Arthington is a small village in

Wharfedale Wharfedale ( ) is the valley of the upper parts of the River Wharfe and one of the Yorkshire Dales. It is situated within the districts of Craven and Harrogate in North Yorkshire, and the cities of Leeds and Bradford in West Yorkshire. It is ...

, in the

City of Leeds The City of Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. The metropolitan borough includes the administrative centre of Leeds and the towns of Farsley, Garforth, Guiseley, Horsforth, Morley, Otley, Pudsey, Rothwell, W ...

metropolitan borough A metropolitan borough (or metropolitan district) is a type of local government district in England. Created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972, metropolitan boroughs are defined in English law as metropolitan districts within metropolitan ...

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. It is a

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

which, according to the 2011 census, had a population of 532 and is in the LS21 postcode district with

Otley Otley is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish at a bridging point on the River Wharfe, in the City of Leeds metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. Historic counties of England, Historically a part of the West Ridi ...

as its

post town A post town is a required part of all postal addresses in the United Kingdom and Ireland, and a basic unit of the postal delivery system.Royal Mail, ''Address Management Guide'', (2004) Including the correct post town in the address increases ...

. It is in the Otley ward of the City of Leeds, and the

Leeds North West Leeds North West is a constituency in the City of Leeds which has been represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2017 by Alex Sobel, of Labour Co-op. Boundaries 1950–1955: The County Borough of Leeds wards of Far He ...

parliamentary constituency.

Geography

The village is a small collection of dwellings and farms along the

A659 road List of A roads in zone 6 in Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island an ...

(Arthington Lane) running from

Pool-in-Wharfedale Pool-in-Wharfedale or Pool in Wharfedale, usually abbreviated to Pool, is a village and civil parish in the Lower Wharfedale area, north of Leeds city centre, north-east of Bradford, and east of Otley. It is in the City of Leeds metropolitan ...

in the West to Harewood in the East, and south of a section of the River Wharfe. Up Black Hill Road to the south is a working stone quarry.

Etymology

The name ''Arthington'' is first attested in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

as ''Hardinctone'', ''Ardintona'' and ''Ardinton''. The first element of the name comes from the

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...

personal name A personal name, or full name, in onomastic terminology also known as prosoponym (from Ancient Greek πρόσωπον / ''prósōpon'' - person, and ὄνομα / ''onoma'' - name), is the set of names by which an individual person is known ...

''Eard'', a nickname form of longer names like ''Eardwulf''; the connecting element ''-ing-'', used to indicate Eard's association with the place; and the word ''tūn'' ('farmstead, estate'). Thus the name meant 'Eard's estate'. Spellings with ''th'' for ''d'' appear from the twelfth century onwards and are thought to show the influence of

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...

pronunciation on the name.Harry Parkin, ''Your City's Place-Names: Leeds'', English Place-Name Society City-Names Series, 3 (Nottingham: English Place-Names Society, 2017), pp. 18-19.

History

Arthington was part of the estate of Aluuard of Northumbria, along with Adel,

Burdon Burdon is a village and civil parish in the City of Sunderland in Tyne and Wear, England. It is south of the city centre. The north-west of the parish includes part of the Doxford Park estate. It has a population of 971. There is currently no p ...

Cookridge Cookridge is a suburb of north-west Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, north of the Leeds Outer Ring Road. In 1715 Ralph Thoresby described it as a village four miles from Leeds and three from Otley, dating from 1540.Ralph Thoresby (1715) ''Duc ...

and

Eccup Eccup is a village in the civil parish of Alwoodley and north of the City of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is just north of Alwoodley and east of Bramhope and Golden Acre Park. Eccup is at the north-west edge of Eccup Reservoir. Etymology ...

, up until the

Norman conquest of England The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Norman, Duchy of Brittany, Breton, County of Flanders, Flemish, and Kingdom of France, French troops, ...

. It was then given to the

Count of Mortain The County of Mortain was a medieval county in France centered on the town of Mortain. A choice landholding, usually either kept within the family of the duke of Normandy (or the king of France) or granted to a noble in return for service and favo ...

(half brother of

William the Conqueror William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first House of Normandy, Norman List of English monarchs#House of Norman ...

). However, it had greatly reduced in value during the Conquest, falling from 30

shillings The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 12 pence or ...

to 5, and much of the area was described as waste. It was in the 12th century that Arthington (or Ardington) as a family name was established, as vassals to the tenant in chief, the Paynel and later the Luterel family. Peter de Arthington donated lands at Arthington to

Kirkstall Abbey Kirkstall Abbey is a ruined Cistercian monastery in Kirkstall, north-west of Leeds city centre in West Yorkshire, England. It is set in a public park on the north bank of the River Aire. It was founded ''c.'' 1152. It was disestablished during ...

which led to the establishment of a

nunnery A convent is a community of monks, nuns, religious brothers or, sisters or priests. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The word is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican C ...

known as

Arthington Priory Arthington Priory was an English monastery which was home to a community of nuns in Arthington, West Yorkshire, founded in the mid-12th century. The priory land is occupied by a residence called "Arthington Hall", which was built around 1585, and ...

. The site is now believed to be occupied by Nunnery Farm, with the main house dated 1585 built from the ruins. By this time the region had improved with more land under agriculture and more inhabitants.

