Brackenhill
Bracken Hill, a street in the village
Brackenhill is located in West Yorkshire
Brackenhill
Brackenhill
Location within West Yorkshire
OS grid referenceSE427164
Metropolitan borough
  • Wakefield
Metropolitan county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townPONTEFRACT
Postcode districtWF7
Dialling code01977
PoliceWest Yorkshire
FireWest Yorkshire
AmbulanceYorkshire
List of places
UK
England
Yorkshire
53°38′31″N 1°21′22″W / 53.642°N 01.356°W / 53.642; -01.356

Brackenhill is a village in West Yorkshire, England, which forms part of Ackworth parish. It is situated on the A638 road on the eastern bank of Hessle Beck, west of Ackworth Moor Top and north of Fitzwilliam Country Park.

Brackenhill quarries in operation

A major industry in Brackenhill was quarrying, and at the end of the 19th century the majority of the male inhabitants of the village were occupied in the quarries.[1] The stone is counted among the Pennine Upper Coal Measures which originated in the Carboniferous age.[2] Quarried materials include magnesian limestone[3] and sandstone.[4] The quarries were served from 1914 to 1962 by the Brackenhill Light Railway, a subsidiary of the London and North Eastern Railway. It branched off the line between Sheffield and York east of Ackworth and joined the line between Wakefield and Doncaster at Hemsworth Colliery near Fitzwilliam.[5] Brackenhill inhabitants also worked in Hemsworth Colliery.[6]

References

  1. ^ Saywell, J. L. (1894). The Parochial History of Ackworth, its history and annals. Section 2. Ackworth, Yorks. London: Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co.
  2. ^ Lott, Graham (7 November 2013). "Sourcing stone for the conservation and repair of historical buildings in Britain" (PDF). Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology. 46 (4): 405–420. doi:10.1144/qjegh2013-004. S2CID 111250617.
  3. ^ Watson, John (1911). British and Foreign Building Stones. Cambridge: University Press. p. 294. ISBN 9781107505780.
  4. ^ Cameron, D. G.; Bide, T.; Parry, S. F.; Parker, A. S.; Mankelow, J. M., eds. (2014). Directory of Mines and Quarries. Keyworth, Nottingham: British Geological Survey. pp. 1–107.
  5. ^ "BLR Brackenhill JN - Hemsworth Colliey [sic!]. In: Railway Ramblers Wakefield". Lost Railways West Yorkshire. Retrieved 19 March 2017.
  6. ^ "Ackworth in 1927. From Kelly's Directory of the West Riding of Yorkshire" (PDF). Ackworth Heritage. Retrieved 19 March 2018.
Category