Cookridge is a suburb of north-west Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, north of the Leeds Outer Ring Road. In 1715 Ralph Thoresby described it as a village four miles from Leeds and three from Otley, dating from 1540. A mixture of suburban and council owned properties on the border with Holt Park and Tinshill, the area sits in both the Adel & Wharfedale ward of Leeds City Council and the Leeds North West parliamentary constituency. Before 2004, the area sat within Cookridge ward, named after the area. Nearby places include Adel, Holt Park, Tinshill, Horsforth, Bramhope, Moor Grange and Ireland Wood. Cookridge is one of the highest points in Leeds, with the elevation rising to above sea level close to the water tower on the eastern edge of the suburb. Cookridge holds an annual scarecrow festival hosted by the Leeds Modernians. Geography Cookridge is located in the foothills of the eastern Pennines. Elevation ranges from above sea level close to Moseley Beck behind Horsforth railway station to above sea level by the water tower. Because of its higher elevation it experiences a cooler, windier and wetter climate compared to many other parts of Leeds, and is very exposed to easterly winds. The Beast from the East in February/March 2018 brought heavy snowfall and severe drifting to the area. Etymology The name of Cookridge is first attested in the Domesday Book of 1086, as Cucheric. The second element of the name is agreed to come from an Old English word *ric ('narrow strip of land'), attested only in place-names. The origin of the first element is less certain: it could perhaps be from an otherwise unattested personal name, inferred to have been *Cuca, or from a variant of the attested word cwica ('quickset hedge, hedge grown from (hawthorn) cuttings'). Thus the name might once have meant 'Cuca's narrow strip of land' and 'narrow strip of land demarcated by a quickset hedge'). History and buildings The area had the natural geographic boundaries of the Moseley Beck on the West and South, the Marsh Beck to the North, and the old trackway to the East, running roughly North-South along the line of Spen Lane. A Roman road passing East-West was excavated in 1966 going through Golden Acre Park, south of Marsh Beck. The area later became part of the Kingdom of Elmet, being conquered by the Angles in the 7th century, leading to the