Village of the Week: The sleepy hamlet near Bradford that ended up being a tourist hotspot thanks to Emmerdale

Population figures have it down as being at around 1500 but the level of visitors and interest mean that this was no sleepy backwater.

It would be, but of course it was chosen as the set and filming location for the ITV soap opera Emmerdale.

The show first aired as Emmerdale Farm in 1972 and was very much about farming and rural life, being told from a farmhouse in Arncliffe in the Littondale area of The Yorkshire Dales.

It came about as the network was looking to expand its daytime programming after government restrictions on broadcasting hours were relaxed.

It almost could never have happened though.

Kevin Laffan was more known at the time for his work as a playwright and didn’t want his reputation to be tarnished by writing a soap, so he said no.

However, he had worked on a farm for six months when he was younger, and said on writing about farm life: "I was intrigued by the idea that farming was a way of life, as opposed to simply a way of earning a living."

It was originally only meant to be for a three month run.

Due to its popularity, it became six months, then a year and now of course, Emmerdale is on five times a week.

After a few years the focus of the show became more about village life and Esholt was chosen as a filming location in 1976.

Its compact nature was ideal with the pub, shop and tearooms being in close proximity, and of course the historic cottages and farm buildings being ideal for the nature of the show.

As the shop grew in popularity and was screened in several countries, more and more people wanted to visit the set or watch filming and hope to get a glimpse of their favourite characters and actors.

It eventually started to prove a problem for residents and businesses trying to go about their normal daily life.

Apparently, Claire King, who plays Kim Tate, said it was like doing live theatre as bus loads of tourists would come to watch them filming" and fellow actress Lisa Riley, who plays Mandy Dingle, added: "We couldn't film because of the noise, it would be like 'and action.... waaahhh' a babies crying, so I think after a while they realised that the only thing we could do would be to build our own village."

Even the owners of the real-life pub, which was actually called The Commercial, got fed up of constantly swapping the signs around that they changed the name of the pub to The Woolpack.

In 1996, construction of a set which replicated Esholt began on the Harewood Estate in north Leeds and indoor scenes are filmed at the ITV studios in Leeds city centre.

While there are still people keen to see Esholt, it is not quite on the scale it was before.

Emmerdale aside though, Esholt very much had its own dramas for hundreds of years before television cameras came along.

In the 12th century, the Esholt estate was owned by Syningthwaite Priory, and Esholt Priory, a Cistercian nunnery dedicated to St Mary and St Leonard was established at Lower Esholt.

When the nunnery was dissolved in about 1547 the estate was granted to Henry Thompson by Edward VI and in the 17th century Frances Thompson, the heiress of Henry Thompson married Walter Calverley (1629–1694).

In 1709 their son Walter Calverley built Esholt Hall, a Queen Anne style mansion house, on the site of the old nunnery.

In 1775 the Calverleys sold the estate to Robert Stansfield whose family remained in possession until 1906 when it was sold to Bradford City Council.

It is now under the remit of Yorkshire Water and Esholt Waste Water Treatment Works covers 300 acres and some.

As Bradford's population and the textile industry grew in the early 19th century most human and industrial waste drained into Bradford Beck, to the canal basin and in to the River Aire flowing past Esholt.

In 1862 a sewage system was begun in Bradford but the Beck was still polluted. In 1869 William Stansfield then of Esholt Hall obtained an injunction requiring Bradford Corporation to improve the sewage system so it built a treatment works at Frizinghall to treat sewage before the water was put in the river.

When it came to be that that couldn’t process the amount of sewage, the Esholt estate was acquired for more than £239,000 as the site for a new sewage works.

Last week, Yorkshire Water submitted a planning application that would allow the company to refurbish part of its historic Esholt Hall estate, the Grade II listed Laundry Room, for employees undertaking training at its academy.

However, it seems Esholt Hall, not to be confused with the 16th century Esholt Old Hall at Upper Esholt and one of the oldest buildings in the village, has had other users too.

There is a story that Esholt Hall is haunted with numerous reported sightings of the ‘Grey Lady’, being seen at various locations in and around the old manor house and church.

Reports include the door slamming shut and the key being turned in the lock with the caretaker having to ring his daughter to come and let him out and another caretaker’s dog flatly refusing to cross one of the corridors in the house.

One caretaker, Alan Maddocks told Freaky Folk Tales: “Over the years, I’ve witnessed all sorts of strange happenings – from doors suddenly slamming shut and locking, mysterious voices and coughing sounds and lights being turned back on again, even when there’s nobody in the building.

“I’ve always tried to keep an open mind about this sort of thing. When you are here on your own at night after everyone has left, it is a bit eerie. But it’s a beautiful place surrounded by countryside.”