Knowsthorpe, Knostrop or Knostropp is an area of

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 ...

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, on 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 ...

. The spelling "Knostrop" is predominantly used for the large

water treatment Water treatment is any process that improves the Water quality, quality of water to make it appropriate for a specific end-use. The end use may be drinking water, drinking, industrial water supply, irrigation, river flow maintenance, water recrea ...

works in the area.

Atkinson Grimshaw John Atkinson Grimshaw (6 September 1836 – 13 October 1893) was an English Victorian-era artist best known for his nocturnal scenes of urban landscapes.Alexander Robertson, ''Atkinson Grimshaw'', London, Phaidon Press, 1996 H. J. Dyos and ...

painted ''Knostrop Cut, Leeds, Sunday Night, 1893''. The area falls within

Temple Newsam Temple Newsam (historically Temple Newsham), () is a Tudor- Jacobean house in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, with grounds landscaped by Capability Brown. The estate lends its name to the Temple Newsam ward of Leeds City Council, in which it ...

ward of Leeds City Council.

History

The earliest mention of Knostrop is from the time of the

Domesday survey 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 ...

when the hamlet was an area of open fields and the location of the

lord of the manor Lord of the Manor is a title that, in Anglo-Saxon England, referred to the landholder of a rural estate. The lord enjoyed manorial rights (the rights to establish and occupy a residence, known as the manor house and demesne) as well as seig ...

rabbit warren A warren is a network of wild rodent or lagomorph, typically rabbit burrows. Domestic warrens are artificial, enclosed establishment of animal husbandry dedicated to the raising of rabbits for meat and fur. The term evolved from the medieval Anglo- ...

. In the 13th and 14th centuries the land was cultivated using the

three-field system The three-field system is a regime of crop rotation in which a field is planted with one set of crops one year, a different set in the second year, and left fallow in the third year. A set of crops is ''rotated'' from one field to another. The tec ...

, growing wheat or rye, oats and barley. In 1341, the fields were cultivated by about 30 tenants, some were freeholders but the majority were

villeins A villein, otherwise known as ''cottar'' or ''crofter'', is a serf tied to the land in the feudal system. Villeins had more rights and social status than those in slavery, but were under a number of legal restrictions which differentiated them f ...

or bondsmen. One bondsman was Robert Knostrop who paid 4 shillings and 9 pence in annual rent for his 55 acres of land and along with his fellow bondsmen, was obliged to spend several days ploughing and sowing, make hay and reap the corn for the lord of the manor.

Knostrop Old Hall

Knostrop Hall was built in the 17th century by

Adam Baynes Adam Baynes (''bapt''. 1622; died 1671) was a Parliamentarian army officer and MP for Leeds during the Commonwealth, and as such the first MP for the city. He was later also MP for Appleby. He enjoyed the patronage of John Lambert, who he ser ...

, Member of Parliament for Leeds during the

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...

, whose family had lived in the district since the mid 16th century.

lived at the hall in the 1870s, and it was demolished in 1960. The area is now occupied by industrial estates.

Leeds flood alleviation scheme

In October 2017 at Crown Point, Leeds city centre and Knostrop, two movable weirs were installed on the River Aire, the first of their kind in the UK. Reducing the height of the weir, by deflating a 'bladder' has the potential to reduce flood levels by up to upstream of the weir. The Knostrop weir was operated during the

2019 England floods Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number), the natural number following 18 and preceding 20 * one of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (film), a 1987 science fiction film Music ...

. A stretch of land known as Knostrop Cut Island was removed allowing the river and canal to merge creating additional flood water capacity.

References

Notes Bibliography *

External links

* Places in Leeds {{WestYorkshire-geo-stub