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Hunslet Buildings

michelelefevre — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 07:41:17 CDT

Carr Hall
A well known hall in Hunslet was Carr Hall, at Carr Moor Side. It is not known definitely who erected it, but it is likely to have been either the Fenton or Carey families, both of whom lived at the Hall, and had connections with Hunslet. The Fentons were very influential people who settled in Hunslet at an early date. One of them was a British consul at Riga, and was responsible for arranging the visit to Hunslet of Duke Nicholas of Russia (later Czar) in 1816. Another of the Fentons was a partner in Fenton, Wood and Murray at the famous Round Foundry in Water Lane, Holbeck. The Fenton family was connected also with coal mining in the area. According to E. Kilburn Scott, a Leeds author and historian, the Fentons lived in an old Tudor hall, which stood on Carr Moor Side, Hunslet. It had definite connections with the Fentons, since their coat of arms was apparently over the main fireplace. The Hall also had some fine old stained glass in the mullioned windows. Robert Armitage lived at Carr Hall early in the last century. He was said to be the last of the hand operatives in cloth making. Alf Mattison, a prominent Leeds antiquarian and a native of Hunslet, wrote "Carr Hall has a history going back a few centuries to Mr. J. Armitage's occupancy." [Mr. J. Armitage died in 1821 and was an ancestor of Mr. Robert Armitage of Farnley Hall]. For three generations the Careys were lords of Hunslet, and Carr Hall is thought to have been erected and occupied by them until the early part of the 18th century.

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New Hall/Stank Hall New Hall was a fairly substantial manor house which once upon a time stood near Dewsbury Road, close by the old Great North Railway Line. It was the seat of the Hodgson family, and the first owner, Christopher Hodgson of Beeston, bore the grand title of Attorney before the Council of the North. The heirs of Christopher Hodgson sold the Hall to Thomas Kitchingman, a former Mayor of Leeds. The Hall was in a state of decay by the 1890's and is no longer in existence today. It was also known as Stank Hall, deriving from the ancient name of Stankie (or Stankle) Stanched, meaning Standing Water.

Social Housing A huge clearance programme for Hunslet was planned and carried out in the 1960's. Areas such as Low Road, Jack Lane, Anchor Street and New Pepper Road, were all scheduled for clearance. Well-known local landmarks disappeared, among them the Strand Bingo and Social club, and the Salvation Army Citadel, both on Jack Lane.

Row of Houses - Jack Lane Hunslet

Altogether, over 110 houses, plus shops, workshops, garages, stables and industrial premises were cleared away.To replace the lost housing in the area, the council decided to build what was to become one of it's most infamous projects - Hunslet Grange, otherwise know as the Leek Street Flats. The Flats were built on the old Anchor Street site, and were officially opened to a blaze of publicity on Wednesday March 27th , 1968, by the Lord Mayor, Lawrence Turnbull. The flats were the first to be specially designed to run on north sea gas, and were critically acclaimed by the leading architects of the day.

Canova Throp, sculptor and stonecarver

michelelefevre — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 07:17:04 CDT

Canova Throp was born in 1848, the second son of John and Sarah Throp of Bowling Green Terrace, Hunslet. He was named for the great Italian sculptor of that name, possibly in the hopes that he would inherit his skill. His father John Throp was born in Liverpool, and was described as a stone carver in the 1851 census. Canova’s greatest claim to fame was the fact that he was the father of Leonora Cohen, the renowned Leeds suffragette, but had he not died at the early age of 30, he may well have contributed much more as a sculptor and artist.

Little is known of his life, and much of what we do know has come from records such as the 19th century census returns. We know that there were at least five other siblings, and that Canova was probably the second of three sons. Something fairly momentous must have happened on or around 1861, because the census for that year records his mother, Sarah, living at 5, Darnley Street with Hannah aged 18, Canova aged 14, Elizabeth aged 5 and Henry aged 3. Sarah was working as a cap maker and Hannah as a seamstress. Of John there is no sign, but a wider census search finds him and another son George, aged 15, living down in London at 5, Percy Street, St. Pancras. John is described as a sculptor, and they are both living in the household of a Professor Karl Schapper, professor of languages. Whether this was simply a visit to an old friend, or maybe a journey to London to find work, we can only speculate, but it is an odd and unusual occurrence in the life of a jobbing stone carver and his 15 year old son. The fact that Sarah is shown as earning her living seems to suggest that he was away from the marital home for some time.

By the 1871 census, John and Sarah are living together again at Milnes Terrace, along with Elizabeth and Henry Tate Throp, the youngest son. Henry appears later in the old trade directories as a sculptor and monumental mason, and all of the sons seem at one time or another to have followed in their father’s footsteps. Of Canova there is no sign – not in Leeds, or indeed anywhere else in England, if the on-line census is to be trusted. However, a clue may be got from the 1881 census. Although he had died by that time (in 1879), a search for Leonora shows her, aged 7, living with her mother Jane, a widow aged 35, and born in Ireland.

No marriage can be found in Leeds for Canova and Jane, nor is there any record of a marriage elsewhere in the country, so did Canova go to Ireland at some stage and met and married Jane? Whatever the story, Canova is first listed in the trade directories in 1875 at 38, Chetwynd Street, and is described as foreman. He appears again in 1876 as a sculptor of 3, Finsbury Street, but there are no more entries for him after this.

According to a newspaper article in the YEP of 27th February 1925, he was responsible for the carved statues on the old Royal Exchange building which once overlooked City Square. Aged only 25, he was by all accounts already ill with consumption and spinal disease, and had to be carried by his workmates every day to the platform around the work, and was supported by pillows as he carried out his carving. There were five statues in all, each depicting an historical figure with strong Leeds connections. They were as follows:

King Athelstan
Ilbert de Laci
Maurice Pagenil
Sir John Savile
John Harrison

The building was also decorated with a bas relief depicting Jason searching for the Golden Fleece, as well as two panels illustrative of History and Commerce. The History panel showed a skirmish in the reign of King Stephen at the entrance to the West Bar, and the Commerce one showed the old Cloth Market on Leeds Bridge.

Although Canova is generally credited with the statues, the decorative work on the Royal Exchange building was designed by his father, John, and the work carried out by him and all of the Throp brothers. The article goes on to say that Canova had shown a strong artistic talent since early childhood, and that some of his drawings, made when he was seven, were still preserved by the family. His daughter Leonora recalled how he had been inspired one day at the dinner table. His wife Jane had put a dish of broccoli on the table, and Canova saw, in the form of the vegetable, the outline he wanted for a decoration of leaves and grapes. Much to his wife’s disgust he brought his plaster to the table and made a mould of the broccoli which he did not finish until almost midnight.

Canova also turned his hand to ‘pot-boiler’ paintings, no doubt in an endeavour to bring some money into the household. Although Leonora was only five years old when he died, she obviously had a great admiration for him and his talent. She said, “ The reason I have always taken (an) interest in the welfare of children is because of the tragedy of my father. His spirit was a rare and sensitive plant that needed congenial soil and air to expand and grow, and did not find it. Handicapped as he was, what he accomplished was wonderful. Had he been a man of normal health. What fame might he not have brought to his city and himself? His dying words to my mother were: ‘My brain is as clear as ever, but my body will not carry me on’. As he lay on his deathbed a fishmonger with a raucous voice used to pass in the street below. ‘If I had that man’s lung power’, he would say, ‘the world would be at my feet’.

Canova died in 1879.

Appendix 1. Directory entries for Throp family of stonemasons and sculptors.

