House of York
Edward IV 1461-70, 71-83
 
Edward V 1483
Richard III 1483-5
House of Tudor
Henry VII 1485-1509
Henry VIII 1509-47
|
| 16th Century |
Wool processing takes off in West Yorkshire and the
population of Leeds increases to around 3000 towards the end of the century |
| 16-17th Century |
Buildings in Briggate were half
timbered jettied houses. These were replaced from the 17th Century
onwards to brick built cloth merchants houses. The best surviving examples
are in Queens Court and Lamberts yard. The latter
is now private flats with a gate preventing entry. It well worth having
a quick look up the various courts off Lower Briggate and Briggate
to see the emerging building that has started to take place. The Whip
Inn yard, the Angel yard, and the Ship Inn yard are all worth a visit.
Note the council run guided tours of these courts. |
| 1534 |
John Leyland, later to become antiquary to King Henry
VIII, made a tour through England and wrote of Leeds: ‘Miles
lower than Christal Abbay on Aire Ryver, is a praty Market, having one
Paroche Chirche reasonably welle buildid.. The Toun stondith most by
Clothing’. |
| 1539 |
Kirkstall Abbey Dissolved |
Edward VI 1547-53 |
| 1552 |
Leeds Grammar School was founded |
Lady Jane Grey 1553
Mary I 1553-58
Elizabeth I 1558-1603 |
| 1560 |
The first surviving rough sketch plan of Leeds. Now
kept in the Public Record Office. Leeds Bridge is called Ledes
Bridge. |
| 1586 |
A description by William Camden. Elmet is mentioned, this
is the area between the River Aire and River Wharf. |
House of Stuart
1603-25 James
I
 
|
| 17th Century |
Leeds is the main town in the country for selling cloth
Mill Hill Chapel founded
More public houses, shops and merchant houses are being built. |
| 1612 |
A written survey of the manor of Leeds |
| 1615 |
Moot Hall Built in Briggate |
Charles
I 1625-49
|
| 1626 |
King Charles 1 awards Charter of Incorporation, the
Leeds Corporation, a self-governing borough of 21,000 acres consisting
of 13 villages and a number of hamlets, besides Leeds its self.
The Golden
Fleece adopted as the coat of arms, because of the importance of the
woolen
industry
to the town. |
| 1628 |
Red Hall built near the junction of The Headrow and
Albion Street. Reputably the first house in Leeds to be built
in brick. Most buildings were oak framed wattle and daub walls
and thatched roof. Some were built of stone. |
| 1634 |
St John's Church built. |
| 1642 |
Civil War begins. Leeds garrisoned by the
Kings troops, after attacking Parliamentary forces in Bradford
they were repulsed and retreated back to Leeds. Main battles at the
fortifications near St John's Church. Royalists defeated
and retreat to York. The Royalists later retook Leeds and gained Bradford
but were defeated at the battle of Marsden Moor |
| 1643 |
Parliamentary forces march on Leeds and gather at
Woodhouse Moor where the University now stands. attack Leeds and just
South of Leeds Bridge and near the start of Burh Lane (Boar Lane). General
Sir Thomas Fairfax captures Leeds for the Parliamentary
forces |
| 1645 |
Bubonic plague kills over a 1000
|
| 1647 |
King Charles 1 kept a prisoner in Red Hall. King Charles
Street, and the King Charles Hotel, demolished in 1970's, being named
later |
Commonwealth
Oliver Cromwell
1649-58
Richard Cromwell 1658-59
House of Stuart
Charles II 1660-85
|
| 1662 |
A new Royal Charter granted by Charles II |
| 1664 |
Parish Church, almes houses, vicarage and free school built by John
Harrison, a rich clothing merchant. |
| 1684 |
Market moves from Leeds bridge to Briggate below Kirkgate.
