Editing Horsforth (section)

==History==
[[File:Horsforth Museum.jpg|thumb|left|Horsforth Museum]]
[[File:HorsforthHomeFront.JPG|thumb|left|The Home Front: Second World War display in Horsforth Museum]]
Horsforth was recorded in the ''[[Domesday Book]]'' of 1086 as ''Horseford'', ''Horseforde'', ''Hoseforde''; but late-ninth-century coins with the legend ''ORSNA FORD'' and ''OHSNA FORD'' may have come from Horsforth. The name derives from Old English ''hors'' or, to judge from the coins, *''horsa'' ('horse') in the genitive plural form ''horsa''/''horsna'' + ''ford'' '[[ford (river)|ford]]', thus meaning 'horses' ford'.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Watts|first1=Victor|last2=Gelling|first2=John|title=The Cambridge dictionary of English place-names : based on the collections of the English Place-Name Society|date=2004|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=New York|isbn=9780521362092|page=3|edition=1}}</ref> This refers to a river crossing on the [[River Aire]] (possibly at [[Newlay]]), that was subsequently used to transport woollen goods to and from [[Pudsey]], [[Shipley, West Yorkshire|Shipley]] and [[Bradford]]. The original ford was situated off Calverley Lane, but was replaced by a stone footbridge at the turn of the 19th century.

The three unnamed [[Anglo-Saxons|Saxon]] [[thegns]] who held the land at the [[Norman Conquest|Conquest]] gave way to the king who granted it to lesser [[Normans|Norman]] nobles,<ref>{{cite web|title=Horsforth CA|url=http://www.leeds.gov.uk/docs/horsforth%20caa%20for%20full%20designation-final%20version%20adjusted.pdf|website=Leeds City Council|publisher=LCC|access-date=26 November 2015|page=5|date=10 November 2008}}</ref> but not long after most of the village came under the control of [[Kirkstall Abbey]], a [[Cistercian]] house founded in 1152 on the bank of the River Aire downstream of Horsforth.

After the [[Dissolution of the Monasteries]] in 1539, Horsforth was partitioned and sold to five families, one of them – the Stanhopes – achieved supremacy and controlled the village for the next 300 years. The estate record of the Stanhopes is regarded as one of the most extensive and important collections of its kind, complementing the extensive medieval record associated with Kirkstall Abbey.

Until the mid 19th century, Horsforth was an agricultural community but it expanded rapidly with the growth of the nearby industrial centre of Leeds. A tannery business was founded at Woodside in about 1820 by the Watson family. It was on the eastern edge of their small farm, and memorialised by ''Tanhouse Hill Lane''. The business became a soap manufacturer and moved to Whitehall Road in Leeds in 1861 and under the chairmanship of [[Joseph Watson, 1st Baron Manton|Joseph Watson junior]], created [[Baron Manton]] in 1922, as Joseph Watson & Sons Ltd, became the largest soap supplier to the northeast of England, second in size nationally only to [[Lever Brothers]].<ref>Wilson, Charles. History of Unilever, London, 1954. Vol.1</ref> Industrially, Horsforth has a history of producing high-quality stone from its quarries. Not only did it supply [[Kirkstall Abbey]] with building materials and millstones in the medieval period, it provided the stone for [[Scarborough, North Yorkshire|Scarborough's]] seafront and sent sandstone from Golden Bank Quarry as far afield as [[Egypt]]. Situated on Horsforth Beck (Oil Mill Beck) were mills serving the textile trade.

Between 1861 and 1862, there was an outbreak of [[typhoid]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=htEDAAAAYAAJ&q=horsforth&pg=PA406 |title=Epidemiological Society of London, ''Transactions'' (in GoogleBooks) |year=1863 |access-date=10 January 2012}}</ref>

Horsforth was historically a [[Township (England)|township]] in the parish of [[Guiseley]]. It became a separate civil parish in 1866.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10434233/relationships|title=Horsforth CP/Ch through time – Census tables with data for the Parish-level Unit|website=www.visionofbritain.org.uk|access-date=8 April 2018}}</ref> In the late-19th century it achieved note as the village with the largest population in England.{{citation needed|date=June 2021}} Railways, turnpike roads, tramways and the nearby canal made it a focus for almost all forms of public and commercial transport and it became a dormitory suburb of Leeds. The civil parish became Horsforth [[Urban district (Great Britain and Ireland)|Urban District]] in 1894. The parish and urban district were abolished in 1974 and merged into the new [[City of Leeds]] metropolitan district. In 1999 Horsforth became a civil parish and a [[Parish councils in England|parish council]] was created, which exercised its right to declare Horsforth a town.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.horsforthtowncouncil.gov.uk/The_Council_32391.aspx | title=Horsforth Town Council | access-date = 12 March 2024}}</ref>

[[File:7th Airedale St Margaret's Scouts and Guides - New Road Side - geograph.org.uk - 1600453.jpg|thumb|Scout and Guide hut]]
Horsforth Village Museum<ref name=HM>{{cite web|url=http://www.ukattraction.com/yorkshire/horsforth-museum.htm |title=Horsforth Museum, Leeds – Yorkshire |publisher=UK Attraction |access-date=10 January 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120302002845/http://www.ukattraction.com/yorkshire/horsforth-museum.htm |archive-date=2 March 2012  }}</ref> has collections and displays illustrating aspects of life set against the backdrop of the changing role of the village.

During the [[Second World War]] the £241,000 required to build the [[corvette]] [[HMS Aubrietia (K96)|HMS ''Aubrietia'']] was raised entirely by the people of Horsforth. In 2000 the [[President of the United States|US President]] [[Bill Clinton]] acknowledged Horsforth's contribution to the war effort in a letter sent to MP [[Paul Truswell]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/773913.stm |title=Storm over U-boat film |work=BBC News |date=2 June 2000 |access-date=10 January 2012}}</ref> The letter is in the museum. The [[Scouting|Scout and Guide]] hut on New Road Side was requisitioned during the war as an emergency [[mortuary]] for the factories based around what is now [[Leeds Bradford International Airport|Leeds Bradford Airport]] (Yeadon Aerodrome at the time), but it was never needed.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Sheerin|first1=Joseph|title=What Horsforth Used to Look Like|url=https://leeds-list.com/culture/leeds-past/what-horsforth-used-to-look-like/|website=leeds-list.com|access-date=24 April 2018|date=22 February 2016}}</ref> The building was later used as a cafe, serving as a popular stop-off on the way out to Otley, Ilkley and the Dales, before being purchased by the scouts and guides.{{when|date=May 2012}}

In October 2020 Horsforth was named the most musical village in Britain as it was revealed that 22 home-grown acts were in the running for the charts with their latest singles.<ref>{{cite news|website=Express.co.uk |url=https://www.express.co.uk/entertainment/music/1348015/Leeds-suburb-music-hub-pop-music |title=Leeds suburb is music hub of pop with 22 acts vying for charts |date=15 October 2020 |accessdate= 13 November 2020}}</ref>