Yorkshire

Yorkshire was so named as it is the shire (administrative area or county) of the city of York, or York's Shire. "York" comes from the Viking name for the city, Jórvík. The word 'shire' is either from the Old Norse word skyr or from Old English scir meaning share, care, or official charge.^[13] The "shire" suffix is locally pronounced /-ʃə/ "shuh", or occasionally /-ʃiə/, a homophone of "sheer".^[14]

Discover more about Etymology related topics

Shire

Shire

Shire is a traditional term for an administrative division of land in Great Britain and some other English-speaking countries such as Australia. It is generally synonymous with county. It was first used in Wessex from the beginning of Anglo-Saxon settlement, and spread to most of the rest of England in the tenth century. In some rural parts of Australia, a shire is a local government area; however, in Australia it is not synonymous with a "county", which is a lands administrative division.

York

York

York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a minster, castle, and city walls. It is the largest settlement and the administrative centre of the wider City of York district.

Old Norse

Old Norse

Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlements and chronologically coincides with the Viking Age, the Christianization of Scandinavia and the consolidation of Scandinavian kingdoms from about the 7th to the 15th centuries.

Old English

Old English

Old English, or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th century, and the first Old English literary works date from the mid-7th century. After the Norman conquest of 1066, English was replaced, for a time, by Anglo-Norman as the language of the upper classes. This is regarded as marking the end of the Old English era, since during this period the English language was heavily influenced by Anglo-Norman, developing into a phase known now as Middle English in England and Early Scots in Scotland.

Ancient–500: Hen Ogledd

Early: Celtic Brigantes and Parisi

Early inhabitants of what is now Yorkshire were Hen Ogledd Brythonic Celts (old north British Celts), who formed separate tribes, the Brigantes (known to be in the north and west ridings of now Yorkshire) and the Parisi (East Riding). The Brigantes controlled territory that later became all of Northern England and more territory than most Celtic tribes on the island of Great Britain. Six of the nine Brigantian poleis described by Claudius Ptolemaeus in the Geographia fall within the historic county.^[15][16]

The Parisi, who controlled the area that would become the East Riding, might have been related to the Parisii of Lutetia Parisiorum, Gaul (known today as Paris, France).^[17] Their capital was at Petuaria, close to the Humber Estuary.

43–400s: Britannia Inferior

Statue of Constantine I outside York Minster.

Although the Roman conquest of Britain began in 43 AD, the Brigantes remained in control of their kingdom as a client state of Rome for an extended period, reigned over by the Brigantian monarchs Cartimandua and her husband Venutius. The capital was between the north and west ridings Isurium Brigantum (near Aldborough) civitas under Roman rule. Initially, this situation suited both the Romans and the Brigantes, who were known as the most militant tribe in Britain.^[18]

Queen Cartimandua left Venutius for his armour bearer, Vellocatus, setting off a chain of events that changed control of the region. Cartimandua's good relationship with the Romans enabled her to keep control of the kingdom; however, her former husband staged rebellions against her and her Roman allies.^[19] At the second attempt, Venutius seized the kingdom, but the Romans, under general Petillius Cerialis, conquered the Brigantes in 71 AD.^[20]

The fortified city of Eboracum (now York) was named as capital of Britannia Inferior and joint capital of all Roman Britain.^[21] The emperor Septimius Severus ruled the Roman Empire from Eboracum for the two years before his death.^[22]

Another emperor, Constantius Chlorus, died in Eboracum during a visit in 306 AD. Thereafter his son Constantine the Great, who became renowned for his acceptance of Christianity, was proclaimed emperor in the city.^[23] In the early 5th century, Roman rule ceased with the withdrawal of the last active Roman troops. By this stage, the Western Empire was in intermittent decline.^[22]

500s–1000s: Germanic landings

500s–800s: Celtic-Anglo kingdoms of Ebrauc, Elmet, Deira and Northumbria

After the Romans left, small Celtic kingdoms arose in the region, including the kingdoms of Deira to the east (domain of settlements near Malton on Derwent), Ebrauc (domain of York) around the north and Elmet to the west. The latter two were successors of land south-west and north-east of the former Brigantia capital.

Angles (hailing from southern Denmark and northern Germany, probably along with Swedish Geats^[24]) consolidated (merging Ebrauc) under Deira, with York as capital. This was in turn was grouped with Bernicia, another former Celtic-Brigantes kingdom that was north of the River Tees and had come to be headed by Bamburgh, to form Northumbria.^[25][26] Elmet had remained independent from the Germanic Angles until some time in the early 7th century, when King Edwin of Northumbria expelled its last king, Certic, and annexed the region to his Deira region. The Celts never went away, but were assimilated. This explains the existence of many Celtic placenames in Yorkshire today, such as Kingston upon Hull and Pen-y-ghent.^[27]

As well as the Angles and Geats, other settlers included Frisians (thought to have founded Fryston and Frizinghall^[28]), Danes, Franks and Huns.^[29]

At its greatest extent, Northumbria stretched from the Irish Sea to the North Sea and from Edinburgh down to Hallamshire in the south.^[30]

800s–900s: Jórvík

Scandinavian York (also referred to as Jórvík) or Danish/Norwegian York is a term used by historians for the south of Northumbria (modern-day Yorkshire) during the late 9th century and first half of the 10th century, when it was dominated by Norse warrior-kings; in particular, used to refer to York, the city controlled by these kings. Norse monarchy controlled varying amounts of Northumbria from 875 to 954, however the area was invaded and conquered for short periods by England between 927 and 954 before eventually being annexed into England in 954. It was closely associated with the much longer-lived Kingdom of Dublin throughout this period.

Coin from Eric Bloodaxe's reign

An army of Danish Vikings, the Great Heathen Army^[31] as its enemies often referred to it, invaded Northumbrian territory in 866 AD. The Danes conquered and assumed what is now York and renamed it Jórvík, making it the capital city of a new Danish kingdom under the same name. The area which this kingdom covered included most of Southern Northumbria, roughly equivalent to the borders of Yorkshire extending further West.^[32]

The Danes went on to conquer an even larger area of England that afterwards became known as the Danelaw; but whereas most of the Danelaw was still English land, albeit in submission to Viking overlords, it was in the Kingdom of Jórvík that the only truly Viking territory on mainland Britain was ever established. The Kingdom prospered, taking advantage of the vast trading network of the Viking nations, and established commercial ties with the British Isles, North-West Europe, the Mediterranean and the Middle East.^[33]

Founded by the Dane Halfdan Ragnarsson in 875,^[34] ruled for the great part by Danish kings, and populated by the families and subsequent descendants of Danish Vikings, the leadership of the kingdom nonetheless passed into Norwegian hands during its twilight years.^[34] Eric Bloodaxe, an ex-king of Norway who was the last independent Viking king of Jórvík, is a particularly noted figure in history,^[35] and his bloodthirsty approach towards leadership may have been at least partly responsible for convincing the Danish inhabitants of the region to accept English sovereignty so readily in the years that followed.

800s–1000s: Yorkshire

After around 100 years of its volatile existence, the Kingdom of Jorvik finally came to an end. The Kingdom of Wessex was now in its ascendancy and established its dominance over the North in general, placing Yorkshire again within Northumbria, which retained a certain amount of autonomy as an almost-independent earldom rather than a separate kingdom. The Wessex Kings of England were reputed to have respected the Norse customs in Yorkshire and left law-making in the hands of the local aristocracy.^[36]

1000s–1400s: Normans

1000s–1100s: Harrying of the north

The counties of England in 1086

In the weeks leading up to the Battle of Hastings in 1066 AD, Harold II of England was distracted by pushing back efforts to reinstate the kingdom of Jorvik and Danelaw. His brother Tostig and Harald Hardrada, King of Norway, having won the Battle of Fulford. The King of England marched north where the two armies met at the Battle of Stamford Bridge. Tostig and Hardrada were both killed and their army was defeated decisively.

Harold Godwinson was forced immediately to march his army south, where William the Conqueror was landing. The King was defeated in what is now known as the Battle of Hastings, which led to the Norman conquest of England.

The people of the North rebelled against the Normans in September 1069 AD, enlisting Sweyn II of Denmark. They tried to take back York, but the Normans burnt it before they could.^[37] What followed was the Harrying of the North ordered by William. From York to Durham, crops, domestic animals, and farming tools were scorched. Many villages between the towns were burnt and local northerners were indiscriminately murdered.^[38] During the winter that followed, families starved to death and thousands of peasants died of cold and hunger. Orderic Vitalis estimated that "more than 100,000" people from the North died from hunger.^[39]

York Minster, western elevation

In the centuries following, many abbeys and priories were built in Yorkshire. Norman landowners increased their revenues and established new towns such as Barnsley, Doncaster, Hull, Leeds, Scarborough and Sheffield, among others. Of towns founded before the conquest, only Bridlington, Pocklington, and York continued at a prominent level.^[40]

In the early 12th century, people of Yorkshire had to contend with the Battle of the Standard at Northallerton with the Scots. Representing the Kingdom of England led by Archbishop Thurstan of York, soldiers from Yorkshire defeated the more numerous Scots.^[41]

1300s: Scottish War of Independence and Mass Deaths

The population of Yorkshire boomed until it was hit by the Great Famine of 1315.^[40] It did not help that after the English defeat in the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314, the Scottish army rampaged throughout northern England, and Yorkshire was no exception. During The Great Raid of 1322, they raided and pillaged from the suburbs of York, even as far as East Riding and the Humber. Some like Richmond had to bribe the Scots to spare the town. The Black Death then reached Yorkshire by 1349, killing around a third of the population.^[40]

1400s–1600s: Royal revolts

1400s: Wars of the Roses

Yorkist king Richard III grew up at Middleham.^[42]

When King Richard II was overthrown in 1399, antagonism between the House of York and the House of Lancaster, both branches of the royal House of Plantagenet, began to emerge. Eventually the two houses fought for the throne of England in a series of civil wars, commonly known as the Wars of the Roses. Some of the battles took place in Yorkshire, such as those at Wakefield and Towton, the latter of which is known as the bloodiest battle ever fought on English soil.^[43] Richard III was the last Yorkist king.

Henry Tudor, sympathiser to the House of Lancaster, defeated and killed Richard at the Battle of Bosworth Field. He then became King Henry VII and married Elizabeth of York, daughter of Yorkist Edward IV, ending the wars.^[44] The two roses of white and red, emblems of the Houses of York and Lancaster respectively, were combined to form the Tudor Rose of England.^[a][45] This rivalry between the royal houses of York and Lancaster has passed into popular culture as a rivalry between the counties of Yorkshire and Lancashire, particularly in sport (for example the Roses Match played in County Cricket), although the House of Lancaster was based in York and the House of York in London.

1500: Catholic–Protestant dissolution

The English Reformation began under Henry VIII and the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1536 led to a popular uprising known as Pilgrimage of Grace, started in Yorkshire as a protest. Some Catholics in Yorkshire continued to practise their religion and those caught were executed during the reign of Elizabeth I. One such person was a York woman named Margaret Clitherow who was later canonised.^[46]

1600s: Civil war

Battle of Marston Moor in 1644

During the English Civil War, which started in 1642, Yorkshire had divided loyalties; Hull (full name Kingston upon Hull) famously shut the gates of the city on the king when he came to enter a few months before fighting began, while the North Riding of Yorkshire in particular was strongly royalist.^[47][48] York was the base for Royalists, and from there they captured Leeds and Wakefield only to have them recaptured a few months later. The royalists won the Battle of Adwalton Moor meaning they controlled Yorkshire (with the exception of Hull). From their base in Hull the Parliamentarians ("Roundheads") fought back, re-taking Yorkshire town by town, until they won the Battle of Marston Moor and with it control of all of the North of England.^[49]

1500s–1900s: Industry

1500-1600s: Explorative growth

Titus Salt's mill in Saltaire, Bradford is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

In the 16th and 17th centuries Leeds and other wool-industry-centred towns continued to grow, along with Huddersfield, Hull and Sheffield, while coal mining first came into prominence in the West Riding of Yorkshire.^[50] The wool textile industry, which had previously been a cottage industry, centred on the old market towns moved to the West Riding where entrepreneurs were building mills that took advantage of water power gained by harnessing the rivers and streams flowing from the Pennines. The developing textile industry helped Wakefield and Halifax grow.^[51]

1800s: Victorian revolution

The 19th century saw Yorkshire's continued growth, with the population growing and the Industrial Revolution continuing with prominent industries in coal, textile and steel (especially in Sheffield, Rotherham and Middlesbrough). However, despite the booming industry, living conditions declined in the industrial towns due to overcrowding. This saw bouts of cholera in both 1832 and 1848.^[52] However, advances were made by the end of the century with the introduction of modern sewers and water supplies. Several Yorkshire railway networks were introduced as railways spread across the country to reach remote areas.^[53]

The LNER Class A4 4468 Mallard built in Doncaster is the current confirmed record holder as the fastest steam locomotive at 203 km/h (126 mph) on 3 July 1938.

