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Ledston & Ledsham
 Life in these two small West Yorkshire villages is a world away from the neighbouring nearby towns and cities which are just a short drive away.
All though being so relatively close to Castleford in the South and the hustle and bustle of Leeds, 10 miles to the West, the two villages still retain a rural feel with a mix of residential properties, arable farming and open fields with animals grazing. Despite being close to the busy A1, the villages manage to keep a traditional, unchanging feel which makes them always popular with people looking for a quieter, more relaxed lifestyle.
At the heart of both lies the village pub – in Ledsham is The Chequers Inn, a historical olde-worlde pub dating back to 1540 and in Ledston is The White Horse, currently under new ownership and with log fires to guarantee a warm welcome.
Local vicar, the Rev Bob Batson, says both villages have much to commend them. Ledsham, he says, has the main church of All Saints, an Anglo-Saxon church dating back to an amazing 670AD and with the accolade of being the oldest church with continuing use in the York Diocese.
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 Children in the area have the benefit of a relatively new school built at Ledston, the Lady Elizabeth Hastings Church of England Primary School which provides an education for just over 100 local children and which has recently received an excellent OFSTED report. There is also a community college at nearby Fairburn.
One of the main features of the area is that Ledston and Ledsham form part of the Ledston Hall Estate. The hall itself dates back to Elizabethan times and in recent years much of it has been converted into luxury flats.
Part of the hall was recently featured on Most Haunted, a Sky TV programme which looks at potentially haunted settings across the country. On this occasion, for TV purposes, the name of the hall was changed as programme producers looked at whether the building had any suspicious ‘things that go bump in the night’.
Whether it’s haunted or not never seems to put off the revellers at the annual Ledston Ball, one of the most prestigious events in Yorkshire’s social calendar and an institution in the local area. The event started out in 1992 with a guest list of just 250. Much of its success over the years has been due to committed charity worker Lillian Whiteley who originally came up with the idea and still attends the ball today.
One of the event’s great benefactors has been Granville Wheler, the owner of the Ledston Estate who always permitted the use of the grounds. Sadly he passed away in 2004 but his legacy will live on in the grounds of the hall year after year with the ball being held every July.
Other buildings of great significance in the local area are the 11 Almshouses at Ledsham, built by the executors of the will of Sir John Lewis of Ledston, an eminent merchant who traded in Persia and India and who was one of the founders of the East India Company. Still in use today as residential dwellings, they date back to the 1600s.
 The origin of almshouses is to provide independent living for needy people, most elderly, and allow them to continue to live within their local community. Today across the UK there are 1,800 separate almshouse charities, enabling people to stay in their own community and live an independent life in affordable housing.
One of the area’s most noted names (the school at Ledston bears her name) is Lady Elizabeth Hastings whose mother was the daughter of Sir John Lewis. Following the death of her brother George, Lady Elizabeth came into a large fortune which she put to great use in the local area to help the poor and unfortunate.
Her principal residence was at Ledston Hall from where she devoted her time, fortune and understanding to the benefit of those around her. She was said to have acted ‘like a parent’ with her domestic staff, tending to the improvement of their minds and ensuring good behaviour and excellent manners, making sure they never suffered any hardship or inconvenience.
As a benefactor, she not only gave to the local people but spread her fortune far and wide, always ensuring her friends and relations were taken care of. Locally she built several charity schools along with a new church in Leeds.
 Upon her death she left sums for charitable and public use, among which were five scholarships for Queen’s College, Oxford.
Lady Elizabeth played a large part in the life of the late Granville Wheler who was often inspired by her strength of purpose, her generosity and care for others less fortunate than herself.
He was a very committed trustee of her estate charity, helping others by distributing educational and non-educational grants across Yorkshire.
Granville was actually born in Syndale in Kent but his family divided their time between Kent and Yorkshire, often spending winter in Yorkshire. He was a great lover of woodland and was devastated when the 1987 great storm destroyed many trees in Kent.
He always viewed his ownership of the Ledston Estate as one of stewardship, maintaining and improving it for those who followed him. He regularly attended Ledston Hall Chapel and was also very supportive of Ledsham Church.
 During his lifetime in 1992 he set up the Wheler Foundation. With no family to succeed him, Granville wanted to see the Ledston Estate remain a vibrant place to live and work. He also wanted the Foundation to combine everything he admired about Lady Elizabeth with his passion for the countryside.
Today the Foundation is still in his relative infancy and will certainly develop as the years pass. Following the death of Granville, all his assets including the Ledston Estate passed into the care of the Foundation and the trustees.
One of the big projects supported by the Foundation is The Countryside Foundation for Education, an organisation which aims to educate young people in the ways of the countryside. This is particularly appropriate as one of the most important wildlife sites in Yorkshire is situated on the edge of Ledsham, on route to the A1.
This small 12-acre site, known as Ledsham Dale, is what is termed unimproved limestone grassland – meaning it has never been fertilised, ploughed or reseeded. This makes it an ideal home to a host of wild flowers and grasses.
The limestone that characterises the villages of Ledsham and Ledston is magnesium or dolomitic limestone, formed from the shells and skeletons of prehistoric marine life. Flowers which thrive at Ledsham Dale include centuary, milkwort, yellowwort, dyers’ greenwood, three species of orchid and rest harrow.
 Ledsham Dale is managed by the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, an organisation which is always keen to work with the local people. Further information about the work at Ledsham Dale is available from the Trust on 01904 659570.
The Ledsham-with-Fairburn parish registers which date from 1538 and which are among the oldest in the country, also tell us other items of interest in the local area. One curious fact from the parish registers is that the area was home to a large number of cordwainers (shoemakers) and in the 1600s a geological feature of the area, Alabaster, was first exploited.
Around that time there were several Alabaster quarries, the finest of which is used for images and funeral monuments. A well-known local historian from the 18th century George Vertue also said that the magnesium limestone was also widely used in agriculture. Today it is found at Ledsham Dale.
One of the biggest local events in the area’s calendar is Ledsham Fayre which usually includes a flower festival in the church, various attractions and stalls on the cricket field, refreshments in the marquee and The Chequers Inn and a traditional produce show.
Over the years the fayre has seen various exhibitions from morris dancers, dog handlers and schools of dancing along with auctions and raffles.
The produce show is always well attended as local people compete to see who has grown the best vegetables and flowers, who has made the best cakes, shortbread and jams, who has brewed the best beer and wine and who can create the best flower arrangement.
All Saints Church usually organises a handicraft section for the best embroidery, quilting, patchwork, tapestry, lacework etc. All in all, a good day is generally had by all!
That’s a quick tour of the villages of Ledston and Ledsham. As you can see there’s a lot going on and still a strong community spirit in two traditional villages whose residents value their community spirit, great history and look forward to the future.
Published Winter 2007. All information correct at time of print.
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