The market in Briggate was the biggest in Yorkshire and really took
off
when the Tuesday and Saturday Cloth markets moved
into Briggate's\ lower end. The wool trade is big business and Leeds
becomes a very wealthy town |
James II 1685-88
Mary II 1689-1694
William III 1689-1702 |
| 1698 |
A description of Leeds by Celia Fiennes |
| 1699 |
The Aire and Calder Navigation canal built. The River
Aire is navigable from Leeds Bridge down to the Ouse and North Sea |
Anne 1702-14 |
| 17-18th Century |
Fletland Mill built in call lane. Magnificently renovated
and converted to a hotel "42 The Calls" and Brasserie. |
| 1711 |
Moot Hall rebuilt in the Centre of Briggate.
Used as a court house |
House of Hanover
George I 1714-27 |
| 18th Century |
The
Wool Industry is the main income provider, but Leeds diversifies into
many other industries.
Briggate the main road was wide below Kirkgate,
this was where the market was held, and also a pillory and
stocks used until 1837. Above Kirkgate buildings
were in the centre of the road.
By the end of the century most of the woods to the North of Leeds
had been cut down and converted to arable land.
Woodhouse and Little Woodhouse were very small villages
Quarry Hill had Spar Wells |
| 1714 |
A wealthy cloth merchant has his house and Queens Court built, the
court is probably the finest surviving example of the old courts of Leeds.
The entire northern side os the court is now Queens Court bar and nightclub.
Queens
Court Photos |
| 1715 |
The first published history of Leeds - Ralph Thorresby's Ducatus
Leodiensis |
| 1718 |
The first newspaper Leeds Mercury newspaper appeared. |
| 1720ish |
A description by Daniel Defoe. Mentions that "Leeds
is a large wealthy and populous town" and a market took part on
the very wide stone Bridge, as the market increased
in size it moved into Briggate. He was very impressed
by the cloth market. |
| 1721 |
Holy Holy Trinity Church built |
| 1725ish |
The first published map by John Cossins named 'A New
and Exact Plan of the Town of Leedes' shows an illustration of Trinity
Church |
| 1726 |
The first public concert takes place in the Assembly
Rooms in Kirkgate. |
| |
|
George II 1727-60
|
| 1727 |
Holy Trinity Church opened in Buhr Lane (Boar Lane) |
| 1730 |
Leeds Bridge widened |
| 1750 |
Before this date the area West of the bar on Buhr Lane (Boar Lane)
i.e. the station, City Square, Park Row was open fields |
| 1754 |
The Leeds Intelligence newspaper appeared, later to
become Yorkshire Post
|
| 1755 |
Street lighting was introduced in the form of oil
lamps. |
| 1756-8 |
The massive Coloured Cloth Hall built for
the trade that made Leeds Great. On the site that is now city Square
and the General Post Office. |
| 1758 |
The Middleton Colliery Railway, claims
to be the oldest railway in the world. More |
George III 1760-1820
|
| 1760 |
Leeds Bridge widened again |
| 1765 |
The 1st General Infirmary opened in Kirkgate. |
| 1768 |
Leeds Library built. |
| 1768 |
2nd General Infirmary built in the country side just to the North West
of the present City square hence Infirmary Street. |
1770
|
Leeds and Liverpool Canal is being built.
Completed 1816 |
| 1773 |
The lockside warehouse built |
| |
The town was never exclusively a wool town, craft industries of pottery
making, linen manufacture, printing and engineering are developing. Industries
locate in the borough because of cheap coal, good manufacturing facilities
and very cheap transport -the 2 canals and the Middleton
Colliery Railway which enabled raw materials to be brought cheaply
in bulk to the town. |
| 1775 |
Coloured Cloth Hall built in the Calls |
| 1776 |
The first infirmary was opened.
