Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for LEEDS

LEEDS, a great town, a township, a parish, and a district in W. R. Yorkshire. The town stands on the river Aire, on the Leeds and Liverpool canal, at a centre of railways, 24 miles SW of York, 42½ NE of Manchester, and 186½, by railway, N by W of London. It is the largest town in Yorkshire, the capital of the West Riding, and the chief seat of the woollen manufacture; it communicates, by inland navigation, with the eastern and the western seas, and with most of the canals and navigable rivers in the kingdom; and it commands an ample system of railway conveyance in all directions, both by main lines, and by connecting branches.

History.—The name is of very doubtful origin. It was anciently written Loidis, Leodys, and Ledes; and it may possibly have been taken from a Saxon possessor, called Loidi. The town is very ancient, yet figures obscurely and sparcely in early record. Many writers suppose, from the discovery of considerable Roman relics on its site, particularly bricks, tiles, and coins, that it was a Roman settlement; and Dr. Whitaker believes it to have been traversed, in the line of Briggate, by the Roman road from Calcaria to Campodunum. The Venerable Bede mentions it as a place of some note about the year 650; but he speaks of it in terms which have been understood variously as referring to the town itself, to a place 3 miles south east of it, and to a tract of about 10 miles in radius all around. Numerous vestiges of the Saxons, of various kinds, have been found in the town and its neighbourhood; fragments of crosses, with some Runic sculptures, were found at the rebuilding of the parish church; and the evidence of these relics, together with that of some faint intimations in history, are thought to prove that Leeds was a residence of the Northumbrian princes, throughout much of the Saxon period, and even after the Danish invasions. About 135 persons were landowners of Leeds and Holbeck at the Conquest; and most or all of them seem to have stoutly resisted the Conqueror; for their lands at Domesday were in a devastated condition. Ilbert de Lacy obtained large property here and at Pontefract from the Conqueror; and either he or one of his dependents built a castle at Leeds, on or near the spot now occupied by the Scarborough hotel. The castle was besieged by Stephen, in 1139; served as a temporary place of confinement for Richard II., in 1399, prior to his removal to Pontefract; and is mentioned, in connexion with mills, in a record of 1379; but was, long ago, demolished and obliterated. An extensive park appears to have surrounded it, and is commemorated in the names Park place, Park lane, Parkrow, and Park square. Leeds was called on for its proportion of ship money in 1638; and Leeds, Halifax, and Bradford are characterized by Lord Clarendon, in 1642, as "three very populous and rich towns, depending wholly upon clothiers." The town was seized for the parliamentarians early in 1643; and it repeatedly changed masters during the vicissitudes of the civil war; but it happily never was the scene of much bloodshed. Charles I. is said to have for some time occupied a mansion in it called the Red Hall, and alleged to have got that name from its being built of brick, or from being the first, or nearly the first, brick edifice in Yorkshire. The great plague of 1644-5 made such havoc in Leeds that a fifth of the population died, the town was nearly deserted, and the streets were green with grass. A body of Marshal Wade's troops, in 1745, encamped on the N side of the town, at a place still called Camp road; and the Marshal established his own head quarters at Wade Hall, a Tudor edifice in Wade lane, recently demolished for the purpose of making a new street from Wade lane to Woodhouselane. A riot occurred in 1753, in consequence of the improvement of roads and the erection of toll bars; and was not quelled till several persons were killed, and upwards of twenty wounded, by the fire of the military. The first coach from Leeds to London was started in 176 4; and the progress of events thence till now has been smooth and prosperous. The town has been free from popular tumults; it has enjoyed the results of great enterprise and much intelligence, without spasmodic speculation; and, at times of temporary commercial depression, it has never experienced as much distress as most other great seats of manufacture.

Eminent Men.—Very many distinguished men have figured in connexion with Leeds and its neighbourhood as natives or residents. Dr. Hartley, author of "Observations on Man, " was born at Armley. Dr. Priestley, the experimental philosopher, was born seven miles distaut, officiated for several years as minister of a Unitarian chapel in the town, and founded here a very extensive library. Smeaton, the celebrated engineer, was born in the neighbourhood. Joseph Milner, the ecclesiastical historian, and his brother Isaac, Dean of Carlisle, originally a weaver, were born in the town. Baron, the political writer, Bergenhout, the physician and author, Cappe, the Socinian writer, Adams and Clapham, the theologians, Fawkes, the poet, Lodge, the engraver, Saxton, the geographer, Bishop Lake, once vicar of the parish, and Dr. Scott, known as "Anti-Siganus, " also were natives. The senior Edward Baines, though not a native, held so distinguished a place here as to have been not inaptly called the "Franklin of Leeds;" and the junior Edward Baines, who has maintained the senior's honours, is a native. The noble family of Osborne was originally connected with the town, and takes from it the title of Duke.

