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Leeds began as a Saxon village. By the time of the Domesday Book (1086) it had a population of around 200.By the standards of the time it was a large village. Many were much smaller. Then in 1207 the Lord of the Manor, Maurice De Gant, founded a new town at Leeds. At that time trade and commerce were increasing in England and many new towns were founded. The Lord of the Manor created a new street of houses west of the existing village. He divided the land into plots for building. Craftsmen built houses and paid rent to the Lord for the land. The new street was probably called Bridge Gata (gata is an old word for street). In time it changed to Briggate. In the little town there were butchers, bakers, carpenters and blacksmiths. The main industry was the manufacture of wool. It was woven then fulled. That means it ws pounded in a mixture of water and clay to clean and thicken it. The wool was pounded by wooden hammers worked by watermills. Afterwards it was dyed. In the town there was a weekly market. There were also 2 fairs. In the Middle Ages fairs were like markets but they were held only once a year. People would come from all over Yorkshire to buy and sell at a Leeds fair. However many of the people in Leeds made a living from farming. The little town probably had a population of around 1,000 people. It would seem tiny to us but settlements were very small in those days. A typical village had only 100 or 150 inhabitants. Having said that, in the Middle Ages, Leeds was a small and unimportant town. THE 16TH AND 17TH CENTURIES Everything changed in the 16th century. In the Middle Ages cloth manufacture was concentrated in the East Riding. Then in the 16th century wool manufacture moved to West Yorkshire. The population of Leeds soared. by the late 16th century it had reached 3,000 and by the middle of the 17th century was probably about 6,000. From being a small and insignificant town Leeds grew to be one of the largest towns in Yorkshire. In 1552 a grammar school was founded in Leeds. In 1626 the town was incorporated. In other words it was given a corporation and mayor. The town was described thus in 1628: (I have changed the words slightly to make it easier to read) Leeds is an ancient market town. It stands pleasantly in a fruitful and enclosed vale upon the north side of the river Eyer over or beyond a stone bridge from where it has a large and broad street (paved with stone) leading directly north and continually ascending. The houses on both sides are very thick and closely compacted together, being old, rough and low built and generally all of timber (although they have many stone quarries in the town). Only a few of the richer inhabitants have houses that are larger and more capacious.' During the 17th century as the town grew more prosperous many of the merchants rebuilt their houses in stone. St Johns church was built in 1634. Then in 1642 came civil war between king and parliament. Most of the townspeople supported the king and a royalist army occupied the town. But in January 1643 it was captured by parliamentary soldiers. They held the town until the summer of 1643 when, after losing a battle in Yorkshire they were forced to abandon Leeds. The parliamentary army returned in April 1644. They held Leeds for the rest of the civil war. In the 17th century Leeds was a wealthy town. The wool trade boomed. However like all towns in those days it suffered from outbreaks of the plague. There was a severe outbreak in 1645. In 1694 Leeds gained a piped water supply (for those who could afford to be connected).At the end of the 17th century the travel writer Celia Fiennes described the town: 'Leeds is a large town, several large streets, clean and well paved and good houses, all built of stone, some have good gardens and steps up to their houses and walls before them. This is esteemed the wealthiest town of its size in the county.' THE 18TH CENTURY In the early 18th century the writer Daniel Defoe said: 'Leeds is a large, wealthy and populous town. It stands on the north bank of the river Aire, or rather on both sides of the river for there is a large suburb or part of the town on the south side of the river'. In 1714 Queens Court was built for a wealthy cloth merchant. In the 18th century wool manufacture was still the lifeblood of Leeds but there were other industries. Leeds pottery began in 1770. There was also a brickmaking industry. There were also many craftsmen such as coachmakers, clockmakers, booksellers and jewellers as well as more mundane trades such as butchers, bakers, barbers, innkeepers, carpenters, blacksmiths and glaziers. In 1700 the rivers Aire and Calder were made navigable from Leeds to Wakefield. In 1794 work began on the Leeds to Liverpool canal. It was completed in 1816. For the rich and middle class life grew more comfortable and more genteel (though there were also vast numbers of very