Download Tithe to 2009 Trail - Tracks in Time, the Leeds Tithe Map ...

Headingley/Armley/Bramley‘Tithe to 2009’ Boundary TrailType of Walk: Circular, including woodland paths.Distance: 4 milesStarting Point: McDonalds Car-Park, Kirkstall Road (SE275 345)Suitable for: Walking onlyReproduced from Ordnance Survey material with the permission of Ordnance Survey on behalf of the Controllerof Her Majesty’s Stationery Office © Crown copyright. Wakefield Metropolitan District Council Licence No.100019574 2009.Trail Summary:To the best of its modern capability, this trail follows the tithe boundary be-tween the townships of Headingley-cumcum-Burley, Armley and Bramley, as theywere laid out by the Tithe Commission in 1846. Beginning in the car park of Kirk-stall Leisure Complex, in the 19 th -century township of Headingley-cumcum-Burley,the trial crosses the river Aire to skirt around partial boundaries of lands belong-ing to Armley House. Proceeding up Houghley Gill in Bramley, the trail followsthe boundary of lands belonging to Wither Grange (demolished), before retun-ing across the river Aire to its point of origin in the car park of Kirkstall LeisureComplex.

DirectionsTo the best of its modern capability, this trail follows the tithe boundary betweenthe townships of Armley and Bramley, as they were laid out by the Tithe Commis-sion in 1846. The walk starts in MacDonald’s car-park in Kirkstall Road, in the 19thcentury township of Headingley-cumcum-Burley.We begin by going left across the car-park of Kirkstall Leisure Centre, behind Mac-Donalds, to cross the footbridge over the river Aire and ascend the steps into Ca-nal Road. We then turn right, passing in front of Armley Mills.Yorkshire Ladies’ Council of Education Diary,1876 (WYL5045/12)In crossing the river, we havepassed over the tithe boundary of19th century Headingley-cum-Burley and into the township ofArmley. Armley Mills appears onthe 1846 tithe map of the Armleyarea, as a complex belonging toJohn Gott, Esquire, eldest son ofthe late Benjamin. Benjamin Gott(1762 – 1840) was a prominentclothier, who built his first factory,Park Mill, at Bean Ing in 1792 (onthe site of the Yorkshire Post buildingin the west of Leeds city centre).Park Mill was the biggestwoollen cloth factory in Yorkshireand a huge enterprise at a time when there were fewer than 20 mills of any sort inLeeds. By 1797, Benjamin Gott was master of 1200 workers, and had amassed aconsiderable fortune. He purchased Armley Mills in 1800, in order to further hisbusiness, which he then passed to his eldest son at his death.Armley Mills however, has been around a lot longer than the Gott family. The earliestrecord of Armley Mills dates from the middle of the 16th century when localclothier Richard Booth leased ‘Armley Millnes’ from Henry Saville. A document of1707 provides the first description of the mill and fulling process carried out there.Fulling was the final stage in cloth production and involved pounding the cloth inlarge pits filled with water, urine, and fuller’s earth to matt the fibres together.Fulling was one of the first industrial processes to have purpose built premises.• The papers of the Gott family are held in Special Collections at the LeedsUniversity Library (MS193 - business papers and MS194 - family papers).• West Yorkshire Archive Service also holds several collections with affiliationto the Gott family, such as the Yorkshire Ladies’ Council of EducationMinutes (WYL5045) and the records of the Leeds Association for the Protectionand Care of Young Girls (WYL416).