Streets and Environs.—The Aire goes windingly through the town, from W to E; and cuts it into a smaller section on the S, and a larger one on the N. The S section is suburban to the township, or to Leeds proper; comprises Holbeck and Hunslet; contains a great number of streets, most of them short and narrow, but some tolerably long and spacious; and presents, on the whole, an inferior and uninviting appearance. The N section occupies the summit and slopes of an eminence; extends nearly 2 miles from W to E, and about 1¼ mile from S to N; and exhibits much variety of character. The central part of it, forming Briggate, Kirkgate, and Swinegate, with intermediate short streets and lanes, is the most ancient, and was once surrounded with a wide extent of open fields. Briggate goes nearly due N; may be regarded, in some degree, as the backbone of the town; is spacious, well built, and picturesque; and displays, in a somewhat striking manner, intermixtures of ancient small houses with modern magnificent buildings. Kirkgate goes from the upper part of it, as a main artery, to the SE. Vicar lane goes from Kirkgate, parallel with the northern part of Briggate; North-street is a continuation of Vicar lane, to the N; George street and High street lead out toward the ENE; York street runs nearly parallel to High street, at some distance to the S; Marsh lane goes nearly in the same direction, further to the S; and all these, as well as some others, are considerable thoroughfares. Swinegate goes curvingly, from the lower part of Briggate, to the W. Boar lane and other streets go from Briggate, in the same direction, into communication with Wellington street, Infirmarystreet, Bond street, Park place, West street, Park square, Park lane, and other principal thoroughfares or places; and both these streets and those to which they lead are crossed, mostly at right angles, by streets running N and S. The west part of the town generally is well aligned and well built; and contains some very excellent spacious streets, and a large aggregate of highly respectable dwelling houses. Wellington street, running westward through its southern portion, is a long, spacious, modern thoroughfare; formerly the great avenue for stage coaches from Bradford, Halifax, and Manchester; and now notable for immense factories at its W extremity, and for the railway stations contiguous to its centre. This thorough fare is a noble business one for the W wing of the town; and a corresponding one further E was formed, in 1867-8, by the reconstruction of Boar lane. l he greater part of the property there was purchased by the town council; the carriage way was greatly widened; nearly all the old buildings were taken down; and splendid new buildings were erected. The general aspect of Leeds is unmistakably that of a great, rich, energetic seat of trade. Its blaze of industry, its huge factories, its splendid warehouses, its superb public buildings, instantly strike the eye of every intelligent stranger. Yet, when entered from the S or from the E, or when seen in detail, much of it looks far from handsome or pleasant. The part N of the river, or Leeds proper, was officially reported, in 1839, to contain 586 streets, of which only 244 were in good sanitary condition, while 109 were middling, 137 bad, and 96 very bad; and the part S of the river had probably a less proportional extent of good streets. Great improvements, indeed, have been made since that time, -at a cost to the Corporation of not less than about £200, 000 or upwards, from 1849 till 1868; and these, besides including better sewerage and higher cleanliness, have considerably altered the aggregate character and appearance of the houses. The general building material is brick, tinged of a deep red colour from the presence of iron in the clay; and this makes the old streets look very dingy. But the new streets, new buildings in the old ones, and particularly the new warehouses and the public buildings, greatly redeem the general aspect. The outskirts and the environs, also, show many interesting features. Numerous handsome villas and mansions are in the suburbs and in the neighbourhood; charming spots, ornamented with wood and water, are on the N and W sides; and several vantage grounds, especially on the road to Bradford, looking toward Kirkstall abbey, command very fine views.

Public Buildings and Works.—The new town hall stands in an open space, in Park lane; was built in 1853-8, after designs by Brodrick, at a cost of about £120, 000; and was opened by the Queen. It occupies a parallelogram of 250 feet by 200; has an elevated platform, a peristyle of Corinthian columns and pilasters, with entablature and attic, rising to the height of about 65 feet; is surmounted by turrets at the corners, 115 feet high, and by a domed square tower in the centre, 50 feet each way at the base, and 212 feet high; and has, in the principal front, a recessed portico of ten columns, approached by a flight of 25 steps 135 feet long, with magnificent stone lions on pedestals at the ends. It contains a magnificent apartment called the Victoria Hall, two assize courts, a borough court, police accommodations, and official rooms for all the municipal departments. The Victoria Hall is 161 feet long, 72 wide, and 75 high; can accommodate about 8, 000 persons; the ceiling is arched and panelled, the side walls are disposed in five bays, with double Corinthian columns; the N end is semi circular, and has an organ which cost about £5, 000; the S end has a glass screen, separating the hall from the vestibule; and the floor is formed of Minton 's tesselated pavement. A white marble statue of the Queen, on a polished granite pedestal, is on one side of the vestibule, and one of the Prince Consort is on the other; and statues of the late Edward Baines, Esq., and the late Robert Hall, Esq., are in recesses inside of the Victoria Hall. A bronze statue of the Duke of Wellington, by Marochetti, on a polished granite pedestal, is in the open space in front of the building. The assizes for the West Riding began to be held in the court rooms here, instead of at York, in 1864. A splendid course of building improvement, in the erection of banking offices, warehouses, and private houses, of ornamental character, went on in the neighbourhood of the town hall, from the time of its erection till 1868. A suite of new Corporate buildings, on vacant land at the E side of the Town hall, to cost about £40, 000, was projected in the autumn of 1865; but, in consequence of the council not having requisite powers to carry it out, the project was postponed. The. quondam Court house, now the Post office, in Park row, was built in 1813; was purchased by Government in 1861 for £6, 000, and adapted, at small additional cost, to its present use; comprises centre and two wings; has a tetrastyle Corinthian portico; and contains spacious accommodation.