As Yorkshire was too large and unwieldy to have its own county council, separate county councils were created for the three ridings in 1889, but their area of control did not include the large towns, which became county boroughs, and included an increasingly large part of the population.^[54]

Canals and turnpike roads were introduced in the late 18th century. In the following century the spa towns of Harrogate and Scarborough flourished, due to people believing mineral water had curative properties.^[55]

Early 1900s: World wars

During the Second World War, Yorkshire became an important base for RAF Bomber Command and brought the county and its productive industries into the cutting edge of the war, and thus in the targets of Luftwaffe bombers during the Battle of Britain.^[56]

1950s–present: Divided

The County Borough of Teesside was created in 1968, drafted by the North Eastern General Review Area from 1962 to 1963 and executed under the Local Government Act 1958, adding settlements to the North Riding's north eastern edges, notably Stockton and Billingham. Twelve in total were placed into a county borough council area. This was the last county borough made and first county to use the local river and '-side' suffix before similar cross river focused counties were created in 1974.^[57]

In 1974, they were large local government reforms throughout the United Kingdom. Some of the Local Government Act 1972 changes were unpopular, historic boundaries of Yorkshire and its ridings lost notability status as entities.^[58][59]

In 1996, the 'East Riding of Yorkshire' was created from Yorkshire parts of abolished Humberside and North Yorkshire gained Yorkshire parts of Cleveland.^[60] The Government Office entity currently containing most of Yorkshire is the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England.^[59] This region includes the north-eastern part of Lincolnshire, but not northern parts of Yorkshire, as these areas, located around the River Tees, are in the North East England region. Parts in the North West England region are:

• Saddleworth (Greater Manchester)
• Forest of Bowland (Lancashire)
• Sedbergh and Dent (Cumbria)^[58]

One Yorkshire Devolved Deal proposal

In 2018, eighteen of the twenty-two local councils in the Yorkshire and Humber region voted to elect a mayor to represent the county, including a devolved deal for Yorkshire that would in some regards reunite the county under one deal and mayor. The proposal would allow the mayor similar powers to those possessed by the Mayor of London over Greater London. This would also allow Yorkshire to create up to 200,000 jobs^[61][62] across the county and provide similar funding and autonomy to that enjoyed by Greater Manchester.^[63]

Discover more about History related topics

History of Yorkshire

History of Yorkshire

Yorkshire is a historic county of England, centred on the county town of York. The region was first occupied after the retreat of the ice age around 8000 BC. During the first millennium AD it was inhabited by celtic Britons and occupied by Romans, Angles and Vikings. The name comes from "Eborakon" an old Brythonic name which probably derives from "Efor" or "the place of the yew-trees." Many Yorkshire dialect words and aspects of pronunciation derive from old Norse due to the Viking influence in this region. The name "Yorkshire", first appeared in writing in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in 1065. It was originally composed of three sections called Thrydings, subsequently referred to as Ridings.

Hen Ogledd

Hen Ogledd

Yr Hen Ogledd, in English the Old North, is the historical region that was inhabited by the Brittonic people of sub-Roman Britain in the Early Middle Ages, now Northern England and the southern Scottish Lowlands, alongside the Celtic Kingdom of Elmet. Its population spoke a variety of the Brittonic language known as Cumbric which is closely related to, if not a dialect of Old Welsh. The people of Wales and the Hen Ogledd considered themselves to be one people, and both were referred to as Cymry ('fellow-countrymen') from the Brittonic word combrogi. The Hen Ogledd was distinct from the parts of North Britain inhabited by the Picts, Anglo-Saxons, and Scoti.

Celtic Britons

Celtic Britons

The Britons, also known as Celtic Britons or Ancient Britons, were the people of Celtic language and culture who inhabited Great Britain from at least the British Iron Age until the High Middle Ages, at which point they diverged into the Welsh, Cornish and Bretons. They spoke Common Brittonic, the ancestor of the modern Brittonic languages.

Celts

Celts

The Celts or Celtic peoples are a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia, identified by their use of Celtic languages and other cultural similarities. Historical Celtic groups included the Britons, Boii, Celtiberians, Gaels, Gauls, Gallaeci, Galatians, Lepontii and their offshoots. The relation between ethnicity, language and culture in the Celtic world is unclear and debated; for example over the ways in which the Iron Age people of Britain and Ireland should be called Celts. In current scholarship, 'Celt' primarily refers to 'speakers of Celtic languages' rather than to a single ethnic group.

Brigantes

Brigantes

The Brigantes were Ancient Britons who in pre-Roman times controlled the largest section of what would become Northern England. Their territory, often referred to as Brigantia, was centred in what was later known as Yorkshire. The Greek geographer Ptolemy named the Brigantes as a people in Ireland also, where they could be found around what is now Wexford, Kilkenny and Waterford, while another people named Brigantii is mentioned by Strabo as a sub-tribe of the Vindelici in the region of the Alps.

East Riding of Yorkshire

East Riding of Yorkshire

The East Riding of Yorkshire, or simply East Riding or East Yorkshire, is a ceremonial county and unitary authority area in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and west, South Yorkshire to the south-west, and Lincolnshire to the south.

Northern England

Northern England

Northern England, also known as the North of England, the North Country, or simply the North, is the northern area of England. It broadly corresponds to the former borders of Angle Northumbria, the Anglo-Scandinavian Kingdom of Jorvik, and the Celt Britonic Yr Hen Ogledd Kingdoms.

Great Britain

Great Britain

Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe. With an area of 209,331 km2 (80,823 sq mi), it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is dominated by a maritime climate with narrow temperature differences between seasons. The 60% smaller island of Ireland is to the west—these islands, along with over 1,000 smaller surrounding islands and named substantial rocks, form the British Isles archipelago.

Geography (Ptolemy)

Geography (Ptolemy)

The Geography, also known by its Latin names as the Geographia and the Cosmographia, is a gazetteer, an atlas, and a treatise on cartography, compiling the geographical knowledge of the 2nd-century Roman Empire. Originally written by Claudius Ptolemy in Greek at Alexandria around AD 150, the work was a revision of a now-lost atlas by Marinus of Tyre using additional Roman and Persian gazetteers and new principles. Its translation into Arabic in the 9th century and Latin in 1406 was highly influential on the geographical knowledge and cartographic traditions of the medieval Caliphate and Renaissance Europe.

Parisii (Gaul)

Parisii (Gaul)

The Parisii were a Gallic tribe that dwelt on the banks of the river Seine during the Iron Age and the Roman era. They lived on lands now occupied by the modern city of Paris, whose name is derived from the ethnonym.

Lutetia

Lutetia

Lutetia, also known as Lutetia Parisiorum, was a Gallo–Roman town and the predecessor of modern-day Paris. Traces of an earlier Neolithic settlement have been found nearby, and a larger settlement was established around the middle of the 3rd century BC by the Parisii, a Gallic tribe. The site was an important crossing point of the Seine, the intersection of land and water trade routes.

Gaul

Gaul

Gaul was a region of Western Europe first clearly described by the Romans, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and parts of Switzerland, Germany, and Northern Italy. It covered an area of 494,000 km2 (191,000 sq mi). According to Julius Caesar, who took control of the region on behalf of the Roman Republic, Gaul was divided into three parts: Gallia Celtica, Belgica, and Aquitania.

Geology

Geology of Yorkshire

Historically, the northern boundary of Yorkshire was the River Tees, the eastern boundary was the North Sea coast and the southern boundary was the Humber Estuary and Rivers Don and Sheaf. The western boundary meandered along the western slopes of the Pennine Hills to again meet the River Tees.^[64] It is bordered by several other historic counties: the county of Durham, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Cheshire, Lancashire and Westmorland.^[65] In Yorkshire there is a very close relationship between the major topographical areas and the geological period in which they were formed.^[64] The Pennine chain of hills in the west is of Carboniferous origin. The central vale is Permo-Triassic. The North York Moors in the north-east of the county are Jurassic in age while the Yorkshire Wolds to the south east are Cretaceous chalk uplands.^[64]

The main rivers of Yorkshire

Yorkshire is drained by several rivers. In western and central Yorkshire the many rivers empty their waters into the River Ouse which reaches the North Sea via the Humber Estuary.^[66] The most northerly of the rivers in the Ouse system is the River Swale, which drains Swaledale before passing through Richmond and meandering across the Vale of Mowbray. Next, draining Wensleydale, is the River Ure, which the Swale joins east of Boroughbridge. Near Great Ouseburn the Ure is joined by the small Ouse Gill Beck, and below the confluence the river is known as the Ouse. The River Nidd rises on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales National Park and flows along Nidderdale before reaching the Vale of York and the Ouse.^[66] The River Wharfe, which drains Wharfedale, joins the Ouse upstream of Cawood.^[66] The Rivers Aire and Calder are more southerly contributors to the River Ouse and the most southerly Yorkshire tributary is the River Don, which flows northwards to join the main river at Goole. Further north and east the River Derwent rises on the North York Moors, flows south then westwards through the Vale of Pickering then turns south again to drain the eastern part of the Vale of York. It empties into the River Ouse at Barmby on the Marsh.^[66]

In the far north of the county the River Tees flows eastwards through Teesdale and empties its waters into the North Sea downstream of Middlesbrough. The smaller River Esk flows from west to east at the northern foot of the North York Moors to reach the sea at Whitby.^[66] To the east of the Yorkshire Wolds the River Hull flows southwards to join the Humber Estuary at Kingston upon Hull.

The western Pennines are drained by the River Ribble which flows westwards, eventually reaching the Irish Sea close to Lytham St Annes.^[66]

Geography

Features of Yorkshire

Nidderdale,
Yorkshire Dales

Cliffs at Whitby

Ilkley Moor

Kilnsea,
Humber Estuary

The countryside of Yorkshire has been called "God's Own County" by its inhabitants.^[4][8] Yorkshire includes the North York Moors and Yorkshire Dales National Parks, and part of the Peak District National Park. Nidderdale and the Howardian Hills are designated Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty,^[67] as is the North Pennines (a part of which lies within the county). Spurn Point, Flamborough Head and the coastal North York Moors are designated Heritage Coast areas,^[68] and are noted for their scenic views with rugged cliffs^[69] such as the jet cliffs at Whitby,^[69] the limestone cliffs at Filey and the chalk cliffs at Flamborough Head.^[70][71] Moor House – Upper Teesdale, most of which is part of the former North Riding of Yorkshire, is one of England's largest national nature reserves.^[72] At High Force on the border with County Durham, the River Tees plunges 22 metres (72 ft) over the Whin Sill (an intrusion of igneous rock). High Force is not, as is sometimes claimed, the highest waterfall in England (Hardraw Force in Wensleydale, also in Yorkshire, has a 30 metres (98 ft) drop for example). However, High Force is unusual in being on a major river and carries a greater volume of water than any higher waterfall in England.^[73]

Thomas Langdale A Topographical Dictionary of Yorkshire; containing the names of all the towns, villages, hamlets, gentlemen's seats, &c. in the county of York. A brief history of places most remarkable for antiquities; biographical notices of eminent persons, &c. Northallerton: Printed by J. Langdale, 1822

The highest mountains in Yorkshire all lie in the Pennines on the western side of the county, with millstone grit and limestone forming the underlying geology and producing distinctive layered hills. The county top is the remote Mickle Fell^[74] (height 788 metres (2,585 ft) above sea level) in the North Pennines southwest of Teesdale, which is also the highest point in the North Riding. The highest point in the West Riding is Whernside (height 736 metres (2,415 ft)) near to Ingleton in the Yorkshire Dales. Together with nearby Ingleborough (height 723 metres (2,372 ft)) and Pen-y-Ghent (height 694 metres (2,277 ft)), Whernside forms a trio of very prominent and popular summits (the Yorkshire Three Peaks) which can be climbed in a challenging single day's walk. The highest point in the Yorkshire part of the Peak District is Black Hill (height 582 metres (1,909 ft)) on the border with historic Cheshire (which also forms the historic county top of that county). The hill ranges along the eastern side of Yorkshire are lower than those of the west. The highest point of the North York Moors is Urra Moor (height 454 metres (1,490 ft)). The highest point of the Yorkshire Wolds, a range of low chalk downlands east of York, is Bishop Wilton Wold (height 246 metres (807 ft)), which is also the highest point of the East Riding. The view from Sutton Bank at the southeastern edge of the North York Moors near Thirsk encompasses a vast expanse of the Yorkshire lowlands with the Pennines forming a backdrop. It was called the "finest view in England" by local author and veterinary surgeon James Herriot in his 1979 guidebook James Herriot's Yorkshire.^[75]

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds runs nature reserves such as the one at Bempton Cliffs with coastal wildlife such as the northern gannet, Atlantic puffin and razorbill.^[76] Spurn Point is a narrow 3-mile (4.8 km) long sand spit. It is a national nature reserve owned by the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust and is noted for its cyclical nature whereby the spit is destroyed and re-created approximately once every 250 years.^[77] There are seaside resorts in Yorkshire with sandy beaches; Scarborough is Britain's oldest seaside resort dating back to the spa town-era in the 17th century,^[78] while Whitby has been voted as the United Kingdom's best beach, with a "postcard-perfect harbour".^[79]

The northern extent of Yorkshire is the Tees and the southern extent was the Humber. East is the North Sea and west are the Pennines and the Aire Gap.

