South Kirkby is a town in 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, is the administrative centre of the district. The population of the City of ...

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 England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

which is governed locally by South Kirkby and Moorthorpe Town Council. The town forms half of the civil parish of

South Kirkby and Moorthorpe South Kirkby and Moorthorpe is a civil parish in the City of Wakefield in West Yorkshire, England which is governed locally by South Kirkby and Moorthorpe Town Council. The parish and town council are made up of the town of South Kirkby and the ...

. The parish has a population of 10,979.

Town council

The town retains its own town council and is represented on the district council by Wilf Benson (

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

), Michelle Collins ( Labour Party) and Steve Tulley (Labour Party). The South Kirkby and Moorthorpe Town Council motto is 'Friendship, Unity & Progress', and the two settlements have been twinned with

Sprockhövel Sprockhövel is a town in the district of Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Geography Sprockhövel is located in the southern suburban part of the Ruhr area. It is 6 km southeast of Hattingen, 8 km northwest of Gevels ...

in the

Ruhr Valley The Ruhr ( ; german: Ruhrgebiet , also ''Ruhrpott'' ), also referred to as the Ruhr area, sometimes Ruhr district, Ruhr region, or Ruhr valley, is a polycentric urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population density of 2,800/km ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

since 1981. The establishment of 'Sprockhövel International Friendship Circle' led to the same named organisation in South Kirkby & Moorthorpe. Since that time the ''Sprockhövel IFK'' and the ''South Kirkby & Moorthorpe IFC'' have organised an annual exchange visit.

History

The town was first mentioned 1086 in the ''

Domesday Book 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 ...

'', and South Kirkby retains the site of the original Saxon settlement (Grid ref: SE434104). The foundations and part of the walls of 'All Saints Church' in South Kirkby are from the period. For many centuries, they were both simply farming villages until the start of the

industrial revolution The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...

. In 1881, with the foundation of the ''South Kirkby Colliery'' coal mine, an increase in population caused the villages to be extended until at its largest the two settlements housed almost all of the 3000 workers employed in the mine. In 1984, the

miners' strike Miners' strikes are when miners conduct strike actions. See also * List of strikes References {{Reflist Miners A miner is a person who extracts ore, coal, chalk, clay, or other minerals from the earth through mining. There are tw ...

included the colliery's workforce but in vain. In 1988, ''South Kirkby Colliery'' along with many of the other coal mines in the immediate area closed and later cleared for redevelopment. These included ''South Kirkby-Ferrymoor'' ''Riddings Drift'', ''Frickley Colliery (Carlton Main)'', ''Kinsley Drift (formerly Hemsworth Colliery)'', and ''Grimethorpe Colliery''.

Sport

The town is home to South Kirkby Colliery football club, who have competed in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

many times in their history.Football Club History Database
Retrieved 13 January 2015 Another early football club of note in the town were South Kirkby Wednesday, who were early rivals of South Kirkby Colliery and nearby Frickley Colliery.

Transport

South Kirkby is served by two railway stations with a distance of one mile (1.6 km) between them.

Moorthorpe railway station Moorthorpe railway station serves Moorthorpe and South Kirkby, near Pontefract, in the City of Wakefield district of West Yorkshire, England. It lies on the Wakefield Line and the Dearne Valley Line, north of Sheffield and is served by N ...

is on line between

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 ...

and

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

with services being an hour on weekdays and Saturdays with a two-hourly service on Sundays.

South Elmsall railway station South Elmsall railway station serves the town of South Elmsall in West Yorkshire, England. It lies on the Wakefield Line operated by Northern northwest of Doncaster and was opened in 1866. Facilities The station is unstaffed and has had its ...

is on the line between

Doncaster Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...

and Leeds with also an hourly service on weekdays and Saturdays with Sunday being every two-hourly. Both stations are served by Northern.

Notable residents

Wayne Benn Wayne Benn (born 7 August 1976) is an English football manager/coach and a former professional footballer. Playing career Benn began his career at Bradford City before he signed for local rivals Bradford Park Avenue in 1995, upon his release f ...

grew up in the town and played professional football for

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system and are currently managed by Mark Hughes. Th ...

References

External links

South Kirkby and Moorthorpe Town Council
{{DEFAULTSORT:South Kirkby Geography of the City of Wakefield Towns in West Yorkshire