SecretLeeds - History, culture and architecture in Leeds

HiI'm sure a lot of folk will be familiar with the Pub called The Skyrack on Otley Road in Headingley. However when I was looking in a library a while ago I found some books on placenames that described Leeds as been in the 'wapentake' of 'Skyrack and Aggbrigg' or something to that effect. I understand its of some Viking origin, hence the harsh sounding words but apart from that I know very little. Does anyone else know anything about this?    

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SkyrackGood old wikipedia!

Hello Jon & Chris...Check the new forum I have just started for this kind of thing! We must have been thinking about the same things at the same time!

Beaten to it but more from wikipediahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bright_Oak

I've said it before but it bears repeating - this forum is wonderful. What Skyrack meant is something that's always puzzled me. I'm not saying I couldn't have looked it up on Wikepedia, I could have, but I never thought to until I saw this thread.The TSB in Morley used to be called the Leeds, Skyrack and Morley Trustee Savings Bank - called the "Skyrack" by everyone in Morley. My father in law used to work for the Wakefield Express series and one of their papers was called the "Skyrack Express" I knew about Wapentakes - Morley was the chief town of a Wapentake but I hadn't realised that Skyrack was also one. You learn something new every day!

Mistake on wikipedia regarding the names origin,its not of Saxon origin but of Norse origin.Here is an extract from an article in 1904 by a chap called Edmund Bogg called "Round about Leeds""The place name of Headingley is of Angle coinage and was the only clan station ,in pre Norman times,on the north bank of th Aire,between Swillington and Arthington:this place was probably one of the early divisions of conquered land which the angles designated the "Hundred",that is a division of land shared by a hundred warriors and their families.Under the rule of the Norse,their military provisions included the formation of a strong federation and well belted arms district,making the Angle station of Headingley the headquarters,with the huge oak then at its full strength and beauty,the pride of the forest-rendezvous and beacon point.Here the Norsemen settled the present Wapentake of Scyre-ac,the Shire Oak marking an allotted military and political division.The old Norse word "Vapua" or "vapu means a weapon and "taka" to grasp or touch,hence the Norse "Vapontak"means the touching of weapons"

cnosni wrote: Mistake on wikipedia regarding the names origin,its not of Saxon origin but of Norse origin.Here is an extract from an article in 1904 by a chap called Edmund Bogg called "Round about Leeds""The place name of Headingley is of Angle coinage and was the only clan station ,in pre Norman times,on the north bank of th Aire,between Swillington and Arthington:this place was probably one of the early divisions of conquered land which the angles designated the "Hundred",that is a division of land shared by a hundred warriors and their families.Under the rule of the Norse,their military provisions included the formation of a strong federation and well belted arms district,making the Angle station of Headingley the headquarters,with the huge oak then at its full strength and beauty,the pride of the forest-rendezvous and beacon point.Here the Norsemen settled the present Wapentake of Scyre-ac,the Shire Oak marking an allotted military and political division.The old Norse word "Vapua" or "vapu means a weapon and "taka" to grasp or touch,hence the Norse "Vapontak"means the touching of weapons" Brilliant. I was reading a book about Lee Fair the other day, and it seems that the place name Tingley is derived from either an Anglo Saxon or Norse term for a form of Parliament (a bit like Tynwald in the IOM I suppose) and Tingley was the meeting place of the Morley Wapentake. The suffix "ley" is said to refer to a field to at a guess Tingley probably means "parliament field"

Given that Wapentake's usually took place at crossroads and river crossings i.e. easy to access from most directions, does that mean Tingley crossroads was the ancient crossroad? I had alway thought it was just so named as the crossroad where the recently modern A650 Wakefield/Bradford Road corossed the Leeds/Dewsbury Road.

tyke bhoy wrote: Given that Wapentake's usually took place at crossroads and river crossings i.e. easy to access from most directions, does that mean Tingley crossroads was the ancient crossroad? I had alway thought it was just so named as the crossroad where the recently modern A650 Wakefield/Bradford Road corossed the Leeds/Dewsbury Road. There's certainly been a crossroads there for most of my 60+ years. I remember my mam (who was obsessed with the Royal Family) taking me in my pushchair to Tingley Crossroads to see Princess Elizabeth (present Queen) all I had a union jack to wave, but all I remember seeing were three big black cars speed past. I seem to remember my auntie telling me that Britannia Road in Morley is on the line of a Roman Road (I may have imagined this)

tyke bhoy wrote: Given that Wapentake's usually took place at crossroads and river crossings i.e. easy to access from most directions, does that mean Tingley crossroads was the ancient crossroad? I had alway thought it was just so named as the crossroad where the recently modern A650 Wakefield/Bradford Road corossed the Leeds/Dewsbury Road. Very interesting site for those interested in the origins of Yorkshire/Yorkshire folk,this includes an explanation for the difference between ourselves and the rest of the English,though it could well be argued that we in the north ARE the true English as we are descendants of Angles as opposed to the southerners being from Saon stock.Reference to Tingley wapentake appears,plus many interesting facts that relate to the electoral system we have today.http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Lane ... tml#Angles,