Normanton, West Riding of Yorkshire
Historical Description
Normanton, a village, a township, and a parish in the W.R. Yorkshire. The village stands adjacent to a junction of the M.R., the N.E.R., and the L. & Y.R., 3 miles ENE of Wakefield, and has a head post office and an important railway station. The township comprises 1227 acres; population, 10,234; of the ecclesiastical parish, which comprises Newland-with-Woodhouse Moor, 11,746. It is governed by an urban district council, and is divided into three wards with four members each. The parish contains also the townships of Altofts and Snydale. Altofts was formed into a separate ecclesiastical parish in 1878. Newland Hall, standing on elevated ground overlooking the Calder, occupies the site of a preceptory of The Knights of St John. An ancient camp with a fosse was at Normanton village, and part of the fosse is still traceable. An artificial mound, supposed to have been a barrow, is on the E side of the village. There are numerous collieries, a stone quarry, and a chemical manufactory. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of York; net value, £625 with residence. Patron, Trinity College, Cambridge. The church is in a mixed style, chiefly Pointed; consists of nave, aisles, and chancel, with a chapel, a S porch, and pinnacled tower; and contains a very old register chest and several monuments. There are Baptist, Congregational, Free and Primitive Methodist, Wesleyan, and Roman Catholic chapels, a cemetery, a police station, and some small charities. Assembly rooms were erected in 1888, and are used for concerts, lectures, &c.
Normanton Parliamentary Division of the W.R. Yorkshire was formed under the Redistribution of Seats Act of 1885, and returns one member to the House of Commons. Population, 72,012. The division includes the following:- Agbrigg (Lower, part of)-Ackton, Altofts, Alvarthorpe-with-Thornes (part of), Bretton (West), Chevet, Crigglestone, Crofton, Ernley, Flockton (Over and Nether), Horbury, Methley, Newland-with-Woodhouse Moor, Normanton, Oulton-cum-Woodlesford, Rothwell, Sandal (Magna), Sharlstone, Shitlington, Snydal, Stanley-cum-Wrenthorpe (part of), Walton, Warmfield-cum-Heath, Whitwood; Wakefield, municipal borough.
Land and Property
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for the West Riding of Yorkshire is available to browse.
Maps
Online maps of Normanton are available from a number of sites:
- Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- Google Streetview.
- National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
- OpenStreetMap.
- old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
- Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)
Newspapers and Periodicals
The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following West Riding newspapers online: