* Click here for latest Farsley news.

EARLY FARSLEY

The first recorded mention of the Farsley occurs in the Domesday Survey complied for William the Conqueror in 1086.

There the name is spelled Fersellei which suggests that the name is derived from two Old English words meaning furze and clearing. The ley element is common to may places along the Aire valley, indicating that in the 7th century the incoming Anglo-Saxons were settling on land that was previously unoccupied by the native Britons.

Comparing the origins of the name Farsley with other in the region such as Bramley (clearing covered in broom) also gives a vivid picture of what the area must have looked like at the time.

It would have been a landscape more reminiscent of the present Ilkley Moor than of grassy areas of the green belt that exist between the towns lower down the valley.

At the time of the Domesday Survey Farsley was part of the manor of Calverley with Farsley.

This had been owned by Arnketill, Anglo-Saxon noblemen, but after the Conquest it had been given to Ilbert do Lacy, as part of the large manorial holding run from Pontefract Castle. Its value before the Conquest was 20 shillings.

In 1086 it was described as 'waste', a term which the Normans used to signify unproductive land. Much of northern England suffered from William's 'slash and burn' policy towards rebellious northerners. 'The Harrying of the North', as it became known caused great destruction in some parts of Yorkshire and many other villages along the Aire valley are also described as waste.

Little can be said of Farsley before the Industrial Revolution. It can never have been a large community, merely a small cluster of houses almost on the southern edge of the township.

However, if one looks at the first Ordnance Survey map of the district one can gain a clear impression of the use to which the land had been put in earlier years. When the medieval open fields were enclosed to make fields as we would recognize them today, long strips of land were parcelled together to make long thin fields.

These cluster around Calverley so that must have been where the principle agricultural land of the township was located. Round Farsley the fields are squarer. This suggests that enclosures were made, not on farmland, but on commons or moorland, where lots for sale could be laid out to a regular and even size.

Perhaps as late at the early 19th century parts of the valley remained covered in furze and broom and still resembled what the Anglo-Saxons had seen 12 centuries earlier.

What made the difference to Farsley's fortunes was, as is so often the case, the career of a single individual. This was Samuel Marsden. As a youth he showed such promise that a local charitable institution paid for him to go to Magdalen College, Cambridge.

After his studies were completed he became a Baptist Minister and went out to serve in Australia. While out there he apparently became interested in the production of wool and was responsible for the first shipments of Merino wool back to this country in 1808. Apparently the first bale of Merino wool was sent to Farsley to be made up into a coat for King George III. Clearly Marsden had faith in the abilities of his old acquaintances back home.

A monument to him now stands in a small garden in Farsley town centre on the spot where his house used to stand.

Industrialization soon followed. Entrepreneurs like Marsden saw the opportunity to make money both here and in Australia. Mills sprang up around the quiet little hamlet.

Establishments like Sunnybank Mills and Farsley Beck Bottom Mill were already large establishments by the time of the first large-scale Ordnance Survey map in the mid 19th century.

Pits and quarries are dotted around the district too. Within 50 years Farsley would be turned from a quiet hamlet into a busy industrial suburb of Leeds.

There's lot more information about local places on the WYAAS website at: www.archaeology.wyjs.org.uk

* Click here to sign up to free news and sport email alerts from Farsley Today.

* Click here for Farsley Celtic Clockwatch.

* Click here for latest Farsley Celtic news.

* Click here to become a fan of Farsley Today on Facebook.

* Click here to follow Farsley Today on Twitter.

* Click here to visit our Farsley ex-pats map.

* Click here for Farsley's Community Directory, where you will find basic information on a wide range of local community groups and organisations.

* Click here for latest Farsley Cricket Club news and match reports.

* Click here to sign our Farsley guestbook and tell us why you are proud to live in your community.