Knowsthorpe, Knostrop or Knostropp is an area of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, on the River Aire. [1] The spelling "Knostrop" is predominantly used for the large water treatment works in the area. Atkinson Grimshaw painted Knostrop Cut, Leeds, Sunday Night, 1893. The area falls within Temple Newsam ward of Leeds City Council.
The earliest mention of Knostrop is from the time of the Domesday survey when the hamlet was an area of open fields and the location of the lord of the manor's rabbit warren. [2] In the 13th and 14th centuries the land was cultivated using the three-field system, growing wheat or rye, oats and barley. In 1341, the fields were cultivated by about 30 tenants, some were freeholders but the majority were villeins or bondsmen. One bondsman was Robert Knostrop who paid 4 shillings and 9 pence in annual rent for his 55 acres of land and along with his fellow bondsmen, was obliged to spend several days ploughing and sowing, make hay and reap the corn for the lord of the manor. [3]
Knostrop Hall was built in the 17th century by Adam Baynes, Member of Parliament for Leeds during the Commonwealth, whose family had lived in the district since the mid 16th century. [4] Atkinson Grimshaw lived at the hall in the 1870s, and it was demolished in 1960. The area is now occupied by industrial estates. [5]
In October 2017 at Crown Point, Leeds city centre and Knostrop, two movable weirs were installed on the River Aire, the first of their kind in the UK. Reducing the height of the weir, by deflating a 'bladder' has the potential to reduce flood levels by up to 3-foot-3-inch (1 m) upstream of the weir. The Knostrop weir was operated during the 2019 England floods. A 2,000-foot (600 m) stretch of land known as Knostrop Cut Island was removed allowing the river and canal to merge creating additional flood water capacity. [6]
The River Aire is a major river in Yorkshire, England, 148 kilometres (92 mi) in length. The Handbook for Leeds and Airedale (1890) notes that the distance from Malham to Howden is 58 miles (93 km) direct, but the river's meanderings extend that to 90 miles (140 km). Between Malham Tarn and Airmyn, the river drops 400 metres (1,300 ft). Part of the river below Leeds is canalised, and is known as the Aire and Calder Navigation.
The Aire and Calder Navigation is the canalised section of the Rivers Aire and Calder in West Yorkshire, England. The first improvements to the rivers above Knottingley were completed in 1704 when the Aire was made navigable to Leeds and the Calder to Wakefield, by the construction of 16 locks. Lock sizes were increased several times, as was the depth of water, to enable larger boats to use the system. The Aire below Haddlesey was bypassed by the opening of the Selby Canal in 1778. A canal from Knottingley to the new docks and new town at Goole provided a much shorter route to the River Ouse from 1826. The New Junction Canal was constructed in 1905, to link the system to the River Don Navigation, by then part of the Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation.
Shipley is a historic market town and civil parish in the City of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, by the River Aire and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, north of Bradford. The population of the Shipley ward on Bradford City Council taken at the 2011 Census was 15,483.
Airedale is a geographic area in Yorkshire, England, corresponding to the river valley or dale of the River Aire.
Hunslet is an inner-city area in south Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is 1 mile (1.6 km) southeast of the city centre and has an industrial past.
Cookridge is a suburb of north-west Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, north of the Leeds Outer Ring Road. In 1715 Ralph Thoresby described it as a village four miles from Leeds and three from Otley, dating from 1540.
Middleton is a largely residential suburb of Leeds in West Yorkshire, England and historically a village in the West Riding of Yorkshire. It is situated on a hill 4 miles (6 km) south of Leeds city centre and 165 miles (266 km) north north-west of London.
Meanwood is a suburb and former village in north-east Leeds, West Yorkshire, England.
Kildwick, or Kildwick-in-Craven, is a village and civil parish of the district of Craven in North Yorkshire, England. It is situated between Skipton and Keighley and had a population of 191 in 2001, rising slightly to 194 at the 2011 census. Kildwick is a landmark as where the major road from Keighley to Skipton crosses the River Aire. The village's amenities include a primary school, church and public house.