1847 – John Throp, stonemason. Bowling Green Terrace.
1849 – John Thorp (sic). Stonemason, Victoria Road. Res. 17, Bowling Green Terrace.
1851 – ditto 1853 – George Throp, stonemason, 114, Low Road, Hunslet
1857 – John Throp, carver and sculptor, Rebecca Street
1861 – no entries for Throp family
1863 – John Thorp (sic), sculptor, 5, Darnley Street
1866 – no entries
1870 – John Throp, sculptor and general stone carver, Victoria Road. H. West View, Beeston Hill.
1872 – John Throp, sculptor, 62-64, Victoria Road. Res. Gladstone Street, Cemetery Road, Beeston.
1875 – Canove (sic) Throp, foreman, 38, Chetwynd Street John Throp, sculptor, Calverley Street. H. 26, Chetwynd Terrace,
1876 – Canova Throp, sculptor, 3, Finsbury Street John Throp, 62-64 Victoria Road, h. 49, Hillary Street
1878 – John Throp, St. James’s Street. Res. 49, Hillary Street.
1881 – John Throp, 54, St. James’s Street
1882 – James Throp, mason, 7, Exchange Street. Mrs. Jane Throp, 12, Blundell Terrace John Throp, 56-58 St. James Street. Res. No. 54
1888 – Henry Tate Throp, sculptor and monumental mason, Meadow Road. Mrs. Jane Throp, dress maker, 5, Blundell Terrace John Throp – as 1882
1890 – Henry Tate Throp – Meadow Road, res. 15, Chetwynd Street. Jane Throp, householder, 5, Blundell Terrace, Caledonian Road
1892 – Henry Tate Throp, s/a Jane Throp, 1, Bridgefield Place, South Accommodation Road
1894 – Henry Tate Throp, 70, Meadow Road, 15, Chetwynd Street
1897 – Mrs. Throp, dressmaker, 7, Thornville View Henry T. Throp, sculptor, 17, Middleton Road
1898 - Henry T. Throp, 124, Beeston Road and Meadow Road
1899 – Henry T., as above James Throp, mason, 30, Pepper Lane, Hunslet
1900-01 – as above

No further entries for Throp family.

Appendix 2 – census returns 1851 - 1881

1851. Bowling Green Terrace, Hunslet

John Throp – head – mar – 30 – stone carver – b. Liverpool
Sarah Throp – wife – mar - 27 - b. Leeds
Hannah Throp – dau - 8 b. Leeds
George Throp – son - 5 b. Leeds
Canova Throp – son - 2 b. Leeds
Elizabeth Ann – dau - 8 months b. Leeds

1861. 5, Percy Street, St. Pancras, London

John Throp, 41 and George Throp, 15, living in the household of Karl Schapper, b. Germany, Professor of languages.

1861. 5, Darnley Street

Sarah Throp – wife – mar – 37 – cap maker
Hannah Throp – dau – unm – 18 – seamstress
Canova Throp –son – 14 – scholar
Elizabeth – dau – 5
Henry – son – 3

1871. 13, Milnes Terrace

John Throp – 51- general carver
Sarah Throp- 47
Elizabeth Throp – 16 – cap finisher
Henry Tate Throp – scholar

1881. 54, St. James Street

John – 61 – sculptor, employing 2 men, 4 boys.
Sarah – 57
Elizabeth – 25 – unm - dressmaker
Sydney F. Johnson – apprentice – 20 – sculptor – b. Derby

1881, 12, Blundell Terrace

Jane Throp – widow – 35 – seamstress – b. Ireland
Leonora Throp – dau – 7 – scholar – b. Leeds
John C. Throp – son – 5 – b. Leeds
Francis R. Throp – son – 4 – b. Leeds.

Unsung Heroes and Heroines of Leeds

michelelefevre — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 06:12:41 CDT

These pages are devoted to the lesser-known, often forgotten, but nevertheless important men and women of Leeds, who have contributed in different ways to the rich and colourful history of the city. Additions and suggestions welcome.

Albert Johanneson, footballer

michelelefevre — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 06:08:22 CDT

Albert Louis Johanesson was born in March 1940 in Johannesburg, South Africa, and was brought up in one of the poverty-stricken townships of the city.

In his youth in South Africa, he played football for Germiston Coloured School and Germiston Colliery. However, in an interview with the Yorkshire Evening Post in 1992, Albert claimed that he didn’t even like football much when he was growing up, and only got into the game when the local team was a man short. “Football, I never even liked the game. We used to play by the light of a shop until one or two in the morning. Honest to God, there were better players than me. The football team was a man short. They asked ‘can you play?’ I had no boots. They said to me ‘can you play barefoot?’ I scored the winning goal and my toe was sore”.

By all accounts, this was typical of his modesty and self-effacement. Team mates have since described him as ‘a joy to watch and play with’, ‘a really nice man’, and ‘braver than most’.

He was signed up to Leeds United in 1961, although it’s not entirely clear exactly when he came to England. Newspaper reports of his early life mention a schoolteacher who took him in hand and brought him to England, recommending him to Leeds United Football club, which suggests that he may have been quite young, and yet, if his date of birth is correct, he would have been 21 when he was signed for Leeds.

The young Albert must have been feeling like a fish out of water, and later confessed that he hadn’t even known there was an England, or heard of the Queen. The British climate got to him as well – “One Monday in Leeds I did not want to get out of bed because it was so cold. I had a trial and they took me off because it was too cold. I thought I was finished”.

Albert was married to a lady named Norma, but when and where this took place is not known – there is no record of his marriage in the GRO indexes from 1961 to 1967, and by all accounts his marriage was already breaking down by the late 1960s, so perhaps Norma was South African – certainly he did return to his native country shortly after his trials, or maybe he was already married? He mentions having ‘a beautiful house in Moortown, a beautiful wife and two children (his daughters, Yvonne and Lisa) and two cars’.

His footballing style was brilliant but erratic, and he found himself in competition with a young Scots player, Eddie Gray. Eddie was a much more consistent player, and Albert’s appearances on the pitch were limited as a result. He did manage to play one game with Gerry Francis, a fellow South African, and the first black player to play for Leeds United.

His playing improved, however, and in 1965 he was the first black player to play in an FA cup final, although his performance was patchy by all accounts. He played as a left-winger for LUFC for 9 years, made 197 appearances and scored 67 goals, including two hat tricks in European games.

Sadly, by the late 1960s his career, as well as his personal life, was in decline, mainly due to his worsening drink problem. Albert himself confessed that, as a boy growing up in the grinding poverty of a South African Township, he and his pals would often sniff benzadrine, so the alcohol addiction was a natural progression from this habit.

In 1970 he was transferred to York City, but his career with them lasted less than a year, and by 1971 it was over. His wife left him, taking their two daughters, and emigrating to Canada. He admitted that he had driven them away, ‘I was a bastard. I couldn’t handle the fame’, he said, adding sadly, ‘I’ve got nothing’.

Descending into full-scale alcoholism, his life became a blur, and he ended up first in St. George’s Crypt, totally broke and destitute, but was turned away and ended up sleeping in the railway station. A kind-hearted Leeds supported who worked at the Griffin Hotel recognised him, and used to let him sleep on a bench in the TV lounge of the hotel.

Things must have improved slightly, because for the last few years of his life Albert lived with his brother, Trevor (who had similar problems) in a flat in Gledhow.

In 1992, his nephew, Hepburn Graham Junior, an actor, met up with his uncle whilst he was appearing at the West Yorkshire Playhouse. Hepburn was horrified at his uncle’s physical and mental condition, and was instrumental in persuading him to book into a detox clinic. He also announced his intention of writing a biography of his uncle, although this has never materialised.

In June of 1992, Albert entered a detox clinic in Middlesex, the same clinic that had helped Jimmy Greaves. Sadly, Albert’s problem seems to have been too deeply embedded. Three years later, he died, alone in his flat, his body undiscovered for several days.

A certain amount of drama continued even after his death. He was buried at Lawnswood Cemetery on 9th October 1995, and his funeral was well attended. His daughters flew in from the States, and over 100 mourners, including former team mates Eddie Gray and Peter Lorimer, were in attendance. However, a few months later, the newspapers were full of headlines claiming that he was buried in ‘a pauper’s grave’, with no headstone to mark his final resting place, just a wooden marker with a number. This state of affairs had been discovered due to the fact that a visiting South African dignitary was due to lay a wreath at his grave.

Shortly after this, Leeds United bosses announced that they would pay for a headstone for Albert.

