The Leylands was an area of Leeds, north of the city centre and west of Mabgate. John Cossins' 1726 Plan of Leedes shows two fields marked Ley Lands north of Lady Lane and west of the Sheepscar Beck (also later known as Lady Beck) which correspond to the area. [1]
An 1881 street map shows the area built up and called The Leylands, and in 1887 the area had a population of 6209. [2] A plan of 1815 shows construction in progress with street names commemorating the victories of Nelson, namely Trafalgar Street and Nile Street. [3]
The Leylands occupied an area between Vicar Lane and North Street (to the west) and Eastgate and Regent Street (to the east) with Lady Lane and Skinner Lane being the south and north boundaries. [4] The main thoroughfare was Bridge Street, named from the Lady Bridge which crossed the Lady Beck. The beck was the eastern boundary. [4] [5] The Leylands was an area of densely packed poor quality housing for workers most built before 1847. They worked in the nearby foundries and mills which sprang up in the 19th century. The area described in 1889 as "a dank district in that uninviting city". [5] There were some attempts at improvement at this time with the construction of a Leeds Board school in 1875.
St Luke's Church (now demolished) was built in 1841 on the corner of Skinner Lane and North Street. [6]
Low rents attracted immigrants, notably Irish, but by the mid-1890s the area was predominantly Jewish: in 1892 of the 1300 houses in the area, 900 were occupied by Jews. [5] A synagogue was built, and the school became entirely Jewish, with three other Jewish schools within the Leylands. [7] [8] In 1901 this area of less than 50 acres had a population of more than 6000 Jews. [7]
The predominant trade for the Jewish population was tailoring and the sweatshops of the Leylands became notorious. [9] [8] (The 1901 Census identifies 'Tailoring' as the occupation of 2293 Jews, with 'Tailoress' for 851, many times the next largest 430 for the 'Boot/shoe trade'.) [8] Just north of Skinner Lane there still is the "Tailors' Machinists & Pressers' Trade Union" building which was a Jewish Trade union, the building was also used for Jewish social events. [8] It was to this area and these workers that Montague Burton came to build a clothing factory on Concord Street with decent conditions to establish a business which later resulted in a larger factory in Harehills. [10]
As the Jewish community prospered, they (and their businesses and places of worship) moved north to Chapeltown and the area was largely cleared in the slum removal programme of 1936/7. [7]
A remaining 19th-century building is the Smithfield Hotel on North Street, built about 1860 to serve the cattle market on the opposite side of the road, it then became the façade of the offices of Thomas Green & Son's ironworks which stretched east behind it, producing items from lawnmowers to steamrollers. [1] The garment industry is represented by the 1914 Lyons Works on Templar Lane, which had one of the earliest production lines: it has recently been used as the background for an artwork for Leeds College of Art (now Leeds Arts University). [11] Templar House at the junction of Lady Lane and Templar Lane, a Grade II listed building, was built in 1840 as a Wesleyan Methodist Association chapel and converted into offices in 1933, latterly used by British Road Services, whose signage is still visible, but the building is now closed and boarded up. [12]
Today, much of the southern portion of the area is used as public car parking for the city centre, but there are some offices, apartments and light industry. The area still contains the Leeds College of Building and Salvation Army worship and community halls.
Moortown is a suburb of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is a civil parish and sits in the Moortown ward of Leeds City Council in the north east of the city.
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Harehills is an inner-city area of east Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is approximately 1 mile (1.6 km) north east of Leeds city centre. Harehills is situated between the A58 and the A64. It sits in the Gipton & Harehills ward of Leeds City Council and the Leeds East parliamentary constituency, between Burmantofts and Gipton, and adjacent to Chapeltown.
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East Bowling is an area of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England located to the south of Bradford city centre. It forms the eastern half of the historic township and manor of Bowling. Bowling became a ward of the newly created Borough of Bradford in 1847. In 1882 the ward was split into the wards of East and West Bowling. In the north the boundary was along the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway. To the south it was along Hall Lane and Bolling Hall Lane.
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Killingbeck is a district of east Leeds, West Yorkshire, England named after the Killingbeck family, historic local landowners, and is situated between Seacroft to the north, Cross Gates and Whitkirk to the east, Gipton to the west, Halton Moor to the south, Halton to the south-east and Osmondthorpe to the south-west.
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This is a list of halls of residence both on and off campus at the University of Leeds in Leeds, England.
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The architecture of Leeds, a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England, encompasses a wide range of architectural styles and notable buildings. As with most northern industrial centres, much of Leeds' prominent architecture is of the Victorian era. However, the City of Leeds also contains buildings from as early as the Middle Ages such as Kirkstall Abbey, one of Britain's best preserved ruined Cistercian monasteries, as well as examples of 20th century industrial architecture, particularly in the districts of Hunslet and Holbeck.
Park Square is a Georgian public square in central Leeds, West Yorkshire. The square is grassed over and is a traditional Georgian park. The square is in Leeds' financial quarter and is surrounded by Georgian buildings, which are occupied as offices, many by barristers and solicitors.
Chapel Allerton is an inner suburb of north-east Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, 2 miles (3.2 km) from the city centre.
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The city of Leeds, in West Yorkshire, England has a Jewish community, where many notable people originated or settled. They have played a major part in the clothing trade, the business, professional and academic life of the City, and the wider world. The community numbers now less than 7,000 people.