ANNALS OF YORKSHIRE. LEEDS. A. D. 1770 Leeds and in 1777. LEEDS, the largest and most populous town in Yorkshire, is, it need scarcely be said, the chief seat of the woollen manufacture. It is a parish (St. Peter) and liberty, in the West-riding of the county, comprising the market town and borough of Leeds, which has a separate jurisdiction, though locally in the wapontake of Skyrack. Its situation is peculiarly favourable for trade and commerce. The river Aire, which passes through the town, towards its southward boundary, is navigable from the Humber up to the town, and the Leeds and Liverpool canal, constructed in 1777, Liverpool joins the Aire, and opens a direct line of navigation between Hull Canal and Liverpool, and the principal towns in the kingdom. This projected canal, for which the first act was obtained in 1770, was not completed to Liverpool till 1816. The whole length is 128 miles, the average breadth, 72 feet, and the depth 5 feet; the number of locks from Leeds to the summit is 44, and the rise 411 feet 4 inches, and the number of locks from the summit to Liverpool, 47, and the fall 433 feet 3 inches. It communicates with the Ribble by the Douglas navigation, and a branch from Wigan to Leigh connects it with the Bridgewater canal. The Aire and Calder Navigation Company have extensive ranges of warehouses and a commodious wharf, from which boats pass to Goole. From what has already been observed, it will be seen that this town, placed in the middle of that fine line of inland navigation, which extends here without interruption across the island, is equally open to the eastern and western seas, having an easy communication with the great depots of commerce that have arisen on the opposite shores of the kingdom, with Hull on the one hand, and Liverpool on the other. In the first and second charters of incorporation, it is stated that the borough is co-extensive with the parish, but at present, it VOL. II. A. D. Extent of the comprises the several townships of Armley, Beeston, Bramley, 1080-1086 Chapel Allerton, Farnley, Headingley-cum-Burley, Holbeck, Hunslet, Leeds, Potternewton, Wortley, respectively within the parish of Leeds; the several hamlets of Coldcotes, in the township of Seacroft; Osmondthorpe, Skelton, Thornes, in the township of Temple Newsam, in the parish of Whitkirk; and also a portion of Borough. the township of Cookridge, in the parish of Adel. The extent of the borough from Stanningley, in the township of Bramley, on the west, to Wike-bridge, in the township of Temple Newsam, on the east, is 7 miles and 2 furlongs; and from Slippin-gate, in the township of Chapel Allerton, on the north, to New-hall wood, in the township of Beeston, on the south, 7 miles and 3 furlongs. The circumference is 32 miles and 1 furlong, and its superficial contents are about 20,516 acres. In addition to this area, there are 800 acres of road and waste lands, which will make the grand total superficial contents of the borough, 21,470 acres. century. " Leeds appears from Domesday book, compiled between the years 1080 and 1086, to have been rather a large farming village than a considerable town; and at that period, the whole population, Population ohan (including Holbeck) did not amount to more than 300, and the entire parish to about three times that number. In 1533, it was described as "Ledis, two miles lower than Christal abbay, on Aire river, is a praty market, having one paroche churche, reasonably well buildid, and as large as Bradeford, but not so quik as it.' Time, the grand producer, as well as the destroyer, has effected a marvellous revolution both in the place and the population. It may safely be said that the town is now twice as large as it was in 1820, while the out-townships have contributed in a very material degree to the present importance of the borough. The number of At the pre- the inhabitants, according to the last census, was 171,805, of whom sent day, 101,331 are in the township, and 70,474 in the out-townships. The soil of the parish is a coarse strong clay, of which excellent bricks are made. This covers a finer stratum, which is made into an inferior kind of earthenware. Lower still, is a thin bed of clay, of which fire bricks, equal to any in England, are manufactured. This is found in the neighbourhood of Wortley, where another kind of clay abounds, much used in the making of tobacco pipes. It is unnecessary to observe that Leeds and its suburbs are plentifully supplied with that chief element of national wealth and prosperity, as well as of individual comfort-coal. The quarries in the neighbourhood furnish stone of an excellent quality, large quantities of which are forwarded daily to distant parts of the country. 