Stone warehouse used to store grain, designed by Robert Owen, an engineer with the
Leeds
and Liverpool Canal built at Granary Wharf |
| 1777 |
The Assembly Rooms built for Balls - dancing, and
card playing. Now the building situated in the Exchange
Quarter contains restaurants, bars
and a night club. |
| 1780's |
The building of the 1st two-story"back to back" terraced
streets to house the growing labour force,. Built in York
Street and Quarry Hill. |
| 1792 |
Benjamin Gott builds Bean Ing Mills (site of Yorkshire Post). See
display in Armley Mills Museum
John Marshall 0pens a flax mill in Holbeck. |
| 1794 |
The Music Hall in Albion Street opens |
| 1796 |
Leeds Bridge widened once more |
| 1801 |
First census. Population just over 50,000. Leeds
is the 5th largest town, surpassed by: Bristol, Birmingham,
Liverpool and Manchester. Up to the late 17th century Leeds was quiet
small with a
population less than York or Hull. Many poorer built houses are rapidly
being built, leading to dirty streets and to the doubling of the population
within the next 30 years, and doubling again in the following 30 years. |
| 1803 |
Mary Bateman poisoned 3 people and then robbed there house and drapers
shop at Quarry Hill. After her hanging 6 years later she was publicly
dissected. Her skeleton can be seen in the Thackrey museum |
| 1808 |
Leeds Library opens in Commercial Street |
| 1812 |
Matthew Murray built the first successful steam engine at
his Hunslet works in south Leeds. The Middleton Colliery Railway becomes
steam powered. More |
| 1816 |
Completion of the Leeds Liverpool canal |
| 1819 |
Gas lighting replacing oil lamp street lighting |
George IV 1820-30 |
| 1822 |
Joshua Tetley buys a brewery from his friend William
Sykes. |
| 1827 |
The Navigation Warehouse built behind the present
day New Penny pub, on the quay side of the “port” of Leeds.
It's grand basement arches still visible under the modern built flats. |
William IV 1830-37
|
| 1831 |
Leeds School of Medicine founded |
| 1832 |
Cholera epidemic killing 700 caused by unsanitary
conditions, mainly in the poorer overcrowded areas of the town. |
| 1834 |
Railway built to Selby |
| 1835 |
The Municipal Reform Act allowed the first elected council to take
office. |
Victoria 1837-1901
1854108751 The Victorian Society Book of the Victorian House
|
| 1837-8 |
Victoria Bridge built |
| 1838 |
Whilst the Parish Church tower was being demolished
a few stone crosses from the 9/10th century were found, presumably belonging
to the earlier
church. |
| 1838-40 |
Temple Mill built in the style of an Egyptian Temple by John
Marshall in Marshall Street Holbeck |
| 1839 |
The Leeds and Manchester 51 mile railway line was opened in 1839,
Chief Engineer: George Stephenson overcame problems such as the 1 mile,
1,125 yard long Summit Tunnel.
|
| 1841 |
New Parish Church built |
| 1842 |
Clean water supplies provided. Slum clearance undertaken.
Crown Point bridge completed. |
| 1846 |
Leeds Central Station opened for the Leeds and Bradford
Railway Company. |
| 1847 |
Armley Jail built |
| 1849 |
A more serious outbreak of Cholera killing 2000. |
| 1850s |
Leeds Council starts to build sewers |
| 1852 |
Leeds Central Station taken over by the Midland Railway
Company
Competition to build the Town Hall held in 1852.
which was designed won, and built by Cuthbert Broderick. |
| 1853-8 |
The Town Hall built of Millstone grit |
| 1854-1855 |
Crimea war |
| 1857 |
The Town Hall tower and dome was still being built
when the hall was opened. |
| 1858 |
The Town Hall opened by Queen Victoria.
