Hunslet
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Description
Geography
Hunslet, in the lower Aire Valley, is bounded on the east by the River Aire and covers nearly 1,200 acres of flat land. The underlying rocks were coal measures.
Hunslet has different areas including Hunslet Moor, Hunslet Carr, Crown Point, Pottery Fields and Penny Hill.
Governance
Hunslet was formerly a township in the parish of Leeds, in 1866 Hunslet became a separate civil parish, on 1 April 1925 the parish was abolished and merged with Leeds. In 1921 the parish had a population of 71,626
Religion
A chapel dedicated to St. Mary the Virgin was built in 1636, and enlarged in 1774. It was a brick structure with a tower. It was enlarged by subscription in 1826.[8] There were two churches built on the site. The Victorian church, of which the spire remains, is the tallest in Leeds, was built in 1864.
Other smaller less notable churches exist in the district. The area is also home to St Joseph's Catholic Club. Members of the Daughters of Mary Mother of Mercy (DMMM), a religious institute of Nigerian origin, are in residence at St. Joseph's Convent.
History
At the time of the Domesday survey in 1086, the manor of Hunslet belonged to the Lacys, from whom it passed to various families including the Gascoignes and the Neviles. Hunslet was the birthplace of Thomas Gascoigne, born in 1404 and later chancellor of Oxford University.
The brewers Joshua Tetley and Son set up business in Hunslet in 1822 producing beer and bitter today as part of Carlsberg Tetley group. However, in 2011 the brewery closed.
In 1823 forty working men from Hunslet raised the sum of £1 5s 1d which they sent to the radical publisher Richard Carlile who was serving a prison sentence in Dorchester gaol for the publications in which he exposed the reactionary policies of the government of Lord Liverpool. The subscription was accompanied by a noble letter written by one of the contributors, William Tillotson.
The population of Hunslet grew rapidly in the first half of the 19th century becoming an important manufacturing centre. Several large mills were built for spinning of flax including Hunslet Mill, and there were chemical works, works for the manufacture of crown and flint glass, extensive potteries for coarse earthenware and the Leeds Pottery. Hunslet Mill, created between 1832 and 1842, is a Grade II listed building.
From 1898 to 1935 it was the home of the 25 acres (10 ha) Leeds Steel Works, with four blast furnaces, which was the site of a major industrial accident in 1913, when a boiler explosion killed nine men. Thirteen years earlier, four men had died in a very similar explosion. By 1906 Hunslet was home to Leeds’ second-largest gas works, the city's main rail goods yards, known at the time as Midland Goods Station (now the site of Crown Point Retail Park), as well as a large number of factories.
Hunslet was home to the first free public library in Leeds when a branch library opened on evenings from October 1870 in a room at the Hunslet Mechanics Institute. It became a day branch in 1912. On 23 February 1931, the new building was opened by Arthur Greenwood MP and Minister for Health. The fixtures and fittings in the interior of the library, with an adult and junior reading room, were designed by Thomas Horsman and Co Ltd, costing £1,049 17s 6d.[15] The building is now Hunslet Library and Community Hub.
Crown Point once had a large railway depot which contained Leeds' main goods station. After many decades lying derelict the area was redeveloped into the Crown Point Retail Park, though the main railway cutting into the terminus station can still be seen at the southern end. The former track beds are currently let for storage and contain timber and brickwork. Tetley's Brewery was to the north of this area, as was the Yorkshire Chemical Works: both have now been demolished. Next to the river is Clarence Dock.
Pottery Fields is the industrial area around Kidacre Street, Leathley Road, Ivory Street, Meadow Lane and Cross Myrtle Street where Leeds City Council's Pottery Fields Depot and the former Meadow Lane Gas Works are situated. Pottery Fields House, has the administrative and engineering functions for Northern Gas Networks. Other businesses include Merlin Gerin medium voltage electrical supplies, a scrap yard and Volkswagen auto breakers, and a motorcycle training centre. There are several disused railways crossing the roads, which brought coal from Middleton Colliery to the Meadow Lane Gas Works for the production of town gas, before conversion to North Sea natural gas.
Current Circumstances:
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