Garforth

Garforth (/ˈɡɑːrfərθ/) is a town in the metropolitan borough of the City of Leeds, West Yorkshire. It sits in the Garforth and Swillington ward of Leeds City Council and the Leeds East parliamentary constituency. As of 2011, the population of Garforth was 14,957, having decreased since the last census. It is 6.5 miles (10.5 km) east of Central Leeds, 16 miles (26 km) south-west of York and 10 miles (16 km) north of Wakefield. It is mostly an Un-Parished area, like much of Greater Leeds. The place-name Garforth appears first in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Gereford and Gereforde, with gar- spellings first appearing in 1336 in the form Garford. The name seems to derive from the Norse words gāra ('triangular plot of land', derived from the word gār, 'spear') and ford ('ford)', and thus meant 'ford at a triangular plot of land'. Or perhaps, River Crossing of the Spear. The plot is thought to have lain at a sharp turn in the road now called The Beck. Spellings beginning with ger- reflect the Old Norse counterpart of Old English gāra, geiri, and therefore the existence of Norse-influenced pronunciations of the name existing alongside Old English ones.