The impressive Town Hall organ, built by Gray and Davidson in the central
great hall being named Victoria Hall. |
| 1859 |
The over 6 foot diameter bell weighing over 4 tons installed in the
Town Hall Tower |
| 1863 |
  The Corn
Exchange is completed. One of Britain's finest Victorian
buildings. The architect was Cuthbert Broderick |
| 1864 |
The only public execution at Armley Jail |
| 1864 |
Tower Works built in Globe Road with 2 magnificent
chimneys, which still dominate the skyline of. The smaller
steam chimney based on the Verona Lamberti Tower, the larger dust extraction
chimney based on the Florence Giotto Campanile . |
| 1864-69 |
The General Infirmary built in Great George Street,
design by Sir George Gilbert Scott in a medieval gothic
style, contributions to the design layout of wards by Florence
Nightingale. |
| 1865 |
The Victoria Hotel built |
| 1865-8 |
The Mechanics Institute built. Now the Civic
Theatre and college of Music. Another building by Cuthbert
Brodrick. |
| 1866-9 |
The New Station (Now Leeds City Station) built next
to City Square. Built on a series of arches - the Dark Arches, now part
of Granary Walk, and over the River Aire. See River
side Walk
The railway viaduct running Eastwards almost alongside Sovereign
Street, The calls (part) and Call Lane splitting the town into two. |
| 1867 |
The Lions installed in front of the Town Hall |
| 1868 |
The 3rd White cloth Hall is demolished. Replaced by the
4th. Later replaced by the Hotel Metropole. |
| 1869 |
The old stone Leeds Bridge is removed. The new iron
one opening in 1873 |
| 1870 |
Educational provisions started. |
| 1871 |
A horse drawn tramway system constructed. Trams continued
in Leeds long after they were discontinued in other Cities. |
| 1872 |
Roundhay Park purchased for £139,000 by Leeds City Council in
1872 opened to the public. At the time the purchase was regarded as
a waste
of tax payers
money, due to it's distance 4 miles from the smoky town centre. |
| 1873 |
The opening of the wrought and cast iron Leeds Bridge designed
by Thomas Dyne Steele and built by John Butler
Iron Works in Stanningly. This bridge replaced a several arched
stone bridge, removed in 1869. |
| 1876 |
The Grand Theatre and Opera House opens |
| 1885 |
City Varieties built |
| 1868 |
Most of Boar Lane remodeled |
| 1874 |
Yorkshire College of Science founded in Leeds, later becoming Leeds
University |
| 1876 |
The Leeds Theatre Royal in Lands Lane opens |
| 1876 |
Provender Mill built in The Calls selling foodstuff
for horses. Now The Chandleres flats. Note the horse's head over
the old archway |
| 1878 |
Thornton's Arcade built |
| 1879 |
The opening of the current Leeds Bridge House, the
wedge shaped building between The Adelphi pub and The Old Red Lion Pub.
Originally opened as the Cobdent Temperance Hotel. |
| 1881 |
Mr Gladstone the Prime minister visits Leeds |
| 1884 |
Michael Marks of Marks and Spencer's fame opened his
first Penny
Bazaar,
a stall in Leeds Market
Municipal Buildings opened to house Civic departments,
Police and Central Library. Designer: George Corson |
| 1888 |
The worlds 1st successful moving picture was made of horses
crossing the bridge, by Louis Le Prince
City Art Gallery opened |
| 1889 |
Queens Arcade built |
| 1890 |
Joshua Tetley buys his first pub the Duke William
in Bowman Lane. The pub now closed is within the brewery grounds. |
| 1891-4 |
School of Medicine built in Thoresby Place. |
| |
Michael Marks Marks and Spencer's founded. Now the
largest European shop chain |
| 1893 |
The Leeds Electric Lighting Works opened. |
| 1893 |
Leeds is a commercial success and City charter
granted by Queen Victoria giving Leeds a City status |
| 1894 |
The Yorkshire Penny Bank erected on the site of the original
Leeds General Infirmary in Infirmary Street.
