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Wetherby ( ) is a
market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rura ...
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 ...
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 ...
,
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 close to West Yorkshire county's border with
North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in Northern England.The Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority areas of City of York, York and North Yorkshire (district), North Yorkshire are in Yorkshire and t ...
and lies approximately from Leeds city centre, from York and from Harrogate. The town stands on 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, for centuries, it has been a crossing place and staging post on the Great North Road midway between London and Edinburgh.
Wetherby Bridge Wetherby Bridge is a scheduled monument and Grade II-listed building, listed bridge over the River Wharfe in Wetherby, West Yorkshire, dating from the 13th century.West Yorkshire Archaeology Advisory Service. ''Wetherby Conservation Area''retrie ...
, which spans the River Wharfe, is a
Scheduled Ancient Monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage, visu ...
and a Grade II
listed structure 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, Hi ...
. The course of the Old Great North Road passes through the town and, as result of its situation on the road, as well as being a major cattle droving route from Scotland to London, many
coaching inn The coaching inn (also coaching house or staging inn) was a vital part of Europe's inland transport infrastructure until the development of the railway, providing a resting point ( layover) for people and horses. The inn served the needs of t ...
s were established in Wetherby which are still used by travellers today. The town lies in the
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 ...
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 the
Wetherby and Easingwold Wetherby and Easingwold is a constituency of the House of Commons in the UK Parliament, partly in North Yorkshire and partly in West Yorkshire. Further to the completion of the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, it was first c ...
parliamentary constituency An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...
. It was listed in the 2018
Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...
report on the ''Best Places to Live in Northern England''.


Etymology

Wetherby 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 ''Wedrebi''. The name derives from the
Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...
words ''veðr'' (" wether, castrated male sheep", in its
genitive In grammar, the genitive case ( abbreviated ) is the grammatical case that marks a word, usually a noun, as modifying another word, also usually a noun—thus indicating an attributive relationship of one noun to the other noun. A genitive can ...
singular form ''veðrar'') and ''bý'' ("farmstead, village"). Thus the name once meant "wether's farmstead".


History

Historically History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some theorists categ ...
, Wetherby was a part of the
Claro Wapentake Claro was a wapentake of the West Riding of Yorkshire, England. It was split into two divisions. The Upper Division included the parishes of Farnham, Fewston, Hampsthwaite, Kirkby Malzeard and Pannal and parts of Aldborough, Knaresborough, Ot ...
, as part of the parish of Spofforth, within the
West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire was one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the riding was an administrative county named County of York, West Riding. The Lord Lieutenant of the West Riding of Yorkshire, lieu ...
. In the 12th and 13th centuries, the
Knights Templar The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, mainly known as the Knights Templar, was a Military order (religious society), military order of the Catholic Church, Catholic faith, and one of the most important military ord ...
, and later the
Knights Hospitallers The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem, commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), is a Catholic military order. It was founded in the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem in the 12th century and had headquarters there u ...
, were granted land and properties in
Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...
. The local preceptory founded in 1217 was at Ribston Park. In 1240, the Knights Templar were granted by Royal Charter of Henry III the right to hold a market in WetherbyWetherby & District Historical Society (1995). ''Wetherby. The Archive Photographs Series''. Stroud: The Chalfont Publishing Company. (known then as Werreby) on Thursdays and a yearly fair was permitted lasting three days over the day of St James the Apostle. From 1318 to 1319, the North of England suffered many raids from the Scots. After the
Battle of Bannockburn The Battle of Bannockburn ( or ) was fought on 23–24 June 1314, between the army of Robert the Bruce, King of Scots, and the army of King Edward II of England, during the First War of Scottish Independence. It was a decisive victory for Ro ...
, Wetherby was burned and many people were taken and killed. According to the blue plaque at the entrance to the lane, ''Scott Lane'' could be named after the Scottish raiders in 1318 or the 18th-century drovers who used Wetherby as a watering place. In the
English Civil War The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of th ...
in 1644, before marching to
Tadcaster Tadcaster is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in North Yorkshire, England, north-east of Leeds and south-west of York. Its historical importance from Roman times onward was largely as the lowest road crossing-point o ...
and on to
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 Parliamentarians spent two days in Wetherby joining forces with the Scots. In the heyday of the coaching era, Wetherby had up to forty inns and
alehouse A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the late 17th century, to differentiate private ho ...
s. The first recorded mail coach arrived in Wetherby in 1786. In 1824,
William Cavendish, 6th Duke of Devonshire William George Spencer Cavendish, 6th Duke of Devonshire (21 May 1790 – 18 January 1858), styled Marquess of Hartington until 1811, was an English peer, courtier and Whig politician. Known as the "Bachelor Duke", he served as Lord Chamberlai ...
sold the town of Wetherby (except one house) to finance work at Chatsworth. Wetherby provides the setting for the novel ''Oldbury'' (1869) by
Annie Keary Anna Maria (Annie) Keary (3 March 18253 March 1879) was an English novelist, poet and an innovative children's writer. Life Annie Keary was born at the rectory in Bilton, now Bilton-in-Ainsty, Yorkshire, the daughter of a former army chaplai ...
.


