Newlay is a suburb of
Horsforth
Horsforth is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish within the City of Leeds, in West Yorkshire, England, lying about five miles north-west of Leeds city centre. Historically a village within the West Riding of Yorkshire, it had a p ...
, in
West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...
, England. Originally a
hamlet
''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...
, it is now part of Horsforth parish in the
City of Leeds District, and has its own conservation area. Newlay is situated on the
Leeds and Liverpool Canal
The Leeds and Liverpool Canal is a canal in Northern England, linking the cities of Leeds and Liverpool.
Over a distance of , crossing the Pennines, and including 91 locks on the main line. The Leeds and Liverpool Canal has several small branc ...
and the
River Aire
The River Aire is a major river in Yorkshire, England, in length. The ''Handbook for Leeds and Airedale'' (1890) notes that the distance from Malham to Howden is direct, but the river's meanderings extend that to . Between Malham Tarn and Ai ...
, some north west of
Leeds
Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...
city centre.
History
Newlay (or sometimes Newlay Bridge) was a hamlet historically in the
wapentake
A hundred is an administrative division that is geographically part of a larger region. It was formerly used in England, Wales, some parts of the United States, Denmark, Southern Schleswig, Sweden, Finland, Norway, the Bishopric of Ösel–Wiek, C ...
of
Skyrack
Skyrack was a wapentake of the West Riding of Yorkshire, England. It was split into upper and lower divisions and centred in Headingley, Leeds. The Lower Division included the parishes of Aberford, Bardsey, Barwick-in-Elmet, Kippax, Thorne ...
, and was listed as ''Newlath'', ''New Laith'', or ''New Laithes'', which was the name of the grange in the area.
The site is possibly the location of the original ''Horse Ford'' across the River Aire, which gave the town of Horsforth its name. The site has also been recorded as ''Newlaithbrigge'' in 1587, indicating the existence of a bridge in the 16th century.
The modern suburb of Newlay is considered part of Horsforth, (adjacent to Newlay to the north), and is north west of the city centre in Leeds. Newlay is part of the parish and ward of Horsforth, although anything on the south side of the River Aire is in the
Bramley and Stanningley Ward. Mapping shows Newlay as straddling the river, which forms a natural boundary between wards and parishes. In 1981, most of the suburb north of the river was designated as a conservation area.
The Leeds Liverpool Canal is routed through the south end of Newlay. The canal opened in 1777 and the locks on the canal at Newlay are grade II listed. The Leeds and Liverpool Canal SSSI is part of the southern area of Newlay.
The River Aire flows through the southern part of the suburb, alongside the Leeds Liverpool Canal, and the
railway lines
A railway track (British English and International Union of Railways, UIC terminology) or railroad track (American English), also known as permanent way or simply track, is the structure on a Rail transport, railway or railroad consisting of ...
between , ,
Bradford
Bradford is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Bradford district in West Yorkshire, England. The city is in the Pennines' eastern foothills on the banks of the Bradford Beck. Bradford had a population of 349,561 at the 2011 ...
and . In February 2021,
Storm Christoph severely damaged the 17th century grade II listed weir on the River Aire. The failure of the weir was attributed to the construction of a fish pass at the Western end of the weir. Vibrations caused by the excavating equipment are thought to have weakened the weir structure. The weir was constructed in 1690 to channel water into a
goit
A leat (; also lete or leet, or millstream) is the name, common in the south and west of England and in Wales, for an artificial watercourse or Aqueduct (watercourse), aqueduct dug into the ground, especially one supplying water to a watermill ...
for the
Kirkstall Forge
Kirkstall Forge is a 57-acre mixed-use development located in Kirkstall in Leeds, West Yorkshire. The site is one of the oldest most continuously used industrial sites in England. It was operated by Kirkstall Forge Engineering, a metalworking bus ...
works. It is thought that an original goit at this location was built by monks at nearby
Kirkstall Abbey
Kirkstall Abbey is a ruined Cistercian monastery in Kirkstall, north-west of Leeds city centre in West Yorkshire, England. It is set in a public park on the north bank of the River Aire. It was founded ''c.'' 1152. It was disestablished during ...
to funnel water needed for their corn mill. A large factory was built between the river, railway and canal, which suffered from accidents and fires. A fire in 1885, when the plant was operating as a dye works and tar distillery, required the Leeds Fire Brigade to attend and extinguish it. Although it was
grade II listed
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
, a fire in 2003 ruined the building, and it was demolished soon afterwards, with a housing estate being built on the site.
The railway through Newlay was opened to traffic on 30 June 1846, however, the station at
Newlay
Newlay is a suburb of Horsforth, in West Yorkshire, England. Originally a hamlet, it is now part of Horsforth parish in the City of Leeds District, and has its own conservation area. Newlay is situated on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal and the R ...
, did not open until 7 September 1847. The initial push of the railway was for connectivity between Leeds and Bradford, with intermediate stations being built after opening of the line. The railway provided access for those who wanted to work in Leeds but live in a more rural location close to the city. This accelerated house building near to the station, but this lessened somewhat in the 1890s when trams were available on the main road into Leeds, which attracted some of the customers away from the railway.
A church (st Margaret's) was built in 1891 on the south side of Pollard Bridge. It burnt down in 1908, and a replacement was built soon afterwards, but this was closed in 1956, and services were moved to another church in
Bramley. In 1916, a munitions factory was opened in Newlay, and like the others opened in and around Leeds at that time, it was staffed by female workers.
Pollard Bridge
Crossings were known at Nelway since at least
Anglo-Saxon
The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...
times, but the first recorded instance of a bridge was in the late 12th century. In 1615, Sir John Howley appealed to the residents of Leathley to contribute to the "..building of a bridge over the water of Aire at Newlath.."
Pollard Bridge (also known as Newlay Bridge), spans the River Aire at Newlay and was built at the behest of John Pollard. The bridge has four cast iron arch ribs aligned together in a row. Cast and erected in 1819, the bridge was made by Aydon & Ewell in Bradford, a firm which later became part of the
Low Moor Ironworks
The Low Moor Ironworks was a wrought iron foundry established in 1791 in the village of Low Moor about south of Bradford in Yorkshire, England. The works were built to exploit the high-quality iron ore and low-sulphur coal found in the area. Low ...
. The bridge replaced an earlier structure dating from 1783, (and a previous one was said to have been built in 1616) which connected Pollard's factories on the south of the river with the Leeds to Horsforth turnpike. The bridge cost £1,500 (), and a toll was charged at a rate of half-a-penny, which recouped £600 () per year (1890). The bridge was still open to vehicular traffic in the early 1980s, but was pedestrianised in 1984. Pollard Bridge is
grade II* listed
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
.
References
Sources
*
External links
{{Commons category
Newlay Conservation SocietyMapping of Newlay from the 1950s
Places in Leeds
Horsforth