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Knottingley is a town which, since 1974, has been within the metropolitan borough of the City of Wakefield in West Yorkshire, England on the River Aire and the A1 road. It has a population of 13,503. From 1938 until 1974 Knottingley was an urban district in the West Riding of Yorkshire and from 1894 until 1938 it was a village in Pontefract Rural District. In the 19th century and before it was a chapelry in the ecclesiastical parish of Pontefract in Osgoldcross Wapentake. It was a Registration subdistrict under Pontefract. [edit] HistoryUntil 1699, it was an important inland river port but, in that year, the Aire was made navigable as far as Leeds, which soon surpassed it. Knottingley continued as a centre for boat building into the twentieth century. In the late nineteenth century, it started glass manufacturing. The town is served by Knottingley railway station. After 1870, the town became known for glass manufacturing. In 1887 Bagley's Glassworks purchased the rights to the first bottle-making machine, invented by a Ferrybridge postmaster. There is a Bagley's Glass gallery in Pontefract Museum. [edit] Research Tips
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