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Quarry Hill is an area of central Leeds,
West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a Metropolitan counties of England, metropolitan and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and east, South Yorkshire and De ...
,
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
. It is bounded by the
Leeds Inner Ring Road The Leeds Inner Ring Road is part-motorway and part- A roads in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, which forms a ring road around the city centre. It has six different road numbers that are all sections of longer roads. Clockwise, the road ...
in the east and north and the Leeds – York / Hull railway in the south. The area falls within the City and
Hunslet Hunslet () is an inner-city area in south Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is southeast of the Leeds city centre, city centre and has an industrial past. It is situated in the Hunslet and Riverside (ward), Hunslet and Riverside ward of Lee ...
ward of
Leeds City Council Leeds City Council is the local authority of the City of Leeds in West Yorkshire, England. Leeds has had a council since 1626, which has been reformed on numerous occasions. Since 1974 it has been a metropolitan borough council. It provides the ...
.


History

Quarry Hill was originally an
inner-city The term inner city (also called the hood) has been used, especially in the United States, as a euphemism for majority-minority lower-income residential districts that often refer to rundown neighborhoods, in a downtown or city centre area. Soc ...
area of
Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...
. Three churches have historically been located on Quarry Hill. The Old Boggart House was the first purpose-built
Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...
chapel in Leeds. It was demolished following the opening of the adjacent St Peter's Chapel in 1834. The site is marked by a
blue plaque A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place in the United Kingdom, and certain other countries and territories, to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person, event, or former building on the site, serving a ...
on the steps leading to the Leeds Playhouse. Quarry Hill Ebenezer Primitive Methodist chapel, originally called "Chapel Street Chapel", was opened in 1822, new frontage was added in 1846 and the chapel was enlarged in 1874. It closed in 1933. St Mary's Church, a
Commissioners' Church A Commissioners' church, also known as a Waterloo church and Million Act church, is an Anglicanism, Anglican church in England or Wales built with money voted by Parliament of the United Kingdom, Parliament as a result of the (58 Geo. 3. ...
, architect Thomas Taylor, was located on St Mary's Street. Located on the top of the hill, looking over New York Road towards the city centre, and known both as "St. Mary's Mabgate" and "St. Mary's Quarry Hill", the site is now a Diocesan Office. The Sunday school remains, as does the burial ground, a green area sloping down to Mabgate. A past resident of the Quarry Hill area was Mary Fitzpatrick, a robber and suspected murderer. Between 1938 and 1978 Quarry Hill was the location of what was at the time the largest social housing complex in the United Kingdom. The building was designed in 1934 by R. A. H. Livett (1898–1959), the Director of Housing and later City Architect for Leeds. Its design was strongly influenced by
modernist Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...
developments in Europe, specifically the
Karl-Marx-Hof Karl-Marx-Hof (English: ''Karl Marx Court'') is a ''Gemeindebau'' (English: ''municipal housing complex'') in Vienna, situated in Heiligenstadt, Vienna, Heiligenstadt, a neighbourhood of the 19th district of Vienna, Döbling. At in length an ...
in
Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
,
Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
, and La Cité de la Muette in
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
,
France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
. The development was noted for its sheer size and modernist design. It had then radical and modern features such as solid fuel ranges, electric lighting, a state-of-the-art refuse disposal system ( Garchey) and communal facilities including a swimming pool. Due to social problems and poor maintenance, the Quarry Hill Flats were demolished in 1978.


Current

Since the 1980s, Quarry Hill has been a focus for regeneration within Leeds, and today is home to the West Yorkshire Playhouse, now known as Leeds Playhouse, which opened in 1990; Yorkshire Dance, established in 1982; Quarry House (a
Department of Health A health department or health ministry is a part of government which focuses on issues related to the general health of the citizenry. Subnational entities, such as states, counties and cities, often also operate a health department of their o ...
and
Department for Work and Pensions The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for welfare spending, welfare, pensions and child maintenance ...
building with a social/leisure complex, which opened in 1993); the
BBC Yorkshire BBC Yorkshire is one of the English regions of the BBC. It was formed from the division of the former BBC North region into BBC Yorkshire and BBC Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, based in Kingston upon Hull. Serving West, North and South Yorkshir ...
building; the
Leeds Conservatoire Leeds Conservatoire (formerly known as The Leeds Music Centre, the City of Leeds College of Music, and Leeds College of Music) is a higher education music conservatoire based in the Quarry Hill district of Leeds, England. It was founded in 19 ...
(formerly Leeds College of Music); and the Northern Ballet building which opened in 2010. Centenary Square and the Playhouse Square are located at Quarry Hill. The regeneration has seen Quarry Hill become disassociated with East Leeds, and become part of central Leeds. Quarry House was constructed on the site of the former Quarry Hill Flats.
Leeds City College Leeds City College is the largest further education establishment in the City of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England with around 26,000 students, 2,300 staff, with an annual turnover of £78 million.
built a creative arts and health, care and public services campus, designed by Ellis Williams Architects, on the north-west of the site; this opened in September 2019. Part of the college building is used by Leeds Conservatoire. The sculpture Ribbons, by
Pippa Hale Pippa Hale is a contemporary British artist, founder of the Northern Art Prize and co-founder of Leeds contemporary art gallery The Tetley. Early life Hale studied for a Foundation Diploma in Art and Design at Warwickshire College of Furt ...
, sits on the site.


In the media

*The flats were shown in the opening sequence of the popular 1970s sitcom '' Queenie's Castle'' (1970–72) which starred
Diana Dors Diana Dors (born Diana Mary Fluck; 23 October 19314 May 1984) was an English actress and singer. Dors came to public notice as a Bombshell (slang), blonde bombshell, much in the style of Americans Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield, and Mamie Van ...
. *The Peter May novel ''Runaway'' has scenes set in the housing project in 1965 and in its later transformation 2015. *Quarry Hill also features in
Charles Stross Charles David George "Charlie" Stross (born 18 October 1964) is a British writer of science fiction and fantasy. Stross specialises in hard science fiction and space opera. Between 1994 and 2004, he was also an active writer for the magazine ' ...
's 2016 novel '' The Nightmare Stacks''. *The complete Quarry Hill development in architects' model form can be seen in the 1935 film '' Housing Problems'', a key work of the
Documentary Film Movement The Documentary Film Movement is the group of British filmmakers, led by John Grierson, who were influential in British film culture in the 1930s and 1940s. Principles The founding principles of the movement were based on Grierson's views of docu ...
which is also featured as an extra on BBC DVD release of the influential 1966 TV play ''
Cathy Come Home "Cathy Come Home" is a 1966 BBC television play about homelessness. It was written by Jeremy Sandford, produced by Tony Garnett and directed by Ken Loach. A 1998 ''Radio Times'' readers' poll voted it the "best single television drama" and a 200 ...
''. Quarry Hill is the area where the nurses work in The Steeple Street Trilogy by Donna Douglas. "Agnes finds herself facing unexpected challenges as she is assigned to Quarry Hill, one of the city's most notorious slums"


Further reading

* *


References

{{Department of Health (United Kingdom) Places in Leeds Leeds Blue Plaques Methodism