Take the next right into Armley Park Road and follow the road to the entrance ofArmley Park. Take the right hand path and go down the steps, following the pathahead and keeping the Leeds Liverpool canal on your right.Both the railway you have just passed by and the Leeds Liverpool Canal are listedin the Armley tithe apportionment of 1846 as simply belonging to the Leeds andBradford Railway Company and to the Leeds Liverpool Canal Company respectively.The railway was not yet built in 1846 and is marked on the Armley tithe mapby an orange stripe, labelled ’land taken for railway’. However, the canal pre-datesthe tithe map. The Leeds Liverpool was the first of the Trans Pennine canals to bestarted, being proposed in 1765, and the last to be completed, in 1816. The lengthand complexity of the route meant the canal took 46 years to build at a cost of fivetimes the original budget.Plan of Armley , 1846, WYAS Leeds, RD/RT10Continuing on the path, you soon pass on your left, a Victorian folly of 156steps with an arch half way up, bearing the date 1893.Victorian Folly 1883These steps do not feature on the Armley tithe map, as theyhad not yet been constructed in 1846. Armley Park was notacquired by the Corporation for the people of Leeds until1892, and in 1846, still belonged to John Gott Esq. The landhere is listed in the tithe apportionment as being ’parkland,woods, and pleasure ground’ associated with Armley House.Armley House was the family home of Benjamin Gott, his wifeElizabeth, and their children, 3 sons and a daughter. In 1846,Benjamin’s widow still lived here, despite the property belongingto her eldest son, John, who resided at Wither Grange. OnElizabeth’s death, the 24 acres of parkland at Armley Housewere sold to the Leeds Corporation, and these steps were builtto create public access to the park up the steep slope from thecanal side.Carrying straight on ahead, you reach Redcote Bridge. The name Redcote is evidenton the Armley tithe map of 1846, which shows buildings here around bothends of the bridge. The buildings on the opposite side of the bridge to where weare standing now, belonged to Sir Sandford Graham Baronet, and were leased toJohn Tattersall as a house, cottages, mistals and a yard. These were the buildingsknown as Redcote. On this side of the bridge, in the woods to your right, were twocottages with gardens leased by John Gott, Esq., to Mary and John Walker.• The Leeds-Liverpool Canal is a Site of Special Scientific Interest owing to itscalcium-rich, clay lining, which encourages the growth of water plants. It isalso a favourite haunt for local anglers and otters due to an abundance of fish,including bream, roach, carp, and pike.• The records of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal Company (C299/16 andWYL7) and a list of subscribers to the Leeds and Bradford Railway(WYL13) are held by West Yorkshire Archive Service (WYAS).

Facing Redcote Bridge, follow the footpath to your left intoRidge Wood, keeping the canal on your right.As you continue along this path, see if you can spot the Armley/BramleyBoundary stones. There are two on your right onthe slope beside the woodland path and one on the fairway ofthe golf course to your left. This one can be seen through aclearing in the trees - it is not recommended that you walk onthe fairway. The canal marks the Armley/Bramley boundary,Bramley being on the opposite side to where you are walking.Armley/Bramley BoundaryStonePass through a small clearing on the left and follow thepath back into the woods for a short distance, untilyou are forced out onto the golf course. Turn right andgo straight on to the corner of the golf green, thenturn left up the edge of the course. Follow the line oftrees and the remnants of a boundary wall of ArmleyHouse on your left, right up the side of the golf course,climbing a gentle hill until you reach the road at theRidge Woodtop. Go out onto the footpath in Armley Ridge Road.Turn immediately to your right and follow the footpath till you reach Raynville Cres-cent on the opposite side of the road. Cross here and just inside Raynville Crescent, toyour