ACKWORTH is a large village about three miles south of Pontefract in the West Riding of Yorkshire. It is generally supposed to have derived its name from the Anglo-Saxon Ake or Aken meaning oak and Uurt - worth, which means a hamlet or village. The spelling of the village seems to have been crystallised to Ackworth by 1800, although the original spelling of the name was Acworth and there is no 'K' in the name in Domesday Book - the spelling there is Aceuurde. An Anglo-Saxon authority has stated that the name Ackworth could mean Acca's worth i.e., Acca's enclosure - Acca being an Anglo-Saxon surname.

The district of Pontefract was included in the mission of Paulinus (A.D. 626-633) the Northumbrian apostle in the time of King Edwin. Ackworth was one of the resting places of the body of St Cuthbert, monk and sixth Bishop of Lindisfarne who died in 688 when the monks of Lindisfarne carried it from place to place to escape the Danes. The old Saxon Church took its name from that Saint.

The parish was part of the Diocese of Lincoln in the Province of Canterbury for 500 years or more. In the reign of Henry VIII (but not before 1540) it was transferred to York, and then in 1926 to the then Diocese of Wakefield. In 2014 it became a parish in the Diocese of Leeds

With its successive owners, the district takes a notable place in English history. At the time of the Norman conquest, it came into the hands of the Norman family of de Lacy. It was Henry de Lacy, Earl of Lincoln, who made the presentation of the living of St Cuthbert in 1302. From that date the village became part of the Honor of Pontefract and until Stuart times was part of the possessions of the Kings of England as Dukes of Lancaster. Presentations were made by the Crown until 1693 when the right of appointment was transferred to the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. It is during 1330s that the oldest remaining part of today's church, the tower, was erected.

One of its Rectors, Thomas Bradley, was a Chaplain of Charles I who served the Royalist Garrison at Pontefract Castle during the Civil War. He was expelled by the Parliamentary Committee in 1646 but was restored to the living of Ackworth at the return of the Stuarts in 1660. He commemorated his return by installing a new font and by building two Alms houses in the village.

In 1850 the solid and well-built 14th century Church tower was renovated, ensuring that the original tower structure remained intact. The height of the tower is 68 feet (or approx. 20 metres) It contains a peel of six bells, each bearing an inscription.

Over the porch entrance is a niche containing an effigy of St Cuthbert - the patron Saint - holding in his right hand a Crozier. It is the custom at Harvest and at Christmas to hang a sheaf of corn on the Crozier as extra food for the birds at these seasons. This custom is thought to be an old Norse practice, common in past ages in many areas of Northern Europe.

In 1852 the main body of the church was rebuilt and restored in the Gothic Revival Decorated Style. During this work evidence of a Norman Chapel was discovered to the south side of the nave and Sir Roger Hopton’s tombstone, now on the north wall, was found under seats then allocated to the occupiers of Ackworth Park. In 1854-5 the Chancel was rebuilt and stained-glass windows installed from 1856 to 1867. Heating was installed in the stoke hole or heating chamber under the tower in 1858. The church clock, made by William Potts and Co. of Leeds was completed in 1879 and the tenor bell was recast and the other bells retuned and rehung in 1880.

Other improvements were made in the late Victorian era and in particular, as it was presumably quite dark inside the church, the roof of the nave was again removed, the nave walls over the arches built higher and the upper clerestory windows installed before a new higher roof was replaced on the nave. The line of the old roof can still be seen on the wall above the tower.

In place under the tower there is a restored Norman font mounted on part of a pillar from the old church. This font was believed to be buried for safety in the during the Civil War (around 1645) and to have been unearthed and taken off site by workmen during the rebuilding of the church in 1852. It was discovered by the Rector in use as a bird bath in a private garden and was returned to the church in the 1920s to become the "old" font. Ackworth is quite remarkable in this regard, as having two fonts in a church is quite a rarity.

Restoration and alterations have continued in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. A major restoration was undertaken in the 2000s on the stone work, roof and windows following the creation of a meeting room with refreshment facilities and a toilet within the church in the1990s to meet modern standards.

It should be mentioned that some previous historical records state that the 1852 rebuilding was necessary due to a serious fire destroying the church. This is not the case as no fire occurred in 1852. It was in fact a planned reordering which commenced in 1850. This may have been confused with a fire that was however started in the pulpit in the church in 1868. This fire was discovered and extinguished before any serious damage was caused, damaging mainly the inside of the pulpit, which has now been replaced. The fire-raiser was apprehended and later sentence to 12 months imprisonment at Leeds Assizes.

In 1888 All Saints’ Church was built in the Moor Top area of the village as a Chapel of Ease to serve this part of Ackworth. It continues to provide important ministry support to our congregation in the village.

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We are indebted for material collected by Revd J L Saywell, Mr W A Green and Mrs M W Ackworth, but no responsibility is accepted for errors or omissions. Revisions. WA Branston Ackworth PCC June 2018