20th century

During the
First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, many Wetherby men served with either the 5th or 9th Battalion,
West Yorkshire Regiment The West Yorkshire Regiment (Prince of Wales's Own) (14th Foot) was an infantry regiment of the British Army. In 1958 it amalgamated with the East Yorkshire Regiment (15th Foot) to form the Prince of Wales's Own Regiment of Yorkshire which was ...
, which had great losses in
Flanders Flanders ( or ; ) is the Dutch language, Dutch-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, la ...
. A war memorial designed by E. F. Roslyn was dedicated on 22 April 1922. In 1918, residents contributed to support the crew of the HMS ''Wetherby'' despite hardship and shortages caused by the war. During the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, nearby RAF Tockwith was renamed
RAF Marston Moor Royal Air Force Marston Moor or more simply RAF Marston Moor is a former Royal Air Force station located near Tockwith, North Yorkshire, England. It was operational during the Second World War and was originally called RAF Tockwith, but confusio ...
to avoid confusion with
RAF Topcliffe Royal Air Force Topcliffe or RAF Topcliffe is a Royal Air Force List of Royal Air Force stations, station in North Yorkshire, England. It was established as a RAF Bomber Command station in 1940. The British Army took over a large part of the s ...
. Part of the airfield is now a driver training centre and the old control tower is used as the offices. Parts of the runways can still be seen.
Clark Gable William Clark Gable (February 1, 1901November 16, 1960) was an American actor often referred to as the "King of Cinema of the United States, Hollywood". He appeared in more than 60 Film, motion pictures across a variety of Film genre, genres dur ...
was stationed at Marston Moor, during the Second World War, as a member of the
USAAF The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...
ground staff, with the rank of captain. He was transferred to
RAF Polebrook Royal Air Force Polebrook or more simply RAF Polebrook is a former Royal Air Force station located east-south-east of Oundle, at Polebrook, Northamptonshire, England. The airfield was built on Rothschild estate land starting in August 1940 ...
in Northamptonshire.
Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...
offered a reward to anyone who was able to catch the airman.
Group Captain Group captain (Gp Capt or G/C) is a senior officer rank used by some air forces, with origins from the Royal Air Force. The rank is used by air forces of many Commonwealth of Nations, countries that have historical British influence. Group cap ...
Leonard Cheshire Geoffrey Leonard Cheshire, Baron Cheshire, (7 September 1917 – 31 July 1992) was a British Royal Air Force pilot, officer and philanthropist. Cheshire fought in the Second World War. Among the decorations Cheshire received as a pilot w ...
was stationed at Marston Moor for a short while before leaving to become commander of the 617 Dam Buster squadron. Wetherby had the only
stone frigate A stone frigate is a naval establishment on land. 'Stone frigate' is an informal term which has its origin in Britain's Royal Navy (RN), after its use of Diamond Rock, an island off Martinique, as a 'sloop of war' to harass the First French ...
north of London, built on ''Hallfield Lane'' in 1942 (it later became the local secondary school), named in turn; HMS ''Cabot'', ''Demetrius'', ''Rodney'' and ''Ceres''. The base was closed in 1958 and transferred to Chatham. Throughout the 1960s, the town council deliberated over how best to enlarge the town centre to cope with the needs of a growing population and to provide the town with a purpose built supermarket. Plans were put forward to enlarge the town over the
ings ''Ings'' is an old word of Old English origin referring to water meadows and marshes. The term appears in place names in Yorkshire (such as Hall Ings, Bradford, Fairburn Ings RSPB reserve, Clifton Ings in York, Derwent Ings, Sutton Ings, Acast ...
, or to develop the town centre into a pedestrian precinct. In the end, it was decided to build a purpose built shopping precinct, which was built in the 1970s and underwent a significant redevelopment throughout 2003. By 2006, the remaining open parts of the Horsefair Centre were enclosed under a glass canopy roof.


