Collingham 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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...
south-west of
Wetherby
Wetherby ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the City of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is close to West Yorkshire county's border with North Yorkshire and lies approximately from Leeds city centre, from ...
in
West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire is a Metropolitan counties of England, metropolitan and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and east, South Yorkshire and De ...
, England. It is in the
City of Leeds
Leeds, also known as the City of Leeds, is a metropolitan borough with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in West Yorkshire, England. The metropolitan borough includes the administrative centre of Leeds and the towns of Farsley, Gar ...
metropolitan borough
A metropolitan borough (or metropolitan district) is a type of districts of England, local government district in England. Created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972, metropolitan boroughs are defined in English law as metropolitan distr ...
. The population of the civil parish as of the 2011 census was 2,991.
It sits in the
Harewood ward
Ward may refer to:
Division or unit
* Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward
* Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...
of
Leeds City Council
Leeds City Council is the local authority of the City of Leeds in West Yorkshire, England. Leeds has had a council since 1626, which has been reformed on numerous occasions. Since 1974 it has been a metropolitan borough council. It provides the ...
and
Wetherby and Easingwold parliamentary constituency.
The
River Wharfe
The River Wharfe ( ) is a river in Yorkshire, England originating within the Yorkshire Dales National Park. For much of its middle course it is the county boundary between West Yorkshire and North Yorkshire. Its valley is known as Wharfedale.
...
runs through the village towards
Wetherby
Wetherby ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the City of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is close to West Yorkshire county's border with North Yorkshire and lies approximately from Leeds city centre, from ...
, as does the main
A58 trans-Pennine road. The
A659 passes through the village. The River Wharfe is dangerous at Collingham due to undercurrents, which are prevalent around Linton Bridge and the former viaduct. Collingham Beck burst its banks in 2007, causing extensive flooding.
The village
public house
A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption Licensing laws of the United Kingdom#On-licence, on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the ...
, known as Cromwells, is said to be where
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English statesman, politician and soldier, widely regarded as one of the most important figures in British history. He came to prominence during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, initially ...
spent the night after the
Battle of Marston Moor
The Battle of Marston Moor was fought on 2 July 1644, during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms of 1639–1653. The combined forces of the English Parliamentarians under Lord Fairfax and the Earl of Manchester and the Scottish Covenanters unde ...
. The clergyman, the
Reverend William Mompesson was born there in 1639.
Geography
The village is at the junction of the
A58 and A659 roads. It is separated from Linton to the north by the
River Wharfe
The River Wharfe ( ) is a river in Yorkshire, England originating within the Yorkshire Dales National Park. For much of its middle course it is the county boundary between West Yorkshire and North Yorkshire. Its valley is known as Wharfedale.
...
and linked to it via
Linton Bridge.
Wetherby
Wetherby ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the City of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is close to West Yorkshire county's border with North Yorkshire and lies approximately from Leeds city centre, from ...
to the north east is accessed via Linton or the
A58 road
The A58 is a major road in Northern England running between Prescot, Merseyside and Wetherby, West Yorkshire.
Route from West to East
Its westbound start is at Prescot on the outskirts of Liverpool via Greater Manchester and West Yorkshire to ...
from
Leeds
Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...
. The A659 road to
Harewood crosses the Collingham Beck, a tributary of the Wharfe, over the listed
Collingham Bridge. To the east is access to the
A1(M) motorway
A1(M) is the designation given to a series of four separate controlled-access highway, motorway sections in the UK. Each section is an upgrade to a section of the A1 road (Great Britain), A1, a major north–south road which connects Greater ...
and
Boston Spa
Boston Spa is a village and civil parish in the Leeds Metropolitan District in West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire is a Metropolitan counties of England, metropolitan and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and th ...
.
Collingham has had problems with flooding and was affected by the
2007 UK Floods. Collingham Beck has a tendency to swell very quickly. During the 2007 UK Floods it flooded Millbeck Green and the
A58 Leeds Road reaching the boundaries of the Half Moon and Old Star public houses.
Shortly after 18:00 (BST) 26 December 2015, the monitoring station at Collingham for the River Wharfe reached a record high of above ordnance datum (previous high level was AOD).