Buildings

The village mainly extends from the Wharfdale pub at the western end to the former parish church of St Peter on the eastern end. This dates from 1864 and is a Grade II

Listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

like many others in the village. It became redundant because of the small congregation, and in 2007 it was renamed St Mary and St Abanoub as a

Coptic Orthodox The Coptic Orthodox Church ( cop, Ϯⲉⲕ̀ⲕⲗⲏⲥⲓⲁ ⲛ̀ⲣⲉⲙⲛ̀ⲭⲏⲙⲓ ⲛ̀ⲟⲣⲑⲟⲇⲟⲝⲟⲥ, translit=Ti.eklyseya en.remenkimi en.orthodoxos, lit=the Egyptian Orthodox Church; ar, الكنيسة القبطي� ...

church. It serves a congregation living in West, North and East Yorkshire. Arthington Hall was the home of the Arthington family from Norman times till the 18th century when it was taken over by the Sheepshank family who rebuilt in

Italianate The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian R ...

style and also paid for the church. It has been used for filming the UK TV series ''Heartbeat''. To the West of the village is

Creskeld Hall Creskeld Hall is a grade II listed Country House located in Arthington, near Otley, West Yorkshire, England. Etymology The place-name is first attested in the twelfth century, as ''Creskeld'' and ''Creskelde''. The name comes from the Old Engli ...

, a former

Manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals w ...

, which has been used for filming the external shots of Home Farm in the TV serial

Emmerdale ''Emmerdale'' (known as ''Emmerdale Farm'' until 1989) is a British soap opera that is broadcast on ITV1. The show is set in Emmerdale (known as Beckindale until 1994), a fictional village in the Yorkshire Dales. Created by Kevin Laffan, '' ...

. The village was the site of

, one of only two

Cluniac The Cluniac Reforms (also called the Benedictine Reform) were a series of changes within medieval monasticism of the Western Church focused on restoring the traditional monastic life, encouraging art, and caring for the poor. The movement began wit ...

nunneries in England - the other being at

Delapré Abbey Delapré Abbey is an English neo-classical mansion in Northamptonshire. The mansion and outbuildings incorporate remains of a former monastery, the Abbey of St Mary de la Pré (the suffix meaning "in or of the Meadow"), near the River Nene s ...

Northampton Northampton () is a market town and civil parish in the East Midlands of England, on the River Nene, north-west of London and south-east of Birmingham. The county town of Northamptonshire, Northampton is one of the largest towns in England; ...

. The site is now believed to be occupied by Nunnery Farm, with the main house dated 1585 built from the ruins.

Railway

There used to be a

railway junction A junction, in the context of rail transport, is a place at which two or more rail routes converge or diverge. This implies a physical connection between the tracks of the two routes (assuming they are of the same gauge), provided by ''points'' ( ...

(see Arthington railway station), where the (now-closed) line to

station Station may refer to: Agriculture * Station (Australian agriculture), a large Australian landholding used for livestock production * Station (New Zealand agriculture), a large New Zealand farm used for grazing by sheep and cattle ** Cattle statio ...

Ilkley Ilkley is a spa town and civil parish in the City of Bradford in West Yorkshire, in Northern England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, Ilkley civil parish includes the adjacent village of Ben Rhydding and is a ward within the ...

, and on to

Skipton Skipton (also known as Skipton-in-Craven) is a market town and civil parish in the Craven district of North Yorkshire, England. Historically in the East Division of Staincliffe Wapentake in the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is on the River Air ...

joined the still open Harrogate Line from

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

Harrogate Harrogate ( ) is a spa town and the administrative centre of the Borough of Harrogate in North Yorkshire, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, the town is a tourist destination and its visitor at ...

. Arthington station closed completely in 1965 but there is a campaign to re-open the station and the former Otley line. The village is at the northern end of the

Bramhope Tunnel Bramhope Tunnel is on the Harrogate Line between Horsforth station and the Arthington Viaduct in West Yorkshire, England. Services through the railway tunnel are operated mainly by Northern. The tunnel was constructed during 1845–1849 by ...

. The railway then crosses the dramatic stone

Arthington Viaduct Arthington Viaduct, listed known as the Wharfedale Viaduct, carries the Harrogate Line across the Wharfe valley between Arthington in West Yorkshire and Castley in North Yorkshire, England. It is a Grade II listed structure. The viaduct was ...

over the River Wharfe to

Castley Castley is a village and civil parish in the Harrogate district of North Yorkshire, England. It lies on a bend in the River Wharfe about north of the centre of Leeds. The population of the civil parish was estimated at 70 in 2015. In the 2011 c ...

on the north side of the valley. The Arthington Show is actually held on grounds in Castley. File:The Wharfdale, Arthington 23 April 2017.jpg, The Wharfedale File:St Mary and St Abanoub Church 01 8 July 2017.jpg, The church File:Beech Cottage Arthington 8 July 2017.jpg, Cottages File:Arthington bridge 23 April 2017.jpg, Railway bridge File:Arthington Viaduct.jpg, Arthington Viaduct

Location grid

References

External links

* * * {{authority control Villages in West Yorkshire Places in Leeds Wharfedale Civil parishes in West Yorkshire