Flockton is a village in the

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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

Kirkburton Kirkburton is a village, civil parish and ward in Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It is south-east of Huddersfield. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, the township comprised the villages of Kirkburton and Highburton and ...

, in

Kirklees Kirklees is a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, England. The borough comprises the ten towns of Batley, Birstall, West Yorkshire, Birstall, Cleckheaton, Dewsbury, Heckmondwike, Holmfirth, Huddersfield, Meltham, Mirfield and Slaithwaite. It ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a Metropolitan counties of England, metropolitan and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and east, South Yorkshire and De ...

, England. It is halfway between

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confl ...

and

Wakefield Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 109,766 in the 2021 census, up from 99,251 in the 2011 census. The city is the administrative centre of the wider Metropolit ...

. In 2020, the population of Flockton and Flockton Green was estimated to be 2,107. Its name derives from Flóki, an

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was 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 ...

personal name, and ''tūn'', which is

Old English Old English ( or , or ), 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 developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

for enclosure or fence.

History

Flockton grew in a coal mining area, Flockton Collieries are closed. Locals could find mining jobs at nearby collieries such as Bullhouse, Shuttle Eye, Emley Moor, or Caphouse Colliery when the local pits were closed due to their inability to compete pricewise with collieries that were connected to the railways.

Governance

Flockton was formerly a

chapelry A chapelry was a subdivision of an ecclesiastical parish in England and parts of Lowland Scotland up to the mid 19th century. Status A chapelry had a similar status to a Township (England), township, but was so named as it had a chapel of ease ...

in the parish of Thornhill in the

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire was one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the riding was an administrative county named County of York, West Riding. The Lord Lieutenant of the West Riding of Yorkshire, lieu ...

and from 1866 Flockton was a civil parish and in 1894 an urban district. In 1938 the urban district was abolished and Flockton was added to Kirkburton.

Geography

Flockton contains the once separate areas of Over and Nether Flockton and Flockton Green. The village is about east of Huddersfield and the same distance south-west of Wakefield. The village extends along the A637 Grange Moor to

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. It is the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. The town's population was 71,422 in 2021, while the wider boroug ...

road. At Flockton Green, at the eastern end of the village, there is a junction with the road from Overton. To the west is Flockton Moor, a rural area containing mainly farmhouses. Parkside is an area of

council housing Public housing in the United Kingdom, also known as council housing or social housing, provided the majority of rented accommodation until 2011, when the number of households in private rental housing surpassed the number in social housing. D ...

and is close to where The Flockton Castle is located in someones front garden for everyone to marvel in all its plastic glory. In contrast there are stone-built private developments. House prices are above average for the area. Flockton is a commuter village because of its proximity to the

M1 motorway The M1 motorway connects London to Leeds, where it joins the A1(M) motorway, A1(M) near Aberford, to connect to Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle. It was the first inter-urban motorway to be completed in the UK; the first motorway in the count ...

, which brings with it a large amount of traffic. The village had a population of 800 in 1809, 1,318 in 1951, and 2,107 in 2020.

Amenities

St James the Great Church is on Barnsley Road next to Flockton C of E (C) First School. Flockton has a newsagent/convenience store, a working men's club, a motorcycle shop. There used to be a hairdressing salon and a fish and chip shop however both have closed. The Dartmouth Arms public house was replaced by an

Indian restaurant Indian cuisine consists of a variety of regional and traditional cuisines native to the Indian subcontinent. Given the diversity in soil, climate, culture, ethnic groups, and occupations, these cuisines vary substantially and use locally av ...

in October 2007 and has since closed. The George and Dragon at Flockton Green is one of the oldest public houses in England, dating from 1485. This is now The Arc. The other pub in the village is The Sun.

New Hall Prison

New Hall Prison is in New Hall Wood, east of Flockton. The prison holds female adults, juveniles and young offenders.

Sport

Flockton has a

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

team that plays in the Huddersfield Cricket League. The village

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

teams play in Huddersfield and District Association Football League leagues.

References

External links

{{authority control Villages in West Yorkshire Former civil parishes in West Yorkshire Kirkburton