-The Commercial buildings, or Exchange news rooms, stand at the S end of Park row, nearly opposite the post office; occupy an area of more than 1, 300 square yards; were built in 1826-9, at a cost of nearly £35, 000; are in the Ionic style, in the form of a parallelogram, with the southwestern corner rounded off; have a spacious, circular, tetrastyle portico, surmounted by an attic concave, with a circular corniced dome rising behind; and contain an exchange entrance hall, a very spacious reading room, a coffee room, dining rooms, and the rooms of the Leeds district court of bankruptcy. - A bronze statue of Sir Robert Peel was erected, nearly opposite the Commercial buildings, in 1852; and a bronze statue of Sir Peter Fairbairn was erected, in the Caledonian road, in 1868. The ancient Moot hall was demolished in 1825.-The old Corn Exchange, in Briggate, was built in 1826, at a cost of £12, 500; and is now let for workshops and other places of business.-A statue of Queen Anne stood in front of the Moot hall, and was transferred to a niche between two Ionic columns in the front of the old Corn Exchange.-The new Corn Exchange is situated in Calllane; was erected in 1863, at a cost of £30, 000, inclusive of the site; occupies an area of 2, 055 yards; has an oval ground plan, and the exterior form of a Roman amphitheatre; is 190 feet long, 136 wide, and 86 high; has an iron roof, surmounted by an elliptical dome; and includes a factor's market of 960 square yards, a farmers' market of 400 square yards, fifty-six sets of offices, a telegraph office, and news rooms.-The Stock Exchange, in Albion street, was built in 1847, at a cost of £12, 500; and is a handsome and spacious edifice.- The first Cloth hall was built in 1711, and was superseded by another in 1755; but the latter, in consequence of the rapid increase in trade, was speedily abandoned.- The present coloured or mixed Cloth hallstands near the Commercial buildings; was erected in 1758; is a quadrangular brick structure, 380 feet long and 198 feet wide; contains 1,800 stalls, arranged in six departments, called streets; and is open to merchants on a portion of every Tuesday and Saturday. -The white Cloth hall stood in the Calls, in Kirkgate ward; was erected in 1775; was on the same plan as the other Cloth hall, and of nearly the same extent; and was open on the same days as the other hall, but at a different hour. A new white Cloth hall, in lien of the preceding one, was erected in 1866-8 on the old infirmary grounds; is a quadrangular structure, 302 feet long and 180 wide, with an Italian frontage to King street two stories high, and with a square clock-tower 70 feet high; contains 1, 251 stalls in eight streets or departments; includes likewise boardroom, keeper's residence, and five suites of offices; and cost £20, 000 for construction, exclusive of land. The old hall was wanted for railway extension by the Northeastern railway company; and the new one erected entirely at that company's expense -The Central market, in Duncan-street, was built in 1824-7, at a cost of £35, 000; has a handsome Grecian front, of centre and wings; is disposed in avenues, shops, and galleries; and communicates, by a new street of 1833, with Briggate.-The Free market, in Vicar lane and Kirkgate, on ground formerly called Vicar's Croft, is a recent elegant iron reconstruction, in the Gothic style; was constructed at a cost of about £16, 000; forms an obliquely ended parallelogram, about 300 feet long and 130 feet wide; contains eighty-one shops, in a double row, one-half facing into the streets, the other facing into the interior; is surmounted, above the shops, by a glass screen of about 12 feet in height, and covered by three longitudinal roofs; and has about 200 gas lights, and a central fountain.- The South market, between Hunslet and Meadow lanes, was built in 1823, at a cost of £22, 000; consists of commodious shops, around a spacious area, with a Doric cyclostyle in the centre; and is adorned externally with columns and entablature, and with a surmounting dome. -The Smithfield cattle market was constructed in 1855, at a cost of £16, 000; comprises about 5 acres; and extends about 780 feet westward from North-street to Camp road.-The Shambles are in Cheapside and Fleetstreet, two thoroughfares going off from Briggate; and they have recently been much improved. The Assembly rooms, near the white Cloth hall, were built in 1775, but were not used for some time. An assembly room, in Assembly court, was opened in 1777, but soon ceased to be used. The Music hall, in Albionstreet, was erected in 1792, and came to be used for lectures, public examinations, and other purposes. The old theatre is in Hunslet lane; was very much enlarged and improved in 1867; and is now called the new theatre royal and opera housc. The Princess theatre is in King Charles croft. A new theatre was formed, in 1863, by transmutation of a large and elegant saloon, called the amphitheatre. A plan for a large theatre in Great George street was projected in 1861, but was not carried out. The Leeds club, in Albion street, is a convenient edifice, with handsome apartments. The West Riding club in Bond street was opened in 1866, and is admirably arranged. The Union club is in Wood's yard, Briggate. The baths, in Wellington street, were adorned with Ionic columns and pilasters, contained two complete suites of apartments, for the two sexes; and included cold, hot, vapour, and shower baths, with Matlock and Buxton baths; but these, as also the Waterloo swimming bath, near the canal, are now extinct. The Oriental baths in Cookridge street, were erectcd in 1866, by a company with a capital of £10, 000; are in the Moorish style, chiefly of brick; and containing Turkish, douche, graduated shower, cold, hot, and swimming baths.