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AND THE CLOTHING DISTRICT.

THERE is no county in England which presents more diverse features in its different parts than Yorkshire the huge, wide-spreading Yorkshire. And yet these differences have been brought about more by man's busy doings, than by the physical structure of the county: or rather, certain diversities being established by Nature in her geological developments, man has given a more and more marked character to these diversities by his steam-engines, his looms, his spinning machines, and his mining operations.

on the east and north of this line, comprising more than three-fourths of the entire West Riding, is almost as wholly agricultural as the North and East Ridings themselves. Busy then, indeed, must be the remaining one-fourth; and busy it is. Busy, too, in modes of industry so entirely distinct, that we must ask the reader to follow us even to a further division. We must draw an imaginary line, which shall cut off the southern portion of this nook of the county; this southern portion contains the coal and iron of Penistone, Silkstone, Rotherham, and Sheffield, but has hardly a spindle or a loom throughout its whole extent; whereas the remainder, though possessing much coal and some iron, is, par excellence, the CLOTHING DISTRICT.

Thus, step by step, we bring our attention to centre in one particular part of Yorkshire. If the reader will take his map, and trace four lines-from Barnsley to Leeds, Leeds to Skipton, Skipton to Rochdale, and Rochdale to Barnsley - he will enclose an irregular quadrangle, which constitutes the clothing district : excluding very few of the clothing villages, and including very few villages which are not of that character. Three or four centres of active operation are found within this quadrangle: such as Bradford, Halifax, Huddersfield, and Dewsbury-each having around it a group of villages, which look to it as a market for the sale of their manufactured produce. Whether they be hills or valleys where these villages lie, still the villages themselves are occupied mainly by clothiers. The towns and larger villages are, how、 ever, all on the banks of the rivers flowing through valleys :-thus, Skipton, Keighley, Bingley, and Leeds are in the valley of the Aire; Bradford is in a valley, springing from this at right angles; Halifax is in a hollow, surrounded by high ground; Huddersfield is in the valley of the Colne, near the confluence of many minor streams; and lastly, Dewsbury is in the valley of the Calder.

Beginning at York, and following the meanderings of the Derwent, from the vicinity of that ancient city to the vicinity of Scarborough, we have a line of demarcation through a portion of the county. Beginning again at York, and following the Ouse until it empties itself into the Humber, we have a second irregular line. Starting a third time from the same point, and proceeding north-west to the boundary of Westmorland, partly along the upper valley of the Ouse, and partly along the ridge of a chain of mountains, we have a third line of separation. Yorkshire is by these lines parted off into three portions, or Ridings; and these three Ridings differ considerably one from another. If our present concern were with the county generally, we should have to point out the main features of difference between the East and the North Ridings; but it suffices for us to show that the West Riding differs strikingly from both. A steamengine is a rarity in the East and North: in the West its puffing, panting movements are familiar enough. In the East and North the streams, if they do any work at all, exhibit it in the navigation of barges, and in turning corn-mills: in the West, the streams are busy coadjutors in the making and finishing of cloth. In the East and North, the chief towns (excepting Hull) derive most of their commercial importance from being centres of agricultural districts: in the West, there are a dozen towns which all but rank with the Manchesters and Birminghams. In the East and North, the villages are almost wholly agricultural: in the West there is hardly a village where the spindle and the shuttle are not busily plied. In the East and North, the people grow the food which they eat in the West they are too busy and too many to do sothey apply to their neighbours of Lincolnshire. In the East and North there are only four inhabitants to twenty acres in the West there are fifteen. In the East and North, there is only one house to twenty-extension in the North; so that the latter is now more four acres in the West there are six.

And even this West Riding itself is anything but uniform in its features. If we trace a curved line from Rotherham, through Leeds, to Skipton, all the portion

When we call this the Clothing District, it is desirable to know how that term is applied. Long before cotton or silk formed any notable proportion of English dress, woollen garments were largely made in Yorkshire and in the West of England; and those two portions of England became generally known as the Clothing Districts. Various circumstances have led to the decline of manufactures in the West, and their

peculiarly the possessor of this appellation. Even here, however, the trade is not distributed indiscrimi nately over the district: it groups itself around certain centres. Thus, the wool-dealer, the cloth-manufacturer,

the commercial traveller, the shipping merchant—all know in which direction to bend their steps according to the kind of goods required.

As the present article does not pretend to grasp at the topography of the whole clothing district; nor, on the other hand, to treat of manufacturing industry in a systematic way; it may be well at once to settle what it does propose as its object. Leeds being by far the largest and most important town in the district, it will be made the subject of a topographical description; while the clothing manufacture will be so far noticed as to illustrate the dependence of Leeds on it for support, and the dependence of all the towns and villages on each other.

