North Elmsall
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North Elmsall ( ) is a village and
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 below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...
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 ...
district in
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. It had a population of 4,093 in 2001 and 3,873 in 2011. Until 1974 it was part of
Hemsworth Rural District Hemsworth was, from 1894 to 1974, a rural district in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England. Creation The district was formed by the Local Government Act 1894 as successor to the Hemsworth Rural Sanitary District. A directly elected rural d ...
. The parish is seven miles from Pontefract, nine miles from Barnsley and Doncaster, and eleven miles from Wakefield. In 1887, North Elmsall was described as :North Elmsall, ry. sta. (Upton and North Elmsall), E. div. West-Riding Yorkshire, 7 miles SE. of Pontefract.


History

The name 'Elmsall' is derived from the Old-English 'elm', literally meaning an elm tree, and the Anglian 'halh', meaning a nook of land or a small valley. A prominent landmark in North Elmsall is St Margaret's church, on Hall Lane, which was built in 1896 and is still in use. However, an earlier acknowledgement of a settlement in this area can be found 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 ...
''. The book lists Elmsall in the Osgodcross Hundred, with 1 villager and 5 smallholders. The total tax assessed was 8 geld units, which was very large in comparison to other Domesday settlements. Other evidence has also been found in the area of settlements dating back to the 13th or 14th century, as a medieval brooch was found in a field. St Margaret's Church has been a Grade II listed building since 2001, giving the building a protected status by English Heritage. The church is just one of eight Grade II listed buildings in the parish, many of which date back to the 18th century. The church was designed by A H Hoole of London, and paid for by Mrs Georgina Longueville-Jones, of whom there is a marble bust in the vestry. St Margaret's also contains a memorial for those from the parish who died fighting for their country in the
First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. Other listed buildings in North Elmsall include The Old Hall, thought to be built in around the 17th century or earlier and Lodge Farmhouse, built around 1800, and its nearby coach house and barn. Arguably the most famous former inhabitant of the village was Colonel John Morris, who later resided in East Hague,
South Kirkby South Kirkby is a town in the City of Wakefield in West Yorkshire, England which is governed locally by South Kirkby and Moorthorpe Town Council. The town forms half of the civil parish of South Kirkby and Moorthorpe. The parish has a population ...
, prior to being executed for treason. The Wentworth family of North Elmsall were also prominent, with their ancestry in the village dating back to at least the early 1400s.


Governance

From 1894, North Elmsall was part of the Hemsworth Rural District, before its abolishment in 1974, when it became part of the Wakefield Metropolitan District. The parish is part of the Ackworth, North Elmsall and Upton ward, currently represented on the Wakefield Metropolitan District Council by three members of the Labour Party.


Village

The average house price in the parish is £236,058, and the majority of houses in the area are detached or semi-detached. Few amenities exist in the village apart from the church, but North Emsall's proximity to Upton and
South Elmsall South Elmsall ( ) is a town and civil parish in the City of Wakefield in West Yorkshire, England. South Elmsall lies to the east of Hemsworth The town had a population in 2001 of 6,107, increasing to 6,519 at the 2011 Census. History The town ...
mean that services are just a short journey away. The village used to have a
railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...
on the
Hull and Barnsley Railway Hull may refer to: Structures * Chassis, of an armored fighting vehicle * Fuselage, of an aircraft * Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds * Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a ship * Submarine hull Mathematics * Affine hull, in a ...
line, but this closed to passengers in 1932. Now, the nearest railway station is in , although the parish lies near to the A638, providing easy access to
Wakefield Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 99,251 in the 2011 census.https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/census/2011/ks101ew Census 2011 table KS101EW Usual resident population, ...
, and the A628 to
Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...
.


Occupational history

In 1881, the main employment sector was agriculture, providing jobs for 53 people, 51 of whom where men. The other main type of employment at the time was domestic service, in which 22 females and 9 males were recorded to work in when the 1881 census took place. This is a typical employment structure of the time, with more men doing manual labour while women were expected to stay in the house. From 1927, North Elmsall and nearby Upton were mining communities. The
colliery Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...
closed in 1964, after numerous accidents lead to the loss of 61 lives during the 40 years it was open, as well as geological faults. The 2011 census shows that the key areas of employment in the parish greatly differ from those of the 1881 census. Only 13 people are now employed in agriculture, despite the parish experiencing a large population growth and being located in a fairly rural area. This is likely due to the mechanisation of agricultural work, with has led to reduced dependency on manual labour, as well as improved education since the 1881 census, allowing more people to access different career paths. The main industry is now wholesale and retail trade, and many others are employed in construction and manufacturing, amongst other areas.


Population history

Census data between 1881 and 1921 shows that there were no major changes in population in the parish, with the population steadily growing from 287 in 1881 to only 462 in 1921. However, over the next ten years, the population grew rapidly, with the 1931 census listing the population as 2,368. This could be attributed to the opening of the nearby Upton Colliery, which, at the time, provided jobs for many people, attractive more people to the area. The population dropped in the 1961 census, which can again be linked to the local colliery, which closed around this time, forcing people to move away to find new employment. The population was recorded in the 2011 census as 3,873.


See also

* Listed buildings in North Elmsall


References


External links

{{authority control Villages in West Yorkshire Civil parishes in West Yorkshire Geography of the City of Wakefield