Barwick-in-Elmet (pronounced Barrick-in-Elmet) is a village in West Yorkshire, 7 miles (11 km) east of Leeds city centre.

The village is part of the civil parish of Barwick in Elmet and Scholes and sits in the Harewood ward of Leeds City Council.

[3] Earthworks, including a mound and ditch, comprise part of a large Iron Age fort centred on Wendel Hill,[4] near the village.

Morwick Hall was built in the mid to late 18th century for Edward Gray, who was Lord Mayor of Leeds in 1749 and 1768.

The Cross Gates to Wetherby railway line opened in 1874, with a station in nearby Scholes, enabling residents to commute to Leeds city centre.

Today, whilst still having a rural agricultural feel, the village supports many trades as well as housing for people who work in Leeds and York.

Barwick lies within the parliamentary constituency of Elmet and Rothwell which since May 2010 has been held by the Conservative MP, Alec Shelbrooke.

The triennial maypole festival (held on Spring Bank Holiday) typically brings large crowds to the area.

[8][9] Although methods have changed in recent years, the maypole is still carried by hand from Hall Tower Hill to the heart of the village.

During the raising ceremony, it is tradition for a local villager to climb halfway up the pole to disconnect the guide ropes.

The climber is then spurred on by a large crowd to climb all the way to the top of the pole, to spin 'the fox' weather vane (a custom thought to bring good luck to the village).

[11][better source needed] Beside the maypole is what appears to be an old village cross, which is actually a memorial to the dead of the First World War, carved in the old fashioned style.

It was written by Yorkshire composer Arthur Wood in 1924, as a "maypole dance" in his suite My Native Heath.