Hunslet
Encyclopedia
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
, West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire is a metropolitan county within the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England with a population of 2.2 million. West Yorkshire came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972....
, England. It is 1 miles (1.6 km) south east of the city centre
Leeds City Centre
Leeds city centre is the central business district of Leeds, England. It is within the Leeds Central parliamentary constituency, represented by Hilary Benn as MP since a by-election in 1999...
and has an industrial past.
Hunslet had many engineering
Engineering
Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...
companies based in the district, such as John Fowler & Co.
John Fowler & Co.
thumb|right|John Fowler & Co. [[steam roller]] of 1923John Fowler & Co Engineers of Leathley Road, Hunslet, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England produced traction engines and ploughing implements and equipment, as well as railway equipment. Fowler also produced the Track Marshall tractor which was a...
manufacturers of traction engines & steam rollers, the Hunslet Engine Company
Hunslet Engine Company
The Hunslet Engine Company is a British locomotive-building company founded in 1864 at Jack Lane, Hunslet, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England by John Towlerton Leather, a civil engineering contractor, who appointed James Campbell as his Works Manager.In 1871, James Campbell bought the company for...
builders of locomotives (including for the Channel Tunnel
Channel Tunnel
The Channel Tunnel is a undersea rail tunnel linking Folkestone, Kent in the United Kingdom with Coquelles, Pas-de-Calais near Calais in northern France beneath the English Channel at the Strait of Dover. At its lowest point, it is deep...
), as well as engineering firms Kitson & Co.
Kitson & Co.
Kitson and Company was a locomotive manufacturer based in Hunslet, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England.-Early history:The company started as James Kitson at the Airedale Foundry, off Pearson Street, Hunslet in 1835 with Charles Todd as a partner...
, Manning Wardle
Manning Wardle
Manning Wardle was a steam locomotive manufacturer based in Hunslet, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England.- Precursor companies :The city of Leeds was one of the earliest centres of locomotive building; Matthew Murray built the first commercially successful steam locomotive, Salamanca, in Holbeck, Leeds,...
and Hudswell Clarke
Hudswell Clarke
Hudswell, Clarke and Company Limited was an engineering and locomotive building company in Jack Lane, Hunslet, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England.-History:...
. Many railway locomotives were built in the Jack Lane area of Hunslet.
Thee area has a mixture of modern and 19th century industrial buildings, terraced housing
Terraced house
In architecture and city planning, a terrace house, terrace, row house, linked house or townhouse is a style of medium-density housing that originated in Great Britain in the late 17th century, where a row of identical or mirror-image houses share side walls...
and 20th century housing. It is an area that has grown up significantly around the River Aire
River Aire
The River Aire is a major river in Yorkshire, England of length . Part of the river is canalised, and is known as the Aire and Calder Navigation....
in the early years of the 21st century, especially with the construction of modern riverside flats. It was at one point the main production site for Leeds Creamware, a type of pottery (still produced) so called because of its cream glazing. Hunslet is now prospering as it follows the trend of Leeds generally and the expansion of office and industrial sites south of Leeds city centre.
History
Hunslet is first mentioned as Hunslet in the Domesday BookDomesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
of 1086, though twelfth-century spellings of the name such as Hunsflete seem to be more conservative: the name appears originally to have meant 'Hūn's inlet', from an Anglo-Saxon personal name Hūn and the Old English word flēot 'creek, inlet', probably referring to an inlet from the River Aire. At the time of the Domesday survey in 1086, the manor belonged to the Lacys, from whom it passed to various families including the Gascoignes and the Neviles.
Its population grew rapidly in the first half of the 19th century becoming an important manufacturing centre. Several large mills were built for spinning of flax
Flax
Flax is a member of the genus Linum in the family Linaceae. It is native to the region extending from the eastern Mediterranean to India and was probably first domesticated in the Fertile Crescent...
, and there were chemical works, works for the manufacture of crown and flint glass, extensive potteries for coarse earthenware and the Leeds Pottery.
By 1906, Hunslet was home to Leeds’ second largest gas works, the city’s main rail goods yards, known at the time as ‘Midland Goods Station’ (now the site of Crown Point Retail Park), as well as a large number of factories.
The area was redeveloped in the 1960s, the main feature of this being the Hunslet Grange (Leek Street) flats. In the 1980s it was again redeveloped, and in the 2000s, the area around the River Aire
River Aire
The River Aire is a major river in Yorkshire, England of length . Part of the river is canalised, and is known as the Aire and Calder Navigation....
and Clarence Dock
Clarence Dock (Leeds)
Clarence Dock is a shopping and leisure destination in central Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It also hosts a large residential population in waterside apartments, as well as a significant office presence....
was redeveloped.