-The Royal Park, as similar in object to the baths, though including little building, may be mentioned here. It lies on the edge of Woodhouse moor; commands an extensive view of suburban villages, villas, hill and dale, wood and river; was formed about 1859; and, comprising originally 14 acres, was enlarged in 1865 by 14 additional acres. The old Botanic Garden, at Headingley, was laid out with fine taste; but was broken up; and laid out for villas, and is traversed by a wide street. Leeds bridge, over the Aire, at the foot of Briggate, was probably of Norman origin, possibly Saxon; figures in record at 1376, when a chapel stood on it; was widened in 1730, so as to have space for two rows of carriages; was again widened in 1760, when the chapel on it was taken down; was further improved in 1796; is a freestone structure of five arches, neither commodious nor strong, nor fine enough to suit its situation; and was regarded, in 1864, as having become unsafe. Wellington bridge, on a line of communication with Wortley and Armley, was constructed in 1819, after designs by Rennie, at a cost of £7, 000; and is a handsome stone structure, with an elliptical arch of 100 feet in span. Monk bridge, on the line of the Geldard road, was constructed in 1827, after designs by G. Leather, at a cost of about £4, 200; has a suspension arch of 112 feet across the Aire, two small land arches, and an elliptical arch of 24 feet over the Leeds and Liverpool canal; is altogether 260 feet long, and 36 feet wide; and was formed on a plan so novel as to occasion it to be popularly called the bow and string suspension bridge. The Hunslet bridge, on the line between Hunslet lane and Knostrop road, was constructed in 1832, also after designs by G. Leather, at a cost of £4, 800; is on the same principle as Monk bridge; has a suspension arch of 152 feet, and two small land arches; and measures 240 feet in length, and 38 in width. Victoria bridge, between Water lane and Sandford street, was built in 1837-8, by a company of shareholders, at a cost of nearly £8, 000; superseded a footbridge of 1829; and is a massive stone structure, with an arch 80 feet in span, and a roadway 45 feet in width. Crown Point bridge, a little below the parish church, and giving communication from Hunslet lane and the southern parts of the town to Kirkgate and the northern and eastern parts, was constructed in 1842, at a cost of £8, 750; consists chiefly of one handsome iron arch, 120 feet in span, cast at the Park iron works in Sheffield; and has a carriageway 30 feet wide, and two foot paths each 6 feet wide. Numerous small bridges cross the small streams; and grand massive bridges are on. the railway lines. The Marsh lane railway station, at the E end of the town, was erected in 1834, by the Leeds and Selby company, now incorporated with the Northeastern; is still used for passenger trains toward Milford; and is connected with the Wellington station by a line made through the town in 1869. Hunslet lane station was formerly the Midland's passenger station, but is now only a goods depot. The Wellington station, at the E end of Wellington street, is one of the largest and most commodious structures of its kind in England; and belongs to the Midland company. The Central station, near the centre of Wellington street, is a spacious structure in the Grecian style; has three platforms, 130 feet long and 20 wide; was erected at a cost of £30, 000; and belongs to the Great Northern company, but is used also by the Lancashire and Yorkshire, the Leeds and Wakefield, and the Leeds, Bradford, and Halifax. The Northeastern and Northwestern conjoint station, fronting Mill hill, was built in 1866-9; stands on arches, covering about 7½ acres, and has platforms 940 and 630 feet long, roofed to the length of 513 and 302 feet. The Leeds prison stands near Armley, on the S side of the Aire's valley, about 1½ mile W of the town; was erected in 1847, at a cost of £45, 500; underwent great enlargement in 1864, to provide additional space for prisoners brought to be tried at the assizes; had capacity, previous to the enlargement, for 347 male and 100 female prisoners; and is a massive castellated pile, visible from many distant points.-The cavalry barracks, in Chapeltown road, were erected in 1820, at a cost of £28, 000; stand in an open and healthy locality; and occupy an area of fully 11 acres.-The militia barracks, at Carlton hill, were erected in 1865, at a cost of £9, 000; and occupy an area of 4½ acres. - New and greatly improved water works were constructed about 1838, at a cost of £100, 000; they bring a plenteous supply of excellent water, from a place about 6 miles distant in the neighbourhood of Eccup, through pipes into large reservoirs; and they were considerably extended in 1865-8, by the erection of large pumping engines at Arthington and Headingley. The total cost of the water works, from 1838 till 1868, was about £330, 000. The original works of the Old Gas Company are in York street; additional works, erected in 1857, are at New Wortley; and a gasometer station is at Sheepscar. The capital of this company, originally £20, 000 in 181 8, was £296, 000 in 1868. Oil gas works were constructed in 1824; but, proving unsuccessful, were relinquished in 1833. The works of the New Gas Company include the Oil Gas Company's apparatus, purchased for £5, 300, and are situated in Meadow lane, with gasometer stations in Kirkstallroad, Dewsbury road, and Whitehall road. The capital of this company was originally £30, 000 in 1833, and was about £273, 000 in 1868.