Governance

Since 2010, Wetherby has been in the
Elmet and Rothwell Elmet and Rothwell was a constituency for the House of Commons of the UK Parliament in West Yorkshire. During the 2017 general election, Elmet and Rothwell recorded the highest turnout of any seat in West or South Yorkshire, with almost 60,00 ...
constituency, a
marginal seat A marginal seat or swing seat is a constituency held with a small majority in a legislative election, generally one conducted under a single-winner voting system. In Canada, they may be known as target ridings. The opposite is a safe seat. T ...
. The town's MP is
Alec Shelbrooke Sir Alec Edward Shelbrooke (born 10 January 1976) is a British Conservative Party politician who has been Member of Parliament for Wetherby and Easingwold since 2024 and for Elmet and Rothwell between 2010 and 2024. He previously served a ...
, a
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 ...
, who has his constituency offices in the town.
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 ...
is an
electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected t ...
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 has a town council responsible for amenities, such as parks. The
coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...
transferred over from the former Wetherby Rural District Council; it was the first such arms to be granted by the
College of Arms The College of Arms, or Heralds' College, is a royal corporation consisting of professional Officer of Arms, officers of arms, with jurisdiction over England, Wales, Northern Ireland and some Commonwealth realms. The heralds are appointed by the ...
to a
rural district A rural district was a type of local government area – now superseded – established at the end of the 19th century in England, Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. I ...
council, on 7 January 1938.


Crime and law enforcement

West Yorkshire Police West Yorkshire Police, formerly the West Yorkshire Metropolitan Police, is the territorial police force responsible for policing the metropolitan county of West Yorkshire, England. It is the fourth largest territorial police force in England ...
have a station in Boston Road.


Twinnings

* –
Privas Privas (; , also ) is a city located in France, in the department of Ardèche. With its 8,465 inhabitants (2019), it is the least populated prefecture (capital of a department). It was the location of the 1629 Siege of Privas. Today, Priv ...
, France


Geography


Divisions and suburbs

*
Ainsty The Ainsty or the Ainsty of York was a historic district of Yorkshire, England, west of the city of York. Originally a wapentake or subdivision of the West Riding of Yorkshire it later had a unique status as a rural area controlled by the corpo ...
is in the north of Wetherby, off the B1224 Deighton Road. Its earliest buildings date from the 1940s, made up of
council A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or natio ...
and private housing. Much of the area was built by developer Norman Ashton in the 1960s. *
Hallfield Hallfield or Hallfields is an area predominantly of council estates in Wetherby, West Yorkshire, England. The area is situated east of the town centre. The area is home to Wetherby High School. History and development The Hallfield area wa ...
, in the south-east, is a large council estate and has some houses built by the prison service and some sheltered housing. The area is home to Wetherby High School, St James' Primary School, the cemetery, the Church on the Corner and Mason House Community Centre. A new medical centre has been built on the edge of the estate on the site of the demolished Hallfield Mansion. * Micklethwaite was a village in its own right, but its identity as a separate area has disappeared since the Micklethwaite Farm's buildings were demolished in the 2000s and replaced by 150 dwellings known as ''Micklethwaite''. It is situated south of the River Wharfe and contains the
police station A police station is a facility operated by police or a similar law enforcement agency that serves to accommodate police officers and other law enforcement personnel. The role served by a police station varies by agency, type, and jurisdiction, ...
, magistrates court, the
Mercure Mercure may refer to: * MERCURE, an atmospheric dispersion modelling CFD code developed by Électricité de France * Mercure Hotels, a chain of hotels run by Accor * French ship ''Mercure'' (1783) * Dassault Mercure, a French airliner built in t ...
Hotel and the town's leisure centre and swimming baths. * Deighton Bar is situated in the north-east, bordering Ainsty and Sandbeck and the village of
Kirk Deighton Kirk Deighton is a village and civil parish in the county of North Yorkshire, England. It is situated north-west of Wetherby and near the A1(M) motorway. The village was in the West Riding of Yorkshire, and Wetherby Rural District, until 1974, a ...
in North Yorkshire, as is one street in Deighton Bar, Autumn Avenue. The oldest houses are in a row of terrace houses on Deighton Road. The area is home to Deighton Gates primary school between Ainsty and Deighton Bar. Most housing was built in the late 1970s by
Barratt Developments Barratt Redrow plc is one of the largest residential property development companies in the United Kingdom operating across England, Wales and Scotland. It is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. It was originally based in Newcastle upon Tyn ...
. * Barleyfields is a residential area of housing in central Wetherby. Its oldest houses are large Victorian terraces on Sandringham Terrace and the former quarry workers' cottages behind Prospect Villas. The area is situated in the middle of a large triangular dismantled railway junction. It is home to St Joseph's Primary School, Crossley Street Primary School and Barleyfields Community Centre. * Sandbeck is home to the Sandbeck Industrial Estate, some 1960s Norman Ashton houses and some 1970s council houses. * Linton Park View is an affluent area of private houses, mostly built in the 1970s between Spofforth Hill and Linton Lane in the north-west of Wetherby. * Spofforth Hill, named after the road that passes through it, is an affluent area off the A661. It contains many large detached houses from Victorian times onwards. In the 1980s and 1990s, the area was expanded after Shepherd Homes built a housing estate on former agricultural land called the ''Glebe Field Estate''.


