Overton, West Riding

Overton
Yorkshire West Riding
Location
Grid reference:	SE260168
Location:	53°38’50"N, 1°36’27"W
Data
Post town:	Wakefield
Postcode:	WF4
Dialling code:	01924
Local Government
Council:	Wakefield
Parliamentary constituency:	Wakefield

Overton is a village between Wakefield and Huddersfield in the West Riding of Yorkshire. The village is to be found five and half miles south-west of Wakefield, four miles south of Ossett, a mile west of Netherton and four miles south-west of Horbury.

Overton is conjoined at its northeast to the larger village of Middlestown.

Parish church

St Luke's Parish Church in Overton is part of the ecclesiastical parish of Middlestown with Netherton within the Diocese of Leeds.

History

Overton was historically called 'Over Shitlington', and was one of four villages in the township of 'Shitlington' in the parish of Thornhill. In 1881 it is recorded that village occupations at the time included two farmers, a shopkeeper, the manager of "Cap House pit," and the landlords of The Reindeer and The Black Swan public houses.

National Mining Museum at Caphouse Colliery, Overton

The name 'Shitlington' was officially changed to Sitlington in 1929.

About the village

Overton is significant for the National Coal Mining Museum. The former Caphouse Colliery was worked from at least 1789 until the coal was exhausted in 1985 when work was started to convert it to a museum.

Coxley Woods are less than a mile to the south-east.

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Overton, West Riding)

• "Sitlington West Riding", Great Britain Historical GIS#A Vision of Britain Through Time|A Vision of Britain Through Time
• Coxley News; for Netherton, Middlestown, Overton and Midgley