Horsforth is a town and

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 ...

in the

City of Leeds Leeds, also known as the City of Leeds, is a metropolitan borough with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in West Yorkshire, England. The metropolitan borough includes the administrative centre of Leeds and the towns of Farsley, Gar ...

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, five miles north-west of Leeds city centre. Historically a village within the

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire was one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the riding was an administrative county named County of York, West Riding. The Lord Lieutenant of the West Riding of Yorkshire, lieu ...

, it had a population of 18,895 at the 2011 Census. It became part of the City of Leeds metropolitan borough in 1974. In 1999, a civil parish was created for the area, and the parish council voted to rename itself a

town council A town council, city council or municipal council is a form of local government for small municipalities. Usage of the term varies under different jurisdictions. Republic of Ireland In 2002, 49 urban district councils and 26 town commissi ...

. The area is within the

Horsforth Horsforth is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the City of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, five miles north-west of Leeds city centre. Historically a village within the West Riding of Yorkshire, it had a population of 18,895 ...

ward Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...

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 ...

, which also includes the southern part of Rawdon.

History

Horsforth was recorded 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 ...

'' of 1086 as ''Horseford'', ''Horseforde'', ''Hoseforde''; but late-ninth-century coins with the legend ''ORSNA FORD'' and ''OHSNA FORD'' may have come from Horsforth. The name derives from Old English ''hors'' or, to judge from the coins, *''horsa'' ('horse') in the genitive plural form ''horsa''/''horsna'' + ''ford'' ' ford', thus meaning 'horses' ford'. This refers to a river crossing 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 ...

(possibly at Newlay), that was subsequently used to transport woollen goods to and from

Pudsey Pudsey is a market town in the City of Leeds borough in West Yorkshire, England. It is located midway between Bradford city centre and Leeds city centre. Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, it has a population of 25,393. History T ...

, Shipley and

Bradford Bradford is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in West Yorkshire, England. It became a municipal borough in 1847, received a city charter in 1897 and, since the Local Government Act 1972, 1974 reform, the city status in the United Kingdo ...

. The original ford was situated off Calverley Lane, but was replaced by a stone footbridge at the turn of the 19th century. The three unnamed

Saxon The Saxons, sometimes called the Old Saxons or Continental Saxons, were a Germanic people of early medieval "Old" Saxony () which became a Carolingian " stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany. Many of their neighbours were, like th ...

thegns who held the land at the

Conquest Conquest involves the annexation or control of another entity's territory through war or Coercion (international relations), coercion. Historically, conquests occurred frequently in the international system, and there were limited normative or ...

gave way to the king who granted it to lesser Norman nobles, but not long after most of the village came under the control of

Kirkstall Abbey Kirkstall Abbey is a ruined Cistercian monastery in Kirkstall, north-west of Leeds city centre in West Yorkshire, England. It is set in a public park on the north bank of the River Aire. It was founded . It was disestablished during the Dissol ...

, a

Cistercian The Cistercians (), officially the Order of Cistercians (, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint Benedict, as well as the contri ...

house founded in 1152 on the bank of the River Aire downstream of Horsforth. After the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539, Horsforth was partitioned and sold to five families, one of them – the Stanhopes – achieved supremacy and controlled the village for the next 300 years. The estate record of the Stanhopes is regarded as one of the most extensive and important collections of its kind, complementing the extensive medieval record associated with Kirkstall Abbey. Until the mid 19th century, Horsforth was an agricultural community but it expanded rapidly with the growth of the nearby industrial centre of Leeds. A tannery business was founded at Woodside in about 1820 by the Watson family. It was on the eastern edge of their small farm, and memorialised by ''Tanhouse Hill Lane''. The business became a soap manufacturer and moved to Whitehall Road in Leeds in 1861 and under the chairmanship of Joseph Watson junior, created Baron Manton in 1922, as Joseph Watson & Sons Ltd, became the largest soap supplier to the northeast of England, second in size nationally only to

Lever Brothers Lever Brothers was a British manufacturing company founded in 1885 by two brothers: William Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme, William Hesketh Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme (1851–1925), and James Darcy Lever (1854–1916). They invested in and su ...

. Industrially, Horsforth has a history of producing high-quality stone from its quarries. Not only did it supply

with building materials and millstones in the medieval period, it provided the stone for Scarborough's seafront and sent sandstone from Golden Bank Quarry as far afield as

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

. Situated on Horsforth Beck (Oil Mill Beck) were mills serving the textile trade. Between 1861 and 1862, there was an outbreak of

typhoid Typhoid fever, also known simply as typhoid, is a disease caused by ''Salmonella enterica'' serotype Typhi bacteria, also called ''Salmonella'' Typhi. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often ther ...

