Beeston, Leeds

The name Beeston is first attested in the Domesday Book, in the form Bestone. The name seems to come from Old English *bēos 'bent-grass' (L. Agrostis) and tūn 'estate, village'. Thus it once meant 'estate characterised by bent-grass'.[2]

The northern area of Beeston, situated on a hillside facing north to the centre of Leeds, came in the nineteenth century to be called Beeston Hill. This area was formerly called Cat Beeston (and variant spellings), a name first attested in 1398 as Catbeston and Cattbeston. The Cat element is also found in a local field-name, Cadtheweit (whose second element comes from Old Norse þveit, meaning 'clearing'), attested in 1202. The Cat element could come from the Old English word catt ('cat, wild-cat') or from a personal name Cada. Recent scholarship prefers the latter interpretation, in which case Cat Beeston once meant 'Cada's estate characterised by bent-gress', while Cadtheweit meant 'Cada's clearing'.[3]^: 24

To the west of Beeston lies Beeston Royds, whose name is first attested (as Beyston Royds) in 1633. The royds element comes from the Old English word rod ('clearing').[3]^: 25

Another district of Beeston is the Cross Flatts area. This name is first attested in 1636, as Crossflatts and other spellings. The Middle English word flat meant 'piece of level ground, field', but the precise significance of 'cross' is unclear. It is thought to refer to some cross-shaped pattern of field divisions.[3]^: 40–41

The origin of the settlement is likely to be Anglo-Saxon.[4] Beeston is first mentioned in the 1086 Domesday Book, when it had recently been granted to Ilbert de Lacy (1045–93); in 1066 it had been worth 40 shillings (£2), but in 1086 it was considered waste, presumably because of the Harrying of the North.[5] It was one of the ten 'out-townships' of the Parish of Leeds until the parish was broken up in the 1840s-50s.

In the medieval period, Beeston was associated with sheep-farming: the monks of Kirkstall Abbey grazed 240 sheep there. Founding Drax Priory in the 1130s, William Paynel granted it land in Beeston. A small hospital seems to have been founded in the township around 1233, and a chapel dedicated to St Mary the Virgin may also have been founded in the 13th century.[5]

The oldest buildings in Beeston today date to the 15th century. Cad Beeston (also Cad-Beeston, Cat Beeston, Cat-Beeston) manor house has been dated by dendrochronology to about 1420, and is a grade II* listed building; recently used as private offices, it is now a private dwelling, with no public access.[6] Parts of Stank Hall Barn, a grade II* listed scheduled ancient monument originally built for the storage of crops, have been dated to between 1448 and 1490.[7][8]

By the early 17th century the area had a reputation for manufacturing bone lace, and by the middle of the century, coal-mining was underway in the area.[5] According to David Thornton,

in December 1688 rumours abounded in the town [of Leeds] that an army of Roman Catholics were ravaging the surrounding area. Ralph Thoresby recorded, 'Beeston is actually burnt, and only some escaped to bring the doleful tidings! The drums beat, the bells rang backward, the women shrieked, and some doleful consternation seized upon all persons ... (B)lessed be God! The terror disappeared, it being a false alarm, taken from some drunken people.'[5]

Between 1740 and 1820, the Leeds-Elland and Dewsbury-Leeds turnpike roads were built through Beeston; nationalised in the 1870s these roads remain as Elland Road and Dewsbury Road respectively. By 1822, Beeston had a population of 1,670.[9]

Until the 19th century, Beeston had been a small mining village situated on a hill overlooking Leeds. However, during the Industrial Revolution, land that had been occupied by open pits, as well as land formerly utilised for farming, was snapped up for high density residential development.[10] By 1872, Beeston is recorded as having a population of 2,547 with 537 houses, a railway station and a post office,[11] and 'by the end of the 19th century Beeston was predominantly a working class community living in back-to-backs'.[5] Beeston was a township and civil parish 1866–1904, then was absorbed into Holbeck civil parish before this was absorbed into Leeds in 1925.

On the night of 14 March and early hours of 15 March 1941, during the Second World War, Leeds received its worst night of German aerial bombing. Beeston had more bombs dropped on it than any other district of the city and although Flaxton Terrace was damaged during the night time air raid, escaped with the less damage than most other areas of Leeds with nearly all the other bombs landing on Cross Flatts Park. In his 2005 poem "Shrapnel", Tony Harrison, who was in Beeston on the night of the raid, speculates whether this was an act of heroism by the German pilot, a theory that has been explored ever since the raid.[12] Holbeck Cemetery, in Beeston, also features prominently in Harrison's 1985 poem "V".

