Methley

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Not to be confused with
Methleigh
.

Methley Bridge

Methley is a dispersed village in the

A639 road, (grid reference SE409258
) about a mile south-east of the village.

Location and history

Mining Memorial, Main Street

Today, the village is often described in terms of the area around Church Lane, Main Street and Pinfold Lane. However, the buildings on these streets largely date from the 20th century – and this area does not represent the original geographical centre of the village. The original village was established near to Saint Oswald's Church, and in particular along Church Side. This is reflected in the 17th- and 18th-century buildings along Churchside and parts of Watergate.[1] The village has a history of coal mining. At one stage there were five mines in operation in the village – Savile Colliery, Methley Junction, Foxholes (Scholey Hill), Newmarket, and Newmarket Silkstone. The last pit (Saville Colliery) closed in the mid-1980s.

Part of the village (the area south and west of the

Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government approved the development on 21 June 2012. The new stadium for Wakefield Trinity Wildcats Rugby league club will form part of the development and should be completed by 2015.[citation needed
]

Methley was in the wapentake of Agbrigg in the West Riding of Yorkshire in 1086.[2] Methley was surveyed by the Tudor cartographer, Christopher Saxton, author of the first atlas of England (1577).[citation needed] However, the map is now lost.

Buildings

Methley Hall

Methley Hall was the former seat of the

George V, visited the village in 1935 and stayed at the Hall as a guest of the Earl. Titus Salt leased Methley Hall from the Earl of Mexborough between 1856 and 1865 according to Salt's biographer Balgarnie.[4]

Church

St Oswald's Church viewed from Church Side

The parish church Saint Oswald's is a 12th century Grade I listed building which had a spire from the mid-18th century to 1937. The spire became unsafe and was dismantled. The

Buildings of England series in the late 1950s. Alan Bennett visited the church in December 1998 as mentioned in his collection of writings Untold Stories (2005), a visit which was filmed as part of a special The South Bank Show charting the writer's early life.[5]

"Fatty Cake" School House

Former school on Watergate

The Old Pinder Green school house is a Grade II listed building dating from 1637 at the junction of Watergate and the main Leeds to Pontefract Road.[6] The school closed in 1881 and became a private residence, now known as the Fatty Cake School House.[7]

Railway

Methley was once served by three railway stations:

HS2 rail line would have passed to the west of the village between Scholey Hill, Clumpcliffe and Lemonroyd Lock, where it would have curved west at that point to take trains into Leeds city centre via Woodlesford
. The line has now been axed and will not happen.

Second World War POW camp

Methley was the site of a German

Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht (Silent Night) in German during a Christmas Eve service at St Oswald's Church – an event still remembered by some villagers.[citation needed
]

The

Freiburg Munster in the background). Braun may have produced the painting after hearing of the death of his wife during an allied air raid on Freiburg im Breisgau (Braun's home town) during November 1944. For many years the painting was owned by a convent in Lancashire, then was sold at auction in 1997.[citation needed
]

Local points of interest

The

brass bands and have produced recordings and performed concerts on the BBC.[citation needed
]

The composer Edward Elgar was friends with the former owner (Mr. Embleton) of 'The Cedars' – now a residential home – and often stayed in the village.[citation needed] Nick Hodgson, drummer of the Leeds band the Kaiser Chiefs, has family connections with the village. The band officially opened the new village primary school on 16 January 2006. Other notable residents of the village have included Rugby league players Brian Lockwood, Dean Mountain, Daryl Powell, Ben Crooks, Kelvin Skerrett, Joe Arundel and footballer Paul Rickers.[citation needed].

Each year the village holds a Scarecrow Festival, a competition in which residents take part.

Methley Cricket Club won the

Village Cup national competition at Lord's, in 1998. Yorkshire and Worcestershire player Matthew Waite
, has represented Methley C.C.

Methley United A.F.C. (formerly Methley United JFC) are the local football club. The original village football club was Methley Perseverance F.C. Methley Welfare F.C. and Methley Rangers F.C. are also now defunct village clubs. United were formed in 2002 for local juniors to play football in the village and the club in 2021, now have a staggering 29 teams, made up of junior teams (U5s-u18s), alongside a male vets team and ladies team. The club are one of the fastest growing football clubs in the country.

Methley Warriors A.R.L.F.C and Methley Royals R.L.F.C., are the village

Rugby League
teams.

Location grid

See also

References

  1. ^ Leeds City Council (2008) Methley Church Side Conservation Area Appraisal & Management Plan
  2. ^ "Methley | Domesday Book". opendomesday.org.
  3. ^ Houses of Lancaster and York.
  4. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 15 August 2015.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  5. ISBN 978-0-571-22831-7
    page 244
  6. ^ British Listed Buildings Old Pinder Green School
  7. ^ www.rightmove.co.uk 4-bedroom detached house for sale: Fatty Cake School House, Watergate, Methley, Leeds

External links

Media related to Methley at Wikimedia Commons

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