. Horsforth was historically a

township A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...

in the parish of

Guiseley Guiseley ( ) is an area in the metropolitan borough of the City of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is situated south of Otley and Menston and is now a north-west ...

. It became a separate civil parish in 1866. In the late-19th century it achieved note as the village with the largest population in England. Railways, turnpike roads, tramways and the nearby canal made it a focus for almost all forms of public and commercial transport and it became a dormitory suburb of Leeds. The civil parish became Horsforth Urban District in 1894. The parish and urban district were abolished in 1974 and merged into the new

metropolitan district. In 1999 Horsforth became a civil parish and a parish council was created, which exercised its right to declare Horsforth a town. Horsforth Village Museum has collections and displays illustrating aspects of life set against the backdrop of the changing role of the village. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

the £241,000 required to build the

corvette A corvette is a small warship. It is traditionally the smallest class of vessel considered to be a proper (or " rated") warship. The warship class above the corvette is that of the frigate, while the class below was historically that of the sloo ...

HMS ''Aubrietia'' was raised entirely by the people of Horsforth. In 2000 the

US President The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed For ...

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...

acknowledged Horsforth's contribution to the war effort in a letter sent to MP Paul Truswell. The letter is in the museum. The Scout and Guide hut on New Road Side was requisitioned during the war as an emergency

mortuary A morgue or mortuary (in a hospital or elsewhere) is a place used for the storage of human corpses awaiting identification (ID), removal for autopsy, respectful burial, cremation or other methods of disposal. In modern times, corpses have cus ...

for the factories based around what is now

Leeds Bradford Airport Leeds Bradford Airport is located in Yeadon, West Yorkshire, Yeadon, in the City of Leeds, City of Leeds Metropolitan District in West Yorkshire, England, about northwest of Leeds city centre, and about northeast from Bradford city centre. ...

(Yeadon Aerodrome at the time), but it was never needed. The building was later used as a cafe, serving as a popular stop-off on the way out to Otley, Ilkley and the Dales, before being purchased by the scouts and guides. In October 2020 Horsforth was named the most musical village in Britain as it was revealed that 22 home-grown acts were in the running for the charts with their latest singles.

Transport

Rail

Horsforth railway station is on the Harrogate line between

Harrogate Harrogate ( ) is a spa town and civil parish in the North Yorkshire District, district and North Yorkshire, county of North Yorkshire, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, the town is a tourist de ...

and

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 ...

. The station is just outside the Horsforth parish boundary, on the Cookridge side of Moseley Beck. Kirkstall Forge railway station is located in

Kirkstall Kirkstall is a north-western suburb of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, on the eastern side of the River Aire. The area sits in the Kirkstall (ward), Kirkstall electoral ward, ward of Leeds City Council and Leeds Central and Headingley (UK Parl ...

near the boundary with Horsforth, around two miles from Horsforth station. It is on the Leeds to Bradford Line between Leeds City and Shipley and was opened on 19 June 2016, near the site of an earlier station with the same name. Newlay station, which was built by the Midland Railway, was renamed ''Newlay & Horsforth'' station in 1889. It was situated south of the

and was accessible from Horsforth on Pollard Lane which connects Horsforth to Bramley. The station on the Airedale line was renamed Newlay station in 1961. It closed on 22 March 1965, along with other stations on the Airedale line: Armley Canal Road,

, Calverley & Rodley and

Apperley Bridge Apperley Bridge is a village in the metropolitan borough of the City of Bradford, in West Yorkshire, England in the Idle and Thackley Ward. Apperley Bridge is north-east of Bradford on the boundary with the City of Leeds bounded in the east b ...

Bus

The town is served by several bus routes: * 23 (formerly 6) – Holt Park to

Leeds city centre Leeds city centre is the central business district of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is roughly bounded by the Leeds Inner Ring Road, Inner Ring Road to the north and the River Aire to the south and can be divided into several quarters. A ...

via Horsforth * 8 –

to Cross Gates via Horsforth * 9 –

Seacroft Seacroft is an outer-city suburb/township consisting mainly of council estate housing covering an extensive area of east Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It lies in the LS14 LS postcode area, Leeds postcode area, around east of Leeds city cen ...

to Holt Park via Rothwell Rodley and Pudsey evenings and Sundays * 19A – Yeadon to East Garforth via Horsforth, Cookridge, Headlingley, Burley, Leeds city centre & Halton * 27 (formerly 97) – Leeds city centre to Guiseley via

Headingley Headingley is a suburb of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, approximately two miles out of the city centre, to the north west along the A660 road. Headingley is the location of the Beckett Park campus of Leeds Beckett University and Headingley ...

