Middlestown is a small village in the

Wakefield District Wakefield, also known as the City of Wakefield, is a local government district with city status and a metropolitan district in West Yorkshire, England. Wakefield, the largest settlement, is the administrative centre of the district. The populat ...

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 ...

. The village is in the

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 ...

of Sitlington and located halfway between the city of

Wakefield Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 109,766 in the 2021 census, up from 99,251 in the 2011 census. The city is the administrative centre of the wider Metropolit ...

and the town of

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confl ...

, and is south east of

Dewsbury Dewsbury is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It lies on the River Calder, West Yorkshire, River Calder and on an arm of the Calder and Hebble Navigation waterway. It is to the west of Wakefield, ...

History

The villages of Middlestown, Netherton, Overton and Midgley are built around and overlook the Coxley Valley. Whilst the village is not 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 ...

, the place-name is recorded as far back as 1322 as ''Middles(c)hitelington''. This was originally ''Middle Shitlington'', the Middle part of that parish, which was renamed to Sitlington in 1929, to avoid the rude inference of the word ''Shit''. The Middlestown built-up area contains two

Nature Reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, funga, or features of geologic ...

s, managed by

Yorkshire Wildlife Trust Yorkshire Wildlife Trust is a charitable non-governmental organisation, one of the UK's 46 county-based Wildlife Trusts. Its focus is nature conservation and it works to achieve a nature-rich Yorkshire with healthy and resilient ecosystems ...

, and is also home to the

National Coal Mining Museum for England National Coal Mining Museum for England is based at the site of Caphouse Colliery in Overton, Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England. It opened in 1988 as the Yorkshire Mining Museum and was granted national status in 1995. History Caphouse Coll ...

in neighbouring Overton. The population of the built-up area at the 2011 census was 2,366. 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 ...

is within from the village. The

A642 road The A642 is an A-road in West Yorkshire, England which runs from Huddersfield to the A64 near Leeds. It partly follows the route of a historic turnpike road, which is evidenced by surviving toll houses. The road begins at Waterloo east ...

between Huddersfield and Wakefield passes through the village, it was built in the 1830s as a turnpike.

References

Sources

External links

Community Website
{{authority control Villages in West Yorkshire

History

See also

References

Sources

External links