The brewers Joshua Tetley and Son set up business in Hunslet in 1822 producing beer
Beer
Beer is the world's most widely consumed andprobably oldest alcoholic beverage; it is the third most popular drink overall, after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of sugars, mainly derived from malted cereal grains, most commonly malted barley and malted wheat...
and bitter
Bitter (beer)
Bitter is an English term for pale ale. Bitters vary in colour from gold to dark amber and in strength from 3% to 7% alcohol by volume.-Brief history:...
today as part of Carlsberg Tetley group. However, the brewery is due to close in 2011.
Geography
Hunslet, in the lower Aire Valley, is bounded on the east by the River AireRiver Aire
The River Aire is a major river in Yorkshire, England of length . Part of the river is canalised, and is known as the Aire and Calder Navigation....
and covers nearly 1200 acres of flat land. The underlying rocks were coal measures.
Hunslet has different areas including Hunslet Moor, Hunslet Carr, Crown Point, Pottery Fields and Penny Hill.
Crown Point once had a large railway depot which contained Leeds' main goods station. It has been redeveloped into the Crown Point Retail Park, the main railway cutting into the terminus station can still be seen at the southern end. The former track beds are currently let for storage and contain timber and brickwork. Tetley's Brewery
Tetley's Brewery
Tetley's Brewery was a large brewery in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The main product was Tetley's Bitter, although Skol and other beers were also made there.-History:...
is to the north of this area, as was the Yorkshire Chemical Works, which has now been demolished. Next to the river is Clarence Dock
Clarence Dock (Leeds)
Clarence Dock is a shopping and leisure destination in central Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It also hosts a large residential population in waterside apartments, as well as a significant office presence....
.
Leeds City Council
Leeds City Council is the local authority for the City of Leeds metropolitan district of West Yorkshire, England.-History:The city council was established in 1974, with the first elections being held in advance in 1973...
Pottery Fields Depot and the former Meadow Lane Gas Works are situated. Pottery Fields House, has the administrative and engineering functions for Northern Gas Networks. Other businesses include Merlin Gerin medium voltage electrical supplies, a scrap yard and Volkswagen
Volkswagen
Volkswagen is a German automobile manufacturer and is the original and biggest-selling marque of the Volkswagen Group, which now also owns the Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, SEAT, and Škoda marques and the truck manufacturer Scania.Volkswagen means "people's car" in German, where it is...
auto breakers. \the DVLA motorcycle test centre is situated in this area. There are several disused railways crossing the roads, which brought coal from Middleton Colliery to the Meadow Lane Gas Works for the production of town gas, before conversion to North Sea
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
natural gas
Natural gas
Natural gas is a naturally occurring gas mixture consisting primarily of methane, typically with 0–20% higher hydrocarbons . It is found associated with other hydrocarbon fuel, in coal beds, as methane clathrates, and is an important fuel source and a major feedstock for fertilizers.Most natural...
.
Penny Hill surrounds Church Street. This is the old centre of Hunslet referred to as Hunslet Grange when the Leek Street Flats (1968 to 1983) were built. The Leek Street Flats developed problems with crime
Crime
Crime is the breach of rules or laws for which some governing authority can ultimately prescribe a conviction...
and condensation
Condensation
Condensation is the change of the physical state of matter from gaseous phase into liquid phase, and is the reverse of vaporization. When the transition happens from the gaseous phase into the solid phase directly, the change is called deposition....
and were demolished fifteen years after their construction. The area was agan redeveloped in the 1980s with more traditional houses. The area contains the Penny Hill Shopping Centre and a Morrisons
Morrisons
Wm Morrison Supermarkets plc is the fourth largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom, headquartered in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. The company is usually referred to and is branded as Morrisons formerly Morrison's, and it is part of the FTSE 100 Index of companies...
supermarket.
Economy
Hunslet today is still primarily based around manufacturing and heavy engineering. Newer industries have moved to the Western fringes of the area in recent years with the building of new office complexes including the Leeds City Business park which originally opened with offices for companies including O2O2 (United Kingdom)
Telefónica UK Limited is a telecommunications, internet and financial services provider in the United Kingdom owned by Telefónica, forming part of its Telefónica Europe division...
and British Gas
Centrica
Centrica plc is a multinational utility company, based in the United Kingdom but also with interests in North America. Centrica is the largest supplier of gas to domestic customers in the UK, and one of the largest suppliers of electricity, operating under the trading names "Scottish Gas" in...
. O2 have since relocated to Morley
Morley, West Yorkshire
Morley is a market town and civil parish within the metropolitan borough of the City of Leeds, in West Yorkshire, England. It lies approximately south-west of Leeds city centre. Together with Drighlington, Gildersome, Churwell, Tingley and East/West Ardsley, the town had a population of 47,579 in...
. The Morrisons supermarket in the Penny Hill Centre as well as the Costco wholesale warehouse on Leathley Road are also large employers.