In viewing the position of Leeds with respect to the rest of the district, we see that it shares with them in the general course of the rivers towards the east or south-east. Going a little beyond our prescribed limits, on the north, we find the river Wharfe, which rising near Hawes, follows a direction pretty nearly southeast, past Bolton Abbey, Otley, Harewood, Wetherby, and Tadcaster, to its junction with the Ouse, near Cawood. Then comes the Aire, which, rising near Settle, follows in like manner a south-east course, past Skipton, Keighley, Bingley, Leeds, to its junction with the Calder, near Castleford. This Calder takes its rise on the borders of Lancashire, and follows a winding course (not deviating very much from east), past Sowerby, Dewsbury, and Wakefield, to Castleford. Lastly; the river which flows through Huddersfield, and which is formed by a number of small streams, has a direction rather towards the north-east, until it joins the Calder. Thus all the streams have a direction tending more or less towards the east; and all contribute to form that great river which, under the name of the Humber, passes by Hull into the German Ocean. Between the greater valleys through which these streams flow are smaller lateral valleys; by which the whole district is cut up into a succession of hills and hollows,-very pleasant for the artist to look at, very advantageous for the manufacturer who requires water-power, but very embarrassing to the engineer who has to make railways.

Leeds occupies the north-east corner of the whole district.

One might almost have expected that the greatest town of the district would have been near the centre; and in by-gone ages, when Halifax was more closely connected than Leeds with the clothing manufacture, such a system of central position was observable. But various circumstances have tended in later ages to give Leeds a commanding position.

THE NET-WORK OF WEST RIDING RAILWAYS. The mode of reaching a town, in these our railway days, is among the most notable of its features. The "Great London Road," which marks the chief entrance to most of our towns, is becoming less and less the chief entrance. An intruder has stepped in, who bids us follow his iron track. The "ancient ways" are very

much like deserted ways now, and are to be appreciated only by a thorough-going pedestrian. Let us see, then, what the iron roads are doing, and have been doing, and will be doing, in and around Leeds.

The year 1844 commenced what we may term the new railway era for Leeds. Until that period, there were only two railways belonging to the town; viz., the North Midland, which had its northern terminus at Leeds; and the Leeds and Selby, which had its western terminus at the same town. In the year above named (1844), the Leeds and Selby line passed into the hands of the York and North Midland Railway Company. As to the Manchester and Leeds Railway, the name has always been a misnomer; for the line terminates at Normanton, eight or ten miles south of Leeds: the remainder of the distance being run over the North Midland. Towards the north and west, Leeds was wholly severed from the general railway system. The first change was produced in 1844, by the legislative sanction of the Leeds and Bradford Railway. This line was to commence at Sandford Street in Leeds, and to pass through a number of small but busy villages and townships to Bradford, including Wortley, Armley, Bramley, Kirkstall, Horsforth, Shipley, and others: the termination being in the Kirkgate at Bradford. There was also sanctioned a short branch from this line in Holbeck, to the North Midland in Hunslet; so as to afford continuous communication from Bradford to the south and east, through Leeds.

The next step, in 1845, was the legalizing of the Leeds and Dewsbury line. This was to commence by

a junction with the Leeds and Bradford in Holbeck township, Leeds; and proceed by way of Beeston, Ardsley, and Batley, to Dewsbury; and thence by Mirfield and Kirkheaton to Huddersfield. The line was to form two junctions with the Manchester and Leeds, at Kirkheaton and at Mirfield; and it was likewise to have two branches, from Leeds to Wortley, and from Batley to Birstall. There were subsidiary arrangements for abandoning a portion of the line near Huddersfield, in the event of certain agreements being made with the Manchester and Leeds Company. The same year also witnessed the passing of an Act for the Leeds and Thirsk Railway. This was in effect an extension of the North Midland Railway towards the north: placing Leeds (as it ought to be placed) on a main line of thoroughfare. It was to pass from Leeds through Bramhope, Knaresborough, Ripley, Ripon, and Sowerby, to Thirsk; and was to have a multitude of small branches, from Headingley to Bramley, from Cookridge to Bramley, from Knaresborough to Harrowgate, and two others to connect it with the Leeds and Bradford, and the Great North of England lines. A further progress was made in the same year, by the passing of Acts for the extension of the Leeds and Bradford to Colne, the Wakefield and Goole, the Huddersfield and Manchester, and certain branches from the Manchester and Leeds Railways.

