Woodhouse is a largely residential area just north of the city centre 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 ...

and close to the

University of Leeds The University of Leeds is a public research university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was established in 1874 as the Yorkshire College of Science. In 1884, it merged with the Leeds School of Medicine (established 1831) and was renamed Y ...

. The area considered as Woodhouse is partly in the Little London and Woodhouse ward and partly in the Headingley & Hyde Park ward of

City of Leeds Leeds, also known as the City of Leeds, is a metropolitan borough with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in West Yorkshire, England. The metropolitan borough includes the administrative centre of Leeds and the towns of Farsley, Gar ...

metropolitan district A metropolitan borough (or metropolitan district) is a type of local government district in England. Created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972, metropolitan boroughs are defined in English law as metropolitan districts within metropol ...

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 may ...

, and the Forest of Leeds, where the area was known as Woodhouse Cliff to the west and Woodhouse Carr to the south-east.

Ordnance Survey The Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see Artillery, ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of ...

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 World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the Institution Street (now Holborn Approach) area was accidentally bombed by the German

Luftwaffe The Luftwaffe () was the aerial warfare, aerial-warfare branch of the before and during World War II. German Empire, Germany's military air arms during World War I, the of the Imperial German Army, Imperial Army and the of the Imperial Ge ...

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 A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption Licensing laws of the United Kingdom#On-licence, on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the ...

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 Back to Back or back-to-back may refer to: Film and theatre *Back to Back (film), ''Back to Back'' (film), a 1996 American action film *Back-to-back film production, the practice of making two films as a unified production *Back to Back Theatre, ...

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, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

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 ''The Beiderbecke Affair'' is a television series produced in the United Kingdom by ITV (TV network), ITV during 1985, written by the prolific Alan Plater, whose lengthy credits in British television since the 1960s included the four-part mini se ...

''. 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 Mary Eleanor Gawthorpe (12 January 1881 – 12 March 1973) was an English suffragette, socialist, trade unionist and editor. She was described by Rebecca West as "a merry militant saint". Life Gawthorpe was born in Woodhouse, Leeds to John G ...

was born in Woodhouse in 1881.

Alice Mann Alice Mann may refer to: * Alice Mann (actress) 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 sho ...

, 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