Religion
A chapel dedicated to St. Mary the Virgin, was built in 1636, and enlarged in 1774. It was a brick structure with a tower. It was enlarged by subscription in 1826. The present church is the third on the site. The Victorian church, of which the spire remains, is the tallest in Leeds, was built in 1864 and the present building was built in the 1970s.Other smaller less notable chuches exist in the district. The area is also home to St Joesph's Catholic Club, a sectarian social club.
Hunslet Grange (Leek Street) Flats
Hunslet's redevelopment in the 1960s was notable for the construction of the Hunslet Grange or Leek Street Flats. Construction of the 2,500 flats started in 1968 following a widespread slum clearance project in the area. The flats were commissioned by Leeds City CouncilLeeds City Council
Leeds City Council is the local authority for the City of Leeds metropolitan district of West Yorkshire, England.-History:The city council was established in 1974, with the first elections being held in advance in 1973...
and constructed by Shepherd Construction.http://www.leodis.net/display.aspx?resourceIdentifier=2007108_164879. The flats sprawled over much of Hunslet. The construction was of a maisonette type with many overhead walkways connecting blocks. The flats had large windows and were spacious and light and for the first few years were very popular. Hidden in the complex, on the second floor were shops and a public house
Public house
A public house, informally known as a pub, is a drinking establishment fundamental to the culture of Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. There are approximately 53,500 public houses in the United Kingdom. This number has been declining every year, so that nearly half of the smaller...
. All the blocks of flats were six storeys in height.
The popularity of the flats was short-lived, however: the heating systems were inadequate for the poorly insulated concrete
Concrete
Concrete is a composite construction material, composed of cement and other cementitious materials such as fly ash and slag cement, aggregate , water and chemical admixtures.The word concrete comes from the Latin word...
prefabs and the buildings suffered from condensation
Condensation
Condensation is the change of the physical state of matter from gaseous phase into liquid phase, and is the reverse of vaporization. When the transition happens from the gaseous phase into the solid phase directly, the change is called deposition....
. A few years after their construction and the 'rabbit warren' style of construction made them hard to navigate and even harder to police. Demolition of the flats started in 1983, less than fifteen years after the first tenants moved in. The flats were replaced by low rise council housing completed in the late 1980s. http://www.leodis.net/display.aspx?resourceIdentifier=2007108_164880
Each block was six storeys high and was entered via the second floor. In one part the second floor of the maisonettes had a pub and shops on it. The buildings were grey and pebble dashed, with windows stretching the width of each flat. Each floor had a rubbish disposal unit.
Charities & voluntary organisations in Hunslet
The area is home to a number of voluntary organisations servicing the community, this includes The Hunslet Club, a youth organisation established in 1940 which provides sport, dance and drama activities for hundreds of young people in the area as well as offering vocational education courses for 14 to 16 year olds. See http://www.hunsletclub.org.ukTransport
M621 motorway
The M621 motorway is a short loop of motorway in England that takes traffic into central Leeds between the M1 and M62 motorways. It is the second longest motorway in the United Kingdom to carry a three digit number although it carries more junctions than any other three digit motorway within the...
and A61
A61 road
The A61 is a major trunk road in England. It runs from Derby to Thirsk in North Yorkshire. From Derby, it heads north via Alfreton, Clay Cross, Chesterfield, Sheffield, Barnsley, Wakefield, Leeds, Harrogate and Ripon...
, two major roads, pass through the area, providing convenient access to the whole of Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
and access the M62
M62 motorway
The M62 motorway is a west–east trans-Pennine motorway in Northern England, connecting the cities of Liverpool and Hull via Manchester and Leeds. The road also forms part of the unsigned Euroroutes E20 and E22...
to Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
and Hull. The motorway was completed in 1971, and isolated a large part of Hunslet Moor.
Sport
The area also possesses a historic rugby leagueRugby league
Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...
club in the form of the Hunslet Hawks RLFC
Hunslet Hawks
Hunslet Hawks is a professional rugby league club based in Hunslet, West Yorkshire, England. The club, sometimes known as 'the Parksiders' after their former stadium, are currently champions of Championship One.-History:-Early years:...
who play at the John Charles Centre for Sport
John Charles Centre for Sport
The John Charles Centre for Sport is a sports facility in South Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was previously named the South Leeds Stadium and was renamed to honour John Charles , the former Leeds United, Juventus F.C. and Wales footballer...
formerly known as the South Leeds Stadium.Hunslet were the first club in Rugby League to win "All Four Cups" in season 1907 -1908, The Challenge Cup, The RFL Championship, The County League Cup & The County Cup. Only two other teams have achieved this feat, Huddersfield and Swinton. Other local rugby league clubs include Hunslet Warriors and Hunslet Parkside.
External links
- Hunslet History Wiki Leeds Library & Information Service Local History Wiki.