left, is the site of the house and stable block of Wither Grange, the residence ofJohn Gott Esq., eldest son of Benjamin Gott. The boundary wall separating the nextplot from John Gott’s residence still stands to your right.Wither Grange appears on the 1846 tithe map of Armley as a large complex containinga grand house and outbuildings. During the 1880s and 1890s it was leased byThomas Harrison, J.P. The house and grounds belonged to the Gott family until theFirst World War, during which they donated it to the war effort. The Wyther Home forSick Babies opened in the building in 1914, and was described by the Leeds BabiesWelcome Association Annual Report as having a ’beautiful garden, large rooms andfresh air…[assisting recovery]’. By 1926, the medical officer for Wyther Infants’ Hospitalwas Miss Norah F. Smith M.B.S.S.D.P.H. She was also the assistant medical officer formaternity and child welfare in Leeds. In the 1930s, the home became the City ofLeeds Infants’ Hospital. Houses were eventually built on the site of Wither Grange in1990. The spelling of ‘Wither’ seems to have acquired a ’y’ in place of the ’i’ for unknownreasons during the 20th century. Perhaps it was thought to look more quaintand archaic!• Ridge Wood has a canopy of trees including sessile oak, elm, ash, silver birch,beech, sycamore, and hornbeam. Beneath this is a shrub layer of elder, hawthorn,hazel, holly, dogwood, willow and guilder rose. In the spring, the groundhas a carpet of wild garlic, which gives the wood its interesting smell, as wellas bluebells, wood avens, enchanter’s nightshade, lesser celandine, and ladyfern.On reaching the front corner of the house ignore the path that turns sharp right togo across its grand frontage. Continue instead down the path ahead of you and fol-low its gentle curve around the edge of the lawn to your right keeping the woods onyour left. At the corner of the lawn, ignore the path’s right turn and follow insteadthe path ahead and slightly to your left as it begins its steep descent in to RidgeWood. Shortly, you will come to a set of steps with a solid wooden handrail. Descendthe steps and at the bottom take the rough path straight ahead of you. This path canbe wet and muddy in places.Shortly, the rough path turns suddenly and sharply to theleft down a very steep slope. Descend this slope andwhere the path splits at the bottom, we arrive back atRedcoteBridge.Cross over thebridge, and directlyahead of you is Kirk-stall power station.Looking towards Redcote Bridgefrom Ridge WoodTurn right and fol-low the access laneround under the railway bridge. Keeping right,you will soon emerge into Kirkstall Road. Turnright again, and after a short walk, arrive back atthe car-park of Kirkstall Leisure Complex.Redcote Bridge• There is a very large beech tree as you enter Ridge Wood. It is 140 cm (56inches) in diameter at breast height (DBH) and may be 300 years old.Health and Safety/General Information for Walk Participants1. Please be aware that tithe boundaries are often defined by features such as rivers, becks,dilapidated walls, and wooded areas. Footpaths in these areas may be wet, steep, uneven, ormuddy. Walkers are therefore advised to wear strong, waterproof footwear.2. The terrain on our walks is considered easy to moderate, but for the above reasons, ispartially inaccessible to wheelchair users and pushchairs.3. All ages are welcome and encouraged to take part in our walks. However, we ask you tobe aware that paths can sometimes be steep, uneven, and run very close to water. Some walkroutes also use steps and cross busy roads. For these reasons, no unaccompanied children arepermitted. Children are deemed to be persons under the age of 18 years.4. Some walk routes pass through densely wooded areas or around the edges of golfcourses, using unmarked public and permissive paths. Please be aware of your own personalsafety and that of anybody in your care. Please do not deviate from planned routes.5. Walks will go ahead in most weather conditions, so please dress appropriately.6. You are advised to bring a snack and adequate refreshment on all walks.

