Author: David Thornton

It was at a crossing over the river Aire that Leeds grew up, making it a focal point in the area for the people from the surrounding villages. It’s history certainly dates back to the Bronze Age. Implements from that time have been found at Roundhay, Hunslet and Tinshill whilst remains of Iron Age Celts have been unearthed at Cookridge and Ireland Wood. Roman occupation saw a fort and settlement established at Burgodonum (Adel).

The first mention of Leeds came about AD 730 when the Venerable Bede, writing his classic History of the English Church and People, refers to Loidis, by which he meant both the settlement and surrounding area of Leeds.

With the arrival of the Normans comes the first detailed account of the area. According to Domesday Book Leeds had a mill, a church and a priest. It was sited around the area of the present parish church and fared much better than many of its neighbouring villages. William’s punitive devastation, the infamous &l squo;Harrying of the North’ in 1069 reduced the area between the Humber and the Tees into a waste land. The villages around Leeds did not escape. Seacroft, along with Garforth, Coldcotes, Manston, Bramley, Beeston, Halton, and Allerton were utterly destroyed. For some reason, Leeds was left unscathed and actually increased in value.

In 1207 Maurice Paynel, the lord of the manor, decided to develop a new town. He obtained a charter from King John and the new town grew around the street we now call Briggate. Most importantly it enabled the inhabitants to develop their own businesses. Slowly the old settlement, centred on Kirkgate, and the new one, around Briggate, coalesced. By the fourteenth century Leeds was a busy place and by 1372 certainly had a bridge over the river.

The church dominated everyday life. Apart from the Parish Church there were numerous chantry chapels around Briggate and Kirkgate. Although the manor of Leeds was relatively small, the parish of Leeds encompassed the out-townships. Adel and Whitkirk were separate parishes. The Leeds area could also boast two religious settlements. In 1152, Cistercian monks from Fountains Abbey founded a monastery at Kirkstall. A little later, the Knights Templar established a settlement to the east of the town near the village of Newsam.