Wetherby is a town in the county of West Yorkshire, England. It stands on the River Wharfe, and has been for centuries a crossing place and staging post on the Great North Road (today the A1) between London and Scotland. It is listed in the Domesday Book and was granted a Royal Charter in 1240 to hold markets.

The village of Boston Spa lies to the south-east; other villages nearby are Sicklinghall and Kirkby Overblow, and nearer still is the idyllic 'Village Of Possibilities', Linton, West Yorkshire

As a result of its situation on the main road, many inns were established here, still used today by travellers, many of them tourists on their way to the Yorkshire Dales and Harrogate.

Wetherby is famous for its racecourse, where carefully bred and trained horses compete in heroic battles to carry a small man around the 'course' (after which the racecourse is partly named) in the fastest possible time - in other words, a race (after which the racecourse is partly named). A popular pastime at the racecourse is to give money to a man known as a bookmaker. He doesn't ride the horses around the 'course' in the 'race', but if you can guess which horse will win, he will give you your money back along with someone's money who guessed wrong.

The town's railway station (now closed) was a junction on the line between Harrogate and Church Fenton which gave access to Leeds.

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Short historical notes