Then came the busy year 1846, when the bubbles of

1845 had to be blown away, and the good measures (with an admixture of bad, it must be owned,) sanctioned. Leeds had its full share in these exploits. The York and North Midland Company were em. powered to shorten their line of communication from York to Leeds; the Leeds and Bradford, Leeds and Dewsbury, and Manchester and Leeds Companies received powers to make several amendments in their various lines; the Leeds and Thirsk were authorised to extend their operations to the coal districts of Durham; the Wharfdale Railway was sanctioned, whereby the towns and villages on the Wharfe would be brought into connection with Leeds and the other great towns; the Great Northern Company received its large powers, one feature of which was, to carry their operations northward to Leeds; and, lastly, a net-work of the most extraordinary kind, called the West-Riding Union Railway, received the Royal assent, having for its object, by a great number of small lines, planned, in spite of the enormous expense inevitably involved, to connect most of the great clothing towns of the West-Ridingsuch as Leeds, Bradford, Halifax, Huddersfield, and Dewsbury-with each other.

Another year brings us to 1847. The Parliamentary documents contain many and varied railway details, relating, more or less, to Leeds and its vicinity; but they were, for the most part, mere alterations and improvements in the numerous Acts before obtained. By this time, the companies directly and closely interested in the town of Leeds had increased to seven or eight in number; but amalgamations and leasings have since brought them down to a smaller number of larger groups. One of the Acts of 1847 was to amend the details of a new entrance into Leeds: it marked out a line from the township of Wortley to Wellington Street in Leeds, there to form the terminus of the West-Riding Union Railway.

One more year, and we conclude our list. In 1848, the Leeds and Thirsk Company added still more to the number of short branches which will mark their line; but the only Act with which we have here to do—and one which will have more effect on the interior of Leeds than any of the Acts hitherto enumerated-is that which empowers the formation of the Leeds Central Station. So many companies are about to approach Leeds on every side, that it was felt to be desirable that they should have one general point of junction, and one grand station, within the town. The WestRiding Union, the Leeds and Dewsbury, the Leeds and Thirsk, and the Great Northern, will all enter Leeds from different directions; and these four companies have agreed to construct a general station in common. The Leeds and Selby, the Leeds and Bradford, and the North Midland parties hold aloof from this arrangement: they belong to other interests, somewhat at rivalry with the former. A sum of no less than £320,000 is authorized to be raised for this one station; the four Companies to provide it in equal quotas. The station is to be on the north side of the river Aire. It will either touch upon, or pass

through or over, the Leeds and Whitehall turnpikeroad, Aire Street, King Street, Wellington Street, Queen Street, and the General Infirmary; it will be nearly close to the Coloured-cloth Hall; and there will be a connection made with the Leeds and Bradford Railway. The General Infirmary is to be wholly removed, and a new building constructed elsewhere at the expense of the united Companies.

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Such, then, are the arrangements made, up to the present time, for accommodating this remarkable district: we say made,' in the parliamentary sense; for the engineers have still a vast amount of work to do, before the various lines of railway will be finished. The year 1845 was the period of severe competition in this quarter. Two rival schemes, the Leeds and West-Riding Junction,' and the 'West Yorkshire,' were brought forward, for supplying a net-work of railways for the clothing towns; and the Report of the Board of Trade on those schemes, gives a very good idea of the nature of the district: "One peculiarity in the district is the number of important and populous towns and manufacturing villages, scattered over it so irregularly, that their connection cannot possibly be effected by any one line of railway. This will best be understood by reference to a map, from which it will be seen, that any line that connects Leeds with Bradford and Halifax, and those places with Manchester, necessarily isolates Huddersfield and Dewsbury; while, on the other hand, a Manchester and Leeds fine, carried through those places, would provide no accommodation for Bradford and Halifax. The traffic of the district is also such as to require a very complete communication of all these towns with one another, as well as an outlet for each of them towards their great manufacturing capitals, Leeds and Manchester, and towards their great shipping ports, Hull and Liverpool. It consists, in great measure, of what may be called an 'omnibus traffic,' circulating from town to town within the district, in the pursuits of manufacturing industry, and to attend the cloth and other markets which are held weekly, on stated days, in all the chief emporiums; and the traffic in goods and raw materials, owing to the subdivision in the processes of manufacture throughout the district, will be of a very similar description. The great bulk of this local traffic will be of a character to require, for its proper development, both very cheap rates, and very numerous trains."

THE RISE AND GROWTH OF LEEDS.

Leeds, the 'Loidis,' 'Ledes,' and 'Leedes' of past ages, has nothing left at the present day to mark its connection with feudal and monastic times, excepting perhaps the Abbey of Kirkstall in its immediate vicinity. It was never particularly rich in such features-far less so than its neighbour, the venerable city of York; and the hand of Time, assisted by the extension of commerce, has levelled, one by one, all that told of the past.

