History of Wetherby

In 1240, a Royal Charter of Henry III granted the Knights Templar the right to hold a market in Wetherby[2] (known then as Werreby).

According to the blue plaque[2][permanent dead link‍] at the entrance to Scott Lane, Wetherby could be named after the Scottish raiders in 1318 or, alternatively, after the 18th century drovers who used the location as a watering place.

It was constructed in 1140 by the Percy family to guard the crossing by the River Wharfe, particularly against prevalent raids by the Scots, who controlled most of England north of Yorkshire at the time.

In 1644, before marching to Tadcaster and on to Marston Moor, the Parliamentarians spent two days in Wetherby while joining forces with the Scots.

[5] From the 1650s to the 1850s, Wetherby's location on the Great North Road and as a major crossing of the sometimes turbulent River Wharfe were key points on the trading route for thousands of cattle being driven on foot from the Highlands of Scotland to the London meat market at Smithfield.

During the Napoleonic period, this trade increased as the demand for barrelled salted beef for troops and sailors required a constant supply throughout those years.

The main Market trysts (fairs) at Creiff and later Falkirk were the northern hubs where Scots drovers, having toured the Highlands during summer, would gather cattle by the tens of thousands.

These cattle were then parcelled into herds of 200, and droves were shod (with metal shoes) for the four-week march to East Anglia, where they could recoup a third of their lost body weight on lush lowland grazing, then sold at 'St Faiths', the main Norfolk tryst near Norwich before being walked again to London.

The surety of trade over generations helped give Wetherby its prosperity and business confidence over this long period of history.

A final expansion in droving opportunities began with the industrial revolution, with new markets in northern England and the increasingly populated areas of Bradford, Sheffield and Leeds.

The end of droving on a national scale finally came with the advent of railways, steam-driven coastal trade and refrigeration in the mid-1850s.

From the building of the Cross Gates-Wetherby line until its closure, race day specials ran from Bradford Interchange to Wetherby.

A memorial to the losses suffered by Wetherby in the Great War, designed by EF Roslyn, was erected adjacent to the town bridge in 1922.

Once the railway had been closed, the council deliberated over whether to convert the disused line into a central relief road; however, such plans never came to fruition.

The first plan involved the pedestrianisation of High Street and North Street and a central bypass being built linking Boston Road with York Road, while the second involved pedestrianising the Market Place, allowing buses to use only the lower end to access the bus station.

Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, the car park was extended over the former Burgess Factory (formerly Appleyard Farm Services) on Hallfield Lane and the playing fields of Wetherby High School.

Later in July 2005, work began to enclose the Western wing of the precinct, which had previously been mostly open, and the glass canopy roof was completed in 2006.

For many years, the town's bypass ran from a roundabout near a Forte Posthouse hotel, which was prone to lengthy queues during busy periods.

Wetherby Town Council has for some years commissioned blue plaques to mark points of notable history.