Weather and climate

Wetherby has a cool, fairly moist climate with changeable weather year-round. Liquid equivalent precipitation totals about 630mm per year and is fairly well distributed through the seasons. Cloudy weather tends to predominate, but settled, sunny spells occur at times. Winter temperatures average just above freezing for lows, with highs about 5–9 °C. Frost and snow are not uncommon, but are rarely severe or prolonged. Temperatures very rarely drop as low as −10 °C. Summers are mild, with lows generally 10–15 °C and highs of 15–25 °C, with a few hot days approaching 30 °C.


Demography

According to the
2001 UK Census A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194. The 2001 UK census was organised by the Office for National ...
, Wetherby had a population of 11,155 and the wider Wetherby ward had a population of 26,473 By the time of the 2011 census, the population of the town had fallen to 10,772. Since this was taken, the immediate town area has grown considerably. 150 new dwellings were built in one development in Micklethwaite, then a further 20 were added, flats have also appeared at the former
Motorworld ''Jeremy Clarkson's Motorworld'' is a BBC television series about the car and motoring cultures of various countries. The show was presented by Jeremy Clarkson and consisted of two series of six episodes each plus a special focusing on the UK. ...
, La Locanda Restaurant, Deighton Road car garage, Fields Works and the cattle market. In the late 2010s, two new large scale greenfield housing developments started to be developed; one in the Sandbeck area and another in the Spofforth Hill area.


Economy

The Wharfedale Brewery became Oxley's mineral water factory during the inter-war years. It was demolished in the 1950s and redeveloped as the
West Yorkshire Road Car Company The West Yorkshire Road Car Company was a major bus operator operating in North and West Yorkshire between 1906 and 1987. History West Yorkshire The Harrogate Road Car Company was formed in 1906, running at first steam buses in Harrogate, then ...
bus depot and bus station; it has been further redeveloped to include shops, offices and a restaurant. The site of the watermill, by the weir, is now occupied by riverside flats. Wetherby has a manufacturing presence in the town and on the
Thorp Arch Trading Estate Thorp Arch Trading Estate is a trading estate, with both industrial and retail space, south-east of Wetherby in the City of Leeds metropolitan borough, West Yorkshire, England. The estate occupies the major part of the site of a former Royal ...
. Many residents work in Leeds or on the Sandbeck industrial estate, major retailers in the town centre or at Thorp Arch. Large employers include the
British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...
,
Morrisons Wm Morrison Supermarkets Limited, trading as Morrisons, is the List of supermarket chains in the United Kingdom, fifth largest supermarket chain in the United Kingdom. As of 2021, the company had 497 supermarkets across England, Wales and Sco ...
, Goldenfry Foods and Moores Furniture. 2017 saw the return of brewing to Wetherby, when the Wetherby Brew Company established a new microbrewery and taproom on the York Road Industrial Estate.


Historic public houses

In its heyday, Wetherby had seventeen
pubs 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 ...
in its town centre. Only eleven now remain, of which ten are still open. The town's oldest surviving pub, the ''Brunswick Hotel'', closed in 2003 and reopened as ''Harris' Bar''; in 2012, it reopened again as ''The Brunswick'' after refurbishment by
Enterprise Inns Ei Group plc, formerly known as Enterprise Inns plc, was the largest pub company in the UK, with around 4,000 properties, predominantly run as leased and tenanted pubs. Ei Group plc was headquartered in Solihull, West Midlands. It was listed o ...
. The ''Three Legs'' public house closed in 2007 and became ''bar Thr3'', Wetherby's first non smoking pub. During the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, the ''Angel'' public house served German and Italian
prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...
from the nearby camps and, being the only pub in the town to do so, attracted some controversy as a result.


