Part 1

New Leeds

Today Leeds is a large urban conurbation, a large sprawl of continuous building with a few open spaces here and there. Until relatively recently most of what is now Leeds consisted of fields and woodland with settlements and townships in among, and with the more densely populated area in the centre.

If we look at the map of Leeds in1834, we see that Chapeltown did not even exist; Potternewton and Chapel Allerton were villages surrounded by fields; Harehills was a handful of houses. Where Chapeltown is now was all farmland, mainly Squire’s Pastures, and this area was the site of a projected new suburb to be called ‘New Leeds’.

map of Leeds in 1834 with Chapeltown and Potternewton

Much of the land in nineteenth century Leeds was still owned by various aristocrats who usually lived in other parts of the country. The Earl of Cardigan owned more than half of Headingley; Cardigan Road is named after him. The Earls of Mexborough owned a large chunk of Potternewton, Earl Cowper’s estate included Squire’s Pasture. These earls, eager to make money, were willing to grant building leases or to sell land, especially as it was going up in value due to the desire of wealthy people to move away from the polluted centre of Leeds. Thus in 1819 his agent wrote to the fifth Earl Cowper who lived in Hertfordshire:

…the elegancies and comforts of life are moresought after . This I conceive, will continue to increase and introduce a disinclination for residence in so dirty a town. Of course, land proper for country houses will increase in value.

In 1825 a partnership paid Earl Cowper £29,860 for fifty-five lots in Leeds New Town. A rather grand design was drawn up (see plan below) with majestic terraces built around a central square, in the style of Edinburgh New Town.

1828 plan of pprojected New Leeds suburb

The 1828 plan of New Leeds to be built at Squire's Pasture, Potternewton. By 1847 only the shaded in houses had been built.

However, the project got into difficulties, grand terraces were going out of fashion, and the city centre was too near for such a palatial scheme. The partnership went bankrupt by 1828 and the earl had to repurchase the empty lots, very profitably, for £20,000. This venture had been invested in by the famous novelist, Sir Walter Scott, and the street plan shows Ivanhoe Terrace named after Scott’s hero. Louis and Francis Streets are still named after the fifth Earl Cowper’s christian names. Although no new houses were built in 1828, some of the streets had sewers laid.

The land sales dragged on through the time of the sixth and seventh earls, and were completed in 1873. Earlier, in 1839, a Deed of Arrangement devised by Earl Cowper, set out several conditions which any purchaser of his lands would have to meet. These were specifically formulated to make sure that the new suburb would be a pleasant residential area, and also to safeguard the potential value of building lots on this basis.

Restrictions were put on the use of streets: "….no horses, cattle, or other animals shall be exercised or cleaned in any street…". This rule, obviously, was to ensure that residents wouldn't run the risk of stepping in anything unpleasant when walking in the street (apart from the usual dog muck!). Of course, at this time, and well in to this century, it was not unusual for herds of cattle to be driven through the streets of the city centre on their way to the abattoir. You can imagine the mess they will have left behind them.

The houses built on a particular street had to be the same height, as this was thought to be more attractive. Also:"….no stable, washhouse or other outoffice shall be erected in and towards the front of any of the streets exceeding eight yards in wide." This was to keep any unsightly outhouses hidden from view; they would be built in back alleyways.

To prevent industrial use of the land, the Deed of Arrangement included the following:

That no steam engine or engines whatever or any mill, manufactury, furnace, forge, building or place for the purpose of a public house, inn or for any manufacture or for carry on any noisome, smoky or offensive trade or business whatever which in anywise be a nuisance to the neighbourhood shall be erected, built established, commenced, or continued on the said lots of land or any of them be used for any other purposes than the erection of dwellinghouses with the suitable outoffices and conveniences for the inhabitants of such dwellinghouses or as land for gardens, orchards, lawns or ordinary cultivation.

This clause would explain why there are no pubs in this area. Similar covenants are found in Headingley where you can die of thirst before you come across a public house!

Today Chapeltown is seen as a run-down inner city area, but New Leeds in the 1870s was a relatively affluent suburb. The owners of the mansions and villas, like Enmoor Lodge, represented the upper echelons of society; their properties would have had a stable, or at least a carriage house, and a large landscaped garden. The terraced houses would have belonged to the middle classes. They wouldn't have been able to afford a horse or carriage but would have employed one or two servants; a single servant would have to be a "maid of all work", all for the sake of maintaining his or her employers' veneer of middle class respectability.

The Leeds Street Directory of 1876, (above) 7 shows the residents of Leopold Street to have ranged from skilled workers up to businessmen. At number 49 lived a Frederick Whaley, engineer; at number 5, Mr.Osmond Rhodes, wine merchant, resided; while at number 2 lived a James Hartley, quarry owner. Spencer Place in 1876 has a similar class of resident.

By the 1890s the area enclosed by Leopold Street, Spencer Place, Cowper Street and Chapeltown Road, had been built. The rest of the Cowper estate was sold and developed in a building boom around 1900. Already it was being encroached upon by working class, back-to-back houses just to the south of Leopold Street. These houses were demolished in the slum clearance programmes in the late 1960s and 1970s.

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