Stourton and Thwaitegate War Memorial - Wakefield Road - geograph

Stourton is a mainly industrial area of the city of

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 ...

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. The area falls within the City and Hunslet ward of Leeds Metropolitan Council.

Location

The area is to the south-east of

Leeds city centre Leeds city centre is the central business district of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is roughly bounded by the Leeds Inner Ring Road, Inner Ring Road to the north and the River Aire to the south and can be divided into several quarters. A ...

, between

Hunslet Hunslet () is an inner-city area in south Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is southeast of the Leeds city centre, city centre and has an industrial past. It is situated in the Hunslet and Riverside (ward), Hunslet and Riverside ward of Lee ...

, the

M1 motorway The M1 motorway connects London to Leeds, where it joins the A1(M) motorway, A1(M) near Aberford, to connect to Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle. It was the first inter-urban motorway to be completed in the UK; the first motorway in the count ...

and Cross Green in the LS10 postcode area.

History

Until the local boundary changes in the 1970s Stourton was a village in the Rothwell Urban District, attached to the southernmost border of Leeds, and administered by the West Riding County Council. Stourton dates from the

Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution, sometimes divided into the First Industrial Revolution and Second Industrial Revolution, was a transitional period of the global economy toward more widespread, efficient and stable manufacturing processes, succee ...

, and was a community of about 2,500 people with its own churches and pubs, but from the 1970s the housing was demolished to make way for motorways and industrial developments, until by 1990 little remained of the village except its

war memorial A war memorial is a building, monument, statue, or other edifice to celebrate a war or victory, or (predominating in modern times) to commemorate those who died or were injured in a war. Symbolism Historical usage It has ...

. This memorial to "the men of Stourton and Thwaitegate" lists 75 names from the First World War and 25 from the Second. It was moved from its original site to a new one donated by

Waddingtons Waddingtons was a British manufacturer of card and board games. The company was founded by John Waddington of Leeds, England and the manager, actor and playwright Wilson Barrett, under the name ''Waddingtons Limited''. The name was changed i ...

in about 1973, when its previous home, St Andrew's Church, Pontefract Road, was demolished. One of the men named on the cenotaph is CQMS Denis Gill MM and Bar, York and Lancaster Regiment, who was killed in action on 5 January 1944 at

Cassino Cassino () is a ''comune'' in the province of Frosinone at the southern end of the region of Lazio. It's the last city of the Valle Latina, Latin Valley. It is located at the foot of Monte Cairo near the confluence of the Gari (river), Gari and ...

, Italy. He is buried in the Cassino War Cemetery.

Industry

Stourton used to provide electricity for Leeds and the surrounding areas from the Skelton Grange power station until it was demolished in 1995. Its associated substation remains in use however. The site is next to the

Gateway 45 Gateway 45 is an industrial estate and park and ride location on the south eastern edge of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The site was initially developed under the name Temple Green and is located with the M1 Motorway on its southern edge and ...

development and in 2019 it was selected to be a maintenance depot for the

High Speed 2 High Speed 2 (HS2) is a high-speed railway which has been under construction in England since 2019. The line's planned route is between Handsacre – in southern Staffordshire – and London, with a Spur line, branch to Birmingham. HS2 is to ...

railway. The village was home to some significant industry: John Waddingtons, Yorkshire Copperworks, Camerons Iron Works, Concrete Northern (Bison) were among the larger companies, as well as a not insignificant railway shunting yard.

Freightliner terminal

There is a substantial railfreight intermodal terminal at Stourton operated by Freightliner (UK). It has eight departures and arrivals on most days, going to and from Southampton, Felixstowe and

London Gateway DP World London Gateway is a port within the wider Port of London, on the north bank of the River Thames in Thurrock, Essex. Opened in November 2013, the site is a fully integrated logistics facility, consisting of a semi-automated deep-sea ...

. There is also a thrice-weekly feeder service to Tees Dock, which conveys containers from Southampton services. Intermodal trains to and from Stourton are often used to bring locomotives to the Freightliner Group's Depot at nearby Midland Road in

for maintenance and repair.

References

External links

* Places in Leeds Rothwell, West Yorkshire {{WestYorkshire-geo-stub