Churches and Chapels.—The parish church, or St. Peter's, stands in Kirkgate; was rebuilt in 1839-40, at a cost of £40, 000; is in the later decorated and early perpendicular styles; comprises nave, aisles, transepts, chancel, and ante chapels, with a beautiful N tower 139 feet high; measures 180½ feet by 86; affords accommodation to 3, 000 sitters; was extensively repaired and re-decorated in 1861; and contains rich stained glass windows, a richly carved oak screen, an elaborately carved pulpit, a fine altar screen of stone, and several very beautiful monuments. The previous church was partly Norman, and was cruciform, with a central tower; had a roof painted in fresco by Parmentier; and was taken down in 1838. Some of the fragments of ancient crosses which we noticed in the historical paragraph, as discovered at the demolition of the old church, were found on comparison to form nearly the whole of one cross and the greater part of another; and a cross formed of them was set up in a garden not far from Brighton. St. John's church, in St. John's-street, was built in 1634; shows no featnre of architectural interest except as a specimen of the taste which prevailed at the time of its erection; was restored and im proved in the course of 1867; and contains a black marble monument to John Harrison, who founded it and was a great benefactor to the town. Trinity church, in Boar lane, was built in 1721, by a nephew of Harrison, at a cost of £4, 560; is in the Roman Doric style; and has several good memorial windows. St. Paul's church, in St. Paul's square, was built in 1794, by R. M. Atkinson, at a cost of £10, 000; is in a mixed Greek and Roman style; and has a very fine steeple. St. James' church was originally a dissenting chapel, and passed to the Establishment by purchase. St. Mark's church was built in 1825, at a cost of £10, 456. Christ church, in Meadow lane, was built in 1824, at a cost of upwards of £10, 000; and is in the decorated English style. St. Mary's church, at Quarry hill, was built in 1824, at a cost of £10, 951; and is in the early English style. St. George's church, in Mount Pleasant, was built in 1837, at a cost of about £11, 000; and has an altarpiece by Cope, and a fine organ. St. Luke's church, in North street, was built in 1841; and is in the early English style. St. Saviour s church, on Cavalier hill, East street, was built in 1845; is in the decorated English style; consists of nave, aisles, transepts, and chancel, with towered spire; and is fitted interiorly in the manner of ancient churches, with three sedilia, a piscina, and other antique features. St. Matthew's church, at Little London, was built in 1851, and enlarged and beautified in 1862; and is now floored, on the communion and the chancel with Minton's tiles. St. Andrew's, St. Philip's, St. Thomas, , All Saints', St. Michael's, and St. Stephen's churches are modern erections. Twenty two other churches are in the suburban or the rural districts of the parish. A resolution was taken in the summer of 1864 to build ten additional churches in the town, at a cost of £50, 000; and St. Simon s church was built in 1866, St. Clement's in 1867, St. John-the-Baptist's in 1868. The independent chapel at East Parade, with sides toward Greek street and Russell street, was built in 1841; has a hexastyle Doric portico of fluted columns; and contains 1, 700 sittings. The Independent chapel in Beeston road was built in 1835, at a cost of £2, 300; is in the Italian style, with transepts and turrets; and contains 700 sittings. The Independent chapel in Marshallstreet was enlarged in 1865. The Baptist chapel in Calllane was enlarged and improved in 1862, at a cost of about £1, 000; and now contains 800 sittings. The Baptist chapel in Woodhouse lane was built in 1864, and is a commodious edifice. The Presbyterian chapel, in Woodhouse lane, was built in 1856; and is in the early decorated English style. The Wesleyan chapel in Roscoe place was built in 1862; and is a handsome cruciform edifice, in the decorated pointed style. Brunswick chapel, erected in 1825, has 2, 500 sittings; Oxfordplace chapel, erected in 1836, has 2, 800 sittings; and St. Peter's chapel, erected in 1835, has 2, 500 sittings. The Unitarian chapel in Park row was built in 1848, at a cost of £10, 000; occupies the site of a previous chapel of 1673; and is an elegant edifice, in the later English style. The Roman Catholic chapel in Park row was built in 1838; is a very handsome edifice, in the style of the 15th century; and consists of nave and aisles, with tower and spire 150 feet high. The Roman Catholic chapel in York road was built in 1832; is ornamented with turrets and crosses; and has lancet windows and a large dome. The Jews' synagogue in Belgrave street was built in 1861, at a cost of £1, 200; and superseded a previous one in Rockingham street. There are also, in the town, two other Independent chapels, five other Baptist chapels, six other Wesleyan chapels, two other Roman Catholic chapels, five Primitive Methodist chapels, eight New Connexion Methodist chapels, eight United Free Methodist chapels, a Unitarian chapel, and three chapels for respectively Quakers, Inghamites, and Sweden borgians; and there are meeting rooms for Plymouth Brethren, Latter Day Saints, and two small congregations of other names. The proportions of church sittings among the various denominations, in 1851, were shown by the census returns of that year; and they may be proximately inferred, for the present time, from the same document. The places of worship, within the borough or parish, in 1851, according to the census, were 36 of the Church of England, with 25, 436 sittings; 11 of Independents, with 8, 305 s.; 13 of Baptists, with 5, 781 s.; 1 of Quakers, with 1, 100 s.; 3 of Unitarians, with 1, 240 s.; 26 of Wesleyans, with 20, 475 s.; 7 of New Connexion Methodists, with 2, 717 s.; 13 of Primitive Methodists, with 3, 900 s.; 10 of the Wesleyan Association, with 4, 354 s.; 4 of Wesleyan Reformers, with 200 s.; 1 of the New Church, with 850 s.; 2 of Brethren, with 250 s.; 5 of isolated congregations, with 280 s.; 1 of Latter Day Saints, with 240 s.; 2 of Roman Catholics, with 1, 220 s.; and 2 of Jews, with 140 s. The general cemetery near Woodhouse moor was opened in 1835; cost £4, 000 at its origin, and about £11, 000 thence till 1866; lies on a gentle acclivity, overlooking the town and the Aire's valley; is beautifully adorned with walks, lawns, shrubs, and trees; has an imposing entrance structure, in the Grecian style, containing the residences of the registrar and the sexton; and has, in the centre, an elegant chapel in the Grecian style. Three other cemeteries have since been opened; one at Burmantofts, of about 16 acres; one at Woodhouse hill, of about 10 acres; one on Beeston hill, of about 9 acres; and all are tastefully laid out.

