HEADINGLEY CONSERVATION AREA
Historical development and changing character
Headingley, about 2 miles north-west of the modern centre of Leeds, is bounded to the east by the slopes of Meanwood valley, and is situated upon Elland Flags and coal seams of the Lower Carboniferous period. It is thought that Headingley was the centre of the Skyrack Wapentake, a wapentake being an administrative unit composed of a number of townships (Faull and Moorhouse 1981). An old oak known as the 'Shire Oak' is believed to have been the traditional meeting place of the wapentake, and the term Skyrack may have derived from the name 'Shire Oak'. The oak stood adjacent to Otley Road to the north of St Michael's church until 1941, the site now commemorated by a plaque, and dates back to the Anglo-Scandinavian pre-Conquest period. (The wapentake was where free-men would be called to meet at regular court sessions and would indicate their agreement with decisions by brandishing their weapons in the air - hence the name. It was also the traditional muster point for military purposes at this time).
Headingley-cum-Burley township, comprised the three hamlets of Burley, Headingley, and Kirkstall, and was one of the 10 townships that formed the parish of Leeds. Headingley became a parish in 1846 and in 1868 the parish was subdivided to form the parishes of St Michael and St Chad, the latter serving Far Headingley.
The first known documentary evidence for Headingley is the Domesday Survey of 1086 where Ilbert held 7 carucates of land (Faull and Stinson 1986). The place-name however, suggests an earlier Anglian settlement, of English, rather than British origin, since the terms -inga, or - ingaleah, are one of the oldest types of English place-name formation. The name probably means the 'forest-glade or clearing of the Head (d)ings' , the elements derived from the Old English folk-name Head(d)a, the folk-name forming suffix ingas, and leah, a woodland clearing (Smith 1961). Evidence of early occupation in the area is provided by a stone coffin (identified as either late Roman, or pre-Conquest) found in Becketts Park in 1995, possibly part of a more extensive site (PRN 6169)
In the 12th century monks of Kirkstall Abbey were granted land at East Headingley and West Headingley by William le Peitevin, who had acquired the land from Henry de Lacy. The Peitevin family similarly gifted the mill of Headingley to the Knights Templars in the 13th century. In 1310/1311 William le Peteiven granted all his manor of Headingley and Burley, together with Headingley Mill to John de Calverley, who subsequently passed the manor to the abbott of Kirkstall in 1324 (Faull and Moorhouse 1981, 394-5). The monks by this period had established three granges within the township, including New Grange, later known as Kirkstall Grange, situated on the western side of Headingley village. After the Dissolution, 1536-40, most of Headingley lands (not New Grange), were purchased by the Saviles of Howley Hall. The Brudenalls succeeded to the manor by marriage and later became the Earls of Cardigan (Douglas, Hammond & Powell, 1987).
Little is known about the medieval layout of Headingley, but in 1626 Sir John Savile gifted land for a chapel of ease to seat 200, which stood on the site of present St Michael's Church. It is possible the building may have incorporated an earlier chapel since it was said to have contained work of the 12th and 13th centuries. The gifted land in 1626 was possibly to extend the graveyard and existing chapel (PRN 3158). One surviving structure in this period is Headingley Hall, later known as Shire Oak House, which existed by 1663 and is thought to be the oldest residence in Headingley (Douglas, Hammond & Powell, 1987).
The manor held by the Cardigan family comprised over half of the township. A plan of the estate in 1711, surveyed by Joseph Dickinson, depicts the settlement, comprising the chapel, cottages, and farmsteads, scattered around a roughly triangular shape of land formed by the merging of routes from north, west and south. Enclosed fields were situated around the settlement with a large tract of common land, Headingly Moor, to the north. Eighteenth century settlement to the north of the village included workers' cottages that had encroached upon the fringes of Headingley Moor c. 1750 (Elston 1976). In 1775 the Leeds-Otley turnpike road was agreed, and the route was diverted through Headingley and Headingley Moor rather than Burley as previously (Bradford 2000). Further encroachment of the moor occurred around 1770 for the building of a parsonage, east of Otley Road. Possible surviving buildings of this period in this vicinity include small cottages in the vicinity of Moor Road, and a cottage adjacent to the present Cottage Road cinema (Douglas, Hammond & Powell, 1987). Despite some encroachments to the north, population figures remained small and census records for the township in 1801 record a population of 300 (Douglas, Hammond & Powell, 1987).
