Knottingley

Knottingley is a very pleasant small town near Wakefield in West Yorkshire, England situated on the navigable River Aire. Until 1699, the town was a prominent inland river port, when the navigable portion of the River Aire was extended to Leeds with the construction of the Aire and Calder Navigation. Boat building remained the major industry of the town until the twentieth century. The other industries current in the town are glassmaking, for which the town is well known, and one of the few remaining working coal mines in the UK, the Kellingley Colliery.

Knottingley is an ancient settlement dating to at least as far back as the Anglo-Saxon period, as the neolithic henge at Ferrybridge demonstrates. The town is located very conveniently on the Great North Road that linked London, York and Edinburgh for centuries, and so Knottingly became a coaching stage at which travellers would rest and be refreshed. As such, the town is still an excellent place from which to explore the best of the West Yorkshire region.

Just a few select examples of the many attractions of the West Yorkshire region includes: the Brontë Parsonage Museum, Harewood House, the Middleton Railway working steam railway line, the Thackray Museum of medical history (which is a particularly popular attraction with children), The Alhambra Theatre, Bradford Cathedral, St. Leonards Farm Park, Pontefract Castle, and the Lightwater Valley Theme Park & Zoo.