Schools and Institutions.—The Grammar school was founded in 1552, by Sir William Sheafield; has £1, 675 a year from endowment, and a title to compete for an exhibition at Oxford, and for four scholarships at Cambridge; had Archbishop Pullen for a master, and the antiquary Thoresby, the physician Berkenhout, Dean Milner, Bishop Wilson, and Judge Kerrison for pupils; stood originally in North street; was rebuilt in 1859, at St. John's hill, near Woodhouse moor, at a cost of £3, 000 for the site, and upwards of £11, 000 for the structure; occupies an area of 8 acres; is in the decorated English style, in the form of a Latin cross, with pinnacles, dormer windows, and lofty ventilating turrets; includes a handsome chapel, erected in 1863, at a cost of about £3, 000; and can accommodate 400 scholars. The Industrial school, in Burmantofts, was built in 1848, at a cost of £16, 000; stands on an elevated plot of 6 acres; is in the Tudor style, with a frontage of 276 feet, above a spacious terrace; consists of centre and wings, with eight octagonal turrets at the angles; trains boys for a trade, and girls for domestic work; and has accommodation for 160 boys, 160 girls, and 80 infants. St. John's charity school was founded in 1750, by subscription, for educating and maintaining 40 poor children; was changed, in 1815, into an institution for educating, clothing, and industrially training 80 girls; and has n endowed income of about £400. The total number of public schools, within the town and its immediate suburbs, in 1866, was upwards of fifty; and nine of them were endowed, and many of them national. The schools within the borough or parish, at the census of 1851, were 76 public day schools, with 13, 176 scholars; 295 private day schools, with 8, 658 s.; and 147 Sunday schools, with 28, 761 s. The Philosophical and Literary Society was established in 1819; supports lectures and publishes transactions on all kinds of scientific subjects; and has an elegant hall in Bond street, erected in 1819 at a cost of £7, 000, enlarged and remodelled in 1862 at a further cost of more than £11, 500, and containing a commodious lecture room, a council room, a library, and a very valuable museum. A new Wesleyan college, in the early Gothic style, with a clock tower, was erected on Headingley hill, in 18618, at a cost of about £12, 000. The Mechanics' Institution possesses all the appliances of the best institutions of its class; has connexion with a school of art; and now carries on its operations in a splendid building, opened in 1868, in Cookridge street. This building cost £20, 000; is in the Florentine style, two stories high, with lofty entablature; has a lofty arched entrance, flanked by four caryatic female figures, and surmounted by a pediment filled with sculpture; and contains a circular lecture hall, with accommodation for about 2, 000 persons, a newsroom, a library, a picture gallery, and a dome shaped observatory. The school of art was previously very ill accommodated; yet had 5, 936 pupils in 1864, and 7-, 430 in 1865. The school of medicine has long bad a high character as an extra academical place of instruction; maintains courses of lectures, both in winter and in summer, on all the branches of medical science; and has a new and convenient building, in the Italian pointed style, erected in 1865, after designs by Corson. The Leeds library, in Commercial street, was founded in 1768, by Dr. Priestley; is very extensive; and is kept in a room which cost £5, 000. The Church institute promotes useful knowledge, has an excellent library, and is now held in a Gothic building of 1868. There are also other public libraries, a Young Men's Christian association, a Catholic literary institution, four suburban mechanics' institutes, two working men's institutes, and very many mutual improvement, benevolent, and Christian societies. The Leeds infirmary, in Wellington and King streets, was built in 1768-71; was a spacious but plain edifice of red brick with stone facings, in the Roman style; stood on a plot of 4, 000 square yards, enclosed by a palisadoed wall; had accommodation for upwards of 150 patients; was pronounced by Howard, in 1788, to be one of the best regulated hospitals in the kingdom; gave relief, for many years, to about 1, 600 in-patients, and 3, 000 outpatients annually; was eventually found to be much too limited for the demands made upon it; and has been superseded by a structure, near St. George's church, in the French first pointed style and on the pavilion system, erected in 1864-8 at a cost of more than £100, 000, inaugurated by the Prince of Wales, and containing accommodation for 300 in-patients. - The House of Recovery, for fever patients, stands at Burmantofts; on an elevated site, within an enclosure, laid out as gardens; succeeded a building of 1803, in Vicar lane; was itself erected in 1846, at a cost of about £6, 000; contains accommodation for about 100 patients, and is conducted on a system of daily payment.-The public dispensary, in North street, was established in 1824; is conducted on the system of visiting the poor in their own homes; and has now a new building, erected in 1865-6, after designs by Mr. Hill, at a cost of £5, 000.-There are also a lying in hospital, an eye and ear infirmary, a women and children's hospital, a sanitary association, an institution for the deaf and dumb, a guardian asylnm and penitentiary, a temperance lecture hall, and some other institutions of kindred character. Harrison's alms houses were founded in 1653, serve for 64 persons, and have an endowed income of £860. Potter's hospital was founded for 10 poor widows, and has an endowed income of £160Jenkinson's alms houses were founded in 1643, and have an endowed income of £37. The total amount of endowed charities is £5, 196.

