Gawthorpe, Wakefield facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Gawthorpe |
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|---|---|
 Gawthorpe Water Tower |
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| Metropolitan borough | |
| Metropolitan county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | OSSETT |
| Postcode district | WF5 |
| EU Parliament | Yorkshire and the Humber |
Gawthorpe is a small village located in West Yorkshire, England. It sits just north of Ossett and is part of the Wakefield area. You can find it about halfway between the towns of Wakefield and Dewsbury, near the A638 main road.
The name Gawthorpe comes from an old Viking name, Gorky, combined with "thorpe," which means a settlement or small village. Some clues even suggest that people might have lived here as far back as Roman times! Gawthorpe also gave its name to a special layer of coal called the Gawthorpe seam. This coal layer stretches from the village all the way through nearby places like Horbury and Crigglestone.
Gawthorpe is famous for its lively May Day celebrations. These traditions go back a long way, at least to 1875! Back then, people in the village bought a huge seventy-foot fir tree. They put it up on the village green to use as a maypole. The current maypole was put in place in 1986.
The Gawthorpe Water Tower is a very tall concrete building. It was built between 1922 and 1928 to hold drinking water for the Ossett area. This tower is 55 meters (about 180 feet) tall, making it a well-known landmark in the area. Since around 2006, it hasn't been used to store water. Instead, it now holds equipment for communications, like phone signals. In 2020, after local people worked hard to protect it, the tower was given a special status as a Grade II listed building. This means it's an important historical building that needs to be preserved.
World Coal Carrying Championships
Since 1963, Gawthorpe has been home to a very unique event: the World Coal Carrying Championships! This exciting race happens every Easter Monday. Participants run a distance of 1,012 meters (about two-thirds of a mile).
The race starts at the Royal Oak pub in Ossett and finishes at the Maypole Green in Gawthorpe.
- Men in the race carry a sack of coal weighing 50 kilograms (about 110 pounds).
- Women carry a sack of coal weighing 20 kilograms (about 44 pounds).
The Championships used to start at the Shaw Cross coal mine. However, all the coal mines in this area closed down many years ago.
The Gawthorpe Peacock
Gawthorpe once became famous across the country because of an escaped peacock! This peacock caused quite a stir in the local community. It even appeared on BBC Look North, a regional news program, and was talked about on BBC Radio 5 live news. As of June 2024, the peacock was still roaming around the village, enjoying its freedom!
