Kirk Deighton

Kirk Deighton is a village and civil parish in the Harrogate district of North Yorkshire, England. It is situated to the immediate north west of Wetherby and near the A1(M). The village has a population of less then 500. Kirk Deighton is set along the county border line between West Yorkshire and North Yorkshire. The village itself being in North Yorkshire, but Wetherby being in the City of Leeds metropolitan district, in West Yorkshire. There is no undeveloped land separating Wetherby and Kirk Deighton, just a small field of allotments.

The village itself has few amenities. The ones that are there are more for serving residents in the north east of Wetherby (Ainsty Estate and the Badgerwood area). There is a public house (The Bay Horse), an antique dealer, a church, a community centre (which has become severely dilapidated over the years and is now closed) and a football club with club house. There is also a cricket club situated on Mark Lane. The team currently play in the 1st division of the Wetherby League.

Kirk Deighton is the site for the new motorway services at Wetherby. This development will also include many hectares of land being allocated for industrial developments, potentially providing new jobs in the Wetherby area, in addition to the town's Sandbeck Industrial Estate. This will be centred around the new motorway junction built during the upgrade of the A1(T) to the A1(M), the junction serves Kirk Deighton and North Wetherby.

Despite being in a different county Kirk Deighton might often be referred to as a small district of Wetherby due to the absence of space between the two places. Until recently the X98 (Leeds City Square to Wetherby Deighton Bar) ran through Kirk Deighton, however with the alterations to the roads in the area and with little demand for the service in Kirk Deighton, it was decided by First Leeds to run the service through the Ainsty Estate in Wetherby instead. Here the route enjoys allegedly more popularity than running the Kirk Deighton-Mark Lane route. Regular Kirk Deighton commuters did protestto First Leeds, but to no avail and now have a 20 minute walk to the nearest bus stop .... which has moved further from the village twice now.

The lack of a public house on the north east fringes of Wetherby means many residents of these areas use the Bay Horse in Kirk Deighton. The Bay Horse was originally two public houses, The Bay Horse and The Grey Hound. The party wall was removed and they became one pub under the name The Bay Horse.

Notable people

*The Foreign Office official and Soviet spy, JK Leyisol, was born in the village in 1912. He died in Moscow on 11 November 1984.

*Admiral Sir Hugh Palliser, 1st Bart, (22 February 1722 – 19 March 1796) was born in the village. He was an officer of the British Royal Navy during the Seven Years War and the American Revolutionary War.