Knowsthorpe, Knostrop or Knostropp is an area of

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

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, on the

River Aire The River Aire is a major river in Yorkshire, England, in length. Part of the river below Leeds is canalised, and is known as the Aire and Calder Navigation. The ''Handbook for Leeds and Airedale'' (1890) notes that the distance from Malha ...

. The spelling "Knostrop" is predominantly used for the large

water treatment Water treatment is any process that improves the quality of water to make it appropriate for a specific end-use. The end use may be drinking, industrial water supply, irrigation, river flow maintenance, water recreation or many other uses, ...

works in the area.

Atkinson Grimshaw John Atkinson Grimshaw (6 September 1836 – 13 October 1893) was an English Victorian-era artist best known for his nocturnal scenes of urban landscapes.Alexander Robertson, ''Atkinson Grimshaw'', London, Phaidon Press, 1996 H. J. Dyos and ...

painted ''Knostrop Cut, Leeds, Sunday Night, 1893''. The area falls within

Temple Newsam Temple Newsam (historically Temple Newsham), is a Tudor- Jacobean house in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, with grounds landscaped by Capability Brown. The house is a Grade I listed building, one of nine Leeds Museums and Galleries sites and ...

ward of Leeds City Council.

History

The earliest mention of Knostrop is from the time of the

Domesday survey 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 ...

when the hamlet was an area of open fields and the location of the

lord of the manor Lord of the manor is a title that, in Anglo-Saxon England and Norman England, referred to the landholder of a historical rural estate. The titles date to the English Feudalism, feudal (specifically English feudal barony, baronial) system. The ...

's rabbit warren. In the 13th and 14th centuries the land was cultivated using the

three-field system The three-field system is a regime of crop rotation in which a field is planted with one set of crops one year, a different set in the second year, and left fallow in the third year. A set of crops is ''rotated'' from one field to another. The tech ...

, growing wheat or rye, oats and barley. In 1341, the fields were cultivated by about 30 tenants, some were freeholders but the majority were

villeins A villein is a class of serf tied to the land under the feudal system. As part of the contract with the lord of the manor, they were expected to spend some of their time working on the lord's fields in return for land. Villeins existed under a ...

or bondsmen. One bondsman was Robert Knostrop who paid 4 shillings and 9 pence in annual rent for his 55 acres of land and along with his fellow bondsmen, was obliged to spend several days ploughing and sowing, make hay and reap the corn for the lord of the manor.

Knostrop Old Hall

Knostrop Hall was built in the 17th century by

Adam Baynes Adam Baynes (''bapt''. 1622; died 1671) was a Parliamentarian army officer and MP for Leeds during the Commonwealth, and as such the first MP for the city. He was later also MP for Appleby. He enjoyed the patronage of John Lambert, who he ser ...

, Member of Parliament for Leeds during the

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the 15th century. Originally a phrase (the common-wealth ...

, whose family had lived in the district since the mid 16th century.

lived at the hall in the 1870s, and it was demolished in 1960. The area is now occupied by industrial estates.

Leeds flood alleviation scheme

In October 2017 at Crown Point, Leeds city centre and Knostrop, two movable weirs were installed on the River Aire, the first of their kind in the UK. Reducing the height of the weir, by deflating a 'bladder' has the potential to reduce flood levels by up to upstream of the weir. The Knostrop weir was operated during the

2019 England floods Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number) * One of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (1987 film), a 1987 science fiction film * '' 19-Nineteen'', a 2009 South Korean film * '' Dici ...

. A stretch of land known as Knostrop Cut Island was removed allowing the river and canal to merge creating additional flood water capacity.

References

Notes Bibliography *

External links

* City of Leeds {{WestYorkshire-geo-stub