Wetherby (/ˈwɛðəbi/ WETH-ə-bee)[2] is a market town and civil parish in the City of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England.

The town stands on the River Wharfe and, for centuries, it has been a crossing place and staging post on the Great North Road midway between London and Edinburgh.

Wetherby Bridge, which spans the River Wharfe, is a Scheduled Ancient Monument and a Grade II listed structure.

The name derives from the Old Norse words veðr ("wether, castrated male sheep", in its genitive singular form veðrar) and bý ("farmstead, village").

[8] In the English Civil War in 1644, before marching to Tadcaster and on to Marston Moor, the Parliamentarians spent two days in Wetherby joining forces with the Scots.

[3] In 1824, William Cavendish, 6th Duke of Devonshire sold the town of Wetherby (except one house) to finance work at Chatsworth.

[10] During the First World War, many Wetherby men served with either the 5th or 9th Battalion, West Yorkshire Regiment, which had great losses in Flanders.

[11] In 1918, residents contributed to support the crew of the Racecourse-class minesweeper HMS Wetherby despite hardship and shortages caused by the war.

[11] Clark Gable was stationed at Marston Moor, during the Second World War, as a member of the USAAF ground staff, with the rank of captain.

[11] Group Captain Leonard Cheshire was stationed at Marston Moor for a short while before leaving to become commander of the 617 Dam Buster squadron.

[11] Wetherby had the only stone frigate north of London, built on Hallfield Lane in 1942 (it later became the local secondary school), named in turn; HMS Cabot, Demetrius, Rodney and Ceres.

[citation needed] 150 new dwellings were built in one development in Micklethwaite, then a further 20 were added, flats have also appeared at the former Motorworld, La Locanda Restaurant, Deighton Road car garage, Fields Works and the cattle market.

[citation needed] Wetherby has a manufacturing presence in the town and on the Thorp Arch Trading Estate.

Many residents work in Leeds or on the Sandbeck industrial estate, major retailers in the town centre or at Thorp Arch.

Large employers include the British Library, Morrisons, Goldenfry Foods and Moores Furniture.

[20] Goldenfry, which started as a fish and chip shop but which now makes other products including own-brand gravy for every UK supermarket, is situated on Sandbeck Way.

[22] The ICC Group is a multi national UK IT reseller and service provider, which was founded in 1998; it has its HQ at Sandbeck Lane.

[citation needed] The company specialises in the manufacture and wholesale distribution of electrical, electronic and measurement, control and instrumentation equipment.

[26] On 1 October 2008, the healthcare centre on Hallfield Lane was opened by Colin Burgon, the Labour Member of Parliament (MP) for Elmet.

In 1910, the parish council started a programme to install street lighting in the hope of bettering the standard of living and reducing crime.

Both the local corporation and the private sector built many houses to satisfy the huge demand for homes in Wetherby.

For many years from 1959, the town's bypass started at a roundabout near a Forte Group Posthouse hotel until July 1988 when the A1 was diverted at a cost of £11.5 million.

The upgrading of the A1(M) in Wetherby was the final development after 50 years of gradual improvement to motorway standard.

[30][31][32] Wetherby bus station in the Market Place was redeveloped in 1995;[33] since partial pedestrianisation in 2007, capacity has been reduced.

A junior section competes in West Yorks Track & Field & Cross Country leagues.

It competes throughout the region in Harrogate Road League,[42] Yorkshire Dales Race Series,[43] West Yorks Cross Country League and takes part in cross country, fell, road races and marathons.

St Joseph's Roman Catholic Church's building was opened in 1986 and won the Leeds award for Architecture in 1987.

It achieved success in the RHS Britain in Bloom competition in 1998, 2002 and 2010, along with numerous regional gold awards over the last 15 years.

Tempo FM is Wetherby's very own 100% volunteer-run community radio station, with studios located in the old council offices in Westgate.

Wetherby Film Theatre is an independently-owned, traditional single screen cinema on Caxton Street.