SecretLeeds - History, culture and architecture in Leeds

I know this isnt directly related to family history, but i was just curious to find out some more info behind the Hundred of Skyrack.As in the domesday leeds was a part of the skyrack making up one of the hundreds or yorkshire, its something iv not come across before...http://domesdaymap.co.uk/hundred/skyrack/

Hi Si, what were the 9 wapetakes ? Thanks WEST RIDING - 1. Agbrigg & Morley (Bradford, Dewsbury, Halifax, Huddersfield, Leeds suburbs, Wakefield); 2. Barkston Ash (Selby, Tadcaster); 3. Claro (Ripon, Knaresborough); 4. Ewcross (Dent, Ingleton, Sedbergh); 5. Osgoldcross (Pontefract, Goole, Snaith); 6. Skyrack (Leeds); 7. Staincliffe (Keighley, Settle, Skipton, Stainburn); 8. Staincross (Barnsley); 9. Strafforth and Tickhill (Doncaster, Rotherham, Sheffield). - See more at: http://www.secretleeds.com/forum/Messag ... Message=25

The Scir Ac = Saxon oppression of our language and culture!Is one way of looking at it, like the Cornish do.

It does not seem to be that many years back that the now Leeds Building Society was known as the Leeds Skyrack and Holbeck. For a while it then became Leeds & Holbeck and then the Leeds Building Society.

Leeds Skyrac & Morley Bank, now no more. Skyrac was spelled without the final "K", don't know why. Anyone know?

Johnny39 wrote: Leeds Skyrac & Morley Bank, now no more. Skyrac was spelled without the final "K", don't know why. Anyone know? Thanks for that correction Johnny39. I really should know better and never post things relying on my memory relating to Leeds! I did think it was the Leeds Skyrack and Holbeck (I even managed to misspell the Skyrack bit!)

Johnny39 wrote: Leeds Skyrac & Morley Bank, now no more. Skyrac was spelled without the final "K", don't know why. Anyone know? It's from the old English / Saxon. Skyr or scir= shire, ac= oak.

Leodian wrote: Johnny39 wrote: Leeds Skyrac & Morley Bank, now no more. Skyrac was spelled without the final "K", don't know why. Anyone know? Thanks for that correction Johnny39. I really should know better and never post things relying on my memory relating to Leeds! I did think it was the Leeds Skyrack and Holbeck (I even managed to misspell the Skyrack bit!) Sorry Leo if it looked like I was marking your homework, it was purely unintentional. I thought we were talking two different banks. It was the reason for the different spelling of Skyrac(k) that was puzzling me.

Hi Johnny39. I took your post as a friendly correction to my post and was quite happy about it.

The Skyrack wapentake derives its name from a large oak that grew for centuries in Headingley. It is believed that the word "skyrack" comes from the Old English phrase - 'Scir ac' meaning "Shire Oak" under which meetings were held.[1] The tree finally collapsed in 1941. There is a plaque to commemorate it on the outside of the garden wall of the Original Oak pub. It also gives its name to the Skyrack pub opposite the Original Oak.wapentake an administrative division of the English counties of York, Lincoln, Leicester, Nottingham, Derby, and Rutland, first clearly referred to in 962/963 and corresponding to the "hundred" in other parts of England. The term wapentake is of Scandinavian origin and meant the taking of weapons; it later signified the clash of arms by which the people assembled in a local court expressed assent. Danish influence was strong in those English counties where wapentakes existed. Think these two specks of knowledge from someone might explain what it means.Skyrac with a K or C seems to have been how the scribe at the time interpreted what he heard. Having done Ancestry for 7 years now and seeing the spelling on the Census etc. You have togo with the flow and accept that not many people could read and write in those day thescribe interpreting what people said with very thick accents did their best to write it down as he or she heard it.