Present day

Goldenfry, which started as a
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 ...
but which now makes other products including own-brand gravy for every UK supermarket, is situated on Sandbeck Way. Inspirepac has a factory on Sandbeck Lane. The ICC Group is a multi national UK IT reseller and service provider, which was founded in 1998; it has its HQ at Sandbeck Lane. Supporting over 10% of the FTSE100, it specialises in HP/IBM and Dell products and associated IT services. Proactis, a leading modular Source-to-Pay solutions provider, has been in based in Wetherby since 1996. Despite transitioning to a remote first workforce in 2020, the company still retains a large office in the town centre. Farnell opened its first factory in 1956 on the York Road Industrial Estate, leasing some former W.D.
Nissen hut A Nissen hut is a prefabricated steel structure originally for military use, especially as barracks, made from a 210° portion of a cylindrical skin of corrugated iron. It was designed during the First World War by the Canadian-American-British e ...
s. By 1963, it required new premises and moved to the Sandbeck Industrial Estate. In 1997, GSM Valtech Industries purchased the metalwork fabrication site of Farnell Electronics. GSM Valtech's operations were transferred to the Wetherby site, increasing the manufacturing area to 28,000 sq ft and gaining staff with 40 years' experience in manufacturing electronic enclosures. Substantial investment followed. The company specialises in the manufacture and wholesale distribution of electrical,
electronic Electronic may refer to: *Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductors * ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal *Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device *Electronic c ...
and measurement, control and instrumentation equipment. In the 1990s the company moved to offices in
Armley Armley is a district in the west of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It starts less than from Leeds city centre. Like much of Leeds, Armley grew in the Industrial Revolution and had several mills, one of which now houses the Leeds Industrial ...
. The Forensic Science Service had a laboratory in Wetherby on Sandbeck Way. This closed in 2012 and has been demolished, with a new housing estate built on the site. HM Prison Wetherby is located on York Road. On 1 October 2008, the healthcare centre on Hallfield Lane was opened by
Colin Burgon Colin Burgon (born 22 April 1948) is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Elmet from 1997 to 2010. Early life Colin Burgon was born in Leeds to Catholic, Labour-supporting parents. His mother, Winnie, ...
, the Labour Member of Parliament (MP) for
Elmet Elmet (), sometimes Elmed or Elmete, was an independent Brittonic Celtic Cumbric-speaking kingdom between about the 4th century and mid-7th century. The people of Elmet survived as a distinctly recognised Brittonic Celtic group for centuri ...
. It was completed in May 2008 and services have been provided from the building since June 2008. The centre has a range of services including
podiatry Podiatry ( ), also know as podiatric medicine and surgery ( ), is a branch of medicine devoted to the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disorders of the foot, ankle and lower limb. The healthcare professional is known as a podiatrist. The US ...
,
physiotherapy Physical therapy (PT), also known as physiotherapy, is a healthcare profession, as well as the care provided by physical therapists who promote, maintain, or restore health through patient education, physical intervention, disease preventio ...
and a baby clinic.


Housing

In 1914, 100 dwellings in Wetherby were considered unfit for habitation. This, and previous reports under the Housing and Town Planning Act 1909, led to the building of many villas. There are many surviving examples of these, such as Park Villas, York Place, Grosvenor Terrace and Sandringham Terrace. Landlords found these hard to let due to exorbitant rents and many remained empty for years. This also led to the demolition of the town's Bishopgate area. In 1910, the parish council started a programme to install street lighting in the hope of bettering the standard of living and reducing crime. It was not until the post-war years that large
housing estates A housing estate (or sometimes housing complex, housing development, subdivision or community) is a group of homes and other buildings built together as a single development. The exact form may vary from country to country. Popular through ...
appeared throughout Wetherby. From the 1940s until the 1980s, many large estates were built from scratch. Both the local corporation and the private sector built many houses to satisfy the huge demand for homes in Wetherby. Developer Norman Ashton's company,
Ashtons Ashtons was a housebuilder in Yorkshire in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. History Norman Ashton started his Leeds-based housebuilding business in 1933, and it was incorporated in 1938 as Norman C Ashton Ltd. Following the outbreak of war in 193 ...
, were responsible for much of the housing in Wetherby, particularly around the Ainsty Estate, Hall Orchards and Templar Gardens areas. Most housing in the town is from these years. There is a wide variety of housing types in Wetherby, including waterside penthouses, council flats and
maisonettes An apartment (American English, Canadian English), flat (British English, Indian English, South African English), tenement (Scots English), or unit (Australian English) is a self-contained housing unit (a type of residential real estate) that ...
, large
detached houses A single-family detached home, also called a single-detached dwelling, single-family residence (SFR) or separate house is a free-standing residential building. It is defined in opposition to a multi-family residential dwelling. Definitions ...
, small terraces and probably the most common, the three bedroomed twentieth century
semi-detached A semi-detached house (often abbreviated to semi) is a single-family Duplex (building), duplex dwelling that shares one common party wall, wall with its neighbour. The name distinguishes this style of construction from detached houses, with no sh ...
home.