1851. Its great antiquity. Historians uniformly agree that Leeds is a place of great antiquity. It is supposed to have been the site of a Roman station, an opinion corroborated to some extent by the discovery of traces of a Roman road, and other ancient remains in the vicinity. The name of the town is conjectured by some to be derived from the British Caer Loid Coit-a town in a wood. Others believe it to have been the property of some chief of the name of Lede or Leod Thoresby, the antiquarian, imagines that there may have been a town here in the time of the Romans, and Dr. Whitaker seems to have entertained little doubt that the Roman road traversed the site of the present town of Leeds, in the line of Briggate. Another authority inclines to the opinion, that after the destruction of Cambodunum, by Cadwallo, a British prince, and Penda, King of Mercia, Leeds was made a royal vill, and obtained the Saxon appellation of Loidis. During the heptarchy, a memorable battle took place here between the kings of Northumbria and Mercia, in which the latter was slain, and numbers of his forces, in their attempt to escape, perished in the river Aire. At the time of the Conquest, the manor of Leeds was given to Ilbert de Lacy, who erected a baronial castle in the town, which is supposed to have been situate in Mill-hill, overlooking the river, and encompassed by a park extending northward to Park-lane. In 1139, this fortress was besieged and taken by King Stephen, in his march against the Scots, who had taken up arms in defence of his neice, the Empress Matilda, whose son, Henry, was heir to the throne. In 1399, the castle was for some time the scene of the confinement of Richard II., previously to his removal to the castle of Pontefract, in which he was inhumanly murdered. At what period, or by what means the castle was destroyed, does not appear. Thoresby states it to have been the tradition of his time, that the old bridge was built out of its ruins, but this is obviously incorrect, as the bridge and the chantry connected with it, were in existence in 1373, and the fortress certainly remained till the 15th century. A. D. 1139 In a record in the tower of London, of the 47th Edward III., the castle is mentioned in connection with the mills then existing in the town. A tower also stood near Lydgate, in Woodhouse-lane, called "Tower Hill," which might possibly have been in some manner connected with the castle; but not a vestige of either fabric remains. In 1376, occurs the first notice of a bridge over, The Bridge the river Aire, with a chapel or chantry dedicated to St. Mary, in 1376. attached thereto, according to the custom of that period. On the dissolution of religious houses, the chapel was appropriated to the purposes of a school, and continued to be so until 1728. There can be little doubt but that a bridge existed in the times of the Saxons, and it is thought the word Briggate," which cannot be of less than Saxon origin, favours that opinion. This bridge has been twice widened, once in 1730, and again in 1760, when the chapel, then used as a warehouse, was demolished. 66 In 1535, Henry VIII. dissolved all religious establishments, whose annual revenues did not exceed £200 each. A rebellion ensued in the following year, which was designated the "Pilgrimage of Grace," and the bailiffs of Snaith, Leeds, Kellam, and Beverley, were amongst the leaders. In 1540, the abbey of Kirkstall A.D. 1552 Leeds School. was surrendered to the crown, by John Ripley, the last abbot. In 1552, during the reign of Edward VI., the grammar school, in Leeds, was founded by Sir William Sheaffield, priest, on the place Grammar now occupied by the pinfold, in Edward-street. It was removed to its present site in 1624. In the reign of Queen Elizabeth, orders were received in this town, to contribute a proportionate part of the expense of providing a ship of war to cruise against the The Soke. Spaniards. In 1609, the soke originated, by letters patent, granted by James I., originally to Edward Ferrers, of London, mercer, and Francis Phelips, of the same place, gentleman. The mills to which this grant applied, are supposed to have stood on the stream of water running along Swinegate, known by the name of the "Mill Goit." A bill of complaint was exhibited in Chancery, on the 3rd of November, 1615, signed by a great number of the most wealthy and influential inhabitants of the district, stating that the town and parish had become very large and populous, and consisted of more than 5000 communicants, and that although some of them were three or four miles distant from