Albert’s name, however, also lives on in the form of an annual trophy at Bracken Edge Primary School. The pupils had mounted an exhibition celebrating the life and career of Albert Johanneson the year before, and Leeds United marked the exhibition by sponsoring a trophy in his honour. The first recipient of the award was 10 year old Patricia James.

Furthermore, Albert’s granddaughter Stephanie, whom he probably never met, is carrying on the football tradition. In 2008, she and the rest of his family flew back to Britain to find out more about him, and Stephanie was to take part in a football tournament.

Although no biography of the man has yet been written, another researcher into his life is teacher Paul Eubanks, who has taught at both Bracken Edge, and more recently Matthew Murray High School. He has been collecting information about him after the school won a grant to fund a research project into his life.

Perhaps a fitting end to this short biography would be the obituary notice placed by his family in the Yorkshire Evening Post of 6th October 1995:

JOHANNESON-On September 28, at home, aged 53 years, Albert Louis (ex Leeds United Football Player), a beloved father and dearly loved brother of Trevor. Will be sadly missed by all his Friends. Service and interment at Lawnswood on Monday October 9, at 11.30 am. Flowers may be sent to the Co-operative Chapel of Rest, Marsh Lane, Leeds 9, or donations, if so desired, to the Chaucer Clinic. A plate for this purpose will be provided at Lawnswood. Friends and supporters please accept this intimation. His skills will never be forgotten.

Almost all of the above information has been gleaned from articles in the Yorkshire Post and Evening Post.

Leonora Cohen, Leeds Suffragette

michelelefevre — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 05:19:47 CDT

Early life.

Leonora Cohen was born on 15th June 1873 to Jane and Canova Throp of Hunslet. Jane was born in Ireland, and Canova Throp, a sculptor whose works adorned the Royal Exchange building in Leeds, died of TB when she was 5 years old. Leonora had two brothers, John C. Throp and Francis R. Throp.

Leonora herself suffered from TB as a child, and was taught at home by her mother because of her delicate health. Jane Throp believed firmly in a healthy diet to combat the return of TB, and the family turned to a vegetarian diet. Leonora remained vegetarian for the rest of her life.

On leaving school at about 14 years of age, Leonora was apprenticed to a city centre milliner and worked without pay for a year. By the time she was 16, she had proved herself to be a skilled and efficient worker and was promoted to head milliner, with a pay rise to accompany her new position.

Her career blossomed, and by her mid-twenties Leonora was a millinery buyer in Bridlington. By this time she had met Henry Cohen, her future husband.

She had, in fact, met him some years previously at a party when she was just fifteen, and did not meet him again until some three years later. They were strongly attracted, and began a courtship which was disapproved of on both sides. The Jewish Cohens were dismayed that their son was courting a Gentile, and cut him off when the couple married, in March 1900, in Bridlington. Leonora’s mother objected to the marriage not particularly because Henry was Jewish, but because she felt that her daughter should not marry at all, but devote her life to bettering the lot of her fellow women.

As a widow living in genteel poverty, but with no political voice, Jane Throp had strong views on emancipation. The story goes that, one day, bemoaning their lot to her daughter, Jane commented on the unfairness of a drunken lout of a man living opposite having the vote, simply because he was male. This incident made a strong impression on Leonora.

Despite all this, Leonora and Henry began their married life very conventionally, and moved into a house in Harehills. Leonora gave up her millinery job, determined to lead a tranquil life of domestic bliss. Their first daughter Rosetta, named after Henry’s mother, was born in November of 1900, leading to speculation that Leonora may have been pregnant at the time of their marriage. Sadly, baby Rosetta died just one day short of her first birthday, of tubercular meningitis. The couple moved to another house nearby, and the following year their son, Reginald Cohen, was born. Reg survived, and for the next nine years Leonora devoted herself to being a wife, mother and homemaker.

Henry, a watchmaker and jeweller, was a successful businessman, and they were able to send young Reg away to boarding school. During this time Leonora and her mother were reconciled. There seems to have been something of a rift between mother and daughter when Leonora got married, which must have been very hard on both women, as they both loved and admired each other tremendously.

Getting political

There seem to have been many influences at play which steered Leonora in the direction of politics. With more time on her hands, Leonora started to take more of an interest in the sweated industries campaign and low pay for women. She also shared her mother’s grievance over the unfair disenfranchisement of women. Henry was a staunch liberal, and always supportive and encouraging of his wife’s political activities. Furthermore, her two brothers were supporters of women’s suffrage, and when two well-known suffragettes were imprisoned, they challenged her to do something, to get involved.

Leonora always insisted, however, that it was the harshness and unfairness of her mother’s life that influenced her. “When I saw the kind of people who had votes and my mother had none – it didn’t seem fair, to say the least.”

By 1911 Leonora was branch secretary to the local branch of the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU), having played a supportive role for a number of years prior to this – selling newspapers, and fund-raising. In November of that year, the Prime Minister, Herbert Asquith, broke his commitment to votes for women by announcing a manhood suffrage bill. This betrayal was enough to spark a passionate commitment to the cause of women’s suffrage in Leonora, and she vowed to fight until women had the vote.

One of her first political acts after this was to volunteer to join a deputation to Westminster on 21st November. The intention of this deputation was to join a larger demonstration in protest against Asquith’s action, and the women fully expected to be arrested, and possibly imprisoned. Henry, although concerned for his wife’s safety, was in full support of these actions.

Many years later, when being interviewed about her long and active life, Leonora would recall how terrified she was before any of these militant actions, and how she had to steel herself beforehand in order to take part. She also told of what a “terrible worry”, she was to her kind and patient husband.

Militant Activities

One of her boldest exploits was on 1st February 1913 when she smashed a glass case in the Jewel House of the Tower of London.

The original plan had been for volunteers to go down Bond Street smashing all the windows. This had arisen from a meeting with Mrs. Pankhurst at Caxton Hall, which Leonora had attended. The thought of walking along a busy London street smashing windows worried her considerably so, not wanting to let the side down, Leonora went one better. She bought a London guide book and looked through it for inspiration. When she got to the Ts, she saw the Tower of London listed, and her course of action was decided. “I thought, that’s the place. They’ve never had a woman there before causing trouble”. She and two others got hold of a file, and cut out an iron bar from a fire grate, which they then wrapped in a piece of paper.

She took the tube train to Mark Lane, but was so frightened by what she intended to do that she had to go around again.

Arriving at the Tower, she spotted a group of schoolboys making their way in, and joined the back, pretending to be a teacher. When they got to the Jewel House she took her chance and hurled the bar at the glass case, smashing it. She was immediately grabbed by the Beefeaters and put into one of the dungeons, then taken to the police station.

On being asked “What did you do that for?” her reply was, “This is my protest against the Government’s treachery to the working women of Great Britain.”

Leonora was committed for trial by jury, but only because the police had got an obliging glass-case maker to value the cost of repairs to the glass case at £7.00. If he had valued it at £5.00 or under, then she would have got off with a fine, but the higher valuation meant that she would be charged with malicious damage to public property, and would therefore appear before a judge.

The case was heard on 4th February, and Leonora conducted her own defence. She also called in her own expert witness to challenge the original estimate of £7.00 to repair the glass case. Her notes that she took in with her indicate how she planned to cross examine this witness: “Ask him how he makes the price out at £7.00. How could he have arrived at the value of the case when he had never even looked at it? I say, if the State pays £7.00 for that case it is money wasted by the Government. Women would not pay it. What is the size? How much per foot? What is the thickness of the glass?”

Clearly, having a husband in the jewellery trade was a decided asset!

Leonora’s expert witness was called the following day, 5th February. He had, on the previous day, made his own careful examination of the smashed case, and presented his technical (and much fuller) report to the jury. He estimated the cost of repairing the damage to be £4. 10s, and declared that the damage did not exceed £5.00.

The jury was directed to retire and consider their verdict, the outcome of which hinged almost entirely on the cost of the glass case. They deliberated for a long time, and eventually decided that they would have to give Leonora the benefit of the doubt regarding this cost. A verdict of Not Guilty was returned.