Most of the houses and farm buildings of Armley Ridge,which were rented to Christopher Acroyd and othersby John Gott, Esq in 1846 are now gone. However twocottages, nos. 181 and 183, remain, facing into ArmleyRidge Road. There is also a 19th century boundary wallstill running across the fronts of these cottages.Nos. 181 and 183 Armley Ridge RdCross Armley Ridge Road from the corner of Gotts ParkAvenue. Enter Gotts Park through the gateway imme-diately ahead.Just inside the gate and to your right is a building nowknown as The Lodge. This and a few buildings behindit are all that remains of the extensive outbuildings, stableyard and gardener’s house associated with ArmleyHouse, that the 1846 tithe map records standing here.However, in front of The Lodge, a large cross of Celticdesign, recalls the erection of alms houses on the samespot, by Benjamin Gott, in 1823. These were endowedby Gott’s daughter, Harriet and the cross raised in theirmemory by W H Gott in 1902. It is not clear whether,The Lodgeby 1846, the Gott family had employed the poor of their almshouses as gardeners tothe estate, or if the almshouses here had simply changed use. Either way, no referenceto their use as alms houses is made in the tithe apportionment.(If you are stopping for lunch the walled garden still in existence to the left of TheLodge makes a lovely spot. and can be accessed by walking around its left hand edge.)Follow the path opposite the front of The Lodge towards Armley House noting theviews of Leeds city centre to your left. Keeping left when the path splits, go around theleft hand side of the building. We have actually approached Armley House from theback as its grand frontage faced towards the Leeds/Liverpool canal and Armley Mills,the second factory purchased by its prospering owner Benjamin Gott, in 1800.As you round the end of the house, you will noticethe dilapidated remains of a semi-circular structure toyour right. This structure appears on the tithe map of1846 and marks the extent of the original building, aneo-classical villa with wings out either side. ArmleyHouse was first built in 1718 by a local merchant, butafter being purchased by Benjamin Gott in 1803,was redesigned in 1822 by Sir Robert Smirk architectto the British Museum. The wings of Armley Housewere demolished in the 1970s. The semi-circularArmley House - grand frontagestructure to your right may once have been a conservatoryor a small orangery facing out over the park and woodland.Sister Palmer and nurses on the lawn of Wyther Home for Sick Babies, c.1914, and the opening of Armley Babies’Welcome, 1928. (WYL705/20)Continue up Raynville Crescent, following the road round to the right and ignoringany turn-offs until you reach Raynville Gardens on your right. Here turn left andcross Raynville Crescent to enter Houghley Gill on the opposite side of the road,through the black gate. Walk up the path ahead and pass through a green gate intothe wooded part of the Gill. Pass four sets of steps leading out of the Gill on yourright. Shortly after the fourth set of steps, you cross over the invisible tithe boundaryof 1846 into the 19th century township of Bramley. Follow the Gill until you reachthe green gate at Bramley Hill Top. Go through the gate and turn back to face it.Houghley Gill - looking towards Hill TopStanding at the entrance to Houghley Gill inBramley look to the right over your shoulder. Setabove you on a ridge behind trees you will notesome rather ancient properties, dating from themedieval and Elizabethan periods. This area isknown locally as Hill Top. According to the Bramleytithe apportionment of 1846, the Cottageswere owned and occupied then by Julius Popplewelland Joseph Hargrave, who had a house, ahomestead, and an orchard there. The Hill Toparea of Bramley is now a Conservation Area andhas changed very little since the Victorian tithemap was drawn. The cottages here stand on thesame footprints as the buildings appearing onthe tithe map, and from their age, are certainlythe same buildings, having been simply extendedor adapted in areas.• At night, the trees in Houghley Gill are a perfect feeding ground for bats.There are records of Pipistrelle bats roosting in nearby houses and some batboxes on an Italian Alder tree. Can you find the bats carved on the gatepostsof the Gill? On the ground, garlic mustard and stinging nettles are food plantsfor orange tip, peacock and small tortoiseshell butterflies. Foxes, grey squirrels,and roe deer have also been spotted here, early in the morning.

