Ackworth, West Yorkshire

infobox UK place
country = England
official_name= Ackworth
latitude= 53.640824
longitude= -1.336409
map_type= West Yorkshire
metropolitan_county = West Yorkshire
population= 6,493
region= Yorkshire and the Humber
constituency_westminster= Hemsworth,
metropolitan_borough= City of Wakefield
post_town= PONTEFRACT
postcode_district = WF7
postcode_area= WF
dial_code= 01977
os_grid_reference= SE443176 Ackworth is a village in the metropolitan borough of Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England, situated between Pontefract, Barnsley and Doncaster on the small River Went. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 6,493.

Village history

Settled in around 500 by Saxon settlers after the Romans left Britain, the village was named after the area was cleared of vast numbers of Oak trees to form an enclosure. The placename element "ack" derives from oak and the element "worth" from an enclosure. The first written mention of Ackworth is in the Domesday book of 1086.

The village consists of four parts: High Ackworth, which leads to Featherstone and Pontefract; Low Ackworth, with access to both Pontefract and East Hardwick; Ackworth Moortop, the largest part with roads to Hemsworth and Doncaster as well as the other parts of Ackworth; and Brackenhill, to the West of Moortop, which leads to Wakefield.

The first Christian church was erected in Ackworth between 750-800. A local tradition claims that the monks of Lindisfarne brought the body of Saint Cuthbert with them to Ackworth as they fled the depredations of Danish Vikings. The church of St Cuthbert's is in High Ackworth. Parish register records go back to 1558. All Saints' church is in Moortop. From 1643 until 1645, and again from 1660 until 1672, the Rector of Ackworth was the Reverend Thomas Bradley, DD (Oxon), who attended King Charles the Martyr at his execution.

Ackworth is home to Ackworth School, one of the older schools in Britain. A Quaker-run boarding and day school for ages two to eighteen, it was founded in 1779. Ackworth Howard (CE) School is one of three primary schools, situated in Low Ackworth, the others being the Bell Lane and Mill Dam Schools in Moortop.

Notable residents

The 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, Father of Meteorology, and namer of the clouds lived at Ackworth Court. His daughter founded the Howard School, behind which is a Plymouth Brethren Burial Ground.

External links

* [http://www.ackworth.sceneonline.co.uk Ackworth Scene Online - Community Website]