The press had a field day with this – “Leeds Suffragette Acquittal follows Smashing of Tower Show Case”, ran one stunned headline. Although Leonora’s acquittal demonstrated the public’s sense of fairness, and a degree of sympathy, the cause was still some years away from success, and suffragette violence escalated in the weeks following the case. * Leonora continued her militant activities up to the beginning of the Great War, and at one point fell victim to the notorious “Cat and Mouse Act”.

One of the ways in which suffragettes protested was to go on hunger strike whilst in prison, and occasionally (and much more dangerous to their health) on thirst strike also. The government, not wishing to have any more martyrs to the cause, devised a cynical and callous method of dealing with these protests.

When the women began to get dangerously weak from these strikes, they would be released on licence and allowed home. Then as soon as their health was mended, they would be re-arrested and the whole process would begin again.

In 1913, Leonora was imprisoned after smashing windows in Leeds city centre. The estimated damage was £27, and once again she was remanded for trial before a judge and jury. Sent to Armley Jail with her fellow suffragette, Leonora declared that they would go on hunger and thirst strike. Two days later she was released on licence, her health having deteriorated rapidly.

A desperate and extremely angry Henry wrote to the Home Secretary protesting at this treatment of his wife, and to state categorically that should Leonora be re-arrested and subsequently released on licence when her health was affected once again, he would refuse to receive her back from the prison. On the surface, this seems like a callous thing for him to do, but in fact his aim was to place the responsibility for Leonora’s health, and possible death, squarely on the shoulders of the government.

This action was a bold and potentially dangerous one to do, and eventually someone in authority seems to have advised Henry to leave Leeds and take his wife and family somewhere safer.

Respectability and a Long Life

Following this latest protest, Henry, Leonora and Reg packed up their house in Leeds and moved to the highly respectable and sedate town of Harrogate. Here, Leonora started a vegetarian boarding house, and advertised the establishment in the Suffragette journal. The address was ‘Pomona’, Harlow Moor Drive, Harrogate, and the house looked out over the moors.

Leonora did not give up her suffragette work, however, and joined the Harrogate branch of the WSPU, where she was welcomed with open arms.

At one point, she and Henry gave shelter to another suffragette who was out on licence, another victim of the Cat and Mouse Act. This was Lilian Lenton, a passionate and fiery speaker, who had eluded the authorities several times.

Lilian was taken to the Cohen’s boarding house by the police, who immediately surrounded the house with detectives, and erected a light in the next door garden, trained on to the Cohen’s windows, so that no-one could get in or out unseen.

Over the next few days, Leonora nursed Lilian back to health, and when she was strong enough, young Reg loaned her some of his clothes so she could disguise herself as a boy. Not wanting to take the risk of going out by the front door, even in disguise, Lilian went down to the cellar and crawled up the coal chute, and escaped through the back garden, thus eluding the police once more.

The outbreak of World War 1 brought a temporary cessation to the suffragette’s activities, and women over thirty were finally given the vote in February of 1918. It would take another ten years before all women over 21 finally reached full voting equality with men.

During the war years, Leonora worked, as so many women did, in the munitions industry, working a gruelling 52 hour week. She was also the only female member of the Leeds Food Control Committee.

After the war, she attained ultimate respectability by being elected a magistrate, and was awarded an OBE in 1928 for public services. Leonora acted as a magistrate in Leeds for over 30 years, and became a respected and well-known figure in the city.

Other responsibilities that fell to her in her public life were as District Organiser for the National Union of General and Municipal Workers, the first woman president of the Leeds Trade and Labour Council, and the first woman president of the Yorkshire Federation of Trades Councils.

Her beloved Henry died in 1949, and left a moving tribute to her in his will:

“I have lived in perfect appreciation of all her loving and unselfish devotion throughout our life together…My love for her has been the one perfect happiness that life has given to me, and I leave my son the solemn duty of taking my place to make her declining years as happy and comfortable as she deserves of us both”.

Leonora continued to lead a full and active life, and spent her declining years in a Welsh nursing home.

*She died on 4th September 1978, at the great age of 105.

Further reading:

Rebel Girls, by Jill Liddington. pub. Virago 2006

Leonora Cohen

michelelefevre — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 07:37:17 CDT

There is no abstract available for this page revision.

Leeds at War

michelelefevre — Fri, 16 May 2008 03:54:45 CDT

Just before the war...

This is not intended to be a history of Leeds during World War Two, rather a look at some aspects of life during that time. It was inspired by two things – the many photographs on the Leodis web-site depicting life in Leeds during the war years, and also the accounts of events as reported in the local newspapers, such as the Yorkshire Evening News. They give a fascinating insight into what life was like in Leeds during the war – how people coped, what was going on politically and how we celebrated the end of the war. Much of the information in this account has come from the back copies of the Yorkshire Evening News.

Before the war even started, Hitler deprived Leeds of a couple of interesting buildings by his actions. Not many people today are aware that the current plans to build a skyscraper in Leeds are by no means the first time that this idea has been put forward. Plans were afoot in the late 30s to build a skyscraper on Briggate, showing that Leeds was a city with aspirations even then! The plans were deposited with Leeds Corporation on 8th March 1938, and were for a skyscraper of 23 storeys, twice as high as the Queen’s Hotel. The plot of land was where Marks and Spencer’s is now, and would have covered more than 3,000 square yards, with a frontage of 86 feet. It would have affected 50 to 60 tenancies, including the old Rialto cinema, which was, in the end, demolished to make way for the store. The intention was to demolish all existing buildings on the site, and cover the whole plot with a huge building, the chief characteristic of which was its height. It was claimed that, if built, it would be the tallest building in Yorkshire.The plans for this project were carried out in much secrecy, but it was rumoured that the new building would be occupied by well-known retail outlets, which makes it sound very much like an early shopping mall!

Hitler also deprived Leeds of a new Civic and Cultural Centre which was to have been built on the site of the existing library and art gallery, and would have extended across to Cookridge Street. It was to have housed the Library and Art Gallery, and the City Museum which was then housed on Park Row. The Libraries committee was very excited about these plans, and congratulated the architect, John Proctor, on his clean, modern design. There seems to be no doubt that the plans would have gone ahead, had not WW2 put a halt to them, and it would have meant the demolition of the Central Library and Art Gallery, which would have been a great loss to the city. The full potential and beauty of the Central Library can now be seen in the newly restored Tiled Hall.

In 1936, building work began on the famous Quarry Hill Flats, which were a symbol of the future for many Leeds people. Happily the war did not, at least, deprive us of them, however, short-lived they may have been. They were hailed as a modern miracle of housing and were inspired by the Karl Marx Hof in Vienna. They were built to replace some of the worst slums in Europe, and there is no doubt that they were infinitely better than the old back-to-backs they replaced. They were clean, warm, comfortable, and almost completely self-contained, with laundry rooms, a state-of-the-art waste disposal system, a communal restaurant, and safe play areas for the children. There is also a nice, if apocryphal story, that Hitler intended to use the flats as the military HQ for the German High Command in the event of a German invasion. Sadly, there is no evidence for this story. They were certainly used as temporary barracks for soldiers at the beginning of the war. Unfortunately, they developed serious and costly structural faults, and were eventually demolished in the 1970s. In this photograph, people are queueing up to have a look at look at the inside of the new flats.

Taking shelter. Air raid shelters soon became an inescapable fact of life for the civilian population. Coal cellars and basements were converted, and specially made shelters, such as the Anderson shelter, were called into use. According to public records, many householders in Leeds were not very impressed with the notion of having an air raid shelter, and initially refused to have them, but then, as soon as the raids began, demanded that the council provide them forthwith!