poor people). The first newspaper in Leeds began publication in 1718. After 1755 the streets were lit with oil lamps. After 1790 'scavengers' cleaned the streets. In 1777 an assembly rooms where balls were held and people played cards was built. In the 1780s the park estate around Park Place was built. For the poor a charity school called the Blue Coat school was built in 1705. Mary Potter's almshouses were built in 1736 THE 19TH CENTURY By 1801, the year of the first census the population of Leeds had reached 30,000. By the standards of the time it was a large town. By 1851 it had reached 101,000. The town spread rapidly but many of the new houses built were dreadful. Overcrowding was rife and streets were very dirty. As a result there was a cholera epidemic in 1832 which killed over 700 people. A second epidemic in 1849 killed more than 2,000 people. In the 1850s the council built sewers but very many of the houses in Leeds were not connected to them. Many dwellings continued to use cess pits or buckets which were emptied at night by the 'night soil' men. Not until 1899 was it made compulsory for dwellings to be connected to sewers. Nevertheless there were some improvements in the town.From 1819 the streets were lit by gas. In 1834 Leeds was connected to Selby by rail. In 1848 it was connected to Derby. The first modern police force was formed in 1836. Beckett Street cemetery was opened in 1845. The town hall was built in 1858. In 1863 a corn exchange was built where grain was bought and sold. In 1824 a dispensary opened where the poor could obtain free medecines. A General infirmary was built in 1868. At the end of the century serious slum clearance began.From 1872 horse drawn trams ran in the streets. After 1894 they were replaced by electric trams. Also in 1872 the first public library opened. So did Roundhay Park. Gran Theatre was built in 1978. City Varieties Music Hall was built in 1885. In 1888 the first moving pictures were taken of traffic crossing Leeds bridge. In 1884 Marks and Spencer opened their first penny arcade in Leeds. Several new shopping arcades were built. Thorntons Arcade was built in 1878. It was followed by Queens Arcade in 1889 and Grand Arcade and Victoria Arcade in 1898. In 1891 Leeds gained its first electricity supply. In 1893 Leeds was made a city. In the early 19th century the manufacture of wool continued to boom. So did making linen. However in the late 19th century textiles became less important. But tailoring for a mass market flourished. So did a leather industry and there were many boot and shoe makers. Tetleys brewery was founded in 1822. THE 20TH CENTURY In 1901 the population of Leeds reached 178,000. In 1903 a statue of the Black Prince was erected in City Square. So were statues of 8 nymphs. Leeds University was founded in 1904. Also that year St Annes RC Cathedral was built. Leeds city market was built in 1904. The first cinema in Leeds was built in 1905. In the 1920s the first council houses were built in the city. More were built in the 1930s. In 1925 St James hospital was founded. In 1933 Leeds Civic Hall was built. During World War II 77 people were killed by bombs and 197 buildings were destroyed. In the early 20th century the main industries were engineering (such as making tram rails)and tailoring. But during the century the importance of manufacturing industry declined. Instead service industries grew rapidly. In 1951 55% of the workforce were employed in manufacturing. By 1973 it had fallen to less than 35%. Many people worked in banking, insurance, pubs and hotels. The city council was itself a major employer. In 1946 it employed 19,000 people. Thirty years later the figure had risen to 35,000.In 1974 the boundaries of the city were extended to include 10 other boroughs and urban districts. In 1993 Quarry House, the headquarters of NHS Management was opened. Leeds polytechnic was founded in 1970. It became Leeds Metropolitan University in 1992. In the late 20th century tourism became a major employer. The Royal Armouries museum opened in 1995. The Thackray medical museum followed in 1997. The Monet Garden in Roundhay Park was opened in 1999. Merrion Shopping Centre was built in 1964. A new shopping arcade was built in the early 1970s. It was called The Bond Street Centre. Later it was refurbished and renamed Leeds Shopping Plaza. St Johns Shopping Centre was built in 1983. White Rose Shopping Centre opened in 1997. In the early 1970s the city centre was pedestrianised. Radio Leeds began broadcasting in 1968. In 1990 the West Yorkshire Playhouse theatre opened. The Royal Armouries Museum opened in Leeds in 1996. Today the population of the metropolitan district is about 724,000. The population of the actual city of Leeds is about 421,000. For "Brief Histories" of more UK towns & cities written by Tim, check out his web site - www.geocities.com/localhistories/
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