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The last word is yours
OK folks, this has gone on long enough! Is it Cross Gates or Crossgates? Vote here on the spelling issue.
The vote panel on the side bar displayed on the website offers two options - Cross Gates or Crossgates. It is up to you to decide.
YEP community digital editor, Andrew Hutchinson, said: "This is an issue that people feel really strongly about.
"It seems there are just as many people use Crossgates as use Cross Gates, so we decided to use this website to find out who is in the majority."
The signs scattered around the town only add to, rather than clear up, the confusion.
Some local businesses chose the two-word version, others the all in one.
Even the train station welcomes passengers to Cross Gates on one side of the platform and Crossgates on the other.
To add to the confusion, the suburb's shopping mecca, this year celebrating its 40th birthday, has gone by three names.
To most of the locals, the place will always be The Arndale Centre, at one point it was known as Cross Gates Shopping Centre, then later became Crossgates Shopping Centre.
Speaking after a major revamp at the centre saw it get its current name, manager Steve Seymour said: "It has been an on-running saga as to what the area is called and even the railway station features both names, which is quite confusing.
"It has always been my thinking that it was Crossgates and following discussions with the new owners it was decided to change."
The area's name is in fact derived from Crossyates, which was first mentioned in Whitkirk's parish records in the 15th century.
Yate was the old English word for gate and it is thought the name came from the gates used to divide land in the area and keep in cattle.
Since then it has been written as both one word and two, with neither said to be wrong.
David Owens, president of the East Leeds History and Archaeology Society, admitted he was as stumped as anyone else.
"I've looked into all the historical records for the area and there doesn't seem to be a definitive answer, " he said.
"It just seems to be an interesting quirk that no one is ever going to solve. Whichever way you write it, you are neither right nor wrong."
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Weather for Leeds
Wednesday 08 February 2012
Today
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Temperature: -7 C to 0 C
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