One Leeds couple, Mr. And Mrs. Horace Fawcett of Cardigan Avenue, Burley, were held up by the ARP as shining examples of resourcefulness and ingenuity. Their shelter was a strengthened coal cellar, and the Fawcetts had obviously gone to great pains to make it comfortable. When members of the ARP came to inspect this shelter, they found the walls neatly papered, electric lighting and a heater installed, chairs and a table, and pictures on the wall, with a cot for the baby in the corner. “It is a grand piece of work” was the comment of Cllr. HW Sellars, ARP chairman, “We only wish that other people would make the same sort of effort instead of rushing to the corporation with trivial complaints”.

At the time, the council was getting many complaints from ratepayers, about the lack of amenities in the public shelters. To be fair, the people of Leeds had a point – the public air raid shelters, such as the ones in City Square, were spartan in the extreme. Most public shelters were built of brick, with a thick concrete roof, and inside were divided up into rough ‘dormitories’ in which up to six bunk-beds would be installed. These shelters were built to accommodate thousands of people, so you can imagine what living cheek by jowl with complete strangers would be like!

Coal cellars were by no means the only sort of domestic shelter to be had. The Anderson shelter was the brain child of the then Home Secretary, John Anderson. He was concerned about the vulnerability of ordinary householders in their homes during bombing raids, and presented the problem to the engineers William Paterson and Oscar Carl Kerrison, who came up with a blueprint in less than a week, and a model in two weeks.

The Anderson Shelter could hold up to six people, and was made of six corrugated curved steel sheets, with two ends pieces for the back and front. It was sunk into the ground, and covered with a thick layer of soil. It was said that this type of shelter could withstand anything but a direct hit. The shelters were given free to people who earned under £250 per year, and were £7.00 to everyone else. Morrison shelters were another solution for the householder, particularly for those who did not have a garden, or for whom an Anderson Shelter was impractical for other reasons. Morrison Shelters were designed to be used indoors, and were table-shaped, with wire mesh sides which could be removed if you wished to use the shelter as a table. Underneath, a mattress and bedding would be placed, and the householder would crawl in and settle down for the night

Public shelters began to proliferate. This photo was taken after the war, and shows how City Square had been transformed for the duration by these ugly buildings. Plans were made to demolish public air raid shelters as soon as the war was over, and this City Engineers photo would have been taken just prior to demolition work.

Bombing raids Leeds got off relatively lightly for bomb damage – certainly compared to cities such as Coventry and London. There were nine bombing raids in all, between 25th August 1940 and 28th August 1942 Many families were made homeless in the bombing raid of 1st September 1940.

Here we see a house on Easterly Road with its doors and windows blown out, but otherwise relatively undamaged. Repairs to such a house would have been carried out fairly quickly so that the family could move back in. In the meantime, they would go and live with friends or relatives, or transferred to other accommodation nearby. The early hours after the raid would have been spent in a nearby local church or chapel, or other community building.
On the same night, a block of working class flats were bombed, and later on, as repairs were started, the head of the Corporation Housing Department expressed his satisfaction at how well the flats had withstood the blast. He said “Close examination shows little, if any damage, to the superstructure”. Another bomb went off in the middle of a group of houses 30 hours after it had dropped. It had buried itself 4ft deep, which minimised the effect of the blast. Even so, one house completely disappeared and others were severely damaged. The occupants had already been evacuated, and the only casualty was a woman suffering from shock.

This photo illustrates how randomly bomb damage affected buildings. No 11, Cliff Side Gardens was neatly sliced in half in the bombing raid of April 1941. The damaged half was subsequently rebuilt to match its original appearance down to the last brick.

Leeds Town Hall was bombed in the so-called Quarter Blitz of 15th March 1941. This was one of the worst raids suffered by the city. The newspapers however, were very secretive about which towns had been hit, simply referring to “A North East inland town”. This was no doubt due to the strict censorship that was in force, although it seems a little naïve to suppose that the Germans did not know where and what they had bombed! The press was at pains to emphasise what a magnificent job the fire brigade and the AFS (Auxiliary Fire Service) had done, bringing the fires under control in remarkably short time. Whether this was true or not we don't know, but even if it wasn't, the best possible spin was always put on these reports, so as to boost the morale of the beleaguered civilians.

The report (from the YEN), goes on to describe how the public and their rescuers were laughing and smiling throughout their ordeal. A German communiqué at the time claimed attacks on Glasgow, Leeds, Sheffield, Tilbury Docks, Plymouth and Southampton.

Food and rationing Ration books were first issued in October 1939, although rationing did not actually begin until 8th January 1940. It was meant to start in October 1939, but the Daily Express began a “Stop Rationing” campaign, which meant that it was postponed for several weeks. Here, we see women preparing the ration books for the people of Leeds. Some typical weekly rations for one person were: 4oz bacon per week, 2-4oz tea, 1-8oz cheese, 8oz sugar.

An advertising campaign in 1943 had this memorable little ditty:

Someone's going to be sorry

Someone's going to pay

Someone's going to be sorry

They wasted my life away.

This was accompanied by a picture of a tablet of soap dissolving down the sink because it had been left in water!

The scarcity of food made the new ‘British Restaurants’ popular with the public. These were industrial-style canteens set up by local authorities with money loaned by the Ministry of Food. The food they served was “off ration”, and were a cheap and popular alternative to eating at home. In the early days of the war, the rich few were still able to enjoy almost pre-war levels of fine cuisine at top hotels and restaurants, and this naturally led to much resentment from the rest of the population.

From 1942, the government prevented restaurants from charging more than 5/- a meal, and this helped to curb the most ostentatious examples. A three course meal in a British Restaurant would set you back a mere 9d. Standards varied from restaurant to restaurant, and the good ones were much appreciated, building up a large and regular clientele. They were set up in a variety of places. The crypt of Leeds Town Hall was the location of one such. Some local allotment holders would often supply any surplus vegetables for use in the restaurants. All food waste from the restaurants were given to the local Pig Clubs and the like, so there was no waste at all. Cafes and Restaurants had to comply with the Ministry of food regulations in that no one could be served at one meal with more than one main course of either Meat, Game, poultry, Fish, Eggs, or cheese.

People and events

Escaped Barrage Balloon An escaped barrage balloon was the cause of much excitement in Leeds on 15th May 1940. It had broken away from a barrage over a “Northern Town”, and its progress was followed by thousands of Leeds people as it drifted over the city, knocking chimney pots and spouts off houses as it went, as well as setting lots of alarm bells off. Some ARP men managed to secure one of its trailing wires to a lamp post near St. James's Hospital, but it tore the lamp post out of the ground and continued on its way.

Eventually, a contingent of RAF men, skilled at dealing with escaped balloons, arrived to deal with it. It finally came to rest on Sheepscar Street North opposite the Clarence Hotel, but not without knocking one more chimney pot off a nearby house in Clarence Square. The balloon had been loose over Leeds for four hours.

Escaped barrage balloons were, seemingly, a bit of a common occurrence. A former pupil of Royal Park School recalls: “I remember seeing a barrage balloon coming loose and so I set off to follow it with a dozen or so others. It ended up at the other side of Woodhouse Moor. The next morning we were given 1000 lines –‘I must not follow barrage balloons’.”

POWs reunion, Roundhay Park Seen here are some POWs boarding a special bus on 19th June 1945, which will take them up to Roundhay Park for a huge reunion celebration with friends and families.

The reunion had been organised by the Yorkshire Evening News, and came about as a result of the efforts of Mrs. Constance Gold, the hon. gen. secretary of the YEN POW Club. She had promised “When the boys come back we’ll have a really slap-up party together”. The BBC made a recording of the event to broadcast to Forces programmes, and newsreel cameras filmed parts of the programme. Mrs. Gold addressed the crowd with these words; “This is your day. I have so often written to you about the wonderful party we would have when we came back, and this is it. We have had to prepare for 10,000, but it's a job we've loved tackling”. She paid tribute to the courage, fortitude and devotion of the POWs.

A happy incident occurred when a call came over the loudspeakers for a Mr. And Mrs. Bolton of Heckmondwike. A wire had been sent to Roundhay Park to tell them that their son, who had been missing in the Far East for three and a half years, was now safely back in England. On the day, over 3,000 ex-POWs and 7,000 friends and relatives had gathered in Roundhay Park, on what was to be the hottest day of the year.