Trade and Manufactures.—Receiving post offices‡ are at Holbeck, Hunslet, Hyde-Park-Corner, KirkstallRoad, Marsh Lane, North Street, New Wortley, ParkLane, and Sheepscar; and pillar or postal letter boxes are at about forty places. The banks, till recently, were five, -the Branch of the Bank of England, the Leeds Bank, the Yorkshire Bank, Beckett's Bank, and Williams' Bank; but two others, the Leeds and County Bank and the Leeds and Northern Bank, both limited, have been added; and the Discount Bank, with offices of four banks, has been established in Park row. Some of the chief hotels are the Great Northern Railway, the Midland Railway, Winder's Gt. Northern, the White Horse, the Bull and Mouth, the Albion, the Golden Lion, the Griffin hotel, Andrew's Temperance, and Beecroft's Temperance. The Great Northern Railway hotel is at the Central r. station; and was built in 1865-9, at a cost of about £22, 500. The Midland Railway hotel stands close to the Midland r. station; was built in 1862; and is in the renaissance style, of deep red brick with stone dressings. Four newspapers are published, -the Leeds Mercury, established in 1719; the Leeds Intelligencer, established in 1754; the Leeds Times, established in 1833; and the Leeds and West Riding Express. The Mercury passed into the proprietorship of the senior Edward Baines in 1801; has, since his own time, been conducted by members of his family; became a daily paper in 1861; and is now issued from a new and elegant edifice. The Leeds Intelligencer became a daily paper in 1866, and is now called the Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer. Weekly markets are held on Tuesday and Saturday; a fair for cattle and sheep, on every alternate Wednesday; a fair for horses, on 10 and 11 July; a fair for horses and cattle, on 8 and 9 Nov.; and fairs for leather on the third Wednesday of Jan., April, July, and Oct , and on the first Wednesday of March, June, Sept., and Dec. The great woollen manufacture, which ramifies to the extremities of the kingdom, is concentrated principally in Leeds and its neighborhood as in a focus. The cloth manufacture is not confined to any one kind, but includes all kinds; it produces fabrics equal to the best which were formerly produced in the west of England, and which seemed at one time to be producible only there; it produces also such varieties, from superfine to coarse, from broad to narrow, and from the shawl to the blanket, as place all descriptions in one mart before the buyer; and it has undergone every improvement, for quality, for adaptation, and for price, which experience and science could suggest. In 1855, this manufacture was carried on, within the borough, in 102 works, employing 10, 350 persons; and, at the census of 1861, the manufacture itself and occupations akin to it employed, within the registration districts of Leeds and Hunslet, the following numbers of males and females of 20 years and upwards: -the woollen cloth manufacture, 3, 313 m. and 1, 236 f. in Leeds, -4, 426 m. and 2, 070 f. in Hunslet; the worsted manufacture, 102 m. and 67 f. in L., -132 m. and 101 f. in H.; the stuff manufacture, 386 m. and 44 f. in L., -112 m. and 79 f. in H.; the carpet and rug manufacture, 103 m. and 8 f. in L., -57 m. and 11 f. in H.; wool and woollen dyeing, 185 m. in L., 114 m. in H.; other occupations akin to these, 209 m. and 8 f. in L., -103 m. and 12 f. in H. Woollen cloth goods to the value of from £6, 000, 000 to £7, 000, 000, a year are turned out of the Leeds warehouses. The spinning and the weaving of flax are more extensive than in any town of the three kingdoms excepting Belfast, and employ nearly 12, 000 persons. The cotton manufacture employs about 170 adults; and the silk manufacture, about 245. The making of locomotive engines, stationary engines, machinery, tools, and other iron products, employs about 8, 000 persons. The leather manufacture is carried on in very large tanneries, and employs about 706 adults in the Leeds registration district, and about 323 in that of Hunslet. Tobacco is sent from nine large factories, to the extent of paying about £400, 000 of duty a year. Glassmaking also is prominent; and many other departments of manufacture and trade employ considerable numbers of the people. A tract of coal field, around the town, supplies it well with fuel; contains 83 collieries; and produced, in 1860, an output of 2, 459, 500 tons. The town enjoys rich facilities of conveyance, to all points near and far, either by carriers, by coaches, by omnibuses, by the Aire navigation, by the canals, or by the network of railways; it is a warehousing town under the Inland bonding act of 1860; and it has a chamber of commerce in Park row, and a custom house in Hunsletlane.

The Borough.—Leeds was incorporated by Charles I., and received charters also from Charles II. and James II.; it sent a member to parliament in the time of Cromwell, but was not made a parliamentary borough till the reform act of 1832; it is now governed by a mayor, 16 aldermen, and 48 councillors; and, by enlarged franchise in 1867, it sends three members to parliament. It is the head of an excise collection, a polling place for the West Riding, and the seat of a county court, a district court of bankruptcy, courts of quarter sessions, and the assize courts for the West Riding. Its police force, in 1867, comprised 270 men, at an annual cost of £18, 361; and the crimes committed in it, during the year ending 29 Sept. 1867, were 1, 054, -the persons put to trial, 559 -the depredators and suspected persons at large, 2, 372, the houses of bad character, 329. The borough, both municipally and parliamentarily, is conterminate with the parish; and measures 19, 221 acres in area, 7½ miles from N to S, 7¼ miles from E to W, and 30 miles in circumference. Real property, in 1860, £683, 668; of which £6, 823 were in mines, £1, 407 in quarries, £4, 460 in iron works, £57, 827 in canals, and £24, 868 in gasworks. Amount of property and income tax charged in 1863, £71, 933. Electors in 1833, 4, 171; in 1868, 8, 485. Pop. in 1801, 53, 162; in 1821, 83, 746; in 1841, 152, 313; in 1861, 207, 165. Houses, 44, 651. Pop. in 1867, according to registrar s estimate, 229, 471.

