Woodhouse is a largely residential area just north of the city centre of Leeds and close to the University of Leeds. It is in the Hyde Park and Woodhouse ward of City of Leeds metropolitan district. The population of the ward at the 2011 Census was 25,914.

History

The name ''Woodhouse'' is first attested around the 1170s as ''Wd(e)husa'', ''Wd(e)huse'', and ''Wudeusum''. It is likely to derive from Old English ''wudu'' 'wood' and ''hūs'' 'houses'. Locals refer to it as Wudhus. It was described in 1853 as a "large and handsome village".William White (1853) ''Directory and Gazetteer of Leeds, Bradford,.... West Riding of Yorkshire'' (reprinted 1969, Clarke Double & Brendon) The original Woodhouse area of Leeds extended in a wide horseshoe arc travelling north from Burley Street (where it is known as Little Woodhouse), up along Clarendon Road, including the current site of the University of Leeds, across Woodhouse Moor (now a public park), then on towards its northernmost boundary, the steeply banked woodland of Woodhouse RidgeForest of Leeds
Woodhouse Ridge, part of the

Meanwood Valley Trail The Meanwood Valley Trail is a waymarked footpath and the title of an annual (March/April) footrace that takes place on parts of the trail in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It runs for a distance of from the statue of (former Leeds ma ...

, and the

Forest of Leeds The Forest of Leeds was originally the Forest of Loidis in which today's city of Leeds arose. It now refers to patches of woodland throughout the metropolitan district, managed by Leeds City Council amounting to 1200 hectares.

, where the area was known as Woodhouse Cliff to the west and Woodhouse Carr to the south-east. Ordnance Survey maps for 1893 and 1921 mark an area to the west of Meanwood Road between Buslingthorpe Lane and Buslingthorpe Green as "Woodhouse Carr". During the Second World War, the Institution Street (now Holborn Approach) area was accidentally bombed by the German Luftwaffe during night-time blackout air-raid unsuccessful attempts to destroy a nearby industrial target. Several buildings were hit and as a result three people at the bottom end of the street were killed. The Chemic Tavern is a public house situated in the heart of Woodhouse. It was established in the 1840s and named after Johnson's Chemical Works. The factory was demolished in the 1890s but the pub remained.

Architecture

Older residences are largely redbrick back-to-back and 'through' terraced housing. There are also concrete council houses (the Holborn Estate) and a mixture of more modern buildings, particularly student accommodation. There is a small amount of light industry. The former

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

parish church of St Mark's, which has been renovated by Gateway Church Leeds,Gateway Church, Leeds
St Marks lends its name to nearby streets and the St Mark's Residences of the university. The church building was used as the exterior of The Parish Church of St Mathews in the TV comedy series '' The Beiderbecke Affair''. Other older buildings include Quarry Mount Primary School, and several public houses. On Holborn Approach (formerly Institution Street) is the Temperance Hall and Mechanics' Institute which was opened by

Samuel Smiles Samuel Smiles (23 December 1812 – 16 April 1904) was a British author and government reformer. Although he campaigned on a Chartist platform, he promoted the idea that more progress would come from new attitudes than from new laws. His prim ...

in 1851 as an alternative to local pubs for socialising. It cost £900 and is of red bricks with yellow sandstone details.R. J. Morris ''The Historical Journal'', Vol. 24, No. 1 (March 1981), page 103 Over the years it has been used for various purposes. It is now used as Holborn Church. File:QuarryStreet.jpg, Quarry Street File:HolbornView.jpg, The Holborn Estate File:QuarryMountPrimSchool.JPG, Quarry Mount Primary School File:HolbornChurchLS6.jpg, Temperance Hall (1850), Holborn Approach

Location grid

Notable people

The suffragette, socialist and trade unionist Mary Gawthorpe was born in Woodhouse in 1881.

Alice Mann Alice Mann (October 10, 1899 – March 2, 1986) was an American silent film actress. Biography Mann began her film career in late 1915 with the Lubin Manufacturing Company, appearing in six shorts before the production company ceased operat ...

, the radical printer and bookseller had moved to a house on St Mark's Terrace by 1851. The author and reformer

moved to live on Woodhouse Cliff in 1847. He was the first president of the Woodhouse Mechanics Institution.

References

External links