Hide

Normanton, Yorkshire, England. Geographical and Historical information from 1868.

hide
Hide
Hide

NORMANTON:
Geographical and Historical information from the year 1868.

"NORMANTON, a parish in the lower division of Agbrigg wapentake, West Riding county York, 5 miles N.E. of Wakefield, its post town, and 186 from London. It is a station on the North Midland railway, which here forms a conjunction with the Leeds, Manchester, and York railway. The parish, which is large, is situated on the W. side of the Calder river, and comprises the extra-parochial places of Altofts and Snydale, and the hamlet of Woodhouse. The village-which, since the completion of the several railway lines, has become a place of considerable importance -contains a good hotel, and an extensive iron foundry employing a large number of hands. There are traces of the moat which formerly surrounded Normanton, and at Altofts is a steep embankment carrying the railway over the Calder by a viaduct. Near the village is a barrow called Haw Hill. The soil is rich, and well adapted for the growth of wheat; the subsoil is gravel, bind, and coal. The impropriate tithes belong to the Master and Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge. The living is a vicarage* in the diocese of York, value £142, in the patronage of Trinity College, Cambridge. The church, dedicated to All Saints, is an ancient stone structure with a square tower rebuilt in 1717, and containing three bells. In the interior the church contains a painted E. window, an ancient register chest, several ancient brasses, and numerous monuments. The roof, clerestory, and two walls of the chancel are of recent construction. The parochial charities produce about £4 per annum. A Sunday-school is held at the church. There is a grammar school, founded about 1592 by John Freeston, in which ten of the pupils are educated free of expense, the master receiving an annuity of £20. About 1 mile W. of the village is Newland Hall, once occupied by the knights of St. John of Jerusalem. S. L. Fox, Esq., is lord of the manor."


"ALTOFTS, a township in the parish of Normanton, and lower division of the wapentake of Agbrigg, in the West Riding of the county of York, 3 miles to the N.E. of Wakefield. It lies on the river Calder and the North Midland railway, which is here carried across that river, and across the Aire and Calder canal."


"SNYDALE, a township in the parish of Normanton, lower division of Agbrigg wapentake, West Riding county York, 4 miles S.W. of Pontefract, its post town, and 1 mile E. of Normanton. The village, which is of small extent, is situated near the North Midland railway. Snydale Hall is the principal residence. There are a few small charities."


"WOODHOUSE, a hamlet in the parish of Normanton, West Riding county York, 3 miles from Wakefield, and 10½ from Leeds. The village is situated on the W. side of the river Calder, near a junction station of the Midland, North-Eastern and Lancashire, and Yorkshire railways."

[Transcribed from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland 1868]
by Colin Hinson ©2013