Sir Winston Churchill Sir Winston Churchill and Lady Churchill visited Leeds in June 1945, part of a victory tour round the country to celebrate the end of the war. Here they can be seen waving to the crowds from their open Daimler, and have perched on the back of the seats so that the crowds can see them.

Churchill gave a speech from the steps of the Civic Hall, which was largely drowned out by the cheering of the crowds, and affectionate cries of “Good old Winnie!”, and “Good old cigar!”. The crowds swept aside the police barrier so that they could get closer to their hero. Churchill was given the freedom of the city of Leeds on 28th October 1953.

Despite Churchill’s great popularity, he lost the General Election on 5th July 1945 to Clement Attlee's Labour Party. The populace felt that a Labour Government would rebuild post-war Britain without the class and social divisions of previous generations.

Homes of Tomorrow Exhibitions The Homes of Tomorrow Exhibition took place in Lewis's Department Store annually, and was organised by the YEN. The 1944 exhibition was opened by JB Priestley, who remarked that women now had the vote, and could agitate and make elaborate nuisances of themselves. He even hinted that the war could have been prevented by women. “This has been very much a women's war, though if women had only exercised their prerogative to vote and taken a keener interest in affairs, this war might have been avoided”.

The newspaper did not report what the women in the audience had to say about this! The keynote of the exhibition was economy, with promises to save time, fuel, house-space, and the housewife's back. An inquiry bureau had been set up, where housewives could leave their questions, every one of which was to get an answer. In addition, they could put questions to a Brains Trust of building experts.

The exhibition of 1945 was opened by Professor A.M. Low, distinguished scientist and President of the Institute of Patentees, who told women to demand scientific improvements in the home, and not merely wait until they were thrown at them. He is seen here (the man wearing glasses), being shown the wall-mounted “Ascot” instantaneous hot water heater. Prof. Low had a particular interest in scientific applications for homes of the future, and in his speech made some astonishing claims:” Do you realise” he said, “it is now a perfectly simple matter to have apparatus in your kitchen which enables you to see a visitor standing on the doormat as he rings the doorbell? Do you appreciate that there is cloth that cannot be creased, even if the baby sits on it all night; curtains which can be cleaned by the wafting of a white rag; and rooms from which every particle of dust is taken electrically by a simple device to the ceiling, and emptied once a week?”

The war ends

VE Day The unconditional surrender of the German forces came about on May 7th, 1945, and the next day was declared Victory in Europe Day. Thus ended six nightmare years of misery and hardships. In this photo, a group of men from a Scottish regiment perform an impromptu sword dance on the steps of the Town Hall, to the delight of the watching crowds. Celebrations went on all night in some quarters, and street parties were the order of the day.

This is a few days later, on the 13th May 1945. The crowds are waiting for the appearance of the Lord Mayor to make his announcement and speech, after which the VE Day parade will begin. They seem happy and cheerful despite the pouring rain.

VJ day 15th August was officially declared Victory in Japan Day, after the Japanese surrendered to the Allies. In this photo, Lord Mayor Charles Walker stands at a podium draped with the Union Jack, reading the announcement that Japan had surrendered, thus bringing to an end the hostilities of the 1939-45 war.

Crowds of happy people throng the Town Hall Lions as VJ celebrations kick off in Leeds. The weather was awful, despite it being the middle of August, but no-one seems to mind the rain in the least.

A lovely heart-warming image of women dancing in the street as it finally sinks in that the war really is over at last.

This photo was taken at 1.30am on the 15th August, showing that celebrations went on for days, without much of a break! This group includes nurses, servicemen and children

Street Party One of the many street parties which took place all over the country in celebration of VJ day and the end of the war. This one took place somewhere in Woodhouse. The communities would have pooled their resources to provide goodies for the party, and particular attention would have been paid to the needs of the children. Note the plates of iced buns and even a trifle, all made with carefully hoarded ingredients. Trestle tables would be set up the middle of the street, traffic not being much of a problem then!

leeds

michelelefevre — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 08:37:36 CDT

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Quarry Hill

michelelefevre — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 07:40:05 CDT

Early History...

The site of Quarry Hill has seen many changes, particularly in the twentieth century, when it blossomed from being the worst slums in Europe, through to the innovative social housing of Quarry Hill flats, and more recently the West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds College of Music, BBC Leeds studios and Quarry House, HQ of the DSS. Little is known about its early history, but there is evidence to suggest that the site of Quarry Hill was the location of the Roman settlement, Cambodunum/Campodunum, back in the 7th century. If this suggestion is true, then it would indicate that Leeds was the administrative centre of an Anglo-Saxon Royal Estate, which was sacked by Penda of Mercia in AD633. Some earthworks on Quarry Hill are possibly remains of an ancient settlement, and it was the main early Anglo-Saxon site in West Yorkshire. The name Quarry Hill was thought, by the Rev. Daniel Haigh, to derive from Carrei, the name of a British Chieftain, and Caer, meaning a camp, the whole signifying the camp of Carrei. The word Hill would have been added in Old English days.

Jumping forward to the 18th century, we find evidence that Quarry Hill was growing as a residential location, but had not yet reached the stage of being the notorious slum area it was destined to become. The Leeds Mercury of 9th February 1884, in its series of articles “Pictures of Old Leeds”, has this description of a dwelling in Quarry Hill in 1738: “….A good house at Quarry Hill, consisting of three low rooms, three cellars, one good chamber, garden, outhousing, and other conveniences, belonging to, but not occupied by, Widow Rolland, of the White Hart Inn, Briggate.”

Jeffrey’s map of Leeds of 1770 shows the road named Quarry Hill, surrounded by fields and orchards, with only a handful of buildings scattered along it, so it would appear that the area was once quite a pleasant place to live. By 1815, the Giles and Netlam plan of Leeds shows the area is beginning to be built up, but is still mainly fields and open country to the east. Not until 1850 do we find that the area has become congested with high-density dwellings, and it is no coincidence that the railways had arrived in Leeds a few years earlier. The 1841 and 1851 census returns show dwelling houses occupied by up to 20 people, and we know from sources such as Robert Baker’s Report on the Sanitary Condition of Leeds that many of these houses were only two or three rooms at the most, including a cellar. A lot of the people that lived there came from Ireland, perhaps to escape the Potato Famine of the 1840s and 50s. Occupations in the main were jobs such as brick labourer, general labourer, flax mills, and agricultural labourer. Many women worked in the mills as well, and there were a good sprinkling of washerwomen listed.

So, from the 1840s and 1850s onwards, as far as we can tell, Quarry Hill began to grow rapidly, and fill up with cheap, sub-standard housing. Despite all this, a look at the maps for around 1890 and early 1900s show that the open county was still only a jump and a hop away. You only had to go up York Road a mile or so to be surrounded by fields, although whether the overworked population had the time or the energy for a country walk on their days off is unknown! To get a flavour of the 18th century, here are a couple of news items relating to a couple of Quarry Hill residents: Leeds Intelligencer of 6th May 1766:

On Friday last, a melancholy accident happened in this town: One Tomlinson, a poor labouring man at Quarry Hill, had some wearing apparel and other things left him by a relation who died a few days ago; upon examining of which, he found a paper of powder, which he supposed to be cream of tartar, and therefore laid it carelessly down; when a child of his own, and another of his neighbour’s, each about three years of age, in playing about the house, got hold of it, and believing it to be some kind of sweetmeats, tho’ it unfortunately proved to be arsnick, eat it up betwixt them, and notwithstanding all proper means were immediately used to expel the poison, they both expired a few hours after, in great agonies.

On a slightly happier note, the London Chronicle of 11th March 1786 reported this rather extraordinary human interest story:

There is now living at Quarry Hill, Leeds, one Peter Johnstone, a blind man of Irish extraction, aged 91, who has had five wives and twenty-seven children; by the first wife he had twenty-three; by the second two, by the third and fourth none, and by the fifth two. What is remarkable, he has only two (children) living.

to be continued....

