Boston Spa is a Village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of Parish (administrative division), administrative parish used for Local government in England, local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below district ...

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, Rothwel ...

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 metropoli ...

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 exis ...

, England. Situated south of

Wetherby Wetherby () is a market town and civil parish in the City of Leeds district, West Yorkshire, England, close to West Yorkshire county's border with North Yorkshire, and lies approximately from Leeds City Centre, from York and from Harrogat ...

, Boston Spa is on the south bank of the River Wharfe which separates it from Thorp Arch. According to the 2001 census the parish had a population of 4,006 rising to 4,079 in the 2011 census. It sits in the

ward of

Leeds City Council Leeds City Council is the local authority of the City of Leeds in West Yorkshire, England. It is a metropolitan district council, one of five in West Yorkshire and one of 36 in the metropolitan counties of England, and provides the majority of ...

and Elmet and Rothwell

parliamentary constituency An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other poli ...

Etymology

The origin of Boston Spa's name is not entirely clear; the name is not attested prior to appearing on printed maps in 1771, when it was labelled ''Thorp Spaw''. At this stage, then, the name ''Thorp Spaw'' presumably meant 'the spa associated with Thorp Arch' (the nearest pre-existing settlement). The ''Boston'' element of the name is first attested in 1799 as ''Bostongate'' and then in 1822 simply as ''Boston''. It is thought probable that ''Boston'' was the surname of a local family, whose name itself derives from

Boston, Lincolnshire Boston is a market town and inland port in the borough of the same name in the county of Lincolnshire, England. Boston is north of London, north-east of Peterborough, east of Nottingham, south-east of Lincoln, south-southeast of Hull ...

, and that their name was given to the settlement that grew up around the spa.

History

The

Boston Spa hoard The Boston Spa hoard is a Romano-British hoard of 172 coins in a ceramic vessel found near Boston Spa in 1848. Discovery and description The hoard was found in Boston Spa in 1848 during the construction of foundations for a new building. It co ...

, a

Romano-British The Romano-British culture arose in Britain under the Roman Empire following the Roman conquest in AD 43 and the creation of the province of Britannia. It arose as a fusion of the imported Roman culture with that of the indigenous Britons, a ...

coin hoard dating to the mid second-century AD and comprising a grey ware vessel and 172 silver ''

denarii The denarius (, dēnāriī ) was the standard Roman silver coin from its introduction in the Second Punic War to the reign of Gordian III (AD 238–244), when it was gradually replaced by the antoninianus. It continued to be minted in very sm ...

'', was found in the town in 1848. In 1744, John Shires established a

spa town A spa town is a resort town based on a mineral spa (a developed mineral spring). Patrons visit spas to "take the waters" for their purported health benefits. Thomas Guidott set up a medical practice in the English town of Bath, Somerset, B ...

when he discovered

sulphur Sulfur (or sulphur in British English) is a chemical element with the symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent and nonmetallic. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with a chemical formula ...

springs in the

magnesian limestone The Magnesian Limestone is a suite of carbonate rocks in north-east England dating from the Permian period. The outcrop stretches from Nottingham northwards through Yorkshire and into County Durham where it is exposed along the coast between ...

. It was known as Thorp Spa but declined when

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

became very popular as a spa town. In 1753, a turnpike was built on the

Tadcaster Tadcaster is a market town and civil parish in the Selby district of North Yorkshire, England, east of the Great North Road, north-east of Leeds, and south-west of York. Its historical importance from Roman times onward was largely as the ...

Otley Otley is a market town and civil parish at a bridging point on the River Wharfe, in the City of Leeds metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, the population was 13,668 at the 2011 c ...

road, which passes through Boston Spa. In the same year, Joseph Taite built a house to accommodate visitors that became the Royal Hotel, which is still standing, but converted into flats and shops. By 1819, Boston Spa had a population of more than 600, and several inns and other houses offering accommodation had been built . Spa baths were built to allow visitors to take the waters. On the north bank of the river is the village of Thorp Arch, which predates Boston Spa by several centuries. Bostonspa

The Boston Spa and Thorp Arch

Conservation Area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...

, designated in 1969, extended across both Boston Spa and Thorp Arch parishes. It was revised in 2009, restricting the boundaries to Boston Spa parish and reshaped to exclude areas of late-20th-century estate housing to the south of the High Street. The current conservation area boundary focuses on the historic settlement. It was extended to the west, to encompass West End, an area of dwellings constructed during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

to house workers from Thorp Arch munitions factory. The war had a major effect on Boston Spa's population, society and surroundings, and the buildings stand as a testament to that history.

Governance

When Boston Spa was founded in 1744 it was in the

township A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, C ...

Clifford Clifford may refer to: People *Clifford (name), an English given name and surname, includes a list of people with that name *William Kingdon Clifford *Baron Clifford *Baron Clifford of Chudleigh *Baron de Clifford *Clifford baronets *Clifford fami ...

in the old parish of Bramham, in the upper division of the

wapentake A hundred is an administrative division that is geographically part of a larger region. It was formerly used in England, Wales, some parts of the United States, Denmark, Southern Schleswig, Sweden, Finland, Norway, the Bishopric of Ösel–Wiek, ...

of Barkston Ash, in the

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county County of York, West Riding (the area under the control of West Riding County Council), abbreviated County ...