Cities

Largest cities in Yorkshire 2011 estimates[80]
	Rank		County	Pop.
Sheffield Leeds	1	Sheffield	South	518,090	Bradford Kingston upon Hull
	2	Leeds	West	474,632
	3	Bradford	West	349,561
	4	Kingston upon Hull	East	284,321
	5	York	North	152,841
	6	Doncaster	South	109,805
	7	Wakefield	West	99,251
	8	Ripon	North	16,363
	9	N/a	N/a	N/a
	10	N/a	N/a	N/a

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York, Wakefield, Doncaster and Ripon

York has historically been recognised as a city "by ancient prescriptive right", having been the seat of a bishop for many centuries, rather than through specific charters or declarations.^[81] Its status as a city was reaffirmed as part of the administrative reforms in 1974^[82] and again in 1996.^[83] The smallest city in Yorkshire is Ripon which associated its city status with the establishment of Church of England dioceses. When the Diocese of Ripon was created in 1836 the corporation of Ripon assumed that this inferred city status, however, uncertainty surrounding this led to its status being clarified by a parliamentary bill in 1865 known as the City of Ripon Act.^[84]

In 1871, Wakefield had a population of around 28,000, less than half the size of the towns of Huddersfield and Halifax, yet when the Ripon diocese was divided to create a diocese for the West Riding it was the Church of All Saints, Wakefield that was chosen to be the cathedral and upon the establishment of the new diocese in 1888 Wakefield petitioned for city status with letters patent being granted soon after.^[85][86][87] Bradford, Kingston upon Hull, Leeds and Sheffield became cities in the 1890s. They had all seen significant growth throughout the 19th century and were all larger than any of the preceding cities in Yorkshire.^{[88][89][90][91]} More recently city status was conferred through local government reform in 1974 to the metropolitan boroughs created at that time,^[92] some of which were already based on existing city areas (such as Leeds and Sheffield).

In May 2022 it was announced that, as part of the Platinum Jubilee Civic Honours, Doncaster would receive city status by letters patent later in 2022.^[93]

Towns

Largest towns in Yorkshire 2011 estimates[80]
	Rank		County	Pop.	Rank		County	Pop.
Middlesbrough Huddersfield	1	Middlesbrough	North	174,700	11	Castleford	West	39,192	Rotherham Barnsley
	2	Huddersfield	West	162,949	12	Redcar	North	37,073
	3	Rotherham	South	109,691	13	Bridlington	East	35,154
	4	Barnsley	South	91,297
	5	Batley	West	80,485
	6	Halifax	West	88,134
	7	Harrogate	North	73,576
	8	Keighley	West	53,331
	9	Dewsbury	West	62,945
	10	Scarborough	North	61,749

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List of places in Yorkshire

List of places in Yorkshire

This is a list of cities, towns, villages and hamlets in the counties of the East Riding of Yorkshire, North Yorkshire, South Yorkshire and West Yorkshire.

Geology of Yorkshire

Geology of Yorkshire

The Geology of Yorkshire in northern England shows a very close relationship between the major topographical areas and the geological period in which their rocks were formed. The rocks of the Pennine chain of hills in the west are of Carboniferous origin whilst those of the central vale are Permo-Triassic. The North York Moors in the north-east of the county are Jurassic in age while the Yorkshire Wolds to the south east are Cretaceous chalk uplands. The plain of Holderness and the Humberhead levels both owe their present form to the Quaternary ice ages. The strata become gradually younger from west to east.

River Tees

River Tees

The River Tees, in Northern England, rises on the eastern slope of Cross Fell in the North Pennines and flows eastwards for 85 miles (137 km) to reach the North Sea between Hartlepool and Redcar near Middlesbrough. The modern day history of the river has been tied with the industries on Teesside in its lower reaches, where it has provided the means of import and export of goods to and from the North East England. The need for water further downstream also meant that reservoirs were built in the extreme upper reaches, such as Cow Green.

North Sea

North Sea

The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and France. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Sea in the north. It is more than 970 kilometres (600 mi) long and 580 kilometres (360 mi) wide, covering 570,000 square kilometres (220,000 sq mi).

River Sheaf

River Sheaf

The River Sheaf in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, flows northwards, past Dore, through Abbeydale and north of Heeley. It then passes into a culvert, through which it flows under the centre of Sheffield before joining the River Don. This lower section of the River Sheaf, together with the River Don between the Blonk Street and Lady's Bridges, formed two sides of the boundary of Sheffield Castle.

Pennines

Pennines

The Pennines, also known as the Pennine Chain or Pennine Hills, are a range of uplands running between three regions of Northern England: North West England on the west, North East England and Yorkshire and the Humber on the east. Commonly described as the "backbone of England", the range stretches northwards from the Peak District at the southern end, through the South Pennines, Yorkshire Dales and North Pennines to the Tyne Gap, which separates the range from the Border Moors and Cheviot Hills across the Anglo-Scottish border, although some definitions include them. South of the Aire Gap is a western spur into east Lancashire, comprising the Rossendale Fells, West Pennine Moors and the Bowland Fells in North Lancashire. The Howgill Fells and Orton Fells in Cumbria are sometimes considered to be Pennine spurs to the west of the range. The Pennines are an important water catchment area with numerous reservoirs in the head streams of the river valleys.

Nottinghamshire

Nottinghamshire

Nottinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. A landlocked county, it is bordered by South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The most-populated settlement is the City of Nottingham, which is administered as a unitary authority area. Nottinghamshire County Council, which administers the rest of the county, is based at West Bridgford in Rushcliffe. In 2017, the population was estimated to be 785,800.

Cheshire

Cheshire

Cheshire is an ancient and ceremonial county in northwest England. It is bordered by the counties of Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south, while the western boundary consists mostly of the England–Wales border with smaller sections leading into the Irish Sea via Liverpool Bay. Cheshire's county town is the cathedral city of Chester and its most populated town is Warrington, while other towns include Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Knutsford, Macclesfield, Nantwich, Runcorn, Widnes, Wilmslow, and Winsford. The county is split into four administrative districts: the Borough of Halton, the Borough of Warrington, Cheshire West and Chester, and Cheshire East.

Carboniferous

Carboniferous

The Carboniferous is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic that spans 60 million years from the end of the Devonian Period 358.9 million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Permian Period, 298.9 million years ago. The name Carboniferous means "coal-bearing", from the Latin carbō ("coal") and ferō, and refers to the many coal beds formed globally during that time.

North York Moors

North York Moors

The North York Moors is an upland area in north-eastern Yorkshire, England. It contains one of the largest expanses of heather moorland in the United Kingdom. The area was designated as a National Park in 1952, through the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949. Covering an area of 554 sq mi (1,430 km2), the National Park has a population of 23,380. It is administered by the North York Moors National Park Authority, whose head office is based in Helmsley.

Jurassic

Jurassic

The Jurassic is a geologic period and stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period 201.4 million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately 145 Mya. The Jurassic constitutes the middle period of the Mesozoic Era and is named after the Jura Mountains, where limestone strata from the period were first identified.

Cretaceous

Cretaceous

The Cretaceous is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of the entire Phanerozoic. The name is derived from the Latin creta, "chalk", which is abundant in the latter half of the period. It is usually abbreviated K, for its German translation Kreide.

The local government administration has changed over time, with legislation created and abolished, redrawning administrative boundaries. During these changes the boundaries of Yorkshire and its ridings remain as non-administrative, geographical and historic areas, in contrast with the four counties with Yorkshire in their name and region of Yorkshire and the Humber, the latter does not match the boundaries of the historic county: North East England includes Startforth, Middlesbrough and Guisborough; North West England includes Saddleworth, Barnoldswick and Sedbergh while Yorkshire and the Humber Includes the Lincolnshire towns of Grimsby, Scunthorpe and Immingham.

Historic

Historic divisions of Yorkshire

Historically, Yorkshire was divided into three ridings and the Ainsty of York. The term 'riding' is of Viking origin and derives from Threthingr (equivalent to third-ing) meaning one acting part of three to York's share. The three ridings in Yorkshire were named the East Riding, West Riding, and North Riding.^[94] The North Riding bordering on the Derwent to the East Riding. The East Riding and west Riding the west and north parts are bordered by the Ouse and Ure/Nidd watershed. Each historic riding included wapentakes, local meeting points.

Current

Division			Administrative districts	Major Settlements
Name/s	Type	Map
East Riding of Yorkshire	Ceremonial county		City of Kingston upon Hull (unitary) and East Riding of Yorkshire (unitary)	Anlaby, Beverley, Bridlington, Cottingham, Driffield, Goole, Hessle, Hornsea, Hull, Pocklington
North Yorkshire	Ceremonial county		City of York, Craven, Selby District, Borough of Harrogate, Richmondshire, Hambleton, Ryedale, Borough of Scarborough, Redcar and Cleveland, Borough of Stockton-on-Tees (part), Borough of Middlesbrough	Guisborough, Harrogate, Ingleby Barwick, Middlesbrough, Northallerton, Pickering, Redcar, Ripon, Scarborough, Selby, Skipton, Thornaby, Whitby, York
South Yorkshire	Ceremonial/ metropolitan county and combined authority		City of Sheffield, Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster, Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham, Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley	Adwick, Barnsley, Bentley, Chapeltown, Dinnington, Doncaster, Maltby, Rotherham, Sheffield, Wath, Wombwell
West Yorkshire	Ceremonial/ metropolitan county and combined authority		City of Leeds, City of Bradford, Wakefield District, Kirklees, Calderdale	Bradford, Batley, Brighouse, Castleford, Dewsbury, Halifax, Huddersfield, Keighley, Leeds, Wakefield
Tees Valley (part)	Combined authority		Redcar and Cleveland, Borough of Stockton-on-Tees (part), Borough of Middlesbrough	Guisborough, Ingleby Barwick, Middlesbrough, Redcar, Thornaby

Local government reform in 1974 saw the three ridings reformed with the present day ceremonial counties of the East Riding, North, South and West Yorkshire,^[95][92] with York incorporated into North Yorkshire. County boroughs disbanded and became smaller unitary authorities, independent of the county authority however included in the new counties.

The 1996 reform split Humberside with East Riding of Yorkshire created (the East Yorkshire district pre-reform meant the older name was used) and part of the County of Cleveland became part of North Yorkshire. Certain legal functions (such as policing) still exist under the old county names from before the 1996 reform, for example Cleveland Fire Brigade, as are the 1993-created regional boundaries.

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Borough

Borough

A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term borough designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely.

Municipal borough

Municipal borough

Municipal boroughs were a type of local government district which existed in England and Wales between 1835 and 1974, in Northern Ireland from 1840 to 1973 and in the Republic of Ireland from 1840 to 2002. Broadly similar structures existed in Scotland from 1833 to 1975 with the reform of royal burghs and creation of police burghs.

Non-metropolitan district

Non-metropolitan district

Non-metropolitan districts, or colloquially "shire districts", are a type of local government district in England. As created, they are sub-divisions of non-metropolitan counties in a two-tier arrangement. Non-metropolitan districts with borough status are known as boroughs, able to appoint a mayor and refer to itself as a borough council.

County borough

County borough

County borough is a term introduced in 1889 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, to refer to a borough or a city independent of county council control, similar to the unitary authorities created since the 1990s. An equivalent term used in Scotland was a county of city. They were abolished by the Local Government Act 1972 in England and Wales, but continue in use for lieutenancy and shrievalty in Northern Ireland. In the Republic of Ireland they remain in existence but have been renamed cities under the provisions of the Local Government Act 2001. The Local Government (Wales) Act 1994 re-introduced the term for certain "principal areas" in Wales. Scotland did not have county boroughs but instead had counties of cities. These were abolished on 16 May 1975. All four Scottish cities of the time—Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, and Glasgow—were included in this category. There was an additional category of large burgh in the Scottish system, which were responsible for all services apart from police, education and fire.

Unitary authority

Unitary authority

A unitary authority is a local authority responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed by a higher level of sub-national government or the national government.

County

County

A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French comté denoting a jurisdiction under the sovereignty of a count (earl) or a viscount. Literal equivalents in other languages, derived from the equivalent of "count", are now seldom used officially, including comté, contea, contado, comtat, condado, Grafschaft, graafschap, and zhupa in Slavic languages; terms equivalent to commune/community are now often instead used.

Riding (division)

Riding (division)

A riding is an administrative jurisdiction or electoral district, particularly in several current or former Commonwealth countries.

Administrative county

Administrative county

An administrative county was a first-level administrative division in England and Wales from 1888 to 1974, and in Ireland from 1899 until either 1973 or 2002. They are now abolished, although most Northern Ireland lieutenancy areas and Republic of Ireland counties have the same boundaries as former administrative countries.

Non-metropolitan county

Non-metropolitan county

A non-metropolitan county, or colloquially, shire county, is a county-level entity in England that is not a metropolitan county. The counties typically have populations of 300,000 to 1.8 million. The term shire county is, however, an unofficial usage. Many of the non-metropolitan counties bear historic names and most, such as Wiltshire and Staffordshire, end in the suffix "-shire". Of the remainder, some counties had the "-shire" ending but have lost it over time, such as Devon and Somerset.