Transport


Roads

For many years from 1959, the town's bypass started at a roundabout near a
Forte Group Forte Group plc was a British hotel and restaurant company. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index The Financial Times Stock Exchange 100 Index, also called the FTSE 100 Index, FTSE 100, F ...
Posthouse hotel until July 1988 when the A1 was diverted at a cost of £11.5 million. On 18 December 2004, the northern section of the bypass was diverted to a new section of the A1(M), around Kirk Deighton, after construction work had begun in August 2003. The upgrade of the section between Bramham and Wetherby started in July 2007 and was completed in 2009. The upgrading of the A1 included the construction of
Wetherby Services Wetherby Services is a motorway service area north of Wetherby on the A1(M) motorway in northern England. It opened in September 2008, and the hotel (a 126-bed Days Inn hotel, the first major hotel in the north of the town) opened later. The se ...
at the Wetherby North Junction. The upgrading of the
A1(M) A1(M) is the designation given to a series of four separate motorway sections in the UK. Each section is an upgrade to a section of the A1, a major north–south road which connects London, the capital of England, with Edinburgh, the capita ...
in Wetherby was the final development after 50 years of gradual improvement to motorway standard. A new road links all routes in and out of the town with the A1(M).


Buses

Wetherby bus station in the Market Place was redeveloped in 1995; since partial
pedestrianisation Pedestrian zones (also known as auto-free zones and car-free zones, as pedestrian precincts in British English, and as pedestrian malls in the United States and Australia) are areas of a city or town restricted to use by people on foot or ...
in 2007, capacity has been reduced. Bus routes are operated predominantly by: *
Arriva Yorkshire Arriva Yorkshire is a major bus operator providing services primarily within and across West Yorkshire, although it also provides service in some parts of South Yorkshire, East Riding of Yorkshire and southern areas of North Yorkshire. It is a ...
operates services to
Wakefield Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 109,766 in the 2021 census, up from 99,251 in the 2011 census. The city is the administrative centre of the wider Metropolit ...
, via
Garforth Garforth () is a town in the metropolitan borough of the City of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It sits in the Garforth and Swillington ward of Leeds City Council and the Leeds East parliamentary constituency. As of 2011, the population ...
*
Connexionsbuses Harrogate Coach Travel operates local and regional bus services in North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire, England. History Harrogate Coach Travel was established in February 2002 by Craig and Julie Temple. Initially, the company operated local bu ...
to
Harrogate Harrogate ( ) is a spa town and civil parish in the North Yorkshire District, district and North Yorkshire, county of North Yorkshire, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, the town is a tourist de ...
,
York York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...
and
Otley Otley is a market town and civil parish at a bridging point on the River Wharfe, in the City of Leeds metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, the population was 13,668 at the 2011 c ...
*
Harrogate Bus Company The Harrogate Bus Company operates both local and regional bus services in North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire, England. It is a subsidiary of Transdev Blazefield. History In November 1906, The Harrogate Road Car Company was formed. Initially op ...
to Leeds, Deighton Bar and Harrogate * 21 Transport to Harrogate and
Knaresborough Knaresborough ( ) is a market and spa town and civil parish on the River Nidd in North Yorkshire, England. It is east of Harrogate and was in the Borough of Harrogate until April 2023. History The Knaresborough Hoard, the largest hoard of ...
.


Railway

The nearest railway stations are at and , which are both on the Harrogate Line;
Northern Trains Northern Trains, Trade name, trading as Northern, is a British train operating company that operates Commuter rail, commuter and Inter-city rail, medium-distance intercity services in the North of England. It is owned by DfT Operator for the Dep ...
operates services to , , and . Wetherby had two railway stations, but both were closed as part of the
Beeching Axe The Beeching cuts, also colloquially referred to as the Beeching Axe, were a major series of route closures and service changes made as part of the restructuring of the nationalised railway system in Great Britain in the 1960s. They are named ...
in 1964: * on the  North Eastern Railway's  Cross Gates to Wetherby Line * on the York and North Midland Railway Company's  Harrogate to Church Fenton Line.


Air

The closest airport is
Leeds Bradford International Airport Leeds Bradford Airport is located in Yeadon, in the City of Leeds Metropolitan District in West Yorkshire, England, about northwest of Leeds city centre, and about northeast from Bradford city centre. It serves Leeds and Bradford and the ...
, in Yeadon.


Education

There are four primary schools situated in Wetherby: Crossley Street Primary School, Deighton Gates Primary School, St Josephs Primary School and St James C of E School. There is one secondary school,
Wetherby High School Wetherby High School (formerly Wetherby Secondary Modern School) is a Mixed-sex education, coeducational secondary school located in the Hallfield area of Wetherby, West Yorkshire, England. The school is run by the City of Leeds Local Educati ...
(formerly Wetherby Secondary Modern School). . There is a further secondary school serving Wetherby situated in
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 ...
. The local college in Wetherby is
Leeds City College Leeds City College is the largest further education establishment in the City of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England with around 26,000 students, 2,300 staff, with an annual turnover of £78 million.
.


