Loading AI tools
Village in West Yorkshire, England From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gawthorpe is a village to the north of Ossett, in the Wakefield district, in the county of West Yorkshire, England. It is roughly midway between Wakefield and Dewsbury north of the A638.
Gawthorpe | |
---|---|
![]() Gawthorpe Water Tower | |
Location within West Yorkshire | |
Metropolitan borough | |
Metropolitan county | |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
The village's name derives from Gorky, a Viking name, and thorpe was a settlement, but evidence suggests the village may have Roman origins.[1] It gives its name to the Gawthorpe seam of coal, which stretches from the village down through Horbury and Crigglestone.[2]
Gawthorpe's Mayday celebrations date back to at least 1875 when a seventy-foot fir tree was bought and erected by public subscription on the village green. The maypole was last replaced in 1986.[1]
Gawthorpe Water Tower is a concrete structure built between 1922 and 1928 to store drinking water for the Ossett area.[3] The 55m tall tower is a prominent local landmark of the Ossett and Gawthorpe area.[3][4] Since around 2006 it was no longer used for storing water, but has been used to hold communications equipment.[5] The tower received Grade II listed building status in 2020 following a campaign by residents.[4][5]
Since 1963 Gawthorpe has hosted the World Coal Carrying Championships on Easter Monday.[6] Entrants run 1,012 metres from the Royal Oak in Ossett to the Maypole Green, while carrying a sack of coal weighing 50 kilograms (110 lb) for men or 20 kilograms (44 lb) for women.[6][7] The Championships were originally run from the Shaw Cross colliery to the May Pole, although the collieries in this area all closed in the Robens era.[citation needed]
Gawthorpe gained national attention when an escaped peacock caused havoc within the local community, featuring on BBC Look North and BBC Radio 5 live news. The peacock continues to be at large around the village as of 16/6/2024
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.