Metropolitan county

Metropolitan county

Metropolitan counties are a type of county-level administrative division of England. There are six metropolitan counties, which each cover large urban areas, with populations between 1 and 3 million. They were created in 1974 and are each divided into several metropolitan districts or boroughs. Following the abolition of metropolitan county councils in 1986, metropolitan counties no longer form a part of local government in England. Most of their functions were devolved to the metropolitan boroughs, making the boroughs effectively unitary authorities; any remaining functions were taken over by joint boards.

Combined authority

Combined authority

A combined authority is a type of local government institution introduced in England outside Greater London by the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009. Combined authorities are created voluntarily and allow a group of local authorities to pool appropriate responsibility and receive certain delegated functions from central government in order to deliver transport and economic policy more effectively over a wider area.

South and West

Bridgewater Place in Leeds.

The City of Leeds is Yorkshire's largest city and the leading centre of trade and commerce. Leeds is also one of the UK's larger financial centres. Leeds' traditional industries were mixed, service-based industries, textile manufacturing and coal mining being examples. Tourism is also significant and a growing sector in the city. In 2015, the value of tourism was in excess of £7 billion.

Bradford, Halifax, Keighley and Huddersfield once were centres of wool milling. Areas such as Bradford, Dewsbury and Keighley have suffered a decline in their economy since.

Sheffield once had heavy industries, such as coal mining and the steel industry. Since the decline of such industries Sheffield has attracted tertiary and administrative businesses including more retail trade, Meadowhall being an example.

Coal mining was extremely active in the south of the county during the 19th century and for most of the 20th century, particularly around Barnsley and Wakefield. As late as the 1970s, the number of miners working in the area was still in six figures.^[96] The industry was placed under threat on 6 March 1984 when the National Coal Board announced the closure of 20 pits nationwide (some of them in South Yorkshire). By March 2004, a mere three coalpits remained open in the area.^[97] Three years later, the only remaining coal pit in the region was Maltby Colliery near Rotherham.^[98] Maltby Colliery closed in 2013.^[99]

East Riding and North

The Shambles is a popular tourist district in York

North Yorkshire has an established tourist industry, supported by the presence of two national parks (Yorkshire Dales National Park, North York Moors National Park), Harrogate, York and Scarborough.

Tourism is a huge part of the economy of York with a value of over £765 million to the city and supporting 24,000 jobs in 2019.^[100] Harrogate draws numerous visitors because of its conference facilities. In 2016 such events alone attracted 300,000 visitors to Harrogate.^[101]

Kingston upon Hull is Yorkshire's largest port and has a large manufacturing base, its fishing industry has, however, declined somewhat in recent years. Businesses in Hull are Aunt Bessie's, Birds Eye, Seven Seas, Fenner, Rank Organisation, William Jackson Food Group, Reckitt and Sons, KCOM Group and SGS Europe.

The Conference Centre, in Harrogate

Harrogate and Knaresborough both have small legal and financial sectors. Harrogate is a European conference and exhibition destination with both the Great Yorkshire Showground and Harrogate International Centre in the town. Bettys and Taylors of Harrogate is a notable company from Harrogate.

PD Ports owns and operates Teesport, between Middlesbrough and Redcar. The company also operates the Hull Container Terminal at the Port of Hull and owns a short river port in Howdendyke (near Howden).^[102]

Other businesses in the two counties are Plaxton (Scarborough), McCains (Scarborough), Ebuyer (Howden) and Skipton Building Society (Skipton).

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Bridgewater Place

Bridgewater Place

Bridgewater Place, nicknamed The Dalek, is an office and residential skyscraper in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was the tallest building in Yorkshire at the time of being topped out in September 2005, but is now the second-tallest after another Leeds building, Altus House. Bridgewater Place is visible at up to 25 miles from most areas.

Leeds

Leeds

Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is governed by a metropolitan borough named after the city, the wider county having devolved powers. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines.

City of Leeds

City of Leeds

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 811,956 (2021), making it technically the second largest city in England by population behind Birmingham, since London is not a single local government entity. Local governance sits with Leeds City Council and the city's 32 Parish Councils.

Bradford

Bradford

Bradford is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is governed by a metropolitan borough named after the city, the wider county has devolved powers. It had a population of 349,561 at the 2011 census; the second-largest subdivision of the West Yorkshire Built-up Area after Leeds, which is approximately 9 miles (14 km) to the east. The borough had a population of 546,412, making it the 7th most populous district in England.

Halifax, West Yorkshire

Halifax, West Yorkshire

Halifax is a minster and market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Calderdale in West Yorkshire, England. It is the commercial, cultural and administrative centre of the borough, and the headquarters of Calderdale Council. In the 15th century, the town became an economic hub of the old West Riding of Yorkshire, primarily in woollen manufacture. Halifax is the largest town in the wider Calderdale borough. Halifax was a thriving mill town during the industrial revolution.

Keighley

Keighley

Keighley is a market town and a civil parish in the City of Bradford Borough of West Yorkshire, England. It is the second largest settlement in the borough, after Bradford.

Huddersfield

Huddersfield

Huddersfield is a market town in the Kirklees district in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confluence into the similar-sized Colne to the south of the town centre which then flows into the Calder in the north eastern outskirts of the town.

Dewsbury

Dewsbury

Dewsbury is a minster and market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It lies on the River Calder and on an arm of the Calder and Hebble Navigation waterway. It is to the west of Wakefield, east of Huddersfield and south of Leeds.

Barnsley

Barnsley

Barnsley is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. It is the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. The town's population was 96,888 in 2021, while the wider borough had a population of 244,600 in the 2021 census.

National Coal Board

National Coal Board

The National Coal Board (NCB) was the statutory corporation created to run the nationalised coal mining industry in the United Kingdom. Set up under the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946, it took over the United Kingdom's collieries on "vesting day", 1 January 1947. In 1987, the NCB was renamed the British Coal Corporation, and its assets were subsequently privatised.

North Yorkshire

North Yorkshire

North Yorkshire is a ceremonial county in the North of England. It is mostly located in the Yorkshire and Humber region, but the area around the Tees Valley is in the North East. The largest county in England by land area, it measures 2,483 square miles (6,430 km2) and has a population of 1,158,816 (2021). The county town is Northallerton.

Harrogate

Harrogate

Harrogate is a spa town and the administrative centre of the Borough of Harrogate in North Yorkshire, England. Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, the town is a tourist destination and its visitor attractions include its spa waters and RHS Harlow Carr gardens. 13 miles (21 km) away from the town centre is the Yorkshire Dales National Park and the Nidderdale AONB. Harrogate grew out of two smaller settlements, High Harrogate and Low Harrogate, in the 17th century. For three consecutive years (2013–2015), polls voted the town as "the happiest place to live" in Britain.

Yorkshire has a large base of primary and secondary schools operated by both local authorities and private bodies, and a dozen universities, along with a wide range of colleges and further education facilities. Five universities are based in Leeds, two in Sheffield, two in York, and one each in Bradford, Hull, Middlesbrough and Huddersfield. The largest universities by enrolment are Sheffield Hallam University and the University of Leeds, each with over 31,000 students, followed by Leeds Beckett University, and the most recent to attain university status is the Leeds Arts University. There are also branches of institutions headquartered in other parts of England, such as the Open University and Britain's first for-profit university (since 2012), the University of Law. The tertiary sector is in active cooperation with industry, and a number of spin-off companies have been launched.

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Sheffield Hallam University

Sheffield Hallam University

Sheffield Hallam University (SHU) is a public research university in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The university is based on two sites; the City Campus is located in the city centre near Sheffield railway station, while the Collegiate Crescent Campus is about two miles away in the Broomhall Estate off Ecclesall Road in south-west Sheffield. A third campus at Brent Cross Town in the London Borough of Barnet is expected to open for the 2025-26 academic year.

University of Leeds

University of Leeds

The University of Leeds is a public research university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was established in 1874 as the Yorkshire College of Science. In 1884 it merged with the Leeds School of Medicine and was renamed Yorkshire College. It became part of the federal Victoria University in 1887, joining Owens College and University College Liverpool. In 1904 a royal charter was granted to the University of Leeds by King Edward VII.

Leeds Beckett University

Leeds Beckett University

Leeds Beckett University (LBU), formerly known as Leeds Metropolitan University (LMU) and before that as Leeds Polytechnic, is a public university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It has campuses in the city centre and Headingley. The university's origins can be traced to 1824, with the foundation of the Leeds Mechanics Institute. Leeds Polytechnic was formed in 1970, and was part of the Leeds Local Education Authority until it became an independent Higher Education Corporation on 1 April 1989. In 1992, the institution gained university status. The current name was adopted in September 2014.

Leeds Arts University

Leeds Arts University

Leeds Arts University is a specialist arts further and higher education institution, based in the city of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, with a main campus opposite the University of Leeds.

Open University

Open University

The Open University (OU) is a British public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate students are based in the United Kingdom and principally study off-campus; many of its courses can also be studied anywhere in the world. There are also a number of full-time postgraduate research students based on the 45 hectares university campus in Milton Keynes, where they use the staff facilities for research, as well as more than 1,000 members of academic and research staff and over 2,500 administrative, operational and support staff.

University of Law

University of Law

The University of Law is a for-profit private university in the United Kingdom, providing law degrees, specialist legal training and continuing professional development courses for British barristers and solicitors; it is the United Kingdom's largest law school. It traces its origins to 1876.

The A1(M) and M62 junction at Ferrybridge, West Yorkshire

The oldest road in Yorkshire, called the Great North Road, is now known as the A1.^[103] This trunk road passes through the centre of the county and is the main route from London to Edinburgh.^[104] Another important road is the more easterly A19 road which starts in Doncaster and ends just north of Newcastle upon Tyne at Seaton Burn. The M62 motorway crosses the county from east to west from Hull towards Greater Manchester and Merseyside.^[105] The M1 carries traffic from London and the south of England to Yorkshire. In 1999, about 8 miles (13 km) was added to make it swing east of Leeds and connect to the A1.^[106] The East Coast Main Line rail link between London and Scotland runs roughly parallel with the A1 through Yorkshire and the Trans Pennine rail link runs east to west from Hull to Liverpool via Leeds.^[107]

Before the advent of rail transport, the seaports of Hull and Whitby played an important role in transporting goods. Historically canals were used, including the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, which is the longest canal in England. Mainland Europe (the Netherlands and Belgium) can be reached from Hull via regular ferry services from P&O Ferries.^[108] Yorkshire also has air transport services from Leeds Bradford Airport. This airport has experienced significant and rapid growth in both terminal size and passenger facilities since 1996, when improvements began, until the present day.^[109] From 2005 until 2022, South Yorkshire was served by Doncaster Sheffield Airport in Finningley.^[110] Sheffield City Airport opened in 1997 after years of Sheffield having no airport, due to a council decision in the 1960s not to develop one because of the city's good rail links with London and the development of airports in other nearby areas. The newly opened airport never managed to compete with larger airports such as Leeds Bradford Airport and East Midlands Airport and attracted only a few scheduled flights, while the runway was too short to support low cost carriers. The opening of Doncaster Sheffield Airport effectively made the airport redundant and it officially closed in April 2008. The Doncaster Sheffield Airport has since closed and left South Yorkshire without an airport.

Public transport statistics

The average amount of time people spend on public transport in Yorkshire on a weekday is 77 minutes. 26.6% of public transport users travel for more than two hours every day. The average amount of time people wait at a stop or station for public transport is 16 minutes, while 24.9% of passengers wait for over 20 minutes on average every day. The average distance people usually ride in a single trip with public transport is 7 km, while 10% travel for over 12 km in a single direction.^[111]

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Ferrybridge

Ferrybridge

Ferrybridge is a village in West Yorkshire, England. Ferrybridge lies at a historically important crossing of the River Aire which borders the North Yorkshire village of Brotherton. It is linked to other communities by the A1, which follows the route of the Great North Road. The village falls within the Knottingley ward of Wakefield City Council.

A1 road (Great Britain)

A1 road (Great Britain)

The A1 is the longest numbered road in the United Kingdom, at 397 miles (639 km). It connects London, the capital of England, with Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. It passes through or near North London, Hatfield, Welwyn Garden City, Stevenage, Baldock, Letchworth Garden City, Biggleswade, St Neots, Huntingdon, Peterborough, Stamford, Grantham, Newark-on-Trent, Retford, Doncaster, York, Pontefract, Wetherby, Ripon, Darlington, Durham, Sunderland, Gateshead, Newcastle upon Tyne, Morpeth, Alnwick and Berwick-upon-Tweed.

A19 road

A19 road

The A19 is a major road in England running approximately parallel to and east of the A1 road. Although the two roads meet at the northern end of the A19, the two roads originally met at the southern end of the A19 in Doncaster, but the old route of the A1 was changed to the A638. From Sunderland northwards, the route was formerly the A108. In the past the route was known as the East of Snaith-York-Thirsk-Stockton-on-Tees-Sunderland Trunk Road. Most traffic joins the A19, heading for Teesside, from the A168 at Dishforth Interchange.