Beeston was formerly home to card and board game manufacturer Waddingtons, though the factory was vacated in the 1990s, and is now home to Nampak Cartons.

In 2006, the district was the setting for much of the film Mischief Night.

Looking towards Leeds city centre from Beeston Hill

Beeston is an inner-city area located close to Leeds city centre. It is severed from the areas to the north by the M621 motorway, separated from Middleton by Middleton Park and from Cottingley by the Leeds Outer Ring Road.

Beeston can be described as three distinct areas. Beeston - Parkside and Cross Flatts area and Beeston Hill are separated by Cross Flatts Park which runs between Dewsbury Road and Town Street: Beeston Hill to the east, and Parkside and Cross Flatts to the west. The distinction between these two areas has probably existed since medieval times when they were two separate manors.[4] Beeston - Elland Road and Millshaw is primarily industrial and centred on Elland Road to the west of the area.

Beeston Hill area

Tempest Road, Beeston Hill

Beeston Hill is largely made up of areas of older Victoria terraces and newer social housing, which comprises around a third of the housing stock in the area.[14] In April 2008, a £93 million PFI scheme to build 700 private and housing association dwellings and regenerate some existing stock was announced.[15] As a particularly deprived area, Beeston Hill along with Holbeck was the beneficiary of Objective 2 European funding. Beeston Hill has a relatively high level of empty housing as well as a number of significant unoccupied commercial premises. Beeston Hill has a significant ethnic minority population, with around 40% of the population from BME Communities.[14]

The area suffers from a high level of deprivation, with indicators for health, economic activity and community safety substantially worse than for the City of Leeds as a whole.[14]

The Junction pub and Crescent Grange in Beeston Hill

The Spinning Wheel pub

Much of Beeston's traditional heavy industry and fabrication works have closed throughout the last forty years. However, there are substantial areas of industrial and commercial development around Elland Road and to the south of Dewsbury Road and Beeston is surrounded by areas which have become popular with businesses, such as Leeds city centre, Tingley and many of the business districts along the south side of the River Aire. The neighbouring White Rose Shopping Centre employs thousands of full- and part-time staff.

The Co-op on Old Lane

Beeston is home to the Beeston Centre of the Leeds City College (formerly Joseph Priestley College) and Elliott Hudson College. Beeston has one secondary school, Cockburn School which is a specialist arts college.[19]

Matthew Murray High School situated between Beeston and Holbeck closed down in 2004 and was merged with Merlyn Rees High School in Belle Isle, to form South Leeds High School in Belle Isle. In September 2009 South Leeds High School was reopened as the South Leeds Academy.[20]

In September 2017, South Leeds Academy was renamed and rebranded as Cockburn John Charles Academy, as the Cockburn MAT opened a new school. There are seven primary schools in the area.

Beeston has a range of facilities. It has two large health centres, Elland Road stadium and the John Charles Centre for Sport. Leeds city centre is a short distance away and the M1 and M62 motorways are easily accessed. Cross Flatts Park has many facilities, which include 5-a-side football pitches, tennis courts, two separate play areas one for older children and one for younger children and a bowling green.

Stadiums

Main article: Elland Road

Elland Road Stadium

Beeston is home to two stadiums:

• Elland Road, home of Leeds United AFC, has a 39,640 capacity, all-seater stadium[21] on Elland Road, adjacent to the M621 in the north of Beeston.
• The South Leeds Stadium, part of the John Charles Centre for Sport is situated on Middleton Grove (off Dewsbury Road) on the southern edge of Beeston. This is home to Hunslet rugby league club, as well as hosting athletics and aquatic sports in the new Aquatic Centre (the replacement for the Leeds International Swimming Pool); this opened in October 2008 and provides an Olympic standard swimming pool and diving pool. The centre also has indoor bowling, indoor Tennis Centre, athletics stadium, 5-a-side football pitches, rugby pitches and outdoor gym equipment.

South Leeds Stadium, at the John Charles Centre for Sport

Holbeck Cemetery

Guinea Graves

Holbeck Cemetery in Beeston opened in 1857 and closed to general burials in the 1940s. During the period it was operational, thousands of people were buried there with many in 'guinea graves' with several unrelated people buried in the same plot. The graves were so called for the shared headstones on which a single-line inscription cost one guinea (21 shillings).

