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Woodlesford
Woodlesford maps
Historic maps of Woodlesford and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Woodlesford maps
Woodlesford photos
We have no photos of Woodlesford, although we do have photos of these nearby places:
Rothwell| Kippax| Altofts| Garforth| Normanton| Castleford| Leeds| Wakefield| Roundhay| Featherstone| Headingley| Pontefract| Ossett| Far Headingley
Woodlesford area books
Displaying 1 of 28 books about Woodlesford and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Woodlesford
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West Yorkshire memories
First 24 Years
I was born and lived all my life till 24 in Oulton. It was then a small village and everywhere I went someone knew me or a family member. Back then we could play in the street and roam all over the village. One supermarket Grandways which closed many years ago now. My mum still lives in Oulton and three uncles live in Woodlesford. I however moved to Castleford and have been there for 20 years. I go back all the time but never see anyone I knew from school. Guess we all grew up and moved on. However there is a new supermarket and more houses with a lot more people that you never see and no one plays out any more.
My Early Years in Rothwell
I was born in Rothwell in 1949 and have lived there all my life and remember when it was a picturesque village where everyone knew each other. What changes have taken place over the years.
I remember going to the Corn Mill with my dad on a Saturday morning to get corn for dad's pigeons. We had to go over a foot bridge, across the mill pond, past the big water wheel and into the storage shed. Being very small, dad would lift me up to get the corn out of one of the big barrels and nearly always pretend to let go of me, so I thought I would fall in. Tommy Barret owned the mill and he was a great big man, who always wore a dirty brown apron and scared me to death. Going back over the footbridge we would stop to watch the swans and in springtime the May blossom would fall and cover the water.
My best friend was... Read more
Memories of Rothwell in The Sixties
I lived in Rothwell from the age of 5 leaving to come to Australia in 1969 at the age of 16. I think regularly now of how the village would have changed so much since I left. I remember being a bridesmaid at the Trinity church and still have photos of coming down the path through the gate.
I drew a picture at school of the church; we had to do this in charcoal and wish I had kept it. We used to wander around and look at the old gravestones.
I remember the fairs that used to be held every year when we used to celebrate Childrens' Day and have races in the park, and the scary fireworks display at night standing on the hill thinking they were going to land on me. I attended the Church school in the main street and remember the new shopping centre being built. We used to call into one of the shops and buy a bag of broken biscuits for a... Read more
My Child Days
I was a child in the Rothwell children's home and went to the the church you mentioned.
Seanor Match Works
Actually this memory via my father and grandfather go back further than 1860. My great-great-grandfather, Richard Seanor, got interested in match making and went to London to find out the process etc. He then came back to Rothwell and started his own matchworks factory. He then went on to make the small match that we use today and of course the match box, which was made by children around 10 years of age.
Quite a few times the factory burnt down, and later when his son Jabez took over, he opened a factory in Bootle, Liverpool, but in 1904 or thereabout Jabez sold the business to Bryant and May, the match makers we all know but who have now moved to Sweden.
I have been to Rothwell a few times and met some of the people there who knew of my great-grandfather (Jabez) and of course Richard my great-great-grandfather. I have also been to the old church to visit their grave sites, and found out about the adopted... Read more
Swilly Common
Hi, I lived in Swilly and the Common was the posh end even though my parents had their own business.
Halton Village
I arrived in Halton in 1957 age 6 .My memories are the shops and pubs in Halton. Harold fish shop was the most popular fish shop in Halton. There was Halton Institute where I went to dancing class, Miss Fraser ran it - she produced shows. It kept me out of mischief and being a shy child it helped alot. The three pubs were known as top ole, middle ole and bottom ole - otherwise the Woodman, Travellers (and at the back of the Travellers were the railway carriages which we loved to play in - and a sand pit) and Irwin Arms. Our Doctors were Dr Young, (who used to bring his Pekenese to work - it was a nasty little thing) Dr Mattock and Dr Ramsey was the junior partner at the time. They were in Gilsyke House which was situated where Boots chemist and the other shops are now. There was no supermarket at that time - the nearest thing we had was... Read more