M62 motorway

M62 motorway

The M62 is a 107-mile-long (172 km) west–east trans-Pennine motorway in Northern England, connecting Liverpool and Hull via Manchester, Bradford, Leeds and Wakefield; 7 miles (11 km) of the route is shared with the M60 orbital motorway around Manchester. The road is part of the unsigned Euroroutes E20 and E22.

Greater Manchester

Greater Manchester

Greater Manchester is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: Manchester, Salford, Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford and Wigan. The county was created on 1 April 1974, as a result of the Local Government Act 1972, and has been covered by a combined authority on 1 April 2011. Greater Manchester is formed from parts of the historic counties of Cheshire, Lancashire and the West Riding of Yorkshire.

M1 motorway

M1 motorway

The M1 motorway connects London to Leeds, where it joins the A1(M) near Aberford, to connect to Newcastle. It was the first inter-urban motorway to be completed in the UK; the first motorway in the country was the Preston Bypass, which later became part of the M6.

East Coast Main Line

East Coast Main Line

The East Coast Main Line (ECML) is a 393-mile long (632 km) electrified railway between its southern terminus at London King's Cross station and Edinburgh Waverley via Peterborough, Doncaster, York, Darlington, Durham and Newcastle. The line is a key transport artery on the eastern side of Great Britain running broadly parallel to the A1 road. The main line acts as a 'spine' for several diverging branches, serving destinations such as Cambridge, Leeds, Hull, Sunderland and Lincoln, all with direct services to London. In addition, a few ECML services extend beyond Edinburgh to serve Glasgow Central, although the principal London-Glasgow route is the West Coast Main Line (WCML).

Leeds and Liverpool Canal

Leeds and Liverpool Canal

The Leeds and Liverpool Canal is a canal in Northern England, linking the cities of Leeds and Liverpool.

Belgium

Belgium

Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to the southwest, and the North Sea to the northwest. It covers an area of 30,528 km2 (11,787 sq mi) and has a population of more than 11.5 million, making it the 22nd most densely populated country in the world and the 6th most densely populated country in Europe, with a density of 376/km2 (970/sq mi). Belgium is part of an area known as the Low Countries, historically a somewhat larger region than the Benelux group of states, as it also included parts of northern France. The capital and largest city is Brussels; other major cities are Antwerp, Ghent, Charleroi, Liège, Bruges, Namur, and Leuven.

Leeds Bradford Airport

Leeds Bradford Airport

Leeds Bradford Airport is located in Yeadon, in the City of Leeds Metropolitan District in West Yorkshire, England, about 7 miles (11 km) northwest of Leeds city centre, and about 9 miles (14 km) northeast from Bradford city centre. It serves Leeds and Bradford and the wider Yorkshire region including York, Wakefield and Harrogate, and is the largest airport in Yorkshire. The airport was in public ownership until May 2007, when it was bought by Bridgepoint Capital for £145.5 million. Bridgepoint sold it in 2017 to AMP Capital.

Doncaster Sheffield Airport

Doncaster Sheffield Airport

Doncaster Sheffield Airport, formerly named and commonly referred to as Robin Hood Airport, is an unscheduled international airport closed to passenger traffic. The airport is located in Finningley near Doncaster in South Yorkshire, England. The site lies 6 mi (10 km) south-east of the centre of Doncaster and 19 mi (31 km) east of Sheffield.

Finningley

Finningley

Finningley is a village and civil parish in the City of Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. Historically in Nottinghamshire, it lies on the A614 road between Bawtry and Thorne, about 6 miles south-east of Doncaster. In the 2011 census, it had a population of 1,497. The Finningley ward of Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council covers 16.8 square miles, including the villages of Auckley, Branton, Blaxton, Hayfield and Bessacarr Grange, and part of Cantley.

Fortifications

Throughout Yorkshire many castles were built during the Norman-Breton period, particularly after the Harrying of the North. These included Bowes Castle, Pickering Castle, Richmond Castle, Skipton Castle, York Castle and others.^[112] Later medieval castles at Helmsley, Middleham and Scarborough were built as a means of defence against the invading Scots.^[113] Middleham is notable because Richard III of England spent his childhood there.^[113] The remains of these castles, some being English Heritage sites, are popular tourist destinations.^[113]

Stately

Castle Howard

There are stately homes in Yorkshire that carry the name "castle" in a similar way to the non-distinctive use of chateau in French. The most notable examples are Allerton Castle and Castle Howard, both linked to the Howard family.^[114] Castle Howard and the Earl of Harewood's residence, Harewood House, are included amongst the nine Treasure Houses of England.^[115]

Large estates with significant buildings were constructed at Brodsworth Hall, Temple Newsam, Wentworth Woodhouse (the largest fronted private home in Europe), and Wentworth Castle. There are properties which are conserved and managed by the National Trust, such as Nunnington Hall, Ormesby Hall, the Rievaulx Terrace & Temples and Studley Royal Park.^[116]

Industrial

Buildings built for industry during the Victorian era are found throughout the region; West Yorkshire has various cotton mills, the Leeds Corn Exchange and the Halifax Piece Hall.^[117]

Municipal

Wakefield County Hall

There are various buildings built for local authorities:

• Grade I listed; Leeds Town Hall, Sheffield Town Hall, Wakefield County Hall and York Guildhall
• Grade II* listed; Middlesbrough Town Hall, Leeds Civic Hall, Hull Guildhall, Hull City Hall and Sheffield City Hall.

Religious

St George's Minster in Doncaster was built in 1858 and is Grade I listed

Religious architecture includes extant cathedrals as well as the ruins of monasteries and abbeys. Many of these prominent buildings suffered from the Dissolution of the Monasteries under Henry VIII; these include Bolton Abbey, Fountains Abbey, Gisborough Priory, Rievaulx Abbey, St Mary's Abbey and Whitby Abbey among others.^[118] Notable religious buildings of historic origin still in use include York Minster, the largest Gothic cathedral in northern Europe,^[118] Beverley Minster, Bradford Cathedral, Rotherham Minster and Ripon Cathedral.^[118]

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Castle

Castle

A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders.

Bowes Castle

Bowes Castle

Bowes Castle is a medieval castle in the village of Bowes in County Durham, England. Built within the perimeter of the former Roman fort of Lavatrae, on the Roman road that is now the A66, the early timber castle on the site was replaced by a more substantial stone structure between 1170 and 1174 on the orders of Henry II. A planned village was built alongside the castle. Bowes Castle withstood Scottish attack during the Great Revolt of 1173–74 but was successfully looted by rebels in 1322. The castle went into decline and was largely dismantled after the English Civil War. The ruins are now owned by English Heritage and run as a tourist attraction. There is free admission during daylight hours.

Pickering Castle

Pickering Castle

Pickering Castle is a motte-and-bailey fortification in Pickering, North Yorkshire, England.

Richmond Castle

Richmond Castle

Richmond Castle in Richmond, North Yorkshire, England, stands in a commanding position above the River Swale, close to the centre of the town of Richmond. It was originally called Riche Mount, 'the strong hill'. The castle was constructed by Alan Rufus from 1071 onwards following the Norman Conquest of England, and the Domesday Book of 1086 refers to 'a castlery' at Richmond.

Helmsley Castle

Helmsley Castle

Helmsley Castle is a medieval castle situated in the market town of Helmsley, within the North York Moors National Park, North Yorkshire, England.

Middleham Castle

Middleham Castle

Middleham Castle is a ruined castle in Middleham in Wensleydale, in the county of North Yorkshire, England. It was built by Robert Fitzrandolph, 3rd Lord of Middleham and Spennithorne, commencing in 1190. The castle was the childhood home of King Richard III, although he spent very little of his reign there. The castle was built to defend the road from Richmond to Skipton, though some have suggested the original site of the castle was far better to achieve this than the later location. After the death of King Richard III the castle remained in royal hands until it was allowed to go to ruin in the 17th century. Many of the stones from the castle were used in other buildings in the village of Middleham.

Richard III of England

Richard III of England

Richard III was King of England from 26 June 1483 until his death in 1485. He was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty. His defeat and death at the Battle of Bosworth Field, the last decisive battle of the Wars of the Roses, marked the end of the Middle Ages in England.

English Heritage

English Heritage

English Heritage is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses.

Castle Howard

Castle Howard

Castle Howard is a stately home in North Yorkshire, England, within the civil parish of Henderskelfe, located 15 miles (24 km) north of York. It is a private residence and has been the home of the Carlisle branch of the Howard family for more than 300 years. Castle Howard is not a fortified structure, but the term "castle" is sometimes used in the name of an English country house that was built on the site of a former castle.

Allerton Castle

Allerton Castle

Allerton Castle, also known as Allerton Park, is a Grade I listed nineteenth-century Gothic or Victorian Gothic house at Allerton Mauleverer in North Yorkshire, England. It was rebuilt by architect George Martin, of Baker Street, London in 1843–53.

Howard family

Howard family

The House of Howard is an English noble house founded by John Howard, who was created Duke of Norfolk by King Richard III of England in 1483. However, John was also the eldest grandson of the 1st Duke of the first creation. The Howards have been part of the peerage since the 15th century and remain both the Premier Dukes and Earls of the Realm in the Peerage of England, acting as Earl Marshal of England. After the English Reformation, many Howards remained steadfast in their Catholic faith as the most high-profile recusant family; two members, Philip Howard, 13th Earl of Arundel, and William Howard, 1st Viscount Stafford, are regarded as martyrs: a saint and a blessed respectively.

Earl of Harewood

Earl of Harewood

Earl of Harewood, in the County of York, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom.

The culture of the people of Yorkshire is an accumulated product of a number of different civilisations who have influenced its history, including; the Celts (Brigantes and Parisii), Romans, Angles, Norse Vikings, and Normans amongst others.^[119] The western part of the historic North Riding had an additional infusion of Breton culture due to the Honour of Richmond being occupied by Alain Le Roux, grandson of Geoffrey I, Duke of Brittany.^[120] The people of Yorkshire are immensely proud of their county and local culture, and it is sometimes suggested they identify more strongly with their county than they do with their country.^[121] Yorkshire people have their own Yorkshire dialects and accents and are, or rather were, known as Broad Yorkshire or Tykes, with its roots in Old English and Old Norse.^[122][123]

The British Library provides a four minute long voice recording made in 1955, by a "female housekeeper", Miss Madge Dibnahon, on its web site and an example of the a Yorkshire dialect used at that time, in an unstated location. "Much of her speech remains part of the local dialect to this day", according to the Library.^[124][125] Yorkshire is a massive territory and the dialects are not identical in all areas. In fact, the dialect in North Yorkshire and Humberside/East Yorkshire is "quite different [than in West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire] and has a much stronger Scandinavian influence".^[126]

One report explains the geographic difference in detail:^[126]

This distinction was first recognised formally at the turn of the 19th / 20th centuries, when linguists drew an isophone diagonally across the county from the northwest to the southeast, separating these two broadly distinguishable ways of speaking. It can be extended westwards through Lancashire to the estuary of the River Lune, and is sometimes called the Humber-Lune Line. Strictly speaking, the dialects spoken south and west of this isophone are Midland dialects, whereas the dialects spoken north and east of it are truly Northern. It is possible that the Midland form moved up into the region with people gravitating towards the manufacturing districts of the West Riding during the Industrial Revolution.

Though distinct accents remain, dialects are no longer in everyday use. Some have argued the dialect was a fully fledged language in its own right.^[127] The county has also produced a set of Yorkshire colloquialisms,^[128] which are in use in the county. Among Yorkshire's traditions is the Long Sword dance. The most famous traditional song of Yorkshire is On Ilkla Moor Baht 'at ("On Ilkley Moor without a hat"), it is considered the unofficial anthem of the county.^[129]

Literature and art

The Brontë sisters

Although the first Professor of English Literature at Leeds University, F. W. Moorman, claimed the first extant work of English literature, Beowulf, was written in Yorkshire,^[130] this view does not have common acceptance today. However, when Yorkshire formed the southern part of the kingdom of Northumbria there were several notable poets, scholars and ecclesiastics, including Alcuin, Cædmon and Wilfrid.^[131] The most esteemed literary family from the county are the three Brontë sisters, with part of the county around Haworth being nicknamed Brontë Country in their honour.^[132] Their novels, written in the mid-19th century, caused a sensation when they were first published, yet were subsequently accepted into the canon of great English literature.^[133] Among the most celebrated novels written by the sisters are Anne Brontë's The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre and Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights.^[132] Wuthering Heights was almost a source used to depict life in Yorkshire, illustrating the type of people that reside there in its characters, and emphasising the use of the stormy Yorkshire moors. Nowadays, the parsonage which was their former home is now a museum in their honour.^[134] Bram Stoker authored Dracula while living in Whitby^[135] and it includes several elements of local folklore including the beaching of the Russian ship Dmitri, which became the basis of Demeter in the book.^[136]

The novelist tradition in Yorkshire continued into the 20th and 21st centuries, with authors such as J. B. Priestley,^[137] Alan Bennett, Stan Barstow, Dame Margaret Drabble, Winifred Holtby (South Riding, The Crowded Street), A. S. Byatt, Barbara Taylor Bradford,^[138] Marina Lewycka and Sunjeev Sahota being prominent examples. Taylor Bradford is noted for A Woman of Substance which was one of the top-ten best selling novels in history.^[139] Another well-known author was children's writer Arthur Ransome, who penned the Swallows and Amazons series.^[138] James Herriot, the best selling author of over 60 million copies of books about his experiences of some 50 years as a veterinarian in Thirsk, North Yorkshire, the town which he refers to as Darrowby in his books^[140] (although born in Sunderland), has been admired for his easy reading style and interesting characters.^[141]

Poets include Ted Hughes, W. H. Auden, William Empson, Simon Armitage, David Miedzianik and Andrew Marvell.^{[138][142][143][144][145]} Three well known sculptors emerged in the 20th century; contemporaries Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth, and Leeds-raised eco artist Andy Goldsworthy. Some of their works are available for public viewing at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park.^[146] There are several art galleries in Yorkshire featuring extensive collections, such as Ferens Art Gallery, Leeds Art Gallery, Millennium Galleries and York Art Gallery.^{[147][148][149]} Some of the better known local painters are William Etty and David Hockney;^[150] many works by the latter are housed at Salts Mill 1853 Gallery in Saltaire.^[151]

Cuisine

A Yorkshire pudding, served as part of a traditional Sunday roast.

