Weetwood is an area between

Headingley Headingley is a suburb of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, approximately two miles out of the city centre, to the north west along the A660 road. Headingley is the location of the Beckett Park campus of Leeds Beckett University and Headingley ...

and

Meanwood Meanwood is a suburb and former village in north-west Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The area sits in the Moortown ward of Leeds City Council and Leeds North East parliamentary constituency. Origins and history The name Meanwood goes back t ...

in north-west

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 popula ...

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 England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. It is bounded on the north by the A6120 (Outer Ring Road), on the west by the A660 (Otley Road), on the east by

Meanwood Beck The Meanwood Beck is a stream in West Yorkshire, England, which flows southwards through Adel, Meanwood and Sheepscar into the River Aire in central Leeds. Different portions of the same watercourse have been referred to as Adel Beck, Ca ...

and to the south by Hollin Lane. Weetwood Lane runs north and south through it. The area lends its name to and sits in the

Weetwood Weetwood is an area between Headingley and Meanwood in north-west Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is bounded on the north by the A6120 (Outer Ring Road), on the west by the A660 (Otley Road), on the east by Meanwood Beck and to the sout ...

ward of

Leeds City Council Leeds City Council is the local authority of the City of Leeds in West Yorkshire, England. It is a metropolitan district council, one of five in West Yorkshire and one of 36 in the metropolitan counties of England, and provides the majority of l ...

, which is also part of

Leeds North West Leeds North West is a constituency in the City of Leeds which has been represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2017 by Alex Sobel, of Labour Co-op. Boundaries 1950–1955: The County Borough of Leeds wards of Far He ...

parliamentary constituency An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other poli ...

Politics

The

ward for local government purposes includes areas known as Far Headingley (south of the above), West Park (west of the A660),

Ireland Wood Ireland Wood is a small residential area in north-west Leeds, West Yorkshire, England named after the Woodland Trust wood which it contains. It is approximately to the north-west of Leeds city centre. It was planned by Leeds Housing Director R ...

(north of the A6120), and

Tinshill 300px, The high point on Otley Old Road, showing (left) Tinshill Water Tower, (middle) Cookridge Fire Station, (right) Tinshill BT Tower Tinshill (pronounced ''Tins-hill'') is a district of Leeds, 4 miles (7 km) north of Leeds city cen ...

. Its three

lors and the terms for which they are currently elected, are Jonathan Bentley (

Liberal Democrat Several political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties usually follow a liberal democratic ideology. Active parties Former parties See also *Liberal democracy *Lib ...

, 2018–2022), Christine Knight (Labour Party, 2018–2020) and James Gibson (Labour Party, 2018–2019). The population of this ward was 22,375 at the 2011 Census. Weetwood is part of the

parliamentary constituency, and its MP is Alex Sobel ( Labour Party, first elected in the snap election of 2017).

History

The name (earlier Wetewode) means the wet wood to the west of

.W. A. Hopwood (1981) A ''Brief History of Meanwood'' (self-published in aid of Meanwood Methodist Church organ fund)Ralph Thoresby (1715) ''Ducatus Leodiensis: or, the topography of the ancient and populous town and parish of Leedes, and parts adjacent in the West Riding of York'', page 155 The main activities of the area were quarrying the sandstone which underlies it and charcoal burning and later iron smelting in bloomery furnaces which occurred from 1240 to 1550. For most of this time the land was owned by Kirkstall monastery. Following the dissolution of the monasteries, the area went into private hands, notably the Foxcroft family who held it from 1583 until 1741, building a manor house, Weetwood Hall in 1625. The Meanwood Beck provided power for Weetwood mill and Walley's tannery from 1656 to 1820. In the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

Weetwood Lane was the principal route between Adel and Leeds, and particularly to the market in

. The construction of the Leeds to Otley Turnpike (now the A660 Otley Road) in 1741 provided a faster link so that residences began to be built, particularly after 1840. In June 1853

Ann Husler Ann Husler (1803–1874), née Procter, was a quarry owner and stone merchant based in Weetwood, Leeds, in West Yorkshire. She ran a quarry business after the death of her husband, John Husler. She ran the business until her death at the age of ...

inherited Weetwood Quarry from her husband, and ran it successfully until her death in 1874.

Buildings

Weetwood Hall

Weetwood Hall is now a hotel and conference centre, which includes a manor house and buildings of the same name dating back to 1625. It is a Grade II*

Listed building 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 ...

of local gritstone ashlar. The porch is of Classical design, with widely spaced Ionic columns, and the interior has elaborately plastered ceilings. It was taken over by the

University of Leeds , mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased , established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds , ...

in 1919 and was a

hall of residence A dormitory (originated from the Latin word ''dormitorium'', often abbreviated to dorm) is a building primarily providing sleeping and residential quarters for large numbers of people such as boarding school, high school, college or university s ...

until 1993, when it took on its present role after extensive re-development.

Fox Hill

Fox Hill is the name of a hill, a hall which stands on it, and a residential area within Weetwood. The hall was built in 1863 for the Tetley family of

Tetley's Brewery Tetley's Brewery (Joshua Tetley & Son Ltd) was an English regional brewery founded in 1822 by Joshua Tetley in Hunslet, now a suburb of Leeds, West Yorkshire. The beer was originally produced at the Leeds Brewery, which was later renamed the ...

. It is now Moorlands School. Fox hill also includes other Grade II Listed buildings, Weetwood Grange (1861), now flats, and Weetwood Croft (1898) now a university student residence, Oxley Hall.

References

External links

Far Headingley Village Society
*
Weetwood Conservation Area Proposal
{{City of Leeds Places in Leeds