Electric
trams start to replace horse drawn ones
Michael Marks formed a partnership with Tom Spencer thus founding Marks
and Spencer's, now the largest European shop chain
|
| 1898 |
Grand and Victoria Arcades built |
| 1899 |
The hotel Metropole was opened on the site of the 4th White
Cloth Hall |
| 1899-1902 |
Boer War in South Africa |
| 20th Century |
The main industries are now Engineering and Tailoring.
During this century
these industries would diminish and services industries, banking, financial,
insurance and National Health industries take over. The City council
becomes a very large employer.
Towards the end of the century Leeds becomes a tourist attraction. |
| 1900 |
Leeds prospered as the woolen trade grew, nevertheless it was never
a town wholly reliant on wool. By 1900, Leeds boasted a varied economic
base and alternative forms of employment were made available by its flourishing
commercial activities. The ready-made clothing and textile industry,
then pioneered by off-the-peg clothing manufacturers such as Montague
Burton, operated successfully alongside the printing and engineering
industries. John Waddington became the world’s
biggest playing card and games manufacturer and Clarke, Fowler
and Kitson ran the biggest engineering works in Yorkshire. As
such, Leeds never experienced the mass depression suffered by many single-industry
towns. |
House of Saxe Coburg
Edward VII 1901-10
|
| 1901 |
Population 178,000 |
| 1901-4 |
St. Anne's Roman Catholic Cathedral built. |
| 1903 |
City Square was laid out as older residents of the
city will remember, with the Black Prince statue and
the Nymph statues.
Since then the square has changed its looks a few times, but now is similar
to the square of
this period. |
| 1904 |
Leeds University starts - merged from colleges and
granted a Charter by King Edward
VII
Leeds Markets built
Consecration of St Anne’s Cathedral.
Leeds City the forerunners of Leeds United formed. at Elland Road.
Marks
and Spencer's opened premises in Cross Arcade. Besides the Kirkgate market
stall Michael
had
opened
a
shop
in Manchester in 1894. The Marks
and Spencer's Empire of shops is underway. |
| 1905 |
First Cinema built |
| 1906 |
Ellmore's started manufacturing copper tubing in 1888 at Stourton,
becomes Yorkshire Copper Works |
| 1908 |
New wing of the University opened by King Edward
VII and Queen Alexandra |
House of Windsor
1910-36 George V
|
| 1911 |
Census. Population 450,000. In this respect Leeds reflected a thriving
modern town but in reality, the effect of industrialisation and urbanisation
was increasing overcrowding and squalor. |
| 1912 |
Red Hall purchased by Mr S Scofield |
| 1914-18 |
World War I. |
| 1918 ? |
The Cenotaph War Memorial, moved in front of the Art
gallery in the Headrow, was first sighted in City Square, just after
the Great
War. |
| 1919 |
Leeds United Football Club formed from Leeds City football club who
were . expelled from the Football League after alleged illegal payments
to players during the war years. |
| 1921 |
Leeds Coat of Arms received sanction of the College of Heralds.
Montague Burton's is now the largest clothing factory in the
world. |
| 1922 |
BBC broadcast from Leeds |
| 1928 |
The first permanent traffic lights in Britain installed in
Park Row |
| 1925 |
St. James Hospital built
Moot Hall demolished |
| 1926 |
Wallace Arnold's starts it's charabanc trips. |
| |
Britain’s first permanent traffic lights installed in Park Row |
| 1933 |
Civic Hall built in Portland Crescent, opened by King
George V and Queen Mary |
| 1934 |
Yorkshire Copper Works launches it's world famous "Yorkshire
fittings" with its integral solder ring. |
Edward
VIII 1936
George VI 1936-52
|
| 1938 |
Quarry Hill Flats under construction on a 26 acre site.
The bus station was built opposite the flats and near to the market |
| 1939 |
The two earlier newspapers of Leeds merge
to form Yorkshire Post. |
| 1939-45 |
World War II. Leeds was bombed
only 7 times during the war, not as bad as many other cities, with 77
killed.