, Horsforth & Yeadon * 31, 32 – Horsforth Town Circular * 33, 34 –

Otley Otley is a market town and civil parish at a bridging point on the River Wharfe, in the City of Leeds metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, the population was 13,668 at the 2011 c ...

via

, New Road Side,

Menston Menston is a village and civil parish in the City of Bradford in the county of West Yorkshire, England. Along with Burley in Wharfedale, most of Menston is within Wharfedale Ward in the metropolitan borough of Bradford. The remainder of Me ...

* 50, 50A – Horsforth (The Green) to

via Burley city centre & Harehills * A1 – Leeds to Otley via New Road Side,

Airport

The nearest airport is

, in neighbouring Yeadon approximately 2.6 miles away.

Education

Leeds Trinity University Leeds Trinity University is a public university in Horsforth, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. Originally established to provide qualified teachers to Catholic schools, it gradually expanded and now offers foundation, undergraduate, and postgr ...

, formerly Leeds Trinity University College, is an independent university after a period as an accredited college of the

University of Leeds The University of Leeds is a public research university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was established in 1874 as the Yorkshire College of Science. In 1884, it merged with the Leeds School of Medicine (established 1831) and was renamed Y ...

. The residential campus is located off Brownberrie Lane, Horsforth. The further education college

Leeds City College Leeds City College is the largest further education establishment in the City of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England with around 26,000 students, 2,300 staff, with an annual turnover of £78 million.

has a former site in Horsforth which was called the Horsforth Campus which has lain redundant since it closed in June 2017. Housing has now been built on the site. It was previously part of Park Lane College. The main

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

is Horsforth School. Horsforth's

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

sector

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

s are West End Lane Primary School, St Margaret's Primary School, Newlaithes Primary School, Westbrook Lane Primary School, Broadgate Lane Primary School, St Mary's Catholic Primary School and Featherbank Primary School. Featherbank School opened in 1911 as a primary school, replacing the Grove Day School. The school's infant department was moved to the Grove Methodist Church on Stanhope Drive in 1933, but in 1960 transferred to the Featherbank School annexe. In 1972 Featherbank juniors (7–11 years) were allocated places at the newly built Newlaithes Junior School, at which point Featherbank became purely an infants' school (4–7 years). In September 2011 Featherbank reverted to being a full primary school. There is a private primary school, The Froebelian School, providing independent preparatory education.

Architecture

Horsforth has a large percentage of sandstone buildings sourced from local quarries, more than any other part of Leeds. A draft design statement"Horsforth Design Statement"
, requires Pdf download. Retrieved 10 January 2012 was produced in 2010, which summarises much of the architectural and historical character.

Churches

The main churches in Horsforth are; *Lister Hill

Baptist Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...

Church *Cragg Hill Baptist Church *St Margaret's

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

*St James Woodside Church of England *Kingdom Hall of

Jehovah's Witnesses Jehovah's Witnesses is a Christian denomination that is an outgrowth of the Bible Student movement founded by Charles Taze Russell in the nineteenth century. The denomination is nontrinitarian, millenarian, and restorationist. Russell co-fou ...

*Central

Methodist Church Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

, Town Street * Grove Methodist Church *Woodside Methodist Church *Willow Green Christian Fellowship

Pentecostal Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a movement within the broader Evangelical wing of Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes direct personal experience of God in Christianity, God through Baptism with the Holy Spirit#Cl ...

*St Mary's

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

campus chapel *Comboni Missionaries, Brownberrie Lane *Emmanuel Baptist Church *Mosaic Church

Sports clubs and facilities

*AFC Horsforth; Based at The Old Ball *AFC Horsforth Junior Club; Trinity and All Saints College. *Yarnbury Rugby Club *Horsforth Saints FC *Horsforth St Margaret's AFC *Horsforth Cricket Club * Horsforth Hall Park Cricket Club *Horsforth Harriers running club *Horsforth Fellandale running club * Horsforth Golf Club *Old Ball Football Pitches (Home of Horsforth St Margaret's FC) *Cragg Hill Football Pitches (Home of Horsforth St Margaret's FC and AFC Horsforth Reserves) *The Rec football pitch (Home of Horsforth Ringway) *Horsforth School Astroturf (Owned by Horsforth School) *Horsforth School Football and Rugby Pitches (Owned by Horsforth School and Home of AFC Horsforth Firsts) *Horsforth Ladies Hockey Club *West Yorkshire Wolves Junior Rugby League Club *Horsforth Tennis Club *LS18 Rocks Music School