Linton Bridge was damaged in the flood cracks appeared in the deck and its parapets sagged. The
grade II listed
In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...
bridge was closed to all traffic for repairs until September 2017. The time and the £5 million cost of the project was due to the fact that the ground underneath the piers had shifted the bridge.
Etymology
The name of Collingham is first attested in 1166, with spellings including the present one alongside ''Collyngham''. The name comes from
Old English
Old English ( or , or ), 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 developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...
. The first element is the
personal name
A personal name, full name or prosoponym (from Ancient Greek ''prósōpon'' – person, and ''onoma'' –name) is the set of names by which an individual person or animal is known. When taken together as a word-group, they all relate to that on ...
''Cola'' (which originated as a nickname deriving from Old English ''col'' 'coal', referring to black hair or dark complexion), and the second the suffix ''-ingas'' denoting a group of associated people. Thus the ''Colingas'' were a group descended from or otherwise associated with someone called Cola. This group name was then compounded with the Old English word ''hām'' ('settlement, homestead'). Thus the name once meant 'the settlement of the descendants of Cola'.
[Harry Parkin, ''Your City's Place-Names: Leeds'', English Place-Name Society City-Names Series, 3 (Nottingham: English Place-Name Society, 2017).]
The parish and township of Collingham also once included the village of Compton, whose name is first attested 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 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...
of 1086, as ''Contone''. This name comes from the Old English words ''cumb'' ('valley') and ''tūn'' ('estate, farmstead'), and thus once meant 'farmstead of the valley'.
Transport
Collingham Bridge railway station was on the
Cross Gates
Cross Gates (often spelled Crossgates) is a suburb in east Leeds, West Yorkshire, England.
The area sits between Seacroft and Swarcliffe to the north, Whitkirk and Colton to the south, Killingbeck to the west and Austhorpe to the sout ...
to Wetherby Line. It was named after the bridge over the nearby
beck
Beck David Hansen (born Bek David Campbell; July 8, 1970), known mononymously as Beck, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He rose to fame in the early 1990s with his Experimental music, experimental and Lo-fi mus ...
to avoid confusion with
Collingham railway station in Nottinghamshire and was the station before
Wetherby railway station. The railway bridge over the
River Wharfe
The River Wharfe ( ) is a river in Yorkshire, England originating within the Yorkshire Dales National Park. For much of its middle course it is the county boundary between West Yorkshire and North Yorkshire. Its valley is known as Wharfedale.
...
, which was adjacent to Linton Bridge was demolished in 1965 when the railway was dismantled. Collingham is served by the X98 and X99 bus services operated by
First West Yorkshire
First West Yorkshire operates both local and regional bus services in West Yorkshire, England. It is a subsidiary of the FirstGroup, and is made up of three sub-division brands: First Bradford, First Halifax, Calder Valley & Huddersfield and Fir ...
between
Leeds City Square
City Square is a paved area north of Leeds railway station at the junction of Park Row, Leeds, Park Row to the east and Wellington Street to the south. It is a triangular area where six roads meet: Infirmary Street and Park Row to the north, Boa ...
and Wetherby Deighton Bar.
Amenities

The village has a
public house
A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption Licensing laws of the United Kingdom#On-licence, on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the ...
, Cromwell's (previously ''The Half Moon'') on Harewood Road, and an Italian restaurant, Picolino on High Street. The former Old Star pub and restaurant is now a Tesco Express.
Hastings Court and Elizabeth Court, are small modern shopping precincts, house most of the village shops, a barbers shop, a hairdressers, an
off licence,
fish and chip shop
A fish and chip shop, sometimes referred to as a chip shop or chippy, is a restaurant that specialises in selling fish and chips. Usually, fish and chip shops provide takeaway service, although some have seating facilities. Fish and chip shop ...
,
travel agency
A travel agency is a private retailer or public service that provides travel and tourism-related services to the general public on behalf of accommodation or travel suppliers to offer different kinds of travelling packages for each destina ...
,
pharmacy
Pharmacy is the science and practice of discovering, producing, preparing, dispensing, reviewing and monitoring medications, aiming to ensure the safe, effective, and affordable use of medication, medicines. It is a miscellaneous science as it ...