More land became available for development in the early 19th century, but growth was slow. In 1829 approximately 150 acres of the remaining land on Headingley Moor was enclosed by an Act of Parliament. To help with the costs of enclosure about one third of the land was placed for sale in the 1830s. About 30 workers' cottages had already encroached upon the fringes moor prior to 1829 and land in this vicinity was cheaper than that at Headingley Hill as it was seen unsuitable for villa development. This resulted in new buildings such as terraced buildings c. 1838 and other smaller working class rows of housing around two new roads, Cottage Road and Moor Road, established after the enclosure (Douglas, Hammond & Powell, 1987; Fraser 1980). By 1850 a community known as Far Headingley had arisen on the former common land (Treen 1982).
The wealthier classes were attracted to the cleaner air of rural areas such as Headingley, away from the smoke and industry of Leeds. A number of industrialists, bankers, and merchants, had already moved to rural rented or leased northern retreats between 1775 and 1820, including Chapel Allerton and Meanwood, (Treen 1982). John Marshall, a flax entrepeneur leased New Grange in 1805 (Fraser 1980), subsequently acquired by the Beckett family c. 1830 (Sprittles 1968). The seclusion of these sites was eroded when smaller scale mansions and villas began to surround them.
Headingley gradually became favoured as a middle class residential area, particularly at Headingley Hill where 'numerous mansions and villas of superior class' were built from the 1829/1830s such as Headingley Hill House in 1836 (Linstrum, 1978). Villas in this period were also built to the east of Moor Road, including Castle Grove, built in 1839 for a Leeds Linen merchant (Douglas, Hammond & Powell, 1987). A wealthy Leeds corn factor built Headingley Castle in 1840 south of Shire Oak Road, later known as The Elms (Dickinson 1906). Headingley Lodge to the west of Otley Road had similarly been established by 1847 (O.S. 1847). It was commented in 1849 by the banker William Beckett, that whilst the 'opulent merchants and bankers had resorted to country residences, the clergy, doctors, shopkeepers and tradesmen were compelled to live in an impurity of atmosphere that destroyed comforts of life' (Treen 1982).
Some plots of building land had been divided into smaller lots in order to attract the lower middle classes, with a requirement stipulating quality housing (Treen 1982). Headingley Terrace was constructed around the 1840s, Wesley Terrace built c. 1846/7 was advertised as to let to middle class tenants (Bradford 2000, 17). Smaller detached villas built prior to 1847 on Headingly Lane included The Poplars and Rose Court prior to 1847 (O.S 1847). The rate of growth prior to the mid-19th century, however, was slow, and Headingley remained essentially a rural area surrounded by fields (O.S 1847).
The introduction of public transport, a horse drawn bus, eased communication between Headingley and Leeds, but the cost of the fare and time restrictions confined it to mostly the middle classes, and roads were often in a poor state of repair. Headingley Railway Station, on the Leeds-Thirsk branch of the Leeds Northern Railway opened in 1849 (Bradford 2000). The station provided access to the Headingley Zoological and Botanical Gardens which opened in 1840, the cost of entry restricting the gardens to the more prosperous, comprising around 25 acres of lakes and gardens with some animals and birds, including a Bear Pit to the south of Headingley Lane. Renamed as Leeds Royal Gardens in 1848 the Gardens were closed in 1858 and subsequently partly built upon in the 1860s with the construction of Cardigan Road (Bradford 2000).
Between 1850 and 1870 development, aided by the improvement of transport, accelerated and many of the professional middle classes and tradesmen moved from Leeds. Villas and semi-detached housing were constructed along Headingley Lane and eastwards towards The Ridge. Terraced housing built in the 1850s included Victoria Terrace c. 1850, St George's Terrace in 1854.
|