The traditional cuisine of Yorkshire, in common with the North of England in general, is known for using rich-tasting ingredients, especially with regard to sweet dishes, which were affordable for the majority of people.^[152] There are several dishes which originated in Yorkshire or are heavily associated with it.^[152] Yorkshire pudding, a savoury batter dish, is by far the best known of Yorkshire foods, and is eaten throughout England. It is commonly served with roast beef and vegetables to form part of the Sunday roast^[152] but is traditionally served as a starter dish filled with onion gravy within Yorkshire.^[153] Yorkshire pudding is the base for toad in the hole, a dish containing sausage.^[154]

Other foods associated with the county include Yorkshire curd tart, a curd tart recipe with rosewater;^[155] parkin, a sweet ginger cake which is different from standard ginger cakes in that it includes oatmeal and treacle;^[156] and Wensleydale cheese, a cheese made with milk from Wensleydale and often eaten as an accompaniment to sweet foods.^[157] The beverage ginger beer, flavoured with ginger, came from Yorkshire and has existed since the mid-18th century. Liquorice sweet was first created by George Dunhill from Pontefract, who in the 1760s thought to mix the liquorice plant with sugar.^[158] Yorkshire and in particular the city of York played a prominent role in the confectionery industry, with chocolate factories owned by companies such as Rowntree's, Terry's and Thorntons inventing many of Britain's most popular sweets.^[159][160] Another traditional Yorkshire food is pikelets, which are similar to crumpets but much thinner.^[161] The Rhubarb Triangle is a location within Yorkshire which supplies most of the rhubarb to locals.

In recent years curries have become popular in the county, largely due to the immigration and successful integration of Asian families. There are many famous curry empires with their origins in Yorkshire, including the 850-seater Aakash restaurant in Cleckheaton, which has been described as "the world's largest curry house".^[162]

Beer and brewing

Yorkshire has a number of breweries including Black Sheep, Copper Dragon, Cropton Brewery, John Smith's, Sam Smith's, Kelham Island Brewery, Theakstons, Timothy Taylor, Wharfedale Brewery, Harrogate Brewery and Leeds Brewery.^[163][164] The beer style most associated with the county is bitter.^[165] As elsewhere in the North of England, when served through a handpump, a sparkler is used giving a tighter, more solid head.^[166]

Brewing has taken place on a large scale since at least the 12th century, for example at the now derelict Fountains Abbey which at its height produced 60 barrels of strong ale every ten days.^[167] Most current Yorkshire breweries date from the Industrial Revolution of the late 18th and early 19th century.^[163]

Music

Kate Rusby on stage in 2005

Yorkshire has a heritage of folk music and folk dance including the Long Sword dance.^[168] Yorkshire folk song was distinguished by the use of dialect, particularly in the West Riding and exemplified by the song 'On Ilkla Moor Baht 'at', probably written in the late 19th century, using a Kent folk tune (almost certainly borrowed via a Methodist hymnal), seen as an unofficial Yorkshire anthem.^[169] Famous folk performers from the county include the Watersons from Hull, who began recording Yorkshire versions of folk songs from 1965;^[170] Heather Wood (born 1945) of the Young Tradition; the short-lived electric folk group Mr Fox (1970–72), The Deighton Family; Julie Matthews; Kathryn Roberts; and Kate Rusby.^[170] Yorkshire has a flourishing folk music culture, with over forty folk clubs and thirty annual folk music festivals.^[171] The 1982 Eurovision Song Contest was held in the Harrogate International Centre. In 2007 the Yorkshire Garland Group was formed to make Yorkshire folk songs accessible online and in schools.^[172]

In the field of classical music, Yorkshire has produced some major and minor composers, including Frederick Delius, George Dyson, Philip Wilby, Edward Bairstow, William Baines, Kenneth Leighton, Eric Fenby, Haydn Wood, Arthur Wood, Arnold Cooke, Gavin Bryars, John Casken, and in the area of TV, film and radio music, John Barry and Wally Stott. Opera North is based at the Grand Theatre, Leeds. Leeds is also home to the Leeds International Piano Competition. The Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival takes place annually in November. Huddersfield Choral Society is one of the UK's most celebrated amateur choirs.^[173] The National Centre for Early Music is located in York.

The county is home to successful brass bands such as Black Dyke, Brighouse & Rastrick, Carlton Main Frickley, Hammonds Saltaire, and Yorkshire Imperial.

Arctic Monkeys performing on Orange stage at Roskilde Festival in 2007

During the 1970s David Bowie, himself of a father from Tadcaster in North Yorkshire,^[174] hired three musicians from Hull: Mick Ronson, Trevor Bolder and Mick Woodmansey; together they recorded Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, an album considered by a magazine article as one of a 100 greatest and most influential of all time.^[175] In the following decade, Def Leppard, from Sheffield, achieved worldwide fame, particularly in America. Their 1983 album Pyromania and 1987 album Hysteria are among the most successful albums of all time. Yorkshire had a very strong post-punk scene which went on to achieve widespread acclaim and success, including: The Sisters of Mercy, The Cult, Vardis, Gang of Four, ABC, The Human League, New Model Army, Soft Cell, Chumbawamba, The Wedding Present and The Mission.^[176] Pulp from Sheffield had a massive hit in "Common People" during 1995; the song focuses on working-class northern life.^[177] In the 21st century, indie rock and post-punk revival bands from the area gained popularity, including the Kaiser Chiefs, The Cribs and the Arctic Monkeys, the last-named holding the record for the fastest-selling debut album in British music history with Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not.^[178]

Influenced by the local post punk scene, but also by national and international extreme metal acts such as Celtic Frost, Candlemass, and Morbid Angel, Yorkshire-based bands Paradise Lost and My Dying Bride laid the foundations of what would become the Gothic Metal genre in the early to mid-1990s.^[179][180]

Film and television productions

Among prominent British television shows filmed in (and based on) Yorkshire are the sitcom Last of the Summer Wine, the drama series Heartbeat, and the soap opera Emmerdale. Last of the Summer Wine in particular is noted for holding the record of longest-running comedy series in the world, from 1973 until 2010.^[181] Other notable television series set in Yorkshire include Downton Abbey, All Creatures Great and Small, The Beiderbecke Trilogy, Rising Damp, Open All Hours, Band Of Gold, Dalziel and Pascoe, Fat Friends, The Syndicate, No Angels, Drifters and The Royal. During the first three series of the sitcom The New Statesman, Alan B'Stard represented as MP the fictional constituency of Haltenprice in North Yorkshire. Several noted films are set in Yorkshire, including Kes, This Sporting Life, Room at the Top, Brassed Off, Mischief Night, Rita, Sue and Bob Too, The Damned United, Four Lions, God's Own Country and Calendar Girls. The Full Monty, a comedy film set in Sheffield, won an Academy Award and was voted the second-best British film of all time by Asian News International.^[182]

Yorkshire has remained a popular location for filming in more recent times.^[183][184] For example, much of ITV's highly acclaimed Victoria was filmed in the region, at locations such as Harewood House in Leeds and Beverley Minster (the latter being used to depict Westminster Abbey and St James' Palace),^[185][186] whilst Channel 5 has programmed numerous Yorkshire-themed documentary series such as Our Yorkshire Farm and The Yorkshire Steam Railway: All Aboard across its schedule.^[187][188]

West Yorkshire has particularly benefited from a great deal of production activity.^[189][190] For example, portions of the BBC television series Happy Valley and Last Tango in Halifax were filmed in the area, in Huddersfield and other cities; in addition to exteriors, some of the studio filming for Happy Valley was done at North Light Film Studios at Brookes Mill, Huddersfield. Although set in the fictional town of Denton, popular ITV detective series A Touch Of Frost was filmed in Yorkshire, mainly in and around Leeds. The BBC's Jamaica Inn and Remember Me and the ITV series Black Work were also filmed at the studios and in nearby West Yorkshire locations.^{[191][192][193][194]} More recently, many of the exteriors of the BBC series Jericho were filmed at the nearby Rockingstone Quarry, and some interior work was done at North Light Film Studios.^[195]

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Culture of Yorkshire

Culture of Yorkshire

The culture of Yorkshire has developed over the county's history, influenced by the cultures of those who came to control settle in the region, including the Celts, Romans, Angles, Vikings, Normans and British Afro-Caribbean windrush generation communities from the 1950s onwards. Yorkshire people are said to have a strong sense of regional identity and have been viewed to identify more strongly with their county than their country. The Yorkshire dialect and accent is distinctive, although use of Old Norse and dialect words is stagnant; the Yorkshire Dialect and accents are seen by non-native speakers as trustworthy, friendly & linguistically prestigious.

Celts

Celts

The Celts or Celtic peoples are a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia, identified by their use of Celtic languages and other cultural similarities. Historical Celtic groups included the Britons, Boii, Celtiberians, Gaels, Gauls, Gallaeci, Galatians, Lepontii and their offshoots. The relation between ethnicity, language and culture in the Celtic world is unclear and debated; for example over the ways in which the Iron Age people of Britain and Ireland should be called Celts. In current scholarship, 'Celt' primarily refers to 'speakers of Celtic languages' rather than to a single ethnic group.

Brigantes

Brigantes

The Brigantes were Ancient Britons who in pre-Roman times controlled the largest section of what would become Northern England. Their territory, often referred to as Brigantia, was centred in what was later known as Yorkshire. The Greek geographer Ptolemy named the Brigantes as a people in Ireland also, where they could be found around what is now Wexford, Kilkenny and Waterford, while another people named Brigantii is mentioned by Strabo as a sub-tribe of the Vindelici in the region of the Alps.

Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome

In modern historiography, Ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom, Roman Republic and Roman Empire until the fall of the western empire.

Angles

Angles

The Angles were one of the main Germanic peoples who settled in Great Britain in the post-Roman period. They founded several kingdoms of the Heptarchy in Anglo-Saxon England. Their name is the root of the name England. According to Tacitus, writing around 100 AD, a people known as Angles (Anglii) lived east of the Lombards and Semnones, who lived near the Elbe river.

Normans

Normans

The Normans were a population arising in the medieval Duchy of Normandy from the intermingling between Norse Viking settlers and indigenous West Franks and Gallo-Romans. The term is also used to denote emigrants from the duchy who conquered other territories such as England and Sicily. The Norse settlements in West Francia followed a series of raids on the French northern coast mainly from Denmark, although some also sailed from Norway and Sweden. These settlements were finally legitimized when Rollo, a Scandinavian Viking leader, agreed to swear fealty to King Charles III of West Francia following the siege of Chartres in 911. The intermingling in Normandy produced an ethnic and cultural "Norman" identity in the first half of the 10th century, an identity which continued to evolve over the centuries.

Honour of Richmond

Honour of Richmond

The Honour of Richmond in north-west Yorkshire, England was granted to Count Alan Rufus by King William the Conqueror sometime during 1069 to 1071, although the date is uncertain. It was gifted as thanks for his services at the Conquest. The extensive district was previously held by Edwin, Earl of Mercia who died in 1071. The district is probably mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 but its limits are uncertain.

Geoffrey I, Duke of Brittany

Geoffrey I, Duke of Brittany

Geoffrey I, also known as Geoffrey of Rennes and Geoffrey Berengar, was the eldest son of Duke Conan I of Brittany. He was Count of Rennes, by right of succession. In 992 he assumed the title of Duke of Brittany, which had long been an independent state, but he had little control over much of Lower Brittany.

British Library

British Library

The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British Library receives copies of all books produced in the United Kingdom and Ireland, including a significant proportion of overseas titles distributed in the UK. The Library is a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.

Language

Language

Language is a structured system of communication that consists of grammar and vocabulary. It is the primary means by which humans convey meaning, both in spoken and written forms, and may also be conveyed through sign languages. The vast majority of human languages have developed writing systems that allow for the recording and preservation of the sounds or signs of language. Human language is characterized by its cultural and historical diversity, with significant variations observed between cultures and across time. Human languages possess the properties of productivity and displacement, which enable the creation of an infinite number of sentences, and the ability to refer to objects, events, and ideas that are not immediately present in the discourse. The use of human language relies on social convention and is acquired through learning.

