LeedsLeeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is governed by a metropolitan borough named after the city, the wider county having devolved powers. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. The city was a small manorial borough in the 13th century and a market town in the 16th century. It expanded by becoming a major production centre, including of carbonated water where it was invented in the 1760s, and trading centre (mainly with wool) for the 17th and 18th centuries.
KeighleyKeighley (ˈkiːθli ) is a market town and a civil parish in the City of Bradford Borough of West Yorkshire, England. It is the second largest settlement in the borough, after Bradford. Keighley is north-west of Bradford city centre, north-west of Bingley, north of Halifax and south-east of Skipton. It is governed by Keighley Town Council and Bradford City Council. Keighley is located in West Yorkshire, close to the borders of North Yorkshire and Lancashire. Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, it lies between Airedale and Keighley Moors.
BradfordBradford is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is governed by a metropolitan borough named after the city, the wider county has devolved powers. It had a population of 349,561 at the 2011 census; the second-largest subdivision of the West Yorkshire Built-up Area after Leeds, which is approximately to the east. The borough had a population of , making it the most populous district in England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, the city grew in the 19th century as an international centre of textile manufacture, particularly wool.
City of BradfordThe City of Bradford Metropolitan District (ˈbrædfərd), commonly called the Bradford, is a local government district of West Yorkshire, England, with the status of a city and metropolitan borough. It is named after its largest settlement, Bradford, but covers a large area which includes the towns and villages of Keighley, Shipley, Bingley, Ilkley, Haworth, Silsden, Queensbury, Thornton and Denholme. Bradford has a population of 528,155, making it the fourth-most populous metropolitan district and the sixth-most populous local authority district in England.
Leeds and Liverpool CanalThe Leeds and Liverpool Canal is a canal in Northern England, linking the cities of Leeds and Liverpool. Over a distance of , crossing the Pennines, and including 91 locks on the main line. The Leeds and Liverpool Canal has several small branches, and in the early 21st century a new link was constructed into the Liverpool docks system. In the mid-18th century the growing towns of Yorkshire, including Leeds, Wakefield and Bradford, were trading increasingly.
AiredaleAiredale is a geographic area in Yorkshire, England, corresponding to the river valley or dale of the River Aire. The valley stretches from the river's origin in Aire Head Springs, Malham which is in the Yorkshire Dales, down past Skipton on to Keighley, Bingley and Shipley through to Leeds and Castleford and on to join the River Ouse at Airmyn. This valley is of great topographic significance as it provides low-altitude passes through the mid Pennines to the west coast known as the Aire Gap.
City status in the United KingdomCity status in the United Kingdom is granted by the monarch of the United Kingdom to a select group of communities, which might or might not meet the generally accepted definition of cities. , there are 76 cities in the United Kingdom—55 in England, seven in Wales, eight in Scotland, and six in Northern Ireland. Although it carries no special rights, the status of city can be a marker of prestige and confer local pride. The status does not apply automatically on the basis of any particular criterion, though in England and Wales it was traditionally given to towns with diocesan cathedrals.
