Hastings Crescent, Airedale (aerial) - geograph

Airedale is a suburb in the

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

Castleford Castleford is a town within the City of Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England. It had a population of 45,106 at a 2021 population estimate. Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, to the north of the town centre the River Calder joins th ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. It consists mainly of Local Authority Housing. It borders with

Ferry Fryston Ferry Fryston is a suburb of the town of Castleford in West Yorkshire, England. It is situated in the metropolitan borough of the City of Wakefield. The appropriate ward is called Airedale and Ferry Fryston. In the 18th century Ferry Fryston was ...

. The ward of the City of Wakefield called Airedale and Ferry Fryston had a population of 14,811 at the 2011 Census. The

River Aire The River Aire is a major river in Yorkshire, England, in length. The ''Handbook for Leeds and Airedale'' (1890) notes that the distance from Malham to Howden is direct, but the river's meanderings extend that to . Between Malham Tarn and Ai ...

runs in close proximity to Airedale and is thought to get its name from there. The area attracted much media attention in November 1984, when a local strikebreaker named Michael Fletcher was savagely beaten by a group of pickets during the

UK miners' strike (1984-1985) UK miners' strike may refer to: *UK miners' strike (1893) *South Wales miners' strike (1910) *National coal strike of 1912 *UK miners' strike (1921) *UK miners' strike (1953) *UK miners' strike (1969), a widespread unofficial strike *UK miners' str ...

. A masked gang waving baseball bats invaded his house and beat him for five minutes, whilst his pregnant wife and two children hid upstairs. Two miners from Wakefield were later convicted of causing grievous bodily harm in the incident, whereas four others were acquitted of riot and assault.

References

Geography of the City of Wakefield Castleford {{WestYorkshire-geo-stub