Henry Rowland Marsden, the Victorian industrialist and former mayor of Leeds, is buried in Holbeck Cemetery where his family grave is marked by a Grade II-listed memorial.[24]

The poem "V" by Tony Harrison, published in 1985, describes a visit to Holbeck Cemetery and his reaction to finding his parents' tombstones vandalised.

Greenhouse

Main article: Greenhouse (Leeds)

A plaque commemorating the opening of Shaftesbury House, Leeds, 15 December 1938.

In 2008 Shaftesbury House, a working men's hostel designed for the council by George C. Robb in 1936, was converted by Citu to the Greenhouse, an eco-friendly housing project. The building had been empty for a number of years and had previously been earmarked for demolition.

The development, which includes 172 homes, office space and other facilities, is one of the UK's first low-carbon housing developments and incorporates wind turbines, solar panels and ground source heating as well as energy efficient materials and rainwater and greywater recycling. The development has won a large number of awards, including, in 2011, the Regeneration and Renewal Magazine Regeneration Award for Sustainability, with judges praising the holistic way it addressed sustainability and provides real regeneration benefits to a deprived area.[25] Robb Street and Avenue are likely named after its architect George C. Robb, who was chief housing architect for RAH Livett, Leeds Housing Director and later City Architect.

Guru Nanak Nishkam Sewak Jatha (Leeds) UK Gurdwara on Ladypit Lane (formerly Ringtons tea-packing factory).

Beeston has at least ten churches of several denominations including Church of England, Roman Catholic, Methodist and Baptist. The Anglican churches of St Mary on Town Street and St Luke on Malvern Road were constructed in the 1870s, though the former is on the site of a much older church. The more modern church of St David Waincliffe on Dewsbury Road, constructed in the 1960s was designed by Geoffrey Davy[26] and won a Hoffman Wood (Leeds) Gold Medal for Architecture.[27]

There are three mosques in Beeston, all located within the Beeston Hill area. There is also a Sikh Gurdwara.

Most parts of Beeston are located within the Beeston and Holbeck ward of Leeds City Council, which has since its creation in 2004 consistently been represented by Labour councillors.

Parts of Beeston Hill to the north of Cross Flatts Park are located within the Hunslet and Riverside ward. This was created in 2018, and largely corresponds to its predecessor City and Hunslet, created in 2004. This was too has invariably returned Labour councillors since 2004.

Hilary Benn (Labour) has been MP since 1999 when he won the seat following the death of Derek Fatchett who had been MP for Leeds Central since 1983. Before the 1997 general election, Beeston was part of the Morley and Leeds South constituency, represented from its creation in 1983 to 1992 by Merlyn Rees and from 1992 to 1997 by John Gunnell. Before the creation of the Morley and South Leeds constituency the area was part of the Leeds South constituency represented until 1963 by Hugh Gaitskell, leader of the Labour Party from 1955 to his death in 1963, after whom a primary school in the area is named.[28][29]

The playwright Willis Hall attended Cockburn High School in Beeston[30] as did the academic and author of The Uses of Literacy, Richard Hoggart.[31] The poet Tony Harrison was brought up on Tempest Road and went to what was then Cross Flatts county primary school.[32] More recently, the actress Holly Kenny who starred in the BBC drama serial Waterloo Road was a pupil at the school.

The musician and bandleader Ivy Benson grew up in Beeston, where her former house on Cemetery Road is marked with a blue plaque.[33]

Former England and Leeds United footballer Paul Madeley was born in Beeston.[34]

Former international rugby league and rugby union star Jason Robinson went to Cross Flatts Park Middle School and Matthew Murray High School, and began his Rugby League career with Hunslet Hawks.[35]

Leigh Francis, famous for his character Keith Lemon, was born in Beeston.[36]

Beeston was the focus of press attention following 7 July 2005 London bombings when it was revealed that two of the four bombers had lived in the area. On 12 July, two properties in Beeston were raided by police in connection with the attacks.[37] According to West Yorkshire Police, a significant amount of explosive material was found in the raids and a controlled explosion was carried out at one of the properties.

• Listed buildings in Leeds (Beeston and Holbeck Ward)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Beeston, Leeds.

• YEP Beeston Today Community Website
• Historic England. "Manor House, Cad Beeston; grade II* listed (1255940)". National Heritage List for England.
• Historic England. "Cad Beeston; grade II listed (1255939)". National Heritage List for England.