,
delicatessen
A delicatessen or deli is a grocery that sells a selection of fine, exotic, or foreign prepared foods. Delicatessens originated in Germany (contemporary spelling: ) during the 18th century and spread to the United States in the mid-19th centur ...
, an opticians, a pet shop, a beauticians, a dentist and a dry cleaner. Adjacent is a small
parade of shops
A shopping parade, also known as a parade of shops, suburban parade, neighbourhood parade, or just a simply a parade is a group of between five and 40 shops in one or more continuous rows, mostly being retail and serving a local customer base; in ...
containing a takeaway and the post office. The GP surgery provides
NHS
The National Health Service (NHS) is the term for the publicly funded health care, publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom: the National Health Service (England), NHS Scotland, NHS Wales, and Health and Social Care (Northern ...
services.
Lady Elizabeth Hastings Church of England Primary School is located off the Harewood Road opposite the cricket pitch.
Religion
St Oswald's Church is the
Anglican parish church, and there is a Methodist chapel. The nearest Catholic church is St Joseph's in Wetherby.
Housing and buildings

Much of the centre of Collingham was demolished in the 1960s and 1970s and replaced with modern facilities. However the Elizabeth Court Shopping Precinct in Collingham is stone-built and sympathetically styled. As part of this, many small shops and cottages were demolished, changing the character of the village. Some small cottages were purchased by the ''Half Moon'' public house, demolished and are now a large car park.
The village has two churches. A large, stone Anglican church and a small, red brick Methodist chapel. There is a 1960s-built primary school, a 1970s-built indoor squash courts.
It also includes the "Old Mill" built in stone which was first mentioned 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 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...
.
There is an eclectic mix of
Georgian,
Victorian and 20th century housing. Housing around Harewood Road is generally late 20th century housing with some large detached houses. Housing around Leeds Road is a mix of individually built properties and housing developments, while housing on Wetherby Road is generally the oldest in Collingham. There has been no housing development on a notable scale in Collingham, since
Bryant Homes built housing along Linton Road.
Sport
Collingham is home to Collingham and Linton Cricket Club which plays in the
Airedale-Wharfedale Senior Cricket League. This is located at the Collingham and Linton Sports Association (CALSA), which boasts three indoor squash courts, a football pitch and a cricket pitch. CALSA also has affiliated tennis and hockey sections.
Wetherby
Wetherby ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the City of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is close to West Yorkshire county's border with North Yorkshire and lies approximately from Leeds city centre, from ...
Golf Club extends all the way to the river at Collingham.
Governance
Collingham falls into the
Harewood ward of
Leeds City Council
Leeds City Council is the local authority of the City of Leeds in West Yorkshire, England. Leeds has had a council since 1626, which has been reformed on numerous occasions. Since 1974 it has been a metropolitan borough council. It provides the ...
and
Elmet and Rothwell constituency, which is currently held by
Alec Shelbrooke (
Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...
).
The village lies within the 'Parish Council of Collingham and Linton', which is under the governance of Leeds City Council. The nearest council offices are in Wetherby. Collingham was until 1974 in the
Wetherby Rural District
Wetherby was a rural district in the West Riding of Yorkshire from 1894 to 1974. It was named after the town of Wetherby.
It was abolished in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, and split between two new districts. The parishes of Bard ...
, it is now in the Harewood Ward of the
City of Leeds
Leeds, also known as the City of Leeds, is a metropolitan borough with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in West Yorkshire, England. The metropolitan borough includes the administrative centre of Leeds and the towns of Farsley, Gar ...
.
People
Collingham was home to Percy Shaw, a professional boxer between 1932 and 1935. He had 11 professional contests during this time.
Nearby settlements
*
Wetherby
Wetherby ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the City of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is close to West Yorkshire county's border with North Yorkshire and lies approximately from Leeds city centre, from ...
*
Micklethwaite
*
Boston Spa
Boston Spa is a village and civil parish in the Leeds Metropolitan District in West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire is a Metropolitan counties of England, metropolitan and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and th ...
*
Bardsey
*
Scarcroft
*
Harewood
*
Linton
*
East Keswick
*Compton
Location grid
See also
*
Listed buildings in Collingham, West Yorkshire
References
Sources
*
External links
*
{{authority control
City of Leeds
Villages in West Yorkshire
Civil parishes in West Yorkshire
Wharfedale