Entrance to Hill Top Commercial Centre, the road leading to the Tan Pits,and remnants of the wall surrounding the house of Richard Nichols.On the left, in front of wherethe wall now stands, thetithe map clearly shows apond and a beck flowingdown into the wooded areaof Houghley Gill. In 1846this beck likely served thehouses on Hill Top and theTan Pits, owned by RichardNichols, which stood highabove the Gill, on the site ofHill Top Commercial Centre.The trees and beck inHoughley Gill would havebeen essential to any leathertanning taking place in thearea as both tree bark andwater were used extensively in this process. The tan pits referenced by the tithe mapwould have been filled with crushed bark and water, or ‘tan liquor’, the solution gettingprogressively stronger in each pit . Animal skins were immersed in the pits toslowly absorb this ‘liquor’ and could take up to 2 years to tan. The entrance to Hill TopCommercial Centre where buildings associated with the tan pits stood, can be seen onyour left. Richard Nichols lived in a house with stables, gardens, and an orchard, justbehind this road, on the spot where the new houses stand. The old wall here may bethe same wall that surrounded Nichols’ house.Walk back between the gate posts of Houghley Gill now and continue straight ahead,following the footpath. In 1846 this footpath existed beside the beck shown on thetithe map and follows more or less the same course as the water, which is now pipedunderground. The beck would have been on your left as you walk down the footpath,and if you listen carefully you can still hear it flowing along its pipe.This stretch of Houghley Gill was knownas Gill Wood and was owned by JohnGott, Esq. as part of the Wyther Grangeestate. According to the tithe boundaryof 1846, we remain in Bramley townshipas we walk through the Gill with theboundary of Wither Grange, in Armleytownship, constantly visible at the top ofthe steep slope to our right. Where wereach the termination of the wall enclosingHill Top Commercial Centre on ourleft hand side, here imagine an invisibleline across the footpath in front of you.This is the point at which we cross theHoughley Gilltithe boundary and re-enter the 19th century township of Armley. At this point,Houghley Gill, still owned by John Gott Esq., was known as Oflay Bank. The twonames, Gill Wood and Oflay Bank, must eventually have merged to become Oflay(or Houghley) Gill.After passing two sets of steps rising out of Houghley Gillon your left, immediately before a third, there are a singleset of rather dilapidated steps leading up the steep slopeto your right. Turn right and go up these steps to the topof the slope, emerging through a modern stile into a ginnel.Follow this ginnel round to the left and into Cover-dale Close. Coverdale Close is built inside the boundary ofthe lands of Wither Grange, now demolished, and wouldhave been in Armley township in 1846.Walk straight ahead to the end of the short road, turning right into Coverdale Cres-cent and follow the footpath on to the road side, as it curves to the right. Where theroad forks, go left, and continue across the 19th century lands of Wither Grange, byheading through the kissing gate at the end of the road. Follow the path to theright up the hill, ignoring minor turn-offs. When the main path splits, take the rightfork and climb the hill until you reach another gate, opening onto Wyther Park Hill.Turn left out of this gate and head down Wyther Park Hill, keeping to the footpathon the left side of the road.(Note the views of Leeds City centre to your left, and KirkstallAbbey, left and slightly behind you).The boundary of Wither Grangein Armley township.Wyther Park Hill follows, as well as possible, the Victoriantithe boundary between Armley and Bramley townships,skirting the edge of the lands of Wither Grange, the 1846View from Wyther Park Hillresidence of John Gott, Esq. Wyther House itself would been visible in the 19th centuryfrom a position about half way down Wyther Park Hill. The house would havebeen some distance to your left and surrounded thickly by trees. With the housewere stables, outbuildings and pleasure grounds. The footprint of the new estate ofred brick houses, low on your left hand side, marks the boundary of the landscapedpark around John Gott Esq.’s great house.Reaching the end of Wyther Park Hill and the junction with Cockshott Lane, crossCockshott Lane and walk up the hill, turning left into Gotts Park Avenue. Continuealong Gotts Park Avenue, crossing two minor roads.The name ‘Gotts Park Avenue’ may suggest these lands once belonged to Gotts Parkor to Armley House, as the estate was known in the 19th century. According to thetithe map however the lands here belonged to Armley Ridge, a group of sevenhouses and farm buildings which stood to your left hand side as you reach what isnow the junction between Gotts Park Avenue and Armley Ridge Road. We’ll stophere for a moment.