890 and was in turn bought by the 'New Hemsworth Colliery Coal Company'. In 1904 the mine became 'Fitzwilliam-Hemsworth collieries' and in 1907 became just 'Hemsworth colliery'. Kellys directory of 1927 noted that the area of Brackenhill was "inhabited chiefly by the men employed in the stone quarries and the Hemsworth colliery." A colliery was also sunk in Ackworth around 1910-1912.Transport
The village is set aside two main roads, the A638 from Wakefield to Doncaster and the A628 from Barnsley to Pontefract. The Angel pub and the Boot & Shoe were at one time stopping places for stagecoaches as they made there way through the village, a route which would have taken them through Bell Lane, at one time a main thoroughfare which even now has an old stone signpost at its junction.Rail services
A number of railway stations formerly served the village with its location in relation to them described in 1927 as being "3 miles from Hemsworth station on a branch line of the London and North Eastern railway from Doncaster to Wakefield, 3 miles south of Pontefract, 2 (miles) from the Featherstone station on the Wakefield and Goole branch of the Lancashire and Yorkshire railway, and 1 mile from the Ackworth stationAckworth railway station
Ackworth railway station was a railway station serving Ackworth in the English county of West Yorkshire.-History:The station was opened by the Swinton and Knottingley Joint Railway, which became a joint railway between the London, Midland and Scottish Railway and the London and North Eastern...
on the Swinton and Knottingley branch of the London, Midland and Scottish and London and North Eastern railways." The Ackworth station was located in Low Ackworth on the road to the village of East Hardwick and closed in 1951. There was also a goods station at Ackworth Moor Top which was opened by the Brackenhill Light Railway in 1914 and closed in 1962. It ran from Brackenhill junction to Hemsworth Colliery and was predominately a goods service which only ran for 3 and a quarter miles. The route can still be seen in places today with the first mile from Brackenhill junction to Cherry Tree Farm still used by railway maintenance road vehicles and the section of the line from Mill Lane to Kinsley Common has been converted into a cycleway called the Tom Dando Way.
Schools in Ackworth
Ackworth is home to a number of schools including Ackworth SchoolAckworth School
Ackworth School is an independent school located in the village of High Ackworth, near Pontefract, West Yorkshire, England. It is one of eight Quaker Schools in England. The school is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference and SHMIS . The Head is Kathryn Bell, who succeeded...
, a Quaker
Religious Society of Friends
The Religious Society of Friends, or Friends Church, is a Christian movement which stresses the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. Members are known as Friends, or popularly as Quakers. It is made of independent organisations, which have split from one another due to doctrinal differences...
-run boarding school
Boarding school
A boarding school is a school where some or all pupils study and live during the school year with their fellow students and possibly teachers and/or administrators. The word 'boarding' is used in the sense of "bed and board," i.e., lodging and meals...
and day school for children aged between two to eighteen. There are three primary schools which are 'Ackworth Mill Dam junior and infants', 'Bell Lane junior and infants' and 'Ackworth Howard church of England voluntary controlled junior and infants school'. 'Oakfield Park' is a school for young people aged 11–19 who have learning difficulties.
| School | Type/Status | OfSTED |
|---|---|---|
| Ackworth School Ackworth School Ackworth School is an independent school located in the village of High Ackworth, near Pontefract, West Yorkshire, England. It is one of eight Quaker Schools in England. The school is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference and SHMIS . The Head is Kathryn Bell, who succeeded... |
Boarding School | SC041297 |
| Oakfield Park School | Community Special School | 133719 |
| Ackworth Mill Dam | Primary School | 130966 |
| Ackworth Howard | Primary School | 130977 |
| Bell Lane | Primary School | 130965 |
Notable people
The YorkshireYorkshire County Cricket Club
Yorkshire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Yorkshire as one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure....
and England fast bowler, Graham Stevenson
Graham Stevenson
Graham Barry Stevenson is an English former cricketer, who played in two Tests and four One Day Internationals from 1980 to 1981....
, was born in Ackworth. John Gully
John Gully
John Gully was an English prize-fighter, horse racer and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1832 to 1837.-Early life:...
, the pugilist, horseracer and Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
, is buried at High Ackworth in his private burial ground. Luke Howard
Luke Howard
Luke Howard FRS was a British manufacturing chemist and an amateur meteorologist with broad interests in science...
, amateur meteorologist
Meteorology
Meteorology is the interdisciplinary scientific study of the atmosphere. Studies in the field stretch back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did not occur until the 18th century. The 19th century saw breakthroughs occur after observing networks developed across several countries...
and namer of the clouds, lived at Ackworth Court. His daughter, Rachel, founded the Howard School, behind which is a Plymouth Brethren
Plymouth Brethren
The Plymouth Brethren is a conservative, Evangelical Christian movement, whose history can be traced to Dublin, Ireland, in the late 1820s. Although the group is notable for not taking any official "church name" to itself, and not having an official clergy or liturgy, the title "The Brethren," is...
burial ground. Theodore Kitching
Theodore Kitching
Commissioner Theodore Hopkins Kitching CBE was a prominent officer in The Salvation Army, acting as Secretary and confidant to Generals William Booth and Bramwell Booth, and was The Salvation Army's International Secretary for Europe from 1914 to 1916.Born in Ackworth in Yorkshire, the third of...
, Secretary to General
Generals of The Salvation Army
thumbnail|left|1st General, William BoothGeneral is the title of the international leader of The Salvation Army, a Christian denomination with extensive charitable social services that gives quasi-military rank to its ministers .Usage of the term General began with the Founder of The Salvation...
William Booth
William Booth
William Booth was a British Methodist preacher who founded The Salvation Army and became its first General...
and a Commissioner in The Salvation Army
The Salvation Army
The Salvation Army is a Protestant Christian church known for its thrift stores and charity work. It is an international movement that currently works in over a hundred countries....
, was born in Ackworth in 1866. Dave Cooper
Dave Cooper
David Charles Cooper is a cartoonist, commercial illustrator and a graphic designer who lives in Ottawa, Canada. In addition to comics, Cooper has worked extensively as a designer, producer, and creator in the field of animation...
and Graham Bilbrough, former members of the 1970s TV and chart group Child
Child
Biologically, a child is generally a human between the stages of birth and puberty. Some vernacular definitions of a child include the fetus, as being an unborn child. The legal definition of "child" generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person younger than the age of majority...
, are residents of Ackworth.
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