Nightlife

Given its size, Horsforth has a relatively high number of bars and

pub A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the late 17th century, to differentiate private ho ...

s of varying types from traditional pubs going back to the 17th century to more modern café bars and lounges. Horsforth Town Street has the highest concentration of these with several bars and pubs within a short distance of each other. Other popular night life areas include Station Road and New Road Side.

Notable people

*Although originally from London, in the 1970s the former leader of the Labour Party

Ed Miliband Edward Samuel Miliband (born 24 December 1969) is a British politician who has served as Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero since July 2024. He has been Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for D ...

attended Featherbank Primary School, and his brother

David Miliband David Wright Miliband (born 15 July 1965) is the president and chief executive officer (CEO) of the International Rescue Committee and a former British Labour Party politician. He was the Foreign Secretary from 2007 to 2010 and the Member o ...

attended Newlaithes Primary School, when their father

Ralph Miliband Ralph Miliband (born Adolphe Miliband; 7 January 1924 – 21 May 1994) was a British sociologist. He has been described as "one of the best known academic Marxists of his generation", in this manner being compared with E. P. Thompson, Eric Ho ...

was a professor at the

*The footballer James Milner who attended Horsforth School and used to play for Leeds United, Newcastle United, Aston Villa, Manchester City and Liverpool. He currently plays for Brighton and Hove Albion and was an English International Footballer. *The actors Matthew Lewis ( Neville Longbottom in the ''Harry Potter'' film series), Patric Knowles and

Frazer Hines Frazer Simpson Frederick Hines (born 22 September 1944) is an English actor. He began his career as a child actor and appeared in ''A King in New York'' (1957) with Charlie Chaplin. He later played Jamie McCrimmon in ''Doctor Who'', appearing i ...

*The keyboard player Nick Baines, from 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 ...

*The singer

Marc Almond Peter Mark Almond (born 9 July 1957) is an English singer-songwriter and musician. He is the lead vocalist of the synth-pop/ new wave duo Soft Cell. He has a distinctive soulful voice and androgynous image. He has had a diverse career as a ...

, who was educated at Featherbank Primary School * David Oxtoby, artist *Actor

Malcolm McDowell Malcolm McDowell (born Malcolm John Taylor; 13 June 1943) is an English actor. He first became known for portraying Mick Travis in Lindsay Anderson's ''if....'' (1968), a role he later reprised in ''O Lucky Man!'' (1973) and ''Britannia Hospital ...

, famous for his film roles including '' If....'', '' A Clockwork Orange'' and ''

O Lucky Man! ''O Lucky Man!'' is a 1973 British comedy-drama fantasy film directed by Lindsay Anderson and starring Malcolm McDowell as Mick Travis, whom McDowell had first played as a disaffected public schoolboy in his first film performance in Anderso ...

''. * Alistair and Jonny Brownlee (triathlon) *

Paralympic The Paralympic Games or Paralympics is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of disabilities. There are Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which since the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Kore ...

gold medallist David Stone *Olympic cycling bronze medallist Jonny Clay * Sean Conlon who was in the boyband Five, grew up in Horsforth and attended St Mary's RC Primary School. * BTCC racing driver Sam Tordoff * Kathryn Apanowicz (1960–2025), a British actress notable for appearing in ''

EastEnders ''EastEnders'' is a British television soap opera created by Julia Smith (producer), Julia Smith and Tony Holland which has been broadcast on BBC One since February 1985. Set in the fictional borough of Walford in the East End of London, the ...

''. * Stanley Metcalfe (1932–2017), first-class cricketer * Frank Kershaw (1879–1959), first-class cricketer * Belinda O'Hooley, folk musician, born in Horsforth * Nia Archives, DJ, record producer, singer and songwriter

Gallery

File:LCW Horsforth.jpg, Leeds Country Way close to Horsforth File:HorsforthMillennium.jpg, Horsforth Millennium Stone

References

External links

Horsforth Town council

Horsforth Today Online Newspaper

YEP Horsforth Today Community Website

Horsforth Community website
*
Lister Hill Baptist Church
{{authority control City of Leeds Towns in West Yorkshire Civil parishes in West Yorkshire