In this, as in other towns which can date their

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The chief authority on the early history of Leeds, Dr. Whitaker, states that there was a Roman station at or near this spot; but that nothing has been retained of the history of Leeds till the time of the Saxons. He thinks that the district of Loidis, mentioned by the Venerable Bede, comprised the country lying about ten miles on every side from Leeds. 'Loidis and Elmete,' the title of Dr. Whitaker's voluminous work on this subject, relates to two Saxon names of places mentioned by Bede; which names are believed by Dr. Whitaker to refer to the town of Leeds, the neighbouring town or village of Barwick in Elmete, and the surrounding country. From the terms in which Leeds is mentioned in Domesday Book, it is inferred that there were about 135 persons, with their households, who were landowners of Leeds and Holbeck in the time of the Conqueror. Whitaker gives a curious conjecture of the probable appearance of Leeds at that time: "Whatever streets do not bear the Saxon name of gate,' were then, if anything, lanes in the fields; and this rule restricts the original Leeds to Briggate, Kirkgate, and Swinegate, which last formed the original approach to the Castle, which, at a somewhat later period, was erected by the Lacies. Let the reader, then, who is acquainted with this busy and crowded scene as it exists at present, figure to himself two deep and dirty highways, one stretching from the bridge to the present Town Hall; the other at a right angle to the parish church, with seven-and-twenty dwellinghouses constructed of mud, wattles, and straw-the usual architecture of the Saxons-their mean barns, farm-yards, etc.; and here and there a wretched cabin, perhaps of still meaner structure, dispersed at intervals along these two lines. To the backs of these, in every direction, lay a wide extent of open fields; and with these exceptions, the streets and squares into which this great commercial town has expanded in every quarter, were alternately grazed by cattle, or wrought by the plough."

From this humble condition Leeds gradually and silently developed itself. At some period between the Conquest and the reign of John, a castle was built, and both castle and manor belonged to the family of Paganel. Leeds itself had, immediately after the Conquest, been given to Ilbert de Lacy, a powerful noble, who united it to his barony of Pontefract; but after the lapse of a few years, the manor of Leeds was granted to the Paganels, who held it under the Lacys the latter being superior lords of the district. Of what character was the Castle built by Paganel we have very little account. It stood, however, upon Mill Hill, at a short distance from the River Aire, and upon a

gentle acclivity. The Castle was surrounded with an extensive park, long since broken up. The site is nevertheless sufficiently indicated by such names as Park Place, Park Square, Park Lane, and Park Row, all lying a little north-west of the present Coloured-cloth Hall. There are only two historical facts clearly known as applying to Leeds Castle: the one was the besieging of the Castle by King Stephen, during his march towards Scotland in 1139; and the other was the temporary confinement of Richard II. within the Castle, just before his accredited murder at Pontefract. The Castle is supposed to have been destroyed early in the fourteenth century. Sometimes a little confusion arises from the circumstance that Yorkshire and Kent each had a Leeds Castle: the latter is still existing.

Maurice Paganel, as the mesne lord of Leeds, gave a Charter to the burgesses during the reign of King John. Soon after the death of this baron, the manor reverted to the chief lords of the fee; and after changing hands many times, it came into the possession of the Duke of Lancaster, during the reign of Edward I. When this duke became King Henry IV., the manor of Leeds assumed the character of royal property, and as such it remained till the time of James I., when it again passed into private hands. It has, for about two centuries and a half, been sold and given and inherited in a great variety of ways; and at the present day it is held by several proprietors in common, each of whom has a certain definite share of the whole.

We know very little of the share which Leeds may have taken in the baronial struggles of the thirteenth and two following centuries: it is probable that the town was too small to be regarded as an important feature in contests for power, especially after the destruction (whether by time or by violence) of the castle. The first page of what may perhaps be termed the modern history of Leeds is given by Leland, who, writing about three centuries ago, says :-"Ledes, two miles lower down than Christal [Kirkstall] Abbaye, on Aire river, is a praty market toune, having one paroche chirche, reasonably well builded, and as large as Bradeford, but not so quik as it." We must infer that this "quickness" refers to the bustle and activity of the two towns, in which the palm is given by Leland to Bradford. It was probably about that time that the clothing manufacture was first introduced into Leeds. Ralph Thoresby tells us, that one of his reasons for writing the Ducatus Leodiensis was a consideration of the great richness and resources of the country near his native town, Leeds. He selects as a sort of centre, Haselwood, a little distance eastward of Leeds; and says that the district around Leeds and Haselwood formed the portion of Yorkshire which Bishop Tunstal "shewed to King Henry VIII. in his progress to York, anno 1548, which he avowed to be the richest he ever found in all his travels through Europe; there being within ten miles of Haselwood, 165 manor-houses of lords, knights, and gentlemen of the best quality; 275 several woods, whereof some of them contain 500 acres; 32 parks, and 2 chases of deer; 120 rivers and brooks, whereof 5 be

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