Sport

The town is home to several sports clubs: Wetherby Athletic AFC, Wetherby Bulldogs RLFC and Wetherby RUFC, all playing at a higher amateur level. Wetherby Athletic play in the
West Yorkshire League The West Yorkshire Association Football League is a football competition based in Yorkshire, England. It was previously known as the Leeds League until the name change in 1939. Although it is named the ''West Yorkshire'' League, clubs from the H ...
. The club was formed in 1949, when previous club Wetherby United folded, due to lack of players. The club groundshare with Wetherby Bulldogs RLFC at the newly refurbished ground on
Ings ''Ings'' is an old word of Old English origin referring to water meadows and marshes. The term appears in place names in Yorkshire (such as Hall Ings, Bradford, Fairburn Ings RSPB reserve, Clifton Ings in York, Derwent Ings, Sutton Ings, Acast ...
. Three-time English champions
Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league system. Leeds United have won the League Championship th ...
's training ground is located just outside Wetherby. Wetherby Bulldogs
rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...
team play at the Ings with Wetherby Athletic. The club plays in the Pennine League Division Four. The club was formed in 1983 playing in the York and District Sunday League. In the 1997/98 season, Wetherby won the league without losing a game; they also won the White Rose Cup, playing the final at
Featherstone Rovers Featherstone Rovers are a professional rugby league club in Featherstone, West Yorkshire, England. The club play home games at Post Office Road and currently compete in the Championship, the second tier of British rugby league. Featherstone ...
'
Post Office Road Post Office Road (currently known as the Millennium Stadium for sponsorship purposes) is a rugby league ground in Featherstone, near Pontefract, West Yorkshire, England. It is the home of rugby league club Featherstone Rovers. The ground's cur ...
ground. By 1999, the club was in Yorkshire League Division One. The town's
rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...
club plays at Grange Park, sharing with Kirk Deighton Rangers Junior Football Club and also with the town's cricket and bowls clubs, where it has a clubhouse and floodlit pitches. Wetherby Cricket Club plays at Grange Park, adjacent to the South Wetherby
A1(M) A1(M) is the designation given to a series of four separate motorway sections in the UK. Each section is an upgrade to a section of the A1, a major north–south road which connects London, the capital of England, with Edinburgh, the capita ...
/ A661 intersection. It plays in the Wetherby League and the Whixley Evening League, fielding two senior and junior sides ranging from U-9s to U-17s. Wetherby Bowling Club was established in 1986 at Grange Park Sports Centre, sited between the cricket club and the rugby union club. It has crown and flat greens, taking part in a floodlit mini league. The club has six crown green teams (playing in the Harrogate and Tadcaster Leagues) and three flat green teams. Formed in October 2004, Wetherby Runners Athletic Club is based at Wetherby Sports Association with a membership of over 160. A junior section competes in West Yorks Track & Field & Cross Country leagues. It competes throughout the region in Harrogate Road League, Yorkshire Dales Race Series, West Yorks Cross Country League and takes part in cross country, fell, road races and marathons. The club organises the Wetherby 10k run on the second Sunday in September at Wetherby Racecourse. Wetherby Golf Club has an 18-hole golf course, constructed in two loops of 9 holes along Wetherby Ings where, 100 years ago, steeplechase racing was the major sporting activity. The course is almost 6,700 yards, with five variable tee positions. Wetherby Castlegarth Tennis Club has had a presence in the town since 1904. The route of
The White Rose Way The White Rose Way is a walking trail in England from Leeds, West Yorkshire to Scarborough, North Yorkshire. It was created in 2011 by local author Paul Brown. The walk starts at the foot of the Black Prince Statue in City Square with the fin ...
, a long-distance walk from Leeds to
Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, sub ...
, passes through the town.
Wetherby Racecourse Wetherby Racecourse is a racecourse situated near the market town of Wetherby in West Yorkshire, England, located from Leeds city centre. For most of its history the course has hosted only National Hunt racing but staged its first Flat racing ...
was originally located at the Ings before moving to York Road. The course is a left-hand oval with easy bends. The racecourse has three stands, one constructed in the 1930s with football-style terracing, a two-tier seated stand constructed in the 1970s and the new Millennium Stand which opened in 1999 providing executive facilities. Wetherby Racecourse is the starting point for the Great Yorkshire Bike Ride, an annual ride to
Filey Filey () is a seaside town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. It is located between Scarborough, North Yorkshire, Scarborough and Bridlington on Filey Bay. Although it was a fishing village, it has a large ...
in June, which has raised nearly £2 million for charity since its inception in 1984.


