West Riding of Yorkshire in the context of "Barnsley"

West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and east, South Yorkshire and Derbyshire to the south, Greater Manchester to the south-west, and Lancashire to the west. The city of Leeds is the largest settlement.

The county has an area of 2,029 km (783 sq mi) and a population of 2.3 million, making it the fourth-largest ceremonial county by population. The centre of the county is urbanised, with Leeds located in the north-east, the city of Wakefield in the south-east, Huddersfield in the south-west, and the city of Bradford in the north-west. The outer areas of the county are rural. For local government purposes the county comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Bradford, Calderdale, Kirklees, Leeds, and Wakefield, which collaborate through West Yorkshire Combined Authority. The county was created in 1974, prior to which the area was within the West Riding of Yorkshire.

Greater Manchester is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, West Yorkshire and Derbyshire to the east, Cheshire to the south, and Merseyside to the west. Its largest settlement is the city of Manchester.

The county has an area of 1,276 km (493 sq mi) and is highly urbanised, with a population of 3,009,664 in 2024. Manchester is located in the centre of the county, with the city of Salford immediately adjacent to the west. Other large settlements include Rochdale in the north-east, Stockport in the south-east, Sale in the south-west, Wigan in the far north-west, and Bolton in the north-west. The majority of the county's settlements are part of the Greater Manchester Built-up Area, which extends into Cheshire and Merseyside and is the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom. For local government purposes the county comprises ten metropolitan boroughs: Manchester, Salford, Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford and Wigan. The borough councils collaborate through the Greater Manchester Combined Authority. The county was created on 1 April 1974 from parts of north-east Cheshire, south-east Lancashire, and a small part of the West Riding of Yorkshire.

The Forest of Bowland, also known as the Bowland Fells and formerly the Chase of Bowland, is an area of gritstone fells, deep valleys and peat moorland, mostly in north-east Lancashire, England, with a small part in North Yorkshire (however roughly half of the area falls into the area of the historic West Riding of Yorkshire). It is a western outlier of the Pennines.

The Forest of Bowland was designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) in 1964. The AONB also includes a detached part known as the Forest of Pendle separated from the main part by the Ribble Valley, and anciently a royal forest with its own separate history. One of the best-known features of the area is Pendle Hill, which lies in Pendle Forest. There are more than 500 listed buildings and 18 scheduled monuments within the AONB.

Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated 29 miles (47 km) south of Leeds and 32 miles (51 km) east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire. It is the largest settlement in South Yorkshire and the third largest of Northern England.

The city is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines and the valleys of the River Don with its four tributaries: the Loxley, the Porter Brook, the Rivelin and the Sheaf. Sixty-one per cent of Sheffield's entire area is green space and a third of the city lies within the Peak District national park and it is the fifth-largest city in England. There are more than 250 parks, woodlands and gardens in the city, which is estimated to contain around 4.5 million trees.

Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. The city was a small manorial borough in the 13th century and a market town in the 16th century. It was awarded its Royal City Charter by King Charles 1st in 1626 and expanded in the 17th and 18th centuries by becoming a major production and trading centre (mainly with wool).

Leeds developed as a mill town during the Industrial Revolution alongside other surrounding villages and towns in the West Riding of Yorkshire. It was also known for its flax industry, iron foundries, engineering and printing, as well as shopping, with several surviving Victorian era arcades, such as Kirkgate Market. City status was awarded in 1893, and a populous urban centre formed in the following century which absorbed surrounding villages and overtook the population of nearby York.

Keighley (/ˈkiːθli/ KEETH-lee) is a market town and a civil parishin the City of Bradford Borough of West Yorkshire, England. It is the second-largest settlement in the borough, after Bradford.

Keighley is 8 miles (13 kilometres) north-west of Bradford, 4 mi (6.5 km) north-west of Bingley, 11 mi (18 km) north of Halifax and 8 mi (13 km) south-east of Skipton. It is governed by Keighley Town Council and Bradford City Council. Keighley is in West Yorkshire, close to the borders of North Yorkshire and Lancashire. Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, it lies between Airedale and Keighley Moors. At the 2011 census, Keighley had a population of 56,348.

Pontefract is a historic market town in the City of Wakefield, a metropolitan district in West Yorkshire, England. It lies to the east of Wakefield and south of Castleford. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is one of the towns in the City of Wakefield district and had a population of 30,881 at the 2011 Census.

Pontefract's motto is Post mortem patris pro filio, Latin for "After the death of the father, support the son", a reference to the town's Royalist sympathies in the English Civil War. Small villages and settlements in the immediate area include Stapleton.

Boroughbridge (/ˈbʌrəbrɪdʒ/ BURR-ə-brij) is a town and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is 16 miles (26 km) north-west of York. Until a bypass was built the town lay on the main A1 road from London to Edinburgh, which crosses the River Ure here.

The civil parish includes the villages of Aldborough and Minskip.

The Brontës (/ˈbrɒntiz/) were a 19th-century literary family, born in the village of Thornton and later associated with the village of Haworth in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England. Born to Patrick Brontë, a curate, and his wife, Maria, the sisters, Charlotte (1816–1855), Emily (1818–1848) and Anne (1820–1849), were all poets and novelists who published their work under male pseudonyms: Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell respectively. Their stories attracted attention for their passion and originality immediately following their publication. Charlotte's Jane Eyre was the first to know success, while Emily's Wuthering Heights, Anne's The Tenant of Wildfell Hall and other works were accepted as masterpieces of literature after their deaths.

The two eldest Brontë children were Maria (1814–1825) and Elizabeth (1815–1825), who both died at an early age. The three surviving sisters and their brother, Branwell (1817–1848) were very close. As children, they developed their imaginations first through oral storytelling and play, set in an intricate imaginary world, and then through the collaborative writing of increasingly complex stories set in their fictional world. The early deaths of their mother and two older sisters marked them and influenced their writing profoundly, as did their isolated upbringing. They were raised in a religious family. The Brontë birthplace in Thornton is a place of pilgrimage and their later home, the parsonage at Haworth in Yorkshire, now the Brontë Parsonage Museum, has hundreds of thousands of visitors each year.

Harrogate (/ˈhærəɡət, -ɡeɪt, -ɡɪt/ HARR-ə-gət, -⁠gayt, -⁠ghit) is a spa town and civil parish in the district and county of North Yorkshire, England. Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, the town is a tourist destination; its visitor attractions include its spa waters and RHS Harlow Carr gardens. Yorkshire Dales National Park and the Nidderdale AONB are 13 miles (21 km) away from the town centre.

In the 17th century, Harrogate grew out of two smaller settlements, High Harrogate and Low Harrogate. For three consecutive years (2013–2015), polls voted the town as "the happiest place to live" in Britain. Harrogate spa water contains iron, sulphur, and common salt (NaCl). The town became known as 'The English Spa' in the Georgian era, after its waters were discovered in the 16th century. In the 17th and 18th centuries its 'chalybeate' waters (containing iron) were a popular health treatment, and the influx of wealthy but sickly visitors contributed significantly to the wealth of the town.