Austhorpe is a

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

and residential suburb of east

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 England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. It is to the east of

city centre A city centre, also known as an urban core, is the Commerce, commercial, Culture, cultural and often the historical, Politics, political, and geographic heart of a city. The term "city centre" is primarily used in British English, and closely e ...

and close to the A6120 dual carriageway (

Leeds Outer Ring Road The Leeds Outer Ring Road is a main road that runs around most of the perimeter of the city of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The ring road is approximately 29 miles (45 km) and consists of single and dual carriageways. The road is not a lo ...

) and the

M1 motorway The M1 motorway connects London to Leeds, where it joins the A1(M) motorway, A1(M) near Aberford, to connect to Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle. It was the first inter-urban motorway to be completed in the UK; the first motorway in the count ...

Location

The area is situated between Pendas Fields to the north,

Cross Gates Cross Gates (often spelled Crossgates) is a suburb in east Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The area sits between Seacroft and Swarcliffe to the north, Whitkirk and Colton to the south, Killingbeck to the west and Austhorpe to the sout ...

to the north west,

Whitkirk Whitkirk is a suburb of east Leeds, England. It is situated between Cross Gates to the north, Austhorpe to the east, Killingbeck to the west, Colton to the south-east and Halton to the south-west. The Temple Newsam estate lies directly sou ...

to the west, Colton to the south and

Garforth Garforth () is a town in the metropolitan borough of the City of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It sits in the Garforth and Swillington ward of Leeds City Council and the Leeds East parliamentary constituency. As of 2011, the population ...

to the east. Officially judging by the old boundaries of the former Austhorpe township, Austhorpe also includes the areas of Cross Gates, Colton Common and Barrowby. Colton Common became officially part of Colton when the Ingram family of Temple Newsam kept it for their own after buying and then selling the rest of the Austhorpe Lodge estate. It crosses both of the Cross Gates and Whinmoor (including

Austhorpe Hall Austhorpe Hall is a house built in 1694 at Austhorpe, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is a grade II* listed building. The house is of red brick with contrasting stone quoins, seven bays and three storeys, with a triangular pediment over t ...

) and Temple Newsam wards of

Leeds City Council Leeds City Council is the local authority of the City of Leeds in West Yorkshire, England. Leeds has had a council since 1626, which has been reformed on numerous occasions. Since 1974 it has been a metropolitan borough council. It provides the ...

. The current east half of the

of Austhorpe and large Thorpe Park business park lie in the western tip of Garforth and Swillington ward. Austhorpe Parish Council declared nil balance accounts for the financial year ended 31 March 2017. Austhorpe lies in the LS15 postcode area. At the 2011 Census, the population of Austhorpe was shown to be included in Cross Gates and Whinmoor ward.

Etymology

The name ''Austhorpe'' is first attested in the

Domesday Book 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 ...

in the form ''Ossetorp''. Like a significant number of Yorkshire place-names, the name comes from

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

. The first element is from Old Norse ''austr'' ('east') and the second from Old Norse ''þorp'' ('outlying farmstead, secondary settlement'), an element found widely in the area (in names such as Osmandthorpe and Thorp Arch).Harry Parkin, ''Your City's Place-Names: Leeds'', English Place-Name Society City-Names Series, 3 (Nottingham: English Place-Names Society, 2017). Meanwhile, the place-name ''Barrowby'', found within the township of Austhorpe, is first attested in 1236, in the form ''Bergeby''. The name comes from Old Norse ''berg'' ('hill') and ''bý'' ('farmstead, village').

History

After the Township dissolved, Austhorpe stopped developing as quickly as it was doing, possibly due to the once abundant coal fields close to the surface which had been a major source of commerce for the area since Roman times becoming empty with deep shaft mining proving to be unsuccessful compared to the close by coal source at Garforth. Whereas Cross Gates and Colton quickly developed, Barrowby, if anything, did not develop. Pioneering Civil Engineer

John Smeaton John Smeaton (8 June 1724 – 28 October 1792) was an English civil engineer responsible for the design of bridges, canals, harbours and lighthouses. He was also a capable mechanical engineer and an eminent scholar, who introduced various ...

, designer of the longest standing

Eddystone Lighthouse The Eddystone Lighthouse is a lighthouse on the Eddystone Rocks, south of Rame Head in Cornwall, England. The rocks are submerged below the surface of the sea and are composed of Precambrian gneiss. View at 1:50000 scale The current structu ...

, was born in Austhorpe. Leeds band the

Kaiser Chiefs Kaiser Chiefs are an English indie rock band from Leeds who originally formed in 1996 as Runston Parva, before reforming as Parva in 2000, and releasing one studio album, ''22'', in 2003, before renaming and establishing themselves in their cur ...

make a positive reference to him in their hit song ''"

I Predict a Riot "I Predict a Riot" is a song by English indie rock band Kaiser Chiefs, appearing on their debut album, ''Employment'' (2005). It was originally released as their second single on 1 November 2004 and was the band's first release on the B-Unique ...

".''

is a grade II* listed building dated from 1694.

Location grid

References

External links