Editing Garforth (section)

==History==
Garforth owes its size to expansion in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries during which the local land-owning [[Gascoigne family]] ran several coalmines in the area. The surrounding settlements of [[Micklefield]], [[Kippax, West Yorkshire|Kippax]], [[Swillington]], [[Methley]] and [[Allerton Bywater]] [[Great Preston|Great]] and [[Little Preston]] are all villages that prospered and grew as a result of the coal industry. Nowadays manufacturing and motor-vehicle repair account for more than a third of the workforce in the area.{{Citation needed|date=August 2009}}

More recent expansion can also be traced to a combination of overall economic success in Leeds, and that Garforth is served by transport links. The [[A1 road (Great Britain)|A1]] and [[M1 motorway|M1]] are minutes away, and both have recently been linked by an extension of the M1 which passes to the west and north of the village, with two nearby access points at Junctions 46 and 47. The M1 extension led to rapid development of commercial, light industrial and residential sites clustered around Junctions 46 and 47. The village rail link to [[Kippax, West Yorkshire|Kippax]] and [[Castleford]] was closed under the [[Beeching Axe]] of the 1960s.

Garforth has been home to first Garforth Scout Group since 1908. Garforth & District Lions Club was formed in 1972.