The Township and the District.—The township comprises the South, the Kirkgate, the East, the North, the Northeast, the Northwest, the West, and the Millhill wards of the borough. Acres, 2, 100. Real property in 1860, of the S. ward, £80, 038; of the K. w, £27, 607; of the E. w., £33, 453; of the N. w., £31, 355; of the NE. w., £45, 975; of the NW. w., £41, 424; of the W. w., £95, 793; of the M. w., £90, 914. Pop. in 1861, of the S. w., 7, 154; of the K. w., 3, 088; of the E. w., 18, 954; of the N. w., 14, 554: of the NE. w., 26, 582; of the NW. w., 16, 561; of the W. w., 25, 361; of the M. w., 5, 312. Houses of the whole, 25, 005. The district, or poor law union, is conterminate with the township; and is divided into three sub districts, containing respectively the S., K., and E. wards, the NW. and NE. wards, and the NW., W., and M. wards. Poorrates in 1863, £55, 014. Marriages in 1863, 1, 797 births, 4, 864, -of which 328 were illegitimate; deaths, 4, 095, -of which 2, 068 were at ages under 5 years, and 21 at ages above 85. Marriages in the ten vears 1851-60, 17, 941; births, 41, 425; deaths, 30, 345. The places of worship, in 1851, were 17 of the Church of England, with 15, 760 sittings; 5 of Independents, with 6, 275 s.; 6 of Baptists, with 3, 490 s.; 1 of Quakers, with 1, 100 s.; 1 of Unitarians, with 800 s.; 10 of Wesleyans, with 12, 192 s.; 3 of New Connexion Methodists, with 1, 225 s.; 3 of Primitive Methodists, with 1, 612 s.; 3 of the Wesleyan Association, with 2, 444 s.; 1 of Wesleyan Reformers, with 750 attendants; 1 of the New Church, with 850 s.; 4 undefined, with 200 s.; 2 of Latter Day Saints, with 1, 220 s.; 1 of Roman Catholics, with 240 s.; and 2 of Jews, with 140 s. The schools were 41 public day schools, with 7, 847 scholars; 163 private dayschools, with 4, 789 s.; 64 Sun day schools with 14, 662 s.; and 12 evening schools for adults, with 838 s. The workhouse stands on a commanding site, in a salubrious situation, at Burmantofts; was built in 1858-60, at a cost of £45, 000; is in the Tudor style, and of striking appearance; has attached to it a separate cruciform chapel, in the Byzantine style, and a plot of about 26 acres; contains accommodation for 848 inmates; and, at the Census of 1861, had 438 inmates. The offices are at the junction of East and South Parades; were built in 1860, at a cost of £10, 000; and form a handsome and commodious edifice of brick and stone.

The Parish.—The parish, in addition to Leeds township or district, contains the townships of Hunslet, Holbeck, Beeston, Chapel Allerton, Potter Newton, Bramley, Armley, Wortley, Farnley, and Headingley withBurley, in Hunslet district; and, as already noted, it is conterminate with the borough. It was ecclesiastically partitioned at different dates from 1831 till 1868, into twenty-one sections of the same names as the twentyone churches which we have noticed in our account of the town, and into the twenty-two sections of HunsletST. Mary, Hunslet-ST. Jude, Holbeck-St. Matthew, Holbeck St. John, Holbeck-ST. Barnabas, Beeston, Chapel-Allerton, Moor-Allerton, Bramley, Armley, Wortley, Wortley-St. John, Farnley, Headingley, Burley, Stanningley, Kirkstall, Meanwood, Hunslet-Moor, Upper Armley, Far-Headingley, and Wrangthorn. Seventeen of the town livings are vicarages, and four p. curacies, in the diocese of Ripon. Value of St. Peter, £1, 000;* of St. John, £600; * of St. Andrew, £300;* of St. Saviour, All Saints, Christ Church, and St. Mary, each £300;* of St. Stephen, £210;* of Trinity, £299;* of St. Paul, £133;* of St. Mark, £140;* of st. Luke, £126;* of St. Philip, £150;* of St. Thomas, £230;* of St. Matthew, £200; * of St. Michael, £300; * of St. Simon and St. John-the-Baptist, each £200; of St. James, St. George, and St. Clement, not reported. Patrons of St. Peter and St. Mark, Twenty-five Trustees; of St. John, the Vicar of St. Peter, the Mayor, and Three of the Corporation; of St. Andrew, St. Saviour, and St. George, Trustees; of All Saints and St. Matthew, alternately the Crown and the Bishop; of St. Stephen and St. Michael, Five Trustees; of Trinity, the Vicar of St. Peter, the Recorder, and the Vicar of St. John; of St. Paul, St. James, Christ Church, St. Mary, and St. Luke, the Vicar of St. Peter; of St. Simon, St. Clement, and St. John-the-Baptist, the Bishop. The other 22 livings, together with the townships in the Hunslet district, are noticed in their respective alphabetical places.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a great town, a township, a parish, and a district"   (ADL Feature Type: "cities")
Administrative units: Leeds AP/CP       Leeds RegD/PLU/PLPar/PLPar       Yorkshire AncC
Place names: LEDES     |     LEEDS     |     LEODYS     |     LOIDIS
Place: Leeds

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