Long Sword dance

Long Sword dance

The Long Sword dance is a hilt-and-point sword dance recorded mainly in Yorkshire, England. The dances are usually performed around Christmas time and were believed to derive from a rite performed to enable a fruitful harvest.

Ilkley Moor

Ilkley Moor

Ilkley Moor is part of Rombalds Moor, the moorland between Ilkley and Keighley in West Yorkshire, England. The moor, which rises to 402 m (1,319 ft) above sea level, is well known as the inspiration for the Yorkshire "county anthem" On Ilkla Moor Baht 'at.

Yorkshire has a long tradition in the field of sports, with participation in cricket, football, rugby league and horse racing being the most established sporting ventures.^{[196][197][198][199]}

Cricket

Yorkshire County Cricket Club represents the historic county in the domestic first class cricket County Championship; with a total of 33 championship titles (including one shared), 13 more than any other county, Yorkshire is the most decorated county cricket club.^[198] Some of the most highly regarded figures in the game were born in the county, amongst them:^[200]

Richmondshire Cricket Ground

The four ECB Premier Leagues in the county are: Bradford, North-Yorkshire-&-South-Durham, Yorkshire North and Yorkshire South. The league winners qualify to take part in a yearly Yorkshire Championship, the highest NYSD club based in Yorkshire qualifies if a Durham side wins.^[201]

Football

Association

The original hand-written 'Laws of the Game' drafted for and on behalf of The Football Association by Ebenezer Cobb Morley in 1863

Football clubs founded in Yorkshire include, four of which have been league champions:

Yorkshire is officially recognised by FIFA as the birthplace of club football,^[202][203] as Sheffield FC founded in 1857 are certified as the oldest association football club in the world.^[204] The world's first inter-club match and local derby was competed in the county, at the world's oldest ground Sandygate Road.^[205] The Laws of the Game, used worldwide, were drafted by Ebenezer Cobb Morley from Hull.^[206]

Huddersfield were the first club to win three consecutive league titles.^[207] Leeds United reached the 2001 UEFA Champions League semi-finals and had a dominance period in the 1970s. Sheffield Wednesday who have had similar spells of dominance, such as the early 1990s. Middlesbrough won the 2004 League Cup and reach the 2006 UEFA Cup Final.^[208][209]

Noted players from Yorkshire who have influenced the game include World Cup-winning goalkeeper Gordon Banks and two time European Footballer of the Year award winner Kevin Keegan.^[210][211] Prominent managers include Herbert Chapman, Brian Clough, Bill Nicholson, George Raynor and Don Revie.^[212]

The Yorkshire football team, controlled by the Yorkshire International Football Association (YIFA), represents Yorkshire in CONIFA matches. The team was founded in 2017, joined CONIFA on 6 January 2018 and plays at various venues throughout Yorkshire.^[213][214]

Rugby Union

Yorkshire has along history of rugby union in the county with Leeds Tykes (formerly Yorkshire Carnegie) featuring in the Aviva Premiership for eight seasons between 2001 and 2011 when they were relegated to the Championship. From 2020 the teams has reverted to its amateur status and plays in National League 1. Rotherham Titans also played in the top tier of English rugby in 2000–01 and 2003–04.^[215]

Many England international players have emerged from Yorkshire including World Cup winners Jason Robinson and Mike Tindall.^[216] Other successful players from the region include Rob Andrew, Tim Rodber, Brian Moore, Danny Care, Rory Underwood and Sir Ian McGeechan.

Rugby League

The George Hotel

The Rugby Football League and with it the sport of rugby league was founded in 1895 at the George Hotel, Huddersfield, after a North-South schism within the Rugby Football Union.^[217] The top league is the Super League and the most decorated Yorkshire clubs are Huddersfield Giants, Hull FC, Bradford Bulls, Hull Kingston Rovers, Wakefield Trinity, Castleford Tigers and Leeds Rhinos.^[218] In total six Yorkshiremen have been inducted into the Rugby Football League Hall of Fame amongst them is Roger Millward, Jonty Parkin and Harold Wagstaff.^[219]

Multi-sport events

In the area of boxing "Prince" Naseem Hamed from Sheffield achieved title success and widespread fame,^[220] in what the BBC describes as "one of British boxing's most illustrious careers".^[220] Along with Leeds-born Nicola Adams who in 2012 became the first female athlete to win a boxing gold medal at the Olympics.^[221]

A number of athletes from or associated with Yorkshire took part in the 2012 Summer Olympics as members of Team GB; the Yorkshire Post stated that Yorkshire's athletes alone secured more gold medals than those of Spain.^[222] Notable Yorkshire athletes include Jessica Ennis-Hill and the Brownlee brothers, Jonathan and Alistair. Jessica Ennis-Hill is from Sheffield and won gold at the 2012 Olympics in London and silver at the 2016 Olympics in Rio. Triathletes Alastair and Jonny Brownlee have won two golds and a silver and bronze respectively.

Animal related

York Racecourse

Yorkshire also has an array of racecourses: in North Yorkshire there are Catterick, Redcar, Ripon, Thirsk and York; in the East Riding of Yorkshire there is Beverley; in West Yorkshire there are Pontefract and Wetherby; while in South Yorkshire there is Doncaster.

England's oldest horse race, which began in 1519, is run each year at Kiplingcotes near Market Weighton.^[199] Continuing this tradition in the field of horse racing, there are currently nine established racecourses in the county.^[223] Britain's oldest organised fox hunt is the Bilsdale, founded in 1668.^[224][225]

Knurr and Spell

The sport of Knurr and Spell was unique to the region, being one of the most popular sports in the area during the 18th and 19th centuries, before a decline in the 20th century to virtual obscurity.^{[226][227][228]}

Cycling

Tour de Yorkshire in Bridlington, 2015

Yorkshire is considered to be particularly fond of cycling. In 2014 the County hosted the Grand Depart of the Tour de France. Spectator crowds over the two days were estimated to be of the order of 2.5 million people, making it the highest attended event in the UK.^[229] The inaugural Tour de Yorkshire was held from 1–3 May 2015,^[230] with start and finishes in Bridlington, Leeds, Scarborough, Selby, Wakefield and York,^[231] watched by 1.2 million.^[232] Yorkshire hosted the 2019 UCI Road World Championships between 22 and 29 September, which were held in Harrogate.^[233] Notable racing cyclists from Yorkshire include Brian Robinson, Lizzie Deignan and Beryl Burton.^[234]

Hockey

Field

Field Hockey is a popular game in the county with 58 clubs running 271 organised teams in the historical county.^[235] The largest clubs include City of York HC (16 teams), Doncaster HC, Leeds HC and Sheffield Hallam HC (all 14 teams). The most recent team from Yorkshire to have played in the EH Premier League was Sheffield Hallam who finished in 9th place in 2013–14.^[236] England and Great Britain's most capped player of all time Barry Middleton hails from the town of Doncaster in the county.^[237] Hockey in the county was formerly organised by the Yorkshire Hockey Association but is now run by Yorkshire & North East Hockey who have run leagues and organised representative teams since September 2021.

Other professional sports franchise teams

Sheffield is home to the Sheffield Sharks who play in the British Basketball League and, from 2021, Leeds Rhinos have featured in the Netball Superleague.

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Cricket

Cricket

Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a 22-yard (20-metre) pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striking the ball bowled at one of the wickets with the bat and then running between the wickets, while the bowling and fielding side tries to prevent this and dismiss each batter. Means of dismissal include being bowled, when the ball hits the stumps and dislodges the bails, and by the fielding side either catching the ball after it is hit by the bat, but before it hits the ground, or hitting a wicket with the ball before a batter can cross the crease in front of the wicket. When ten batters have been dismissed, the innings ends and the teams swap roles. The game is adjudicated by two umpires, aided by a third umpire and match referee in international matches. They communicate with two off-field scorers who record the match's statistical information.

Association football

Association football

Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel a ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is to score more goals than the opposite team by moving the ball beyond the goal line into a rectangular-framed goal defended by the opposing side. Traditionally, the game has been played over two 45-minute halves, for a total match time of 90 minutes. With an estimated 250 million players active in over 200 countries and territories, it is considered the world's most popular sport.

Horse racing

Horse racing

Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic premise – to identify which of two or more horses is the fastest over a set course or distance – has been mostly unchanged since at least classical antiquity.

First-class cricket

First-class cricket

First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adjudged to be worthy of the status by virtue of the standard of the competing teams. Matches must allow for the teams to play two innings each, although in practice a team might play only one innings or none at all.

County Championship

County Championship

The County Championship is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales and is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It became an official title in 1890. The competition consists of eighteen clubs named after, and representing historic counties, seventeen from England and one from Wales.

Geoffrey Boycott

Geoffrey Boycott

Sir Geoffrey Boycott is a former Test cricketer, who played cricket for Yorkshire and England. In a prolific and sometimes controversial playing career from 1962 to 1986, Boycott established himself as one of England's most successful opening batsmen, a dogged grafter.

Brian Close

Brian Close

Dennis Brian Close, was an English first-class cricketer. He was picked to play against New Zealand in July 1949, when he was 18 years old. Close went on to play 22 Test matches for England, captaining them seven times to six wins and one drawn test. Close also captained Yorkshire to four county championship titles – the main domestic trophy in English cricket. He later went on to captain Somerset, where he is widely credited with developing the county into a hard-playing team, and helping to mould Viv Richards and Ian Botham into the successful players they became.

George Hirst

George Hirst

George Herbert Hirst was a professional English cricketer who played first-class cricket for Yorkshire County Cricket Club between 1891 and 1921, with a further appearance in 1929. One of the best all-rounders of his time, Hirst was a left arm medium-fast bowler and right-handed batsman. He played in 24 Test matches for England between 1897 and 1909, touring Australia twice. He completed the double of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets in an English cricket season 14 times, the second most of any cricketer after his contemporary and team-mate Wilfred Rhodes. One of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year for 1901, Hirst scored 36,356 runs and took 2,742 wickets in first-class cricket. In Tests, he made 790 runs and captured 59 wickets.

Herbert Sutcliffe

Herbert Sutcliffe

Herbert Sutcliffe was an English professional cricketer who represented Yorkshire and England as an opening batsman. Apart from one match in 1945, his first-class career spanned the period between the two world wars. His first-class debut was delayed by the First World War until 1919 and his career was effectively terminated in August 1939 when he was called up for military service in the imminent Second World War. He was the first cricketer to score 16 centuries in Test match cricket.He is most famous for being the partner of Jack Hobbs and the partnership between the two,Hobbs and Sutcliffe is widely regarded as the greatest partnership of all time.

Fred Trueman

Fred Trueman

Frederick Sewards Trueman, was an English cricketer who played for Yorkshire County Cricket Club and the England cricket team. He had professional status and later became an author and broadcaster.

Hedley Verity

Hedley Verity

Hedley Verity was a professional cricketer who played for Yorkshire and England between 1930 and 1939. A slow left-arm orthodox bowler, he took 1,956 wickets in first-class cricket at an average of 14.90 and 144 wickets in 40 Tests at an average of 24.37. Named as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1932, he is regarded as one of the most effective slow left-arm bowlers to have played cricket. Never someone who spun the ball sharply, he achieved success through the accuracy of his bowling. On pitches which made batting difficult, particularly ones affected by rain, he could be almost impossible to bat against.

ECB Premier Leagues

ECB Premier Leagues

The ECB Premier Leagues are a series of regional cricket leagues organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) that form the top tier of club cricket in England and Wales. The ECB published "Raising the Standard" in 1997, the ECB Management Board Blueprint for the Future Playing Structure of cricket. This introduced the concept of ECB Premier Leagues, designed to raise the playing standard of the top tier of club cricket and to bridge the gap between recreational cricket and the First Class game. A national network of Premier Leagues was established, with funding from the ECB. The Leagues have to meet the published ECB assessment criteria and they receive accreditation on an annual basis.

Representation

William Wilberforce, leading abolitionist, was the MP for Yorkshire between 1784 and 1812.

From 1290, Yorkshire was represented by two members of parliament of the House of Commons of the Parliament of England. After the union with Scotland, two members represented the county in the Parliament of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1832. In 1832 the county benefited from the disfranchisement of Grampound by taking an additional two members.^[240] Yorkshire was represented at this time as one single, large, county constituency.^[240] Like other counties, there were also some county boroughs within Yorkshire, the oldest of which was the City of York, which had existed since the ancient Montfort's Parliament of 1265. After the Reform Act 1832, Yorkshire's political representation in parliament was drawn from its subdivisions, with members of parliament representing each of the three historic Ridings of Yorkshire; East Riding, North Riding, and West Riding constituencies.^[240]

For the 1865 general elections and onwards, the West Riding was further divided into Northern, Eastern and Southern parliamentary constituencies, though these only lasted until the major Redistribution of Seats Act 1885.^[241] This act saw more localisation of government in the United Kingdom, with the introduction of 26 new parliamentary constituencies within Yorkshire, while the Local Government Act 1888 introduced some reforms for the county boroughs, of which there were eight in Yorkshire by the end of the 19th century.^[242]

With the Representation of the People Act 1918 there was some reshuffling on a local level for the 1918 general election, revised again during the 1950s.^[243] The most controversial reorganisation of local government in Yorkshire was the Local Government Act 1972,^[244] put into practice in 1974. Under the act, the Ridings lost their lieutenancies, shrievalties, and administrative counties. County boroughs and their councils were abolished, to be replaced by metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties with vastly changed borders.^[60] Although some government officials^[245] and King Charles^[246] have asserted such reform is not meant to alter the ancient boundaries or cultural loyalties, there are pressure groups such as the Yorkshire Ridings Society who want greater recognition for the historic boundaries.^[247] In 1996 the East Riding of Yorkshire was reformed as a unitary authority area and together with the adjoining unitary authority of Kingston upon Hull forms a ceremonial county. The Yorkshire and the Humber region of Government Office covers most, but not all of the historic county.

