Bramley, Leeds
| Bramley | |
| Yorkshire West Riding | |
|---|---|
 Bramley Shopping Centre and bus station | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SE241344 |
| Location: | 53°48’45"N, 1°37’43"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 21,681 (2011) |
| Post town: | Leeds |
| Postcode: | LS13 |
| Dialling code: | 0113 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Leeds |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Leeds West |
Bramley is a village which has become a district in the west of Leeds, the West Riding of Yorkshire, buried in the townscape and with a population of 21,334 at the 2011 Census.
The area is an old industrial area with much 19th century architecture and 20th century council housing in the east and private suburban housing in the west.
Bramley railway station (off Stanningley Road) is on the Leeds-Bradford Line.
Name
The name of Bramley is first attested in the 1086 Domesday Book as Brameleia and Bramelei.[1] The name derives from the Old English words brom ('broom') and leah ('open land'). Thus the name once meant 'open land characterised by broom'.[2]
History
At the time of the Domesday survey, the nucleus of the settlement was probably located at Stocks Hill, and it developed in a linear fashion along today's Town Street.[3]
The surviving water pump and stone water trough on Stocks Hill remain from Bramley's mediæval past. The accompanying blue plaque states "Stocks Hill, Bramley. This historic pump and trough are the last reminders of Bramley Village Green which was surrounded by mediæval cottages and yards. The Green featured the stocks, pillory and an 8-foot pillar which commemorated the holding of Leeds Market here during the plague of 1644-45".
The area experienced an industrial boom and an associated population increase in the 19th century, mostly because of the development of the woollen textile industry in the early part of the century and due to the boot making and engineering industries in its later part.[3] The antiquarian Benjamin Wilson was the first person to write a history of Bramley, published in 1860.[4] He donated his collection to Leeds City Museum, including a witch's bottle found in White Coat (White Cote), Bramley in 1861.
In 1873, bishop John Gott and H. M. Gott erected a stone cross with Anglo Saxon style carving to celebrate 8 years of living and working in Bramley, it now stands in a walled garden, although in the 1980s it stood at the park entrance.[5]
Mary Gawthorpe described her experience living and working at Hough Lane School in Bramley between 1905 and 1907 in her autobiography. She recalls: 'Bramley was an oasis of peace, and old established centre of homes and living yet within the city bounds... from our kitchen at Warrel's Mount we looked out on open fields. The walk to school was almost rural in its calm'.[6]
Much of Bramley was redeveloped in the 1960s and 1970s, albeit in an unsympathetic manner that damaged the historic integrity of the area and altered the appearance and the character of the town significantly.[3] The Bramley Shopping Centre replaced the former town centre, and was Leeds' second purpose-built town centre after Seacroft town centre. Unlike Seacroft, the Bramley Shopping Centre replaced an existing town centre. The redevelopment replaced substandard shops and houses; many of the shops and cottages were dilapidated and in need of repair.[7] From 2008, following a time of deterioration of the shopping centre, new anchor stores such as Farmfoods and Tesco took over existing premises or occupied new ones in the course of a general refit.[7]
The redevelopment of Bramley was condemned by English Heritage as one of the least sensitive redevelopment programmes in Yorkshire. In 2008 the Yorkshire Evening Post ran an article describing the redevelopment of a "once-picturesque area", and questioning the replacement of an historic Yorkshire town centre.[7] Much of historical Bramley is now protected by the Bramley Town Conservation Area, which focuses on the area around Bramley Park across to Hough Lane.[3]
Community
Parks and open areas for outdoor recreation include Bramley Falls Wood, which runs beside the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, and Bramley Park, which contains an underground reservoir at its highest point. At Bramley Park a fireworks display and the Bramley Carnival is held most years.[8]
Bramley Baths are an example of Edwardian swimming baths. Built in 1904, and restored, it has a 25-yard pool, a gymnasium and a Russian steam room. The baths were used for dances during its early years, when the pool was covered with a large dance floor. The baths are the only remaining example of an Edwardian era bath-house in Leeds today and are a Grade II listed structure.[9] The baths were built on the site of an iron foundry and the original foundry chimney, built with over 8,000 Kirkstall bricks, still towers over the baths and can be seen across Leeds.[10] The four Georgian style houses built 1803 to the right-hand side of the baths were the original homes of the iron foundry owner and his three children.
Bramley Shopping Centre is a 1960s-style concrete shopping plaza which was erected to replace the traditional stone-built village centre. Shops include charity shops, banks, bakeries, pawnbrokers, supermarkets, a post office, Greggs, Pizza Hut Delivery, a dental practice, beauty salons and fast food takeaways.
Churches
- Church of England:
- St Peter's
- St Margaret's
- Baptist
- Methodist: Trinity Methodist Church
- Roman Catholic
Sport
- Football: Bramley Juniors Football Club, established 1994
- Rugby League: Bramley Buffaloes
- Rugby Union: Bramley Phoenix Rugby Union Club.
Outside links
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Bramley) |
- Bramley Baptist Church
- War Memorial
- Trinity Methodist Church, Bramley
- Bramley Buffaloes
- Bramley Park
- Information on Bramley, Leeds from GENUKI
References
- ↑ "Place name: Bramley in Armley, Yorkshire Folio: 318r Great Domesday Book ... | The National Archives". http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D7312674.
- ↑ Harry Parkin, Your City's Place-Names: Leeds, English Place-Name Society City-Names Series, 3 (Nottingham: English Place-Names Society, 2017), p. 27.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Leeds City Council (11 May 2009). "Bramley Town. Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Plan (PDF)". http://www.leeds.gov.uk/docs/Bramley%20conservation%20area%20appraisal%20and%20management%20plan%20FINAL%20VERSION.pdf.
- ↑ Wilson, Benjamin (1860). Our Village: a sketch of the history and progress of Bramley during seven centuries.. J. Dawson Bramley.
- ↑ "Bramley Park". http://www.leodis.net/display.aspx?resourceIdentifier=2006126_160493.
- ↑ Gawthorpe, Mary (1962). Up Hill to Holloway. Michigan. pp. 189.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 "The village that vanished". Yorkshire Evening Post. 10 January 2008. http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/features/The-village---that.3698840.jp?articlepage=1.
- ↑ "Bramley Carnival". 10 July 2014. http://www.leedsinspired.co.uk/events/bramley-carnival.
- ↑ "Bramley Baths". Historic England. https://historicengland.org.uk/advice/caring-for-heritage/take-ownership/case-studies/bramley-baths.
- ↑ "About | Bramley Baths". https://bramleybaths.com/about/.