John Atkinson Grimshaw was an English Victorian-era artist best known for his nocturnal scenes of urban landscapes. Today, he is considered one of the great painters of the Victorian era, as well as one of the best and most accomplished nightscape and townscape artists of all time. He was called a "remarkable and imaginative painter" by the critic and historian Christopher Wood in Victorian Painting (1999).
Briggate is a pedestrianised principal shopping street in Leeds city centre, England. Historically it was the main street, leading north from Leeds Bridge, and housed markets, merchant's houses and other business premises. It contains many historic buildings, including the oldest in the city, and others from the 19th and early-20th century, including two theatres. It is noted for the yards between some older buildings with alleyways giving access and Victorian shopping arcades, which were restored in late 20th century. The street was pedestrianised in the early-21st century.
The Meanwood Beck is a stream in West Yorkshire, England, which flows southwards through Adel, Meanwood and Sheepscar into the River Aire in central Leeds. Different portions of the same watercourse have been referred to as Adel Beck, Carr Beck, Lady Beck, Mabgate Beck, Sheepscar Beck, Timble Beck or Wortley Beck. The Meanwood Valley Trail footpath follows the line of the beck for much of its course.
Loidis, from which Leeds derives its name, was anciently a forested area of the Celtic kingdom of Elmet. The settlement certainly existed at the time of the Norman conquest of England and in 1086 was a thriving manor under the overlordship of Ilbert de Lacy. It gained its first charter from Maurice de Gant in 1207 yet only grew slowly throughout the medieval and Tudor periods. The town had become part of the Duchy of Lancaster and reverted to the crown in the medieval period, so was a Royalist stronghold at the start of the English Civil War.
Killingbeck is a district of east Leeds, West Yorkshire, England that is situated between Seacroft to the north, Cross Gates and Whitkirk to the east, Gipton to the west, Halton Moor to the south, Halton to the south east and Osmondthorpe to the south west.
Potternewton is a suburb and parish between Chapeltown and Chapel Allerton in north-east Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is in the Chapel Allerton ward of Leeds City Council.
Mabgate is an inner city area of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England and the name of one of its streets. In Leeds City Council's Mabgate Development Framework (2007), "the area is bounded to the west by North Street; to the east by Macaulay Street; to the north by Mushroom Street and to the south by the New York Road". Mabgate, the street, continues for a short distance on the south side of New York Road. The area is in the Burmantofts and Richmond Hill ward of Leeds City Council. The area to the west of Regent Street is within the city centre boundary.
The Calls is an area and street by the River Aire in Leeds city centre, West Yorkshire, England. This district falls within the City and Hunslet ward of the City of Leeds Council. Formerly an area of industry in Leeds, it has now been regenerated with a mixture of uses: primarily offices, residential and leisure.
The City of Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. The metropolitan borough includes the administrative centre of Leeds and the towns of Farsley, Garforth, Guiseley, Horsforth, Morley, Otley, Pudsey, Rothwell, Wetherby and Yeadon. It has a population of 793,139 (mid-2019 est.), making it technically the second largest city in England by population behind Birmingham. It is governed by Leeds City Council.
Kirkstall Road Viaduct is a Grade II listed railway viaduct carrying the Harrogate line over the A65 Kirkstall Road, the River Aire, and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal in Burley, Leeds, West Yorkshire. It was built in 1849 by the engineer Thomas Grainger for the Leeds and Thirsk Railway. The viaduct, which is approximately 440 m (0.27 mi), is a significant local landmark due to the wide, shallow nature of the valley it crosses.
Wyke Beck is a stream that runs from Roundhay Park to the River Aire in east Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. Described as an Urban Beck, the stream flows through housing estates and then an industrial landscape in its lower reaches. Wyke Beck has been prone to flooding so often, that remediation of its course and flood storage schemes have been initiated by Leeds City Council.
Notes
Bibliography
Coordinates: 53°47′02″N1°31′19″W / 53.784°N 01.522°W
 | Wikimedia Commons has media related to Knowsthorpe . |
 | This West Yorkshire location article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |