Ossett

Coordinates: 53°41′N 1°35′W / 53.68°N 01.58°W / 53.68; -01.58

Ossett /ˈɒsᵻt/ is a market town within the metropolitan district of the City of Wakefield, in West Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is located near junction 40 of the M1 motorway, half-way between Dewsbury, to the west, and Wakefield, to the east. In the 2001 census, it was classified as part of the West Yorkshire Urban Area. The town is roughly half-way between the west and east coasts of England.

History

Toponymy

Ossett derives from the Anglo Saxon and is either "the fold of a man named Osla" or " a fold frequented by blackbirds". Ossett is sometimes misspelled as "Osset". In Ellis' On Early English Pronunciation, one of the founding works of British linguistics, the incorrect spelling is used. The British Library has an online dialect study that uses the spelling.

Origins

Ossett appears in the 1086 Domesday Book as "Osleset", which was in the Manor of Wakefield. The Domesday book was compiled for William the Conqueror in 1086. "Osleset" was recorded as three and a half Carucates which is the land needed to be ploughed by three teams of eight oxen. Woodland pasture measured "half a league long as much broad" (roughly six furlongs by six furlongs). Four villans and three bordars lived in Osleset, a villan was an upper status villager, a bordar was a lower status villager.