West Ardsley

West Ardsley is commonly used to refer to an area on the south-west edge of the City of Leeds metropolitan borough, possessing a WF postcode in the WF3 (Wakefield) postcode area while the village telephone numbers are "0113", the Leeds prefix. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it roughly approximates to an amalgamation of Tingley, Woodkirk, Hill Top, Upper Green, Common Side, Beggarington Hill and a number of other hamlets. The parish church is at Woodkirk. Being in the middle of several towns, West Ardsley has become a dormitory settlement.

West Ardsley Methodist Church

Etymology

The name Ardsley is first attested in the Domesday Book as Erdeslau and Eadeslauue, apparently with reference to what is now East Ardsley. The first time the name is used with reference to West Ardsley seems to be in the period 1138–47, in the form Erdislaw.[1]

The first element of the name comes from the Old English personal name Eard, a nickname form of longer names like Eardwulf, in the genitive form Eardes ('Eard's'). The second element comes from Old English hlǣw ('hill, mound'). Thus the name once meant 'Eard's hill' or 'Eard's mound'. The name first appears with the element west in 1400, in the forms Westardeslawe and Westardeslowe.[1]

In Arthur Mee's The King's England series, he wrote that Woodkirk was "sometimes called 'West Ardsley'." This was incorrect, yet Woodkirk was the centre of the parish, as it had the church.

Location and boundaries

West Ardsley appears on ordnance survey 1:50,000 map sheet 104. However, the nearby settlement of East Ardsley (or Ardsley East) is in larger print. In truth, although there are many roadsigns pointing to "West Ardsley" and some clubs and local organisations refer to it in their name, there is no one single, self-contained area with the name. The hamlets of Tingley, Hill Top, Upper Green and Common Side have merged through urban sprawl whilst Woodkirk remains isolated. The post office took the decision to classify all addresses in the former area as "Tingley, Wakefield" whilst Woodkirk remains separate and comes under Dewsbury's address.

West Ardsley was part of the Ardsley Urban district 1894–1937, which also included Tingley and East Ardsley and was then part of Morley Municipal borough 1937–1974. The village once formed part of the former Municipal Borough of Morley, and is still classed as part of Morley in the census. However, it is technically separate, and is not governed by Morley Town Council.

The area sits in the Ardsley and Robin Hood ward of Leeds City Council – which elects three city councillors – and the Morley and Outwood parliamentary constituency.

There is a historic parish of West Ardsley, whose parish boundaries all fall within the "Ardsley and Robin Hood" ward.

Horse fair

West Ardsley is also the home of the annual Lee Gap fair – a horse fair originally chartered by King Stephen in 1139 (citation) – which makes it reputedly England's oldest horse fair. The fair used to stretch over two weeks, but as the horse trade has diminished now takes place only on the first and last days of that fortnight – known as "first o'lee" and "latter lee". Today, the main attendees are Gypsies and Travellers.

References
  1. Harry Parkin, Your City's Place-Names: Leeds, English Place-Name Society City-Names Series, 3 (Nottingham: English Place-Names Society, 2017), pp. 16–17.
  • "The Ancient Parish of Woodkirk". GENUKI. Retrieved 29 October 2007. West Ardsley was in this parish
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