Gawthorpe is a village to the north of
Ossett, in the
Wakefield district, in the county of
West Yorkshire, England. It is roughly midway between
Wakefield and
Dewsbury
Dewsbury is a minster and market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It lies on the River Calder and on an arm of the Calder and Hebble Navigation waterway. It is to the west of Wakefield, east of Hudder ...
north of the
A638.
Gawthorpe's name derives from Gorky, a Viking name, and thorpe was a settlement, but evidence suggests the village may have Roman origins.
Gawthorpe's Mayday celebrations date back to at least 1875 when a seventy-foot fir tree was bought and erected by public subscription on the village green. The maypole was last replaced in 1986.
[
Gawthorpe Water Tower is a Grade II listed concrete structure built between 1922 and 1928 to store drinking water for the Ossett area.][
Gawthorpe hosts the World Coal Carrying Championships. The Championships were originally run from the Shaw Cross colliery to the May Pole, although the collieries in this area all closed in the Robens era. It also gives its name to the Gawthorpe seam of coal, which stretches from the village down through Horbury and Crigglestone.]
See also
*Listed buildings in Ossett
Ossett is a ward in the metropolitan borough of the City of Wakefield
The City of Wakefield is a local government district with the status of a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. Wakefield, the largest settlement, ...
References
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Villages in West Yorkshire
Geography of the City of Wakefield
Ossett
Novelty running