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The earliest written record of the settlement (circa 1180) is as “Hamethwayt” in the Early Yorkshire Charters.

The name 'Thwaite' comes from the Old Scandinavian word 'thveit', meaning 'clearing, meadow or paddock' and Hampsthwaite could mean the thwaite, or meadow, of Hamr or Hammall, or simply from Heim, meaning home, but it is almost certainly derived from the Old Norse Homp, 'land bordering on a river and liable to flooding' (an alternative possibility was put forward that the name 'Hamps' may derive from the Middle English, 'Hanespe', which means 'summer dry', or dry in summer but this would be an unlikely combination of Old Norse and Anglo Saxon).

Records show that flooding was indeed a feature of the River Nidd, which runs through here, although the Roman road from 'Olicana' (Ilkley) to 'Isurium' (Aldborough) crossed the Nidd at Hamps-thwaite and this led to the development of a market.

Hampsthwaite was situated within the Forest of Knaresborough, which was established as a royal hunting preserve in the time of the Conqueror. The church of Hampsthwaite was in existence soon after the Norman Conquest and was at one time in the possession of the monks of Knaresborough.

The family of the writer William Makepeace Thackeray lived in Hampsthwaite, as did the family of Amy Woodforde Finden (1860-1919) who was best known as the composer of “Kashmiri Song” from The Four Indian Love Lyrics by Laurence Hope. In the churchyard are the graves of Joshua Tetley, the founder of the Tetley's Brewery in Leeds, and his wife Hannah; Jane Ridsdale, who died age 58 but only 31 ½ inches tall; and Peter Barker, the blind joiner of Hampsthwaite.

As a centre of agriculture, Hampsthwaite has had many slaughterhouses in or near the village area. According to plans drawn by the late Bernard Wilson (see Book One -"Villagers' Reminiscences") one was situated off Hollins Lane; another opposite the present Peckfield estate; another amongst farm buildings south of the Village Room; behind the site of the Joiners Arms; on farmland abutting the north bank of the river and east of the river bridge; on a site near South Royd and yet another to the east of the barns from which South Royd and adjacent houses were recently formed. The approximate positions of those slaughterhouses can be seen by clicking here to see illustrations produced for a village history exhibition by Bernard Wilson on which they are marked as 'SL^T HOUSE'. It is the last of those slaughterhouses (marked 3^RD SL^T HOUSE) which we see in the aerial photograph above and that one which assumed the greatest importance. It stood on part of the farmland owned by the Addyman family (click here to read an account of ownership of land on the east side of Church Lane).

Despite the existence of records at the West Riding Deeds Registry, it is difficult to trace the ownership of properties back beyond the 20th century. The use of plans was not common in earlier days and title deeds often describe properties by reference to their then occupants and the owners or occupants of adjacent plots. People living in the vicinity at the time such property was described in a deed may well have understood what was being described but later generations do not often have the necessary local knowledge to interpret the deeds.

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The 4^th British Infantry Division . . . fighting its way through Tuscany towards Florence, had reached the foothills of the Chianti Mountains where German Panzer Grenadiers were entrenched by late July 1944.

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