Calverley
| Calverley | |
| Yorkshire West Riding | |
|---|---|
 Calverley Parish Church | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SE209368 |
| Location: | 53°49’36"N, 1°41’27"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 22,594 (2011) |
| Post town: | Pudsey |
| Postcode: | LS28 |
| Dialling code: | 0113 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Leeds |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Pudsey |
Calverley is a village in the West Riding of Yorkshire, on the A657 road, about ten miles from Leeds city centre and four miles from Bradford. The population of Calverley in 2011 was 4,328. It is part of the West Riding's Agbrigg and Morley Wapentake
Nae
The name of Calverley is first attested in the 1086 Domesday Book, as Caverlei and Caverleia.[1] Spellings including the l, such as Kalverlay, are found in twelfth-century sources. The name comes from the Old English calfra leah, meaning 'calves' meadow' or similar.[2]
History
Calverley is a rural village with a mediæval manor house, Calverley Old Hall, which dates back to the 14th century and was home to the Calverley family. In 1605 the landowner, Walter Calverley, went insane and murdered some of his children in Calverley Hall. He refused to plead and was ordered to be pressed to death, a method used to try to force a confession. He died without confessing his crime in order to ensure that his estate was not taken from his remaining family.[3]
Houses in the village are mostly constructed of sandstone, darkened by the soot of the Industrial Revolution, though there are brick buildings to the south of the original village. The Anglican parish church St Wilfrid's has parts dating from the 11th or 12th century. The tower was added and increased in the 13th to 15th century.[4] The Methodist church beside Victoria Park opened in 1872. Both churches are Grade II listed buildings.[5]
Calverley Cutting, a straight road which was intended to replace the old winding packhorse way through the woods between Carr Road in Calverley and Apperley Bridge, was cut through the local sandstone rock by 1856. It was meant to be part of a scheme to develop the area for luxurious residential purposes which, however, failed. Local residents objected to the closure of the old route because the new road proved to be very steep.[6][7]
Calverley and Rodley railway station on the line of the former Leeds and Bradford Railway was opened in 1846, closed to passengers in 1965 and to freight in 1968.
Sports and recreation
- Cricket: Calverley St Wilfrid's Cricket Club
- Golf:
- Woodhall Hills (established 1905) off Woodhall Road
- Calverley Golf Club
There is a recreation ground in Victoria Park, where the cricket team plays.
Pictures
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Calverley) |
Calverley Old Hall
Methodist Church (1872)
Older Calverley Houses
Calverley Cutting, with the bridge of Clara Drive in the background
.jpg)
Outside links
- CalverleyInfo, Genealogical and historical Website
- Information on Calverley from GENUKI
References
- ↑ Calverley in the Domesday Book
- ↑ Harry Parkin, Your City's Place-Names: Leeds, English Place-Name Society City-Names Series, 3 (Nottingham: English Place-Name Society, 2017), p. 32.
- ↑ "The History of Calverley". http://www.calverleytoday.co.uk/news/Village-History.3610741.jp#.
- ↑ Calverley Today David Weldrake (20 December 2007) Calverley Village History
- ↑ Claverley Today Template:Webarchive Faith
- ↑ "Calverley Cutting". Leodis. A photographic Archive of Leeds. http://www.leodis.net/display.aspx?resourceIdentifier=2005414_24630373.
- ↑ "Calverley Cutting, top, from a watercolour by Fred Swaine". Leodis. A photographic Archive of Leeds. http://www.leodis.net/display.aspx?resourceIdentifier=200824_165994.