Distinctive identity and devolution campaigns

A number of claims have been made for the distinctiveness of Yorkshire, as a geographical, cultural and political entity, and these have been used to demand increased political autonomy. In the early twentieth century, F. W. Moorman, the first professor of English Language at Leeds University, claimed Yorkshire was not settled by Angles or Saxons following the end of Roman rule in Britain, but by a different Germanic tribe, the Geats. As a consequence, he claimed, it is possible the first work of English literature, Beowulf, believed to have been composed by Geats, was written in Yorkshire, and this distinctive ethnic and cultural origin is the root of the unique status of Yorkshire today.^[130] One of Moorman's students at Leeds University, Herbert Read, was greatly influenced by Moorman's ideas on Yorkshire identity, and claimed that until recent times Yorkshire was effectively an island, cut off from the rest of England by rivers, fens, moors and mountains. This distancing of Yorkshire from England led Read to question whether Yorkshire people were really English at all.^[248] Combined with the suggested ethnic difference from the rest of England, Read quoted Frederic Pearson, who wrote:

There is something characteristic about the very physiognomy of the Yorkshireman. He is much more of a Dane or a Viking than a Saxon. He is usually a big upstanding man, who looks as if he could take care of himself and those who depend upon him in an emergency. This is indeed the character that his neighbours give him; the southerner may think him a little hard: but if ever our country is let down by its inhabitants, we may be sure that it will not be the fault of Yorkshire.^[248]

During the premiership of William Pitt the Younger the hypothetical idea of Yorkshire becoming independent was raised in the British parliament in relation to the question whether Ireland should become part of the United Kingdom. This resulted in the publication of an anonymous pamphlet in London in 1799 arguing at length that Yorkshire could never be an independent state as it would always be reliant on the rest of the United Kingdom to provide it with essential resources.^[249]

Although in the devolution debates in the House of Commons of the late 1960s, which paved the way for the 1979 referendums on the creation of a Scottish parliament and Welsh assembly, parallel devolution for Yorkshire was suggested, this was opposed by the Scottish National Party Member of Parliament for Hamilton, Winifred Ewing. Ewing argued that it was offensive to Scots to argue that an English region had the same status as an 'ancient nation' such as Scotland.^[250]

The relationship between Yorkshire and Scottish devolution was again made in 1975 by Richard Wainwright, MP for Colne Valley, who claimed in a speech in the House of Commons:

The nationalist movement in Scotland is associated with flags, strange costumes, weird music and extravagant ceremonial. When... people go to Yorkshire and find that we have no time for dressing up, waving flags and playing strange instruments—in other words, we are not a lot of Presbyterians in Yorkshire—they should not assume that we do not have the same feelings underneath the skin. Independence in Yorkshire expresses itself in a markedly increasing determination to establish self-reliance.^[251]

In more recent years, in 1998 the Campaign for Yorkshire was established to push for the creation of a Yorkshire regional assembly,^[252] sometimes dubbed the Yorkshire Parliament.^[253] In its defining statement, the Campaign for Yorkshire made reference to the historical notions that Yorkshire had a distinctive identity:

Yorkshire and the Humber has distinctive characteristics which make it an ideal test bed for further reform. It has a strong popular identity. The region follows closely the historic boundaries of the three Ridings, and there is no serious debate about boundaries. It possesses strong existing regional partnerships including universities, voluntary and church associations. All this makes it realistic to regard Yorkshire and the Humber as the standard bearer for representative regional government.^[254]

The Campaign for Yorkshire was led by Jane Thomas as Director^[255] and Paul Jagger as chairman. Jagger claimed in 1999 that Yorkshire had as much right to a regional parliament or assembly as Scotland and Wales because Yorkshire 'has as clear a sense of identity as Scotland or Wales.'^[256] One of those brought into the Campaign for Yorkshire by Jane Thomas was Herbert Read scholar Michael Paraskos, who organised a series of events in 2000 to highlight the distinctiveness of Yorkshire culture. This included a major exhibition of Yorkshire artists.^[257] Paraskos also founded a Yorkshire Studies degree course at Hull University.^[258] Interviewed by The Guardian newspaper, Paraskos linked the start of this course to the contemporary devolution debates in Yorkshire, Scotland and Wales, claiming:

If Yorkshire is arguing for a parliament, there needs to be a cultural argument as well, otherwise why not have a parliament of the north? There is a rediscovery of political and social culture going on in a very similar way to the early assertions of a Scottish identity.^[259]

In March 2013, the Yorkshire Devolution Movement was founded as an active campaign group by Nigel Sollitt, who had administrated the social media group by that name since 2011, Gareth Shanks, a member of the social media group, and Stewart Arnold, former Chair of the Campaign for Yorkshire. In September 2013, the executive committee was joined by Richard Honnoraty and Richard Carter (as an advisor), who had also been involved in the Campaign for Yorkshire. The Movement campaigns for a directly elected parliament for the whole of the traditional county of Yorkshire with powers second to no other devolved administration in the UK.^[260][261]

Map of the Combined authorities, including West Yorkshire and the Sheffield City Region.

Two Combined Authorities, which serve to devolve certain powers, have been established in Yorkshire, the West Yorkshire Combined Authority, and the Sheffield Combined Authority, in South Yorkshire. A mayoralty has been established in the Sheffield City Region, and elections for the Mayor of West Yorkshire are due to take place in 2021. An alternative proposal was also made for a cross-Yorkshire Authority, dubbed "One Yorkshire", which was supported by 18 of the 20 Yorkshire councils, with Sheffield and Rotherham both preferring the South Yorkshire alternative. The government rejected the devolution deal,^[262] and alongside the two existing authorities, further proposals have been made in North Yorkshire^[263] and the East Riding,^[264] although some support for the whole Yorkshire deal has continued.^[265]

In 2014, Richard Carter, Stewart Arnold and Richard Honnoraty, founded Yorkshire First, a political party campaigning for the creation of a Yorkshire parliament by 2050 based on the Scottish Parliament. It was later renamed the Yorkshire Party.^[266] A Social democratic party, it has parish, town, district and county councillors, and stood in 28 constituencies in the 2019 general election. Yorkshire Party candidates have also run for the position of directly elected mayors in Doncaster in 2017 (receiving 3,235 votes, 5.04%) and the Sheffield City Region in 2018 (receiving 22,318 votes, 8.6).

Monarchy and peerage

The White Rose of York remains as the prime symbol of Yorkshire identity

When the territory of Yorkshire began to take shape as a result of the invasion of the Danish vikings, they instituted a monarchy based at the settlement of Jórvík, York.^[267] The reign of the Viking kings came to an end with the last king Eric Bloodaxe dying in battle in 954 after the invasion and conquest by the Kingdom of England from the south. Jórvík was the last of the independent kingdoms to be taken to form part of the Kingdom of England and thus the local monarchal title became defunct.^[268]

Though the monarchal title became defunct, it was succeeded by the creation of the Earl of York title of nobility^[269] by king of England Edgar the Peaceful in 960. (The earldom covered the general area of Yorkshire and is sometimes referred to as the Earl of Yorkshire.)^[269] The title passed through the hands of various nobles, decided upon by the king of England. The last man to hold the title was William le Gros, however the earldom was abolished by Henry II as a result of a troubled period known as The Anarchy.^[270]

The peerage was recreated by Edward III in 1385, this time in the form of the prestigious title of Duke of York which he gave to his son Edmund of Langley. Edmund founded the House of York; later the title was merged with that of the King of England. Much of the modern-day symbolism of Yorkshire, such as the White Rose of York, is derived from the Yorkists,^[271] giving the house a special affinity within the culture of Yorkshire. Especially celebrated is the Yorkist king Richard III who spent much of his life at Middleham Castle in Yorkshire.^[42][272] Since that time the title has passed through the hands of many, being merged with the crown and then recreated several times. The title of Duke of York is given to the second son of the British monarch.^[273]

Discover more about Politics and identity related topics

Lord Lieutenant of Yorkshire

Lord Lieutenant of Yorkshire

This is a list of people who served as Lord Lieutenant of Yorkshire.

History of local government in Yorkshire

History of local government in Yorkshire

The history of local government in Yorkshire is unique and complex. Yorkshire is the largest historic English county and consists of a diverse mix of urban and rural development with a heritage in agriculture, manufacturing, and mining. After a long period with little change, it has been subject to a number of reforms of local government structures in modern times, some of which were controversial. The most significant of these were the Local Government Act 1972, the 1990s UK local government reform, and the Localism Act 2011. The historic area currently corresponds to several counties and districts and is mostly contained within the Yorkshire and the Humber region.

Abolitionism in the United Kingdom

Abolitionism in the United Kingdom

Abolitionism in the United Kingdom was the movement in the late 18th and early 19th centuries to end the practice of slavery, whether formal or informal, in the United Kingdom, the British Empire and the world, including ending the Atlantic slave trade. It was part of a wider abolitionism movement in Western Europe and the Americas.

Parliament of England

Parliament of England

The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England from the 13th century until 1707 when it was replaced by the Parliament of Great Britain. Parliament evolved from the great council of bishops and peers that advised the English monarch. Great councils were first called Parliaments during the reign of Henry III. By this time, the king required Parliament's consent to levy taxation.

Parliament of Great Britain

Parliament of Great Britain

The Parliament of Great Britain was formed in May 1707 following the ratification of the Acts of Union by both the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland. The Acts ratified the treaty of Union which created a new unified Kingdom of Great Britain and created the parliament of Great Britain located in the former home of the English parliament in the Palace of Westminster, near the City of London. This lasted nearly a century, until the Acts of Union 1800 merged the separate British and Irish Parliaments into a single Parliament of the United Kingdom with effect from 1 January 1801.

Parliament of the United Kingdom

Parliament of the United Kingdom

The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative supremacy and thereby ultimate power over all other political bodies in the UK and the overseas territories. Parliament is bicameral but has three parts, consisting of the sovereign (King-in-Parliament), the House of Lords, and the House of Commons. In theory, power is officially vested in the King-in-Parliament. However, the Crown normally acts on the advice of the prime minister, and the powers of the House of Lords are limited to only delaying legislation; thus power is de facto vested in the House of Commons.

Grampound (UK Parliament constituency)

Grampound (UK Parliament constituency)

Grampound in Cornwall, was a borough constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of England, then of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1821. It was represented by two Members of Parliament.

County borough

County borough

County borough is a term introduced in 1889 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, to refer to a borough or a city independent of county council control, similar to the unitary authorities created since the 1990s. An equivalent term used in Scotland was a county of city. They were abolished by the Local Government Act 1972 in England and Wales, but continue in use for lieutenancy and shrievalty in Northern Ireland. In the Republic of Ireland they remain in existence but have been renamed cities under the provisions of the Local Government Act 2001. The Local Government (Wales) Act 1994 re-introduced the term for certain "principal areas" in Wales. Scotland did not have county boroughs but instead had counties of cities. These were abolished on 16 May 1975. All four Scottish cities of the time—Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, and Glasgow—were included in this category. There was an additional category of large burgh in the Scottish system, which were responsible for all services apart from police, education and fire.

City of York (UK Parliament constituency)

City of York (UK Parliament constituency)

The City of York was a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.

Reform Act 1832

Reform Act 1832

The Representation of the People Act 1832 was an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom that introduced major changes to the electoral system of England and Wales. It abolished tiny districts, gave representation to cities, gave the vote to small landowners, tenant farmers, shopkeepers, householders who paid a yearly rental of £10 or more, and some lodgers. Only qualifying men were able to vote; the Act introduced the first explicit statutory bar to women voting by defining a voter as a male person.

East Riding of Yorkshire (UK Parliament constituency)

East Riding of Yorkshire (UK Parliament constituency)

East Riding of Yorkshire was a parliamentary constituency covering the East Riding of Yorkshire, omitting Beverley residents save a small minority of Beverley residents who also qualified on property grounds to vote in the county seat. It returned two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament. A brief earlier guise of the seat covered the changed franchise of the First Protectorate Parliament and Second Protectorate Parliament during a fraction of the twenty years of England and Wales as a republic.

North Riding of Yorkshire (UK Parliament constituency)

North Riding of Yorkshire (UK Parliament constituency)

North Riding of Yorkshire was the constituency of the North Riding of Yorkshire. It returned two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.