Adel

RoseGibson — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 11:08:55 CDT

Image shows an elaborate monument in Adel Churchyard. A statue of an angel is mounted on a plinth underneath a canopy supported by four columns and surrounded by railings. Words inscribed on the canopy read 'Until the day break and shadows flee away'. The monument is dedicated in the memory the memory of 'Susannah Jane, wife of James Audus Hirst, died Feb. 26th 1884 aged 33 years, also of James Audus Hirst, died Sept. 17th 1896 aged 50 years'.

Hunslet Landscape

Anonymous — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 02:19:34 CDT

Hunslet Mills

Anonymous — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 15:36:56 CDT

Ha Ha Next Time Don't Make A Site With ananymous edits!

History Wiki, Leeds, West Yorkshire

cath01 — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 03:32:10 CDT

Leeds Library and Information Service invites you to join in and contribute you can click on any of the links on the left and contribute your own information. You can also click on the 'add new page' link if we haven't already covered your area in Leeds. To see some of the more recent contributions have a look at the Hunslet and Cottingley sections .
Many visitors come to this site to learn and build their knowledge, others to contribute to the site and share knowledge. In fact, we hope you will help us to build up this wiki by contributing your information about any location in and around Leeds, share with the world your memories of Leeds - its easy!

Garden Gate Pub

Hunslet, Leeds.

Photograph - Leodis Database

Use the nav bar on the left to locate other entries for the Leeds area

Welcome to the Leeds Local History Portal

The Local Studies Library is a department within Leeds Library and Information Service, and is located on the second floor of the Central Library, Calverley St, Leeds in West Yorkshire, England.

This image shows the newly refurbished tiled hall at the Central Library in Leeds which now houses a cafe and shop. The splendour of the Hall had been hidden from the public for so long by shelves and a mezzanine floor level prior to its re-opening in June 2007.

Central Library

cath01 — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 10:55:34 CDT

The Tiled Hall in Central Library, Leeds
Leeds’ magnificent new Municipal Buildings were opened on 17th April 1884 by the Mayor, Alderman Edwin Woodhouse, after a competition was held to design them. It was won by George Corson, whose plans included dividing the buildings into the ‘business’ side, which fronted onto Calverley Street, and the ‘popular’ side which led onto Centenary Street, now the Headrow. The popular side was occupied by the Free Public Library and took up less than a third of the whole building. This consisted of a reading room, lending library and reference library.
The reading room was sited in the Tiled Hall at the front of the building. The Yorkshireman described the reading room on opening as ‘a magnificent place. The floor is the finest parquetry in oak, walnut and ebony..’ The roof was so magnificent it was feared that ‘people will be continually gazing up at it, instead of quietly reading the magazines and newspapers’. The Reading Room was used for the opening ceremony. A report of the opening noted that ‘inside the edifice a select company assembled to participate in the opening ceremony. On a slightly raised dais were seated the Mayoress and other ladies of note. Behind… stood a mixed group of politicians, barristers, clergymen, magistrates, merchants and manufacturers. Here and there in various parts of the handsome reading room were well known local dignitaries and would-be dignitaries.’

The original reading room or tiled hall at the front of the building is 80 ft x 40ft. It is divided into a nave and aisles by arches supported by granite pillars. The tiled walls have medallion portraits in relief and include Homer, Milton, Burns, Scott, and Macaulay. The vaulted ceiling is covered in mosaic with hexagonal bricks of various colours with golden bosses. These ceiling bosses were part of the Victorian ventilation system, which is still working today. The Art Gallery was erected as an extension to the Municipal Buildings and was opened on 3rd October 1888 by the Mayor, Alderman Scarr. The Tiled Hall, formerly the Reading Room, was then converted to a sculpture gallery and the Reading Room was transferred to the Art Gallery and renamed the News Room. The Commercial and Technical Library was established in the News Room in 1918, but in cramped conditions. In 1955 it moved into the Tiled Hall. The Commercial and Technical Library was then able to expand and have both a lending and a reference collection.
A gallery for staff use was also created in the Tiled Hall where further book stock was shelved and work space was created for the typists from the cataloguing department. The ceiling and walls of the Tiled Hall were then hidden for nearly fifty years behind a false ceiling, bookcases and panelling. The Music Library was moved into the Tiled Hall space in 1998 but was only there until 1999, when the Central Library building closed for refurbishment and rewiring. The 1950s panelling and bookcases were removed, along with the false ceiling, to once more reveal the Tiled Hall and the inevitable damage caused by work done in the 1950s.

The present restoration work has now fully restored the Tiled Hall to its original magnificence, after a £1.5m refurbishment of the gallery and the adjacent Art Gallery. Its restoration was one of the key parts of the scheme and the hall is right at the heart of the Central Library/Art Gallery complex. A new entrance has been created to link it directly to the art gallery, allowing people to move easily between it and the library building.. A new café and shop has also been located within the Tiled Hall, serving both library and gallery visitors.

Leeds City Centre

cath01 — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 09:42:05 CDT

There is no abstract available for this page revision.

Alwoodley

cath01 — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 05:31:50 CDT

Slavering baby/Babbling baby/Slavering Sal
The correct name for this feature is actually "Old Man's Mouth". It is a 19th century carved stone outlet for spring water, located near Adel Crags. It is said to have been carved by a Mr. D.Verity, stonemason, and great-grandfather of Benjamin Verity, of the nearby Verity's Tea Rooms. It used to have a stone trough to catch the water, but this, and the carving itself, was damaged by vandals in the early 70's.

Revolution Well
Located on Stonegate Road at the junction with Parkland Drive. Erected in 1788 as a memorial of the coming of King William, by Joseph Oates, gt. Grandfather to Capt. Oates, the famous explorer.

Seven Arches aqueduct A tunnel was built to carry water from Eccup Reservoir to Leeds in order to supply the population with clean drinking water. The tunnel had to cross Adel Beck, hence the building of the Seven Arches aqueduct. Made of local gritstone, water first flowed across it in August of 1841. However, the demand proved too much for the aqueduct to cope with, and it was obsolete within 30 years

Adel Crags

cath01 — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 05:29:16 CDT

There is no abstract available for this page revision.

Beeston

cath01 — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 09:39:55 CDT

Join this wiki and tell us about your memories and history of Beeston.

New Houses & Commercial Development

Anonymous — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 09:16:11 CDT

If anything defines Cottingley, ask Leeds people and they will say "the two tower blocks of flats" reputedly 'the tallest flats in Leeds' and indeed they are a landmark. They were included in the First Phase of re-build by the council who wanted to replace the long-serving pre-fabs. The well-known, high-rise flats - Cottingley Heights and Cottingley Towers were twenty five stories high, two hundred and twenty feet high and containing two hundred and ninety four homes with a top-flat rent of £3.95 a week. They were officially opened on 19th April 1972.

This First Phase included 'white triangular' terrace homes on the northwest side of the estate and included a Shopping Hall with a fish and chip shop, Post Office, launderette, public toilets and attached by a canopied area to The Sphinx Pub. The irregular-shaped complex was covered by an unusual white multi-pyramid roof. Cottingley School has remained throughout on its old pre-fab road of Dulverton Grove on the far (west) side of the estate.

"Cottingley had a bit of a reputation in Leeds for being 'rough', I moved there in 1979 as there was a housing shortage on all Leeds council estates, Cottingley was all they could offer, the Churwell side. The problem seemed to be on 'rough people' in the flats, someone was discovered keeping a goat on the fifth floor but they sorted out the tenants and put retired tenants in and security,etc and they were much improved. I remember the doctor's surgery being on the 24th floor of one of the tower blocks and it made you feel ill just looking out of the waiting-room window. One of the problems, even though the new houses were really nice with three bedrooms, two toilets, central heating and good-sized rooms and gardens, good neighbours - it was the lack of ammenities; no chemist, dentist, off-licence, take-aways, the rent-office over at Dewsbury Road, no supermarket, etc, you had to walk up the hill to Beeston Co-op or get a bus to Morley town. Another problem was the nature of the street numbering, anyone visiting the estate had a real problem finding a particular house as the numbers went along roadside terraces and continued on a terrace behind or went around a corner. I remember if the wind was in a certain direction the 'bad meat' smell of the dripping factories on Millshaw, you'd pass the sheds and see small lorries with cows heads under tarpaulins. The plus-side was that there were still lots of farmfields to go walking in, old farms and dirt tracks to follow either side of the Ring Road and up Churwell - remains of a 'fever hospital', coal slag-heaps to clamber up, farm animals - cows, sheep, horses, if you crossed the footbridge to Snittals Farm .. and nice friendly pubs up Churwell Hill - the Sphinx was a bit 'scary' and the Drysalters, too quiet".

