Ackworth, West Yorkshire

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ackworth is a village in the metropolitan borough of Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England, situated between Pontefract, Barnsley and Doncaster on the small River Went. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 6,493.

Settled in around 500 by Saxon settlers after the Romans left Britain, the village was named after the area was cleared of vast numbers of Oak trees to form an enclosure. The placename element "ack" derives from oak and the element "worth" from an enclosure.

In 1086, William the Conqueror had compiled a detailed survey of his new kingdom. It is in this survey that Ackworth is mentioned for the first time.

The village consists of four parts:

High Ackworth (leads to Featherstone and Pontefract)
Low Ackworth (with access to both Pontefract and East Hardwick)
Ackworth Moortop (the largest part with roads to Hemsworth and Doncaster as well as the other parts of Ackworth).
Brackenhill (to the West of Moortop, which leads to Wakefield)

The first Christian church was erected in Ackworth between 750-800. A local tradition claims that the monks of Lindisfarne brought the body of Saint Cuthbert with them to Ackworth as they fled the depredations of Danish Vikings. The church of St Cuthbert's is in High Ackworth. Parish register records go back to 1558. All Saints' church is in Moortop.

Ackworth is home to Ackworth School, one of the older schools in Britain. A Quaker-run boarding and day school for ages five to eighteen, it was founded in 1779. Ackworth Howard (CE)School is one of three primary schools, situated in Low Ackworth, the others being the Bell Lane and Mill Dam Schools in Moortop.

There are a number of pubs in the village.