Knottingley

infobox UK place
country = England
latitude= 53.705
longitude= -1.249
official_name= Knottingley
population =
metropolitan_borough= City of Wakefield
metropolitan_county = West Yorkshire
region= Yorkshire and the Humber
constituency_westminster= Pontefract and Castleford
post_town= KNOTTINGLEY
postcode_district = WF11
postcode_area= WF
dial_code= 01977
os_grid_reference= SE495235
static_

static_image_caption=
london_distance=

Knottingley is a town within the metropolitan borough of the City of Wakefield in West Yorkshire, England on the River Aire and the A1 road. It has a population of 17,000.

Until 1699, it was an important inland river port but, in that year, the Aire was made navigable as far as Leeds. Nonetheless, Knottingley remained a centre for boat building into the twentieth century. After 1870, the town also became known for glass manufacturing.

The town is served by Knottingley railway station.

Knottingley is famous as a glass manufacturing town [ [http://www.knottingley.org/history/glass_industry.htm] Glass manufacturing] , and in 1887 Bagley's Glassworks purchased the rights to the first bottle making machine invented by a Ferrybridge postmaster [ [http://www.knottingley.org/history/glassmakers.htm] Bottle making] .

Close to Knottingley is the Ferrybridge Power Station which has the largest cooling towers of its kind in Europe. These towers can be seen for miles around. One of the oldest purpose built cinemas in England is still standing in Aire Street, but has now been converted into flats.

The town is one of the few in the United Kingdom to still have a working coal mine - Kellingley Colliery.

Etymology

Knottingley means "the clearing of Cnotta's people", from the Old English personal name "Cnotta" meaning "knot", describing a small, round man and -"ingas" "people of" + "leāh" "wood, modern lee, not the same meaning as Leah (personal name)". The name was recorded as "Cnotinesleahemm" in 1128.

During the three Sieges of Pontefract Castle, Oliver Cromwell took residence in the town of Knottingley, believed to be in Wildbore House. Wildbore house was demolished and the land beneath was turned into a quarry for the limestone underneath.

Education

Knottingley currently has one high school, "Knottingley High School and Sports College". There are a number of primary schools: England Lane Junior and Infant School, Ferrybridge Infant School, Ferrybridge Roundhill Junior School, Knottingley Church of England Junior and Infant School, Knottingley Vale Junior and Infant School, Simpsons Lane Junior and Infant School and Throstle Farm Junior, Infant and Nursery School.

There are sixth-form colleges in nearby Pontefract, Wakefield and Selby.

Notable people

Famous Knottingley residents (past and present),include:-

*Ben Thompson, Former Marshall of Austin, Texas.
*Terry Cooper, Former Leeds United & England footballer. Currently Southampton's European scout.
*Graham Steadman, Former York Wasps, Featherstone Rovers, Castleford Tigers & Great Britain Rugby League footballer.
*Wayne Godwin, Bradford Bulls Rugby League footballer, and also played for Knottingley Rockware ARLFC.
*Professor Austin Tate, Director of AIAI (Artificial Intelligence Applications Institute) in the School of Informatics at the University of Edinburgh.

Trivia

It is also the last place in the British Empire to have a Bear-baiting arena.

References

Location Grid