In the 70's the remaining pre-fabs were cleared, Phase 2 'red' terrace housing was built on the southeast side of the estate in 1979/80. In 1973, the M621 motorway was built through Beeston Near Royds, on farmfields and waste land between Cottingley Drive north and Gelderd Road leaving a single field and barn at the side of the cemetry (Now a garage, B&Q and retail units).

In the late 1980's, commercial buildings began to be built either side of the Ring Road, Millshaw beck below the London railwayline footbridge was covered over and Sulzers built their engineering factory, below Crow Nest farm. Further warehousing development took place as Millshaw small industrial units and farm cottages were cleared to construct Millshaw Industrial Park, filling in land from Beeston Ring Road up to the Churwell railway line. 1988 saw the re-opening of a local rail station at the footbridge near Snittals Farm - not Churwell but Cottingley Station.
Further building has included a new Community Centre at the top of Cottingley Drive with community resources; a church, library, doctors and health facilities, cafe and meeting rooms. Close by, a small Barratt estate of private houses has been built adjacent to the school fields.

There is little that remains of 'Old Cottingley' except the trees beyond the rooftops in this photo which are claimed to be original trees from Cottingley Hall walled garden.

Old Cottingley Hall Farm

Anonymous — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 14:35:14 CDT

Memories of Cottingley Hall Farm - to 1914

Mr Roland Ellis of Whitkirk remembers how his grandfather, Simeon Ellis owned it as a farmhouse, "my father, Charles Percey (b. 1879) and his brother Harry and three sisters, Kate, Emma and Alethea all born there, now deceased. After Simeon's death, the family moved away and married. Harry still ran the milk round business from Pudsey, as did his nephew, Ernest after him".

Memories of Cottingley Hall Farm 1914 - 1923

"It brings back many happy memories", wrote Mrs Irene Nichols of Bramley, "I was brought up in the village of Millshaw for twenty odd years until I left to be married in 1933. It was lovely looking across two becks and fields to Cottingley Hall beyond. A Mr Entwhistle owned the farm and his pastures were always full of cows".

Mrs May Entwhistle of Manchester wrote, "my husband's brother and sister farmed same ... Mr Ellis had the farm before them. It was Miss Entwhistle (Edith) and Mr William Entwhistle - bachelor who farmed it. Mr Entwhistle's father died when my husband was eight and he wrote a book on poultry, the things they specialised in - showbirds. Miss Edith Entwhistle published it when he died of pneumonia when he was fifty four. He was originally a Devon man. Miss Entwhistle died at the farm but she was not the tenant. They were the two eldest of the family. Yes, it would be 1914-1923 for we were married in 1920. In 1923, the Entwhistle family moved to South Hindley and had a milk round, then returned to Knottingley near their other sister.
Cottingley Hall had tapwater in a sink, hot and cold water with a large kitchen range with fuel fires. there was large dairy, morning room, long narrow passage, large drawing room, bathroom too, two stairs, don't know how many bedrooms. Yes, it had electric light, milking by hand, the large greenhouse in the garden, full of passion flowers."

Mrs Thompson's mother well remembered the Entwhistles and George Tuppling, the farm foreman, "the Entwhistles, two brothers and one sister were very religious and rigid, they did not work on Sundays. They would not sell milk to the local residents, it all went to Holbeck Workhouse. When I was born (my mother) she tells me I had to have special milk form a cow that had just calved (on doctor's orders). Entwhistle was most reluctant to do this but a letter from the doctor brought results. He stipulated she must be at the farm before 7.30am and if she was late she could not have any until 3.30pm. Mother was 21 after I was born and it was quite a trek up the lane to the farm. Entwhistles had a brother, a gentleman farmer. Everything was scruplously clean, white wood tables , chairs, shelves, all scrubbed to perfection, the stone floor was spotless too".

Memories of Cottingley Hall Farm 1923-1933

Mrs D. Westcott of Cottingley told me, "in the year 1933 was when I first rented one of the two farm cottages owned by Illingworth's Farm nearby. We used to buy milk, etc at the farm and I well remember Mrs Illingworth who loved children".

"I was friends with Lily Illingworth", says Mrs Florence Jones of Cottingley, "her parents ran the farm. I don't remember the farm layout clearly but recall being asked to the farmhouse for a drink of milk straight from a cow. We sat in a room with no furniture, only stone slab seats around the walls".

Mrs Lily Atkinson of Barwick-in-Elmete gave an accurate picture of old Cottingley Hall, "We, the Illingworth family came from Bradford. Father (William Illingworth) had married and originally obtained a license in Bradford to clean roads with a horse-drawn vehicle. Soon he saved up a sum of money and wanted to buy a farm but he only had enough for the farm or the cows. So he bought his farm and was loaned half of each cow. His dairy farm was a success and he also operated a charar (a motor-coach used for sight-seeing tours) or a three horse-drawn waggonette in Bradford. It was called Silver Bird and was pulled by a special 'grey' team of horses, the wagonette had an upstairs and planks could be placed between seats down the centre aisle to make extra seating. We don't remember it coming to Cottingley.

We bought Cottingley Hall Farm in 1923 and mother brought us, Ida (15), May (12), Percey, Tom, me aged 5 and Fred (1) with our belongings in a pony-trap whilst father drove our dairy herd on foot from Bradford.
We thought it was a lovely house, above the front door, over the porch was carved the date 1616. Either side of the front door there were sitting rooms, with a staircase and a passage leading to the back of the farmhouse. This turned right bringing you to the back door which faced another staircase, alongside there was another passage to the large kitchen on the front corner of the house, one window facing on to Beeston. Beneath these windows there was a carved 'settle' or pew-like seat, such as seen in old pubs. This had cushions and the windows (east) gave a fine view of Beeston. A large stone slab table stood on bricks in the centre of the kitchen, it was smooth and rounded, scrubbed spotless and ideal for baking, always cool.

The garden was surrounded by a high wall which lowered around a little yard at the back door. At the back of the house there was a toilet block, two mens and three ladies, back-to-back within the walled garden. We had a greenhouse full of passion
flowers".

Memories of Cottingley Hall Farm 1933-1947

Mrs Lily Atkinson told me, "beyond the garden wall at the back of the farmhouse, there was a cobbled farmyard with a muck heap in the middle. This was bricked round with a low wall with two gaps for access with a wheelbarrow. At the end of our house, there was a dairy, then a kennel, boilerhouse with a chimney and a grainery over the stables. Opposite the back of the house, across the yard, were mistrals for cattle (milking sheds) and behind this, at the top of the Drysalters track, there was the rick-yard for hay. The Houseman family took the farm after us, they were dairy farmers. Cottingley Hall was demolished by 1947, the old Elizabethan oak beams were saved and carved by Samuel Firth into a church cross and candle-sticks,as a gesture of continuity from the Hall to the Pre-fab church."

"Mr Houseman lived in for a while, then he moved out, his partner ran the farm", recalled Mr Alf Inman of Churwell.

"There were still cows in the fields", Mr Raine of Cottingley told me.

Mrs Thompson wrote, "I remember Cottingley Hall, which in my opinion should not have been demolished. Houseman and his partner did live in the farmhouse. They used to let us children help, if you could call it that, with haymaking, the Crowthers ran the farm last, they lived out, they were a farming family from Rothwell".