Religion

There are five churches in Wetherby. The parish church is dedicated to
St James Saint James or St. James may refer to: People Saints *James, brother of Jesus (died 62 or 69), also known as James the Just *James the Great (died 44), Apostle, also known as James, son of Zebedee, or Saint James the Greater *James, son of Alphaeu ...
and its daughter church ''The Church on the Corner'' meets in the old Cemetery Chapel on Hallfield Lane. There is a
Methodist church Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...
on Bank Street, a Baptist church and the Community Church of the Salvation Army. St Joseph's Roman Catholic Church's building was opened in 1986 and won the Leeds award for Architecture in 1987. Two smaller Catholic churches in Bardsey and Sicklinghall operate as satellite churches and do not have their own ministers. The Baptist church was originally Anglican and was known as ''Barleyfields Church''. Early in 2009, it became part of the Baptist Union of Great Britain. It met originally in the Barleyfields Centre, but moved to Deighton Gates School in September 2009.


Culture and media

In 1989, the ''Wetherby in Bloom'' committee was founded and has charitable status. The town won the ''Entente Florale'' gold award in 1999 and an ''International Communities in Bloom'' award in 2005. It achieved success in the RHS
Britain in Bloom RHS Britain in Bloom is the largest horticultural campaign in the United Kingdom. It was first held in 1963, initiated by the British Tourist Board based on the example set by Fleurissement de France (now Conseil national de villes et villages ...
competition in 1998, 2002 and 2010, along with numerous regional gold awards over the last 15 years. The annual Wetherby Arts Festival is sponsored by
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 Town Council. It promotes the arts by providing a platform for local groups to perform and to bring in other performers and art forms. On 2 July 2011 a
geocache Geocaching (, ) is an outdoor recreational activity, in which participants use a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver or mobile device and other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers, called ''geocaches'' or ''caches'', at sp ...
caused a bomb scare in the town, attracting news coverage by the BBC, the geocache was then involved in a controlled explosion leading to its destruction. The local newspaper is the ''Wetherby News'' and the lifestyle magazine is the ''Excelle''. Local radio stations are BBC Radio Leeds, Heart Yorkshire, Greatest Hits Radio Yorkshire and Capital Yorkshire. Tempo FM is Wetherby's very own 100% volunteer-run community radio station, with studios located in the old council offices in Westgate. Local news and television programmes are provided by BBC Yorkshire and ITV Yorkshire, from the Emley Moor transmitting station, Emley Moor TV transmitter. Wetherby Film Theatre is an independently-owned, traditional single screen cinema on Caxton Street. Although it opened in 1915 as a cinema, it had been used for some time as a bingo and social club, before being reopened as a cinema in 1994.


Notable people

* Beer and whisky expert Michael Jackson (writer), Michael Jackson (1942–2007) was born in Wetherby. * Flight Lieutenant James Harry Lacey, 'Ginger' Lacey (1917–1989), a Battle of Britain flying ace, was born in Wetherby. ''Lacey Grove'' is named after him. * Former goalkeeper Stuart Naylor was born in Wetherby in 1962. He was capped three times for the England national football team, England England B national football team, B team in the 1980s * Yorkshire Cricket Club, Yorkshire Cricketer Charles Midgley was born in Wetherby in 1877 and died in Bradford in 1942. * Former Conservative Member of the European Parliament, MEP Robert Sturdy was born in Wetherby in 1944. He has never represented Yorkshire constituencies, holding seats in the Tory heartlands of Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire. * Essex cricket team, Essex Cricketer Fred Cooper (1888–1958), Fred Cooper was born in Wetherby in 1888. * Former Middlesbrough F.C. footballer, Seb Hines (born 1988), is from the Hallfields Estate in Wetherby. * Skins (TV series), Skins Actor Sam Jackson (actor), Sam Jackson also comes from Wetherby and was born in October 1993. * Reginald Wickham, cricketer * Emily Wardman, museum curator


See also

* * Listed buildings in Wetherby * Boroughbridge *
Knaresborough Knaresborough ( ) is a market and spa town and civil parish on the River Nidd in North Yorkshire, England. It is east of Harrogate and was in the Borough of Harrogate until April 2023. History The Knaresborough Hoard, the largest hoard of ...
* Ripon *
Tadcaster Tadcaster is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in North Yorkshire, England, north-east of Leeds and south-west of York. Its historical importance from Roman times onward was largely as the lowest road crossing-point o ...


References


Citations


Bibliography

* Wetherby ''The History of a Yorkshire Market Town'', Robert Unwin * Wetherby (The Archive Photographic Series)


External links


Tithe to 2009 history trail
{{authority control Wetherby, Market towns in West Yorkshire Civil parishes in West Yorkshire Towns in West Yorkshire