the church, yet, 3000 or 4000 ordinarily resorted thither every Sabbath-day. This statement shows not only a large increase in the population, but also, the existence of a strong religious feeling at that remote period. In 1631, another grant of the soke was made; but in 1839, the inhabitants of the manor of Leeds were discharged from the custom by act of parliament, and a compensation of £13,000 was paid to Edward Hudson, Esq., of Roundhay, the then proprietor. In 1644, the Plague made its appearance, proving fatal to 1325 persons, being (according to Dr. Whitaker) about a fifth part of the population. It was about this time that the privilege of returning a member to serve in parliament was conferred on Leeds; and accordingly, Adam Baynes, Esquire, of Knostrop, an officer in the parliamentary army, was returned, and was the only representative the borough had till the passing of the Reform Act in 1832. The Old Prison old prison of the borough (originally situate in that part of Brigremoved in gate, formerly called "Cross Parish") was removed to the south 1655. side of Kirkgate in 1655. It was a most wretched place, containing five or six dark and miserable apartments, without even a sewer or a fire place, in addition to which the windows were not even glazed. The philanthropic Howard remarked, with reference to this building, that an hour was too long to remain within its walls. Yet it was here, that John Nelson, one of the first methodist preachers, was confined on the 6th of May, 1744, when passing through the town, after having been illegally impressed for a soldier. The name of the gaoler who, according to Nelson's Journal, kindly permitted above one hundred of his friends to visit him the same night, was "James Barber," late "an innholder in this burrough." Opposite the prison was the common bake-house, which had existed from an early period. It was also about this date that, owing to the great scarcity of money, merchants and This tradesmen obtained, or assumed, the privilege of coining those During the war in the reign of Charles I., numerous skirmishes between the contending parties, took place in the neighbourhood of Leeds. In 1643, the town was taken by the parliamentary forces under General Fairfax, and after the battle of Marston moor, in the same year, the Scottish troops halted here. In the reign of William III., Thomas, Marquis of Carmarthen, was created Duke of Leeds, and the title is still inherited by his descendants. The principal residence of this noble family is Hornby castle, near Catterick, in the North-riding of Yorkshire. 66 A.D. 1626-1672 Leeds received its first charter of incorporation in the second 1st Charter year of the reign of Charles I. Previously, the government of the of Incorpotown was vested in a chief officer called the Bailiff." This ration 1626. having been forfeited, a new charter was granted by Charles II., in the 13th of his reign, under which the inhabitants were governed by a mayor, 12 aldermen, and 24 assistants, a recorder, deputy recorder, town clerk, coroner, clerk of the market, and other officers. Without wishing to introduce any irrelevant topic in a history of this kind, it is only proper to state, that the gentlemen composing the corporation under the old regime, belonged exclusively to one political party, and although they were men of high standing and inflexible integrity, and governed the town with a sincere desire to promote the prosperity of the inhabitants, still, considering that there were gentlemen belonging to another party, equally entitled both by wealth, station, and capability, to share in the honour and responsibility of local government, such a system of exclusion excited much dissatisfaction and ill-feeling in the minds of a large proportion of the rate-payers. Publicity, more especially with regard to financial matters, was strongly insisted upon, and notwithstanding it was said that the old corporation possessed no funds but such as arose from fines imposed among themselves, public meetings were held from time to time to petition parliament for a reform in this department of local affairs. These efforts, combined with similar movements in other towns, were at length successful. The passing of the municipal act in 1835, opened the door to men of all parties, and the result is, that every shade of opinion, political and religious, is now represented in the town council. The new corporation, however, did not fall on a bed of roses. Their predecessors had alienated the whole of their funds, £6,500, to public and charitable objects, for the avowed purpose of preventing the new authorities obtaining control over the money. |