Skyrack was a

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, C ...

of 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 ...

, England. It was split into upper and lower divisions and centred in

Headingley, Leeds Headingley is a suburb of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, approximately two miles out of the city centre, to the north west along the A660 road. Headingley is the location of the Beckett Park campus of Leeds Beckett University and Headingl ...

. The Lower Division included the

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

es of

Aberford Aberford is a village and civil parish on the eastern outskirts of the City of Leeds metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. It had a population of 1,059 at the 2001 census, increasing to 1,180 at the 2011 Census. It is situated eas ...

, Bardsey,

Barwick-in-Elmet Barwick-in-Elmet (pronounced ''Barrick-in-Elmet'') is a village in West Yorkshire, east of Leeds city centre. It is one of only three places in the area to be explicitly associated with the ancient Romano-British kingdom of Elmet, the others ...

, Kippax,

Thorner Thorner is a rural village and civil parish in the City of Leeds in West Yorkshire, England, located between Seacroft and Wetherby. It had a population of 1,646 at the 2011 Census. Etymology The name of Thorner is first attested in the 1086 Do ...

Whitkirk Whitkirk is a suburb of east Leeds, England. It is situated between Cross Gates to the north, Austhorpe to the east, Killingbeck to the west, Colton to the south-east and Halton to the south-west. The Temple Newsam estate lies directly sou ...

and part of Harewood, while the Upper Division included the parishes of Adel,

Bingley Bingley is a market town and civil parish in the metropolitan borough of the City of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, on the River Aire and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, which had a population of 18,294 at the 2011 Census. Bingley railwa ...

Guiseley Guiseley ( ) is a town in metropolitan borough of the City of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is situated south of Otley and Menston and is now a north-western suburb of Leeds. It sits in t ...

and parts of Harewood,

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

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 ...

The Upper division of Skyrack was bounded to the north by the River Wharfe whilst the southern edge was bounded by the River Aire. Both divisions together contained 82 settlements. The Skyrack wapentake derives its name from a large oak that grew for centuries in Headingley. It is believed that the word "skyrack" 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 ...

phrase ''scir ac'' meaning "

Shire Oak The English folk legend of a shire oak, under the spreading limbs of which the ancient Anglo-Saxon open-air folkmoots and ''things'' were held, is a feature of Merry England: "In olden times the rude hustings, with its noisy surging crowds, was ...

", under which meetings were held. The tree finally collapsed in 1941.Arthur Mee (1941) The King's England: Yorkshire - West Riding (Hodder & Stoughton, London) p. 179 There is a plaque to commemorate it on the outside of the garden wall of the Original Oak pub. It also gives its name to the Skyrack pub opposite the Original Oak. The pub, which is one of the stopping points on the

Otley Run The Otley Run is a pub crawl in Leeds, West Yorkshire. The route shares much in common with the Headingley Mile (a similar crawl in LS6) but usually incorporating more pubs on the A660 road, typically those towards Leeds City Centre. The Ot ...

pub crawl, is a

grade II 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 ...

listed building.

References

External links

Full list of 82 settlements in the wapentake of Skyrack
History of Bradford History of Leeds Wapentakes of the West Riding of Yorkshire {{WestYorkshire-geo-stub