Eggborough Explained

Official Name:Eggborough
Static Image Name:Eggborough.jpg
Static Image Caption:Horse and Jockey pub in the village, with power station chimney visible in background
Coordinates:53.7049°N -1.1456°W
Label Position:top
Population:1,952
Population Ref:(2011 Census)[1]
Os Grid Reference:SE565235
Civil Parish:Eggborough
Unitary England:North Yorkshire
Lieutenancy England:North Yorkshire
Region:Yorkshire and the Humber
Country:England
Post Town:GOOLE
Postcode Area:DN
Postcode District:DN14
Dial Code:01977
Constituency Westminster:Selby and Ainsty

Eggborough is a village and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England, close to the county borders with South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire and the East Riding, effectively making it the meeting point for 3/4 sides of Yorkshire.

The village is situated at the intersection of the A19 and the A645, approximately east of Pontefract and south-west of Selby. It is also located close to the M62.

History

Eggborough (as well as High and Low Eggborough) is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 and was formerly in the Wapentake of Osgoldcross.[2] The name derives from Ecga's Burh; a fortification which belonged to a person named Ecga.[3]

Eggborough was part of the West Riding of Yorkshire[4] until 1 April 1974, when it became part of the Selby District of North Yorkshire. On 1 April 2023, Selby District was abolished and Eggborough became part of the new North Yorkshire unitary authority area.

There is a pub in the village; the Horse and Jockey. There is a cricket club which was formed in 1902 just up from the Horse & Jockey, which is the home of Whitley Bridge Cricket Club. There is also a sports and leisure complex based in the grounds of the nearby Eggborough Power Station. The complex offers a nine-hole golf course, two miniature football pitches, two full-size football pitches, a bowling green, a children's play area, a miniature railway, a licensed bar, snooker, pool, a green room and a concert hall.

The centre of the village used to be the location of a Bowman's Flour Mill, but this ceased production in 2016.[5]

Close to Eggborough is the site of French-owned Saint-Gobain Glass, Europe's leading producer of float (flat) glass. The plant, which opened in 1998,[6] employs over 170 people and produces of flat glass per year.[7]

The large village hall on Selby Road is well used by residents and it is a shared facility with the residents of Whitley Bridge who have no village hall of their own.[8] Other activities take place at the Methodist Hall and the Westfield Centre.The village also has its own football team called Eggborough Eagles,[9] which is based at the Eggborough Sports and Leisure Complex. The Eggborough Eagles was founded in 2011 by Chairman James Lancaster, Secretary Michael Corr and Manager Michael Shaughnessy. They came 4th in their first ever season recognised in the Selby and District Invitational League.[10]

Power stations

See main article: Eggborough power station. The village was the site of the coal-fired Eggborough Power Station, built in the 1960s and once owned by British Energy. Its four turbines could produce a total combined output of 1,960 MWe. The power station was due to be closed in 2016, but won a reprieve as a backup generator of power until March 2017 and then again until March 2018, when it shut down for good. The current owners are applying for permission to convert the power station to a gas-fired power plant.[11] [12]

There was also a short lived biomass power station, ARBRE Power Station, built by the Kelda Group, owners of Yorkshire Water, which cost £30 million.[13] The site was developed to burn willow wood grown by local farmers and turn it into gas, however, by August 2002 had gone into liquidation.[14] The capacity of the station was rated at 8 MW. In 2015, DRENL (UK) gained approval to convert the old ARBRE site into an Energy from waste (EfW) plant that would process of waste per year to generate 10 MW of electricity.[15]

Transport

The A19 and the A645 intersect in the village with the A19 being on a north–south axis and having a junction (number 34) on the M62 just south of the village.[16] To the south of the village lies the Aire and Calder Navigation. Eggborough is served by railway station on the Pontefract line, but services are limited to just two trains a day to and only one through to .[17]

Governance

An electoral ward in the same name exists. This ward stretches north to West Haddlesey with a total population of 3,763.[18]

It has a parish council consisting of four members.[19] Eggborough is represented on Selby District Council by husband and wife couple John and Mary McCartney who are Independents. John is also the North Yorkshire County Councillor for the ward which includes Eggborough.

Education

Primary age children attend Whitley and Eggborough Primary School which lies in Learning Lane on the other side of the M62.[20]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Parish population 2011 . Neighbourhood Statistics . Office for National Statistics . 14 August 2015.
  2. Web site: Powell-Smith . Anna . [High and Low] Eggborough Domesday Book ]. opendomesday.org . 25 September 2017.
  3. Book: Ekwall . Eilert . The concise Oxford dictionary of English place-names . 1960 . Clarendon Press . Oxford . 0-19-869103-3 . 161 . 4.
  4. Web site: Eggborough, West Riding . A Vision of Britain Through Time . . 2 December 2023.
  5. Web site: Bowmans Refocuses For Future Growth . www.bowmaningredients.co.uk . 25 September 2017.
  6. News: Selby gets glass jobs . 25 September 2017 . York Press . 24 March 1998.
  7. News: Saint-Gobain Glass UK . 25 September 2017 . York Press . 1 June 2006.
  8. Web site: Whitley Village Plan 2006 . whitleycommunity.co.uk . 25 September 2017 . 4.
  9. Web site: Eggborough Eagles FC . https://web.archive.org/web/20130416061246/http://eggborough-eagles.co.uk/ . 18 May 2012 . 16 April 2013.
  10. Web site: Eggborough Eagles - Division 2, Saturday 21 April 2012 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120723113800/http://www.selbydistrictleague.co.uk/Division%202.htm . 18 May 2012 . 23 July 2012.
  11. News: Barnett . Ben . Eggborough power station wins 12-month reprieve . 25 September 2017 . The Yorkshire Post . 9 February 2016.
  12. Web site: Williams . Diarmid . EPH applies to change Eggborough plant from coal to gas power . www.powerengineeringint.com . 25 September 2017 . 6 May 2017.
  13. News: 'Green' power station to close . 25 September 2017 . York Press . 2 August 2002.
  14. News: 'Green' power station is sold . 25 September 2017 . BBC News . 14 May 2003.
  15. Web site: Simkins . Gareth . EfW rebuild for failed biomass plant . endswasteandbioenergy.com . 25 September 2017 . 15 May 2015.
  16. York . 290 . 2015 . 1:25,000 . Explorer . Ordnance Survey . 9780319244876 .
  17. News: Freeman . Sarah . The ghost trains haunting Britain's rail network . 25 September 2017 . The Yorkshire Post . 28 April 2015.
  18. Web site: Key Figures for 2011 Census: Key Statistics – Area: Eggborough (Ward) . Neighbourhood Statistics . Office for National Statistics . 7 December 2016.
  19. Web site: Eggborough Selby District Council . www.selby.gov.uk . 25 September 2017.
  20. News: Eggborough pupils left in cold by theft . 25 September 2017 . York Press . 21 December 2011.