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 in north-west

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 ...

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 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, Leeds, Adel, Meanwood and Sheepscar into the River Aire in central Leeds. Different portions of the same watercourse have been referred to as Ade ...

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 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 ...

, which is also part of Leeds Central and Headingley

parliamentary constituency An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...

Politics

The Weetwood ward for local government purposes includes areas known as Far Headingley (south of the above), West Park (west of the A660), Ireland Wood (north of the A6120), and Tinshill. Its three

lors and the terms for which they are currently elected, are Izaak Wilson ( Labour Party, 2022–2026), Jools Heselwood (Labour Party, 2023–2027) and Emma Flint (Labour Party, 2024–2028). The population of this ward was 22,375 at the 2011 Census. Weetwood is part of the Leeds Central and Headingley parliamentary constituency, and its MP is

Alex Sobel Alexander David Sobel (born 26 April 1975) is a British Labour and Co-operative politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Leeds Central and Headingley, previously Leeds North West, since 2017. He served as Shadow Minister ...

( Labour Party).

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 A bloomery is a type of metallurgical furnace once used widely for smelting iron from its iron oxides, oxides. The bloomery was the earliest form of smelter capable of smelting iron. Bloomeries produce a porous mass of iron and slag called ...

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 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

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 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 is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

of local

gritstone Gritstone or grit is a hard, coarse-grained, siliceous sandstone. This term is especially applied to such sandstones that are quarried for building material. British gritstone was used for millstones to mill flour, to grind wood into pulp for ...

ashlar Ashlar () is a cut and dressed rock (geology), stone, worked using a chisel to achieve a specific form, typically rectangular in shape. The term can also refer to a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, a ...

. 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 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 ...

in 1919 and was a hall of residence 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. 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