Knottingley

Knottingley
Knottingley is located in West Yorkshire
Knottingley
Knottingley
Location within West Yorkshire
Population13,710 (Ward. 2011)
OS grid referenceSE495235
Metropolitan borough
Metropolitan county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townKNOTTINGLEY
Postcode districtWF11
Dialling code01977
PoliceWest Yorkshire
FireWest Yorkshire
AmbulanceYorkshire
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
Yorkshire
53°42′18″N 1°14′56″W / 53.705°N 1.249°W / 53.705; -1.249

Knottingley is a town in the City of Wakefield in West Yorkshire, England on the River Aire and the old A1 road before it was bypassed as the A1(M). Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it has a population of 13,503,[1] increasing to 13,710 for the City of Wakefield ward at the 2011 Census.[2] It makes up the majority of the Knottingley ward represented on Wakefield Council.

Until 1699, it was an important inland river port but, in that year, the Aire was made navigable as far as Leeds, which soon surpassed it. Knottingley continued as a centre for boat building into the 20th century. In the late 19th century, it started glass manufacturing. The town is served by Knottingley railway station.

After 1870, the town became known for glass manufacturing.[3] In 1887, Bagley's Glassworks purchased the rights to the first bottle-making machine, invented by a Ferrybridge postmaster.[4] There is a Bagley's Glass gallery in Pontefract Museum.

Close to Knottingley is Ferrybridge Power Station, which had the largest cooling towers of their kind in Europe. Three of these towers collapsed in high winds in 1965. The remaining towers, which could be seen for miles around, were demolished between 2019 and 2022.

The town was the last in the United Kingdom to have a working deep coal mine, Kellingley Colliery, until it closed in December 2015.[5]

  1. ^ "Census 2001 : Urban Areas : Table KS01 : Usual Resident Population". Office for National Statistics. Archived from the original on 23 July 2004. Retrieved 26 August 2009.
  2. ^ "City of Wakefield Ward population 2011". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 2 March 2016.
  3. ^ Glass manufacturing
  4. ^ "Bottle making", Knottingley Website
  5. ^ "UK's last deep coal mine Kellingley Colliery capped off". BBC News Online. 14 March 2016. Retrieved 6 December 2016. Kellingley Colliery in North Yorkshire closed in December, bringing to an end centuries of deep coal mining in Britain.