Editing Pudsey (section)

==History==

The place-name ''Pudsey'' is first recorded in 1086 in the [[Domesday Book]] as ''Podechesai(e)''.<ref>{{OpenDomesday|OS=SE2133 |name=Pudsey |display=Pudsey |access-date= 21 October 2017}}</ref> Its etymology is rather uncertain: it seems most likely to derive from a putative personal name *''Pudoc'' and the word ''ēg'' meaning 'island' but here presumably referring metaphorically to an 'island' of good ground in moorland. Thus the name would mean 'Pudoc's island'. Other possibilities have been suggested, however.<ref>Victor Watts (ed.), ''The Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-Names, Based on the Collections of the English Place-Name Society'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004), s.v. ''PUDSEY''.</ref> In the early sixth century the district was in the Kingdom of [[Elmet]], which seems to have retained its Celtic character for perhaps as many as two centuries after other neighbouring kingdoms had adopted the cultural identity of the [[Angles (tribe)|Angles]].

Around 1775, a cache of a 100 silver [[Roman coin]]s, many predating the time of [[Julius Caesar]], was found by Benjamin Scholfield of Pudsey on Pudsey Common, to the north of the town, at a place traditionally known as "King Alfred's Camp".<ref>Leeds City Council (2009), [https://www.leeds.gov.uk/docs/pudsey%20conservation%20area%20appraisal%20and%20management%20plan%20final%20version.pdf Pudsey: Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Plan], page 5, accessed 10 August 2020</ref><!--Source dates find to 19th century-->

The town was famous in the 18th and 19th centuries for [[wool]] manufacture, and, from the 19th century, for [[cricket]]. Yorkshire and England cricketers [[Len Hutton|Sir Len Hutton]], [[Herbert Sutcliffe]], [[Ray Illingworth]] and [[Matthew Hoggard]] all learned to play in Pudsey. A 19th century Yorkshire cricketer, [[John Tunnicliffe]], was born in Lowtown.

During the [[Industrial Revolution]], Pudsey was one of the most polluted areas of the UK due to its position in a slight valley between the two industrial cities of [[Leeds]] and [[Bradford]]. As a result, whichever way the wind blew Pudsey became covered in thick soot. The [[temperature inversion]] created by the valley led to the soot becoming trapped leading to dense smogs. This is believed to have led to jokes that pigeons in [[Pudsey Park]] flew backwards in order to keep the soot out of their eyes.{{citation needed|date=February 2024}}