A Bridge too Far: Travellers on the A639 to Leeds cannot have missed the metal track laid parallel to the railway line at ground level (Feb 2009). It would appear that Railtrack, or is … Continue Reading →
Road Transport
Savile Transport operated out of the yard subsequently used by Morrison Contractors and now private housing where the old police station was sited. The business went bankrupt in about 1967 … Continue Reading →
The Dog and Duck
It had been raining heavy both locally and in the Dales, the ground was waterlogged and the River Aire was in full spate. Oscar the springer spaniel was in his … Continue Reading →
Methley Lido
I suppose the people of Methley have used Fleet Beck for all manner of reasons over the years. Its not difficult to remember the wartime trips with the whole … Continue Reading →
White Water – Lemonroyd
Sunday 9th January, 2005 – It was a fine day for walking and there were many, like ourselves promenading round the canal paths on the river Aire. Approaching the … Continue Reading →
Fleet Beck – The Scene of the Crime
The background to the following mystery was made by Peter Thorpe of Leeds whilst researching his family history. Peter had earlier had a letter published in the Yorkshire Evening … Continue Reading →
Pontefract & Castleford Express 1948 Extracts
Cricket Fixtures 1948 Townville, Whitwood, Glass Houghton, Thackley, Allerton Bywater, English Electric Sports, Swillington, Altofts, Siddall, Pontefract, and Featherstone – all Home and Away. Leeds Zingari – Home only. March … Continue Reading →
Mystery of the Missing Curate
Distressing Occurrence 1843 That’s how the Leeds Intelligencer reported the death of the Rev Thomas Dawson Lumb, Curate of Methley after his body had been recovered from the River Aire … Continue Reading →
Victorian Methley – Fatal Cholera Infection
The unfortunate William Ramskill lost his life after contracting cholera whilst lifting manure from a tip in Leeds and spreading the material on farmland in Methley. His poor wife Hannah … Continue Reading →
Commons and Enclosure – Methley Land Survey 1773
As with all villages, common land in the Manor of Methley was sub divided into strips probably based on the mediaeval ‘Three Field System’ of farming (1 year corn crop, … Continue Reading →
The Manor Book
The Manor Court Book 1759 to 1804 is, I suspect one of a number of similar books of the Manor, they would have been the successors to the Manorial Rolls … Continue Reading →