Ledston

Ledston Hall

Ledston is a village and civil parish 3 miles (5 km) north of Castleford and 10 miles (16 km) east of Leeds in the county of West Yorkshire, England.[1] The village is in the City of Leeds metropolitan borough. It had a population of 400 in 2001,[2] which decreased slightly to 394 at the 2011 Census.[3]

Ledston is first mentioned in 1086, and on through the Middle Ages, in forms like Ledestun(e), Ledestona.[4] The name seems to refer to Leeds (or the Old English precursor of this name, Loidis, which denoted a region rather than a town), meaning the tūn ('settlement, estate') belonging to Leeds.[5]

Ledston Hall was the home of Lady Elizabeth Hastings, daughter of the 7th Earl of Huntingdon, known as "Lady Betty". The hall was originally a grange and chapel built by the monks of Pontefract Priory. It is a grade I listed building, and several associated buildings and garden features are also listed.[6]

Ledston Hall featured in the television show Most Haunted:Live on 27 October 2007, but was called "Wheler Priory" for security reasons at the time (Wheler being the surname of the last family owning the hall).[7]

Ledston is also home to the Ledston Equine Centre located in the stables of Ledston Hall.[8]

Ledston lies to the east of the A656 road,[1] and there was a railway station named after the village on the Castleford to Garforth line, though this station was actually adjacent to Allerton Bywater Colliery. The village also had a colliery named after it, Ledston Luck, which was connected to the railway via an aerial ropeway up to Micklefield.[9] The colliery, like the railway station, was some distance away from the village from which it took its name, being actually only 0.62 miles (1 km) east of Kippax.[1] Ledston Luck Colliery closed in 1986[10] and the site is now a local nature reserve.[11]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "289" (Map). Leeds. 1:25,000. Explorer. Ordnance Survey. 2015. ISBN 9780319244869.
  2. Office for National Statistics : Census 2001 : Parish Headcounts : Leeds Retrieved 7 May 2017
  3. "Civil Parish population 2011". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 28 February 2016.
  4. Ekwall, Eilert (1960). The concise Oxford dictionary of English place-names (4 ed.). Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. 293. ISBN 0-19-869103-3.
  5. Watts, Victor; Insley, John; Gelling, Margaret (2004). The Cambridge dictionary of English place-names : based on the collections of the English Place-Name Society (2 ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 366. ISBN 9780521362092.
  6. Historic England. "Ledston Hall  (Grade I) (1237569)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 7 May 2017.
  7. "Watch Most Haunted Live Season 6 Full Episodes". OVGuide. Retrieved 7 May 2017.
  8. "Ledstone Equine Centre". ledstonequinecentre.co.uk. Retrieved 7 May 2017.
  9. "SE43 (includes Leeds" (Map). SE43. 1:25,000. Ordnance Survey. 1954.
  10. "Pit closures, year by year". BBC News. 5 March 2004. Retrieved 7 May 2017.
  11. "Ledston Luck Yorkshire Wildlife Trust | Love Yorkshire, Love Wildlife". www.ywt.org.uk. Retrieved 7 May 2017.
  • The ancient parish of Ledsham: historical and genealogical information at GENUKI (Ledston was in this parish).
  • Historic England. "Ledston Hall, grade I (428817)". Images of England.
  • Historic England. "Ledston Lodge, in Ledston Park, grade I (428808)". Images of England.
  • Historic England. "Barn at Ledston Hall, grade I (428822)". Images of England.
  • Historic England. "Ledston Hall entrance gates and lodges, grade I (428818)". Images of England.
  • Historic England. "Stable block at Ledston Hall, grade I (428821)". Images of England.

Coordinates: 53°45′N 1°21′W / 53.750°N 1.350°W / 53.750; -1.350


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