. From 1866 to 1896 it was part of the civil parish of Clifford with Boston, and became a separate civil parish in 1896. The parish was in

Wetherby Rural District Wetherby was a rural district in the West Riding of Yorkshire from 1894 to 1974. It was named after the town of Wetherby. It was abolished in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, and split between two new districts. The parishes of Bar ...

in the West Riding of Yorkshire until 1974, when it was transferred to the City of Leeds in the new county of West Yorkshire.

Amenities

Boston Spa has a

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...

, a small library and a filling station. There are three

public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and wa ...

s, (the Admiral Hawke and the Fox and Hounds both owned by

Samuel Smiths Old Brewery Samuel Smith Old Brewery, popularly known as Samuel Smith's or Sam Smith's, is an independent brewery and pub owner based in Tadcaster, North Yorkshire, England. It is Yorkshire's oldest brewery, founded in 1758, and one of three breweries in th ...

)and the newly refurbished Crown Hotel on the high street owned by an independent Group of investors, a small Costcutter supermarket in the former Royal Hotel and several independent retailers in the village centre (a butcher, hardware shop and several takeaway restaurants). The Crown Hotel closed in 2012 and was subject to a public enquiry as to its future use. Arguments presented in 2014 by

Tesco Tesco plc () is a British Multinational corporation, multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Welwyn Garden City, England. In 2011 it was the third-largest retailer in the world measured by gross revenues an ...

that the premises "had little or no use as a hotel facility" were accepted at appeal. The Boston Spa (within Thorp Arch Trading Estate) branch of the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the Briti ...

(the Document Supply Service) is 1.5 miles (2.4 km) north-east of the village and outside the civil parish. This branch contains almost the complete British Library newspaper collection. There are two churches St Mary's Anglican Church and Boston Spa Methodist Church.

Education

There are three

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ed ...

s in the village: Primrose Lane Primary School, St Edward's Catholic Primary School and St Mary's CE Primary School. Close by, in the parish of

, is Boston Spa Academy, the local secondary school taking pupils from areas which also feed comprehensives in

, Garforth and Pendas Fields. The school has success in

sports Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, ...

and

science Science is a systematic endeavor that Scientific method, builds and organizes knowledge in the form of Testability, testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earli ...

teaching Teaching is the practice implemented by a ''teacher'' aimed at transmitting skills (knowledge, know-how, and interpersonal skills) to a learner, a student, or any other audience in the context of an educational institution. Teaching is closely ...

, and caters for pupils undertaking GCSEs,

A levels The A-Level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational aut ...

, GNVQs and those with

special needs In clinical diagnostic and functional development, special needs (or additional needs) refers to individuals who require assistance for disabilities that may be medical, mental, or psychological. Guidelines for clinical diagnosis are given in ...

according to its Ofsted reports. Other educational establishments with postal addresses of Boston Spa although sited in the nearby parish of Clifford include the children's hospice Martin House and

St John's Catholic School for the Deaf St John's Catholic School for the Deaf is a school for deaf and hearing impaired children in Boston Spa, Wetherby, West Yorkshire, England. Monsignor de Haerne, an influential Belgian priest and senator founded the School at a small house in H ...

which has a UK-wide catchment.

Housing

Boston Hall, Boston Spa (21st August 2017) 002

Boston Spa has a mix of private and

council houses A council house is a form of British public housing built by local authorities. A council estate is a building complex containing a number of council houses and other amenities like schools and shops. Construction took place mainly from 1919 ...

. Most of the council housing is situated around Clifford Moor Road and Wickham Avenue. The east side of Boston Spa comprises mainly larger houses. There are many Georgian villas and town houses on High Street.

Events

The village annual gala is held in June. Since 2009 a beer festival takes place in the village hall. The village hall has hosted a nationally renowned weekly jazz night since January 2005 and an annual arts festival usually in October.

Recreation

The route of

The White Rose Way The White Rose Way is a walking trail in England from Leeds, West Yorkshire to Scarborough, North Yorkshire. It was created in 2011 by local author Paul Brown. The walk starts at the foot of the Black Prince Statue in City Square with the fini ...

, a long-distance walk from

Leeds Leeds () is a City status in the United Kingdom, 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 thi ...

Scarborough, North Yorkshire Scarborough () is a seaside town in the Borough of Scarborough in North Yorkshire, England. Scarborough is located on the North Sea coastline. Historic counties of England, Historically in the North Riding of Yorkshire, the town lies between 10 ...

passes through the village. As does the

Ebor Way The Ebor Way is a 70-mile (112 km) long-distance footpath from Helmsley, North Yorkshire to Ilkley, West Yorkshire, via the city of York, England. It takes its name from Eboracum, the Roman name for York. This walk connects the Cl ...

which passes over the river at Thorp Arch village before continuing towards Tadcaster.

Gallery

File:Boston Spa - High Street.jpg, Georgian houses on High Street File:Boston Spa - Leys Lane.jpg, Leys Lane File:Parish Church of St. Mary the Virgin, Boston Spa (March 2010) 006.jpg, St. Mary the Virgin church File:High Street, Boston Spa (March 2010) 004.jpg, High Street