Ledsham is a village 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 ...

north of

Castleford Castleford is a town within the City of Wakefield district, West Yorkshire, England. It had a population of 45,106 at a 2021 population estimate. Historic counties of England, Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, to the north of the t ...

and east 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 ...

in the county of

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. The village is 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 ...

metropolitan borough A metropolitan borough (or metropolitan district) is a type of districts of England, local government district in England. Created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972, metropolitan boroughs are defined in English law as metropolitan distr ...

and near to the

A1(M) motorway A1(M) is the designation given to a series of four separate controlled-access highway, motorway sections in the UK. Each section is an upgrade to a section of the A1 road (Great Britain), A1, a major north–south road which connects Greater ...

. It had a population of 162 at the 2001 Census, increasing to 181 at the 2011 Census.

History

Ledsham is mentioned 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 ''Ledesha'', as belonging to Ilbert of Lacy and having six villagers, three ploughlands, and of meadow. However, it was recorded in a charter from 1030 as ''Ledesham''. Like nearby

Ledston Ledston (historically also spelt Ledstone) is a village in the Leeds metropolitan borough, in the county of West Yorkshire, England. It is north of Castleford and east of Leeds. The parish had a population of 400 in 2001, which decreased sl ...

, the name seems to refer to Leeds (or the Old English precursor of this name, ''Loidis'', which denoted a region rather than a town); the second element is the

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

word ''hām'' ('homestead, farm'). The name thus meant 'the farm belonging to the region of Loidis'. Ledsham was an ancient parish in the

wapentake A hundred is an administrative division that is geographically part of a larger region. It was formerly used in England, Wales, some parts of the United States, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway, and in Cumberland County in the British Colony of ...

Barkston Ash Barkston Ash is a small village and civil parish close to Selby in North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in Northern England.The Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority areas of C ...

in 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 ...

. The parish included the

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 ...

s of Fairburn and

, which became separate civil parishes in 1866.

Geography

To the east is Selby Fork junction, which is also partly in

South Milford South Milford is a village and civil parish in the county of North Yorkshire, England. The civil parish includes the hamlet of Lumby, located south-west of the main village. The village was historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire un ...

, in North Yorkshire, but previously in the West Riding; in the early 1960s, the

M62 motorway The M62 is a west–east Pennines, trans-Pennine motorway in Northern England, connecting Liverpool and Kingston upon Hull, Hull via Manchester, Bradford, Leeds and Wakefield; of the route Concurrency (road), is shared with the M60 motorway, ...

was planned to have its eastern terminus at Ledsham, possibly at the Selby Fork junction.

Characteristics

There is a late seventh-century

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

(the oldest church and the oldest building standing in West Yorkshire), and nearby Ledston Hall. The village school, like schools in Collingham and Thorp Arch, was named after

Lady Elizabeth Hastings Lady Elizabeth Hastings (19 April 1682 – 21 December 1739), also known as Lady Betty, was an English philanthropist, religious devotee and supporter of women's education. She was an intelligent and energetic woman, with a wide circle of conn ...

. The school is now located in the nearby village of

, which was rated as ''good'' by OFSTED in 2018. Ledsham has a cricket team, which currently plays in the

York York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...

league.

Governance

Since 1974 Ledsham has been a part of the metropolitan borough of the City of Leeds, in the county of West Yorkshire. It is its own civil parish, and is in the Kippax and Methley ward for local affairs, and is in the Elmet and Rothwell Constituency for national level politics.

References

External links