Large sections of the workforce switched to war work, Tanks, shells,
fuses and field guns.
The large female workforce start to do work normally done by men, who are
being mobilised.
Waddington's, manufacturers os board games such as Monopoly supply games
and playing cards to British POWs. These included hidden maps to aid escape. |
| 1940 |
First air raid.
Quarry Hill Flats bombed, with little structural damage |
| 1941 |
The worst raid was on 14 March. The museum,
Town Hall and 4,600 houses were damaged, 100 beyond repair,
Leeds starts a long relationship with the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal, this vessel
sunk of Gibraltar.
Millions of pounds raised by Leeds towards a replacement ship during 1942 |
Elizabeth
II 1952-present |
| 1958 |
Queen Elizabeth visits Montague Burton's factory,
who at that time employed 7000 workers and Leeds |
| 1959 |
Last tram in Leeds |
| 1955 |
Final concert of the Yorkshire Symphony Orchestra |
| 1957 |
The Leeds Theatre Royal in Lands Lane is demolished |
| 1960 |
Tetley's and Melbourne breweries merge |
| 1960-1 |
Red Hall demolished to build Schofields store now
the Headrow Centre |
| 1963 |
The first of the now famous Leeds International Pianoforte Competition |
| 1964 |
The Merrion Shopping Centre opens |
| 1965 |
Parking Meters introduced. |
| 1968 |
Radio Leeds goes on Air. |
| 1970 |
Yorkshire Post building with it's prominent tower
opened.
Leeds Polytechnic opens |
| 1970s |
The International Pool is being built.
The start of converting many historic shopping streets to traffic
free shopping - The Pedestrian Precinct. This was
one of the very first schemes of its kind in the UK. It is one of
the linchpins of Leeds’ success as a major shopping attraction.
The Bond Centre opens later after enlargement becomes Leeds
Shopping Plaza |
| 1974 |
Local Government reorganisation Leeds becomes a Metropolitan District
and it is now the second largest provincial city in the UK, with a population:
717,000. |
| 1976 - 1978 |
The demolition of Quarry Hill Flats |
| 1978 |
The Grand Theatre becomes the home for English National
Opera North (later to become Opera North) |
| 1981 |
Chapletown Riots |
| 1983 |
The St Johns Centre opens |
| 1985 |
For many years the clothing and woolen industry had declined being
replaced by financial and law sectors. The start of the regeneration
of Leeds Waterfront as a Centre for business, housing and leisure.
This regeneration can be seen on the river
side walk |
| 1995 |
Riverside regeneration ached national recognition |
| 1990 |
The West Yorkshire Playhouse Theatre opened. |
| 1991 |
Leeds became the prime financial and law centre outside
London and is now fast becoming a tourist destination. |
| 1992 |
Leeds Polytechnic becomes Leeds Metropolitan University
Town Hall cleaned and covered in netting to prevent the starlings roosting
on the building |
| 1993 |
The 24 Hour City Initiative seeks to ‘stretch’ the City
Centre’s working life by encouraging greater numbers of people
to recognise the potential and make greater use of the centre, particularly
in the evenings, Sundays and other times when activity there has traditionally
tended to be low.
Leeds Magistrates Court Building built. |
| 1996 |
The Royal Armouries Museum opens to the public
New Central bus station and new coach station – National
Express built. |
| 1997 |
The Thackrey Medical Museum opens
The White Rose Centre opens
The completion of The City Centre Loop and Public
Transport Box, providing alternative routes for traffic, around
the pedestianised shopping area of the city, and completed
in 1997. |
| 1998 |
Introduction of Super bus lanes |
| 2000 |
Millennium Square opens |
| 2001 |
Nelson Mandela is made Honorary Freeman of Leeds |
| 2002 |
Some of the victorian look of City Square is replaced, these include
, statues and balustrades in addition to the modern fountains.
Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Visit |
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