Swarcliffe
Encyclopedia
Swarcliffe, originally the Swarcliffe Estate, is a district of Leeds
, West Yorkshire
, England. It is 4.9 miles (8 km) east of Leeds city centre
, and within the LS14 Leeds postcode area
.
In the 1950s, the Swarcliffe housing estate
was developed by the city council which built two and three-bedroomed semi-detached
council house
s, a number of three-storey blocks containing 12 flats
or more, and three brick-built nine-storey blocks of flats. Two of the blocks of flats were demolished in the 1990s and an old people's home was built on the site. In 2007, the remaining block was demolished. The previous year, six of seven fifteen-storey high-rise blocks of flats, built in 1966 as part of the Whinmoor
estate, were demolished.
Swarcliffe is served by Swarcliffe Primary School and Nursery, Grimes Dyke Primary School and St. Gregory’s Youth & Adult Centre. Stanks Fire Station provides a service to more than 42,452 people. Swarcliffe has a dwindling number of public houses and shops. Great and Little Swarcliffe Woods lie within the boundaries of the estate.
The area is being regenerated by Yorkshire Transformations; a private finance initiative
, which is a partnership between Leeds City Council
and two private sector companies: Carillion and the Bank of Scotland
. The MP
for the Leeds East
constituency from 1955 to 1992 was Denis Healey
who represented the Labour Party
. He was succeeded by the present Labour MP, George Mudie
. In 2009, the population of Swarcliffe and Stanks was 6,751, of which 4,544 were considered to be "hard-pressed", or experiencing financial difficulty.
, between the army of the Christian king Oswiu of Bernicia
and the pagan army of King Penda of Mercia, took place in 655 AD, according to Bede
, although some historians favour 654 or 656. The actual site of the battle is disputed, but one possibility is that the River Winwaed is now the Cock Beck
; to the east of Swarcliffe. The battle is remembered in the names of Pendas Way, a street south of Swarcliffe, and the nearby Pendas Fields
estate.
After the Norman Conquest in 1066, William the Conqueror granted the parish of Whitkirk
, which included Seacroft, to Ilbert de Lacy of Pontefract
, whose descendants held the title of Earl of Lincoln
. The parish was subsequently leased by the de Lacys to the Somerville family. During the English Civil War
in 1643, Lord Goring
's Royalist
army defeated the Parliamentarians
under Sir Thomas Fairfax at the Battle of Seacroft Moor
.
In the 1820s, Swarcliffe and Stanks were part of the Barwick-in-Elmet
parish
. The name Stanks derives from a French word meaning ponds or pools of putrid water. Before the estate was built, the area contained Winmore Lodge, named Winn Moor Lodge in 1893, Penwell House, Hill Top, Spikeland Nook, Swarcliffe Farm, and a parochial school
on Stanks Lane South/Barwick Road, which was replaced by Windsor Terrace before 1892.In 1997, Alan Noble, the church warden of St James’ Church, Seacroft, remembered moving to a tied cottage
in Taylors Yard in 1926, when his father was employed by Mr. Presious; the owner of Swarcliffe Farm. From: Memories of Seacroft as a Village 1926 to 1947, a pamphlet by Alan Noble. Published by Seacroft St James' PCC. 1998
The Leeds to Halton Dial road was turnpiked
in 1751. Tolls were collected at the Penny Toll; a toll house
on York Road, at the north-eastern border of the area. This road is the A64 Leeds to York road
The toll house was owned by Sir Thomas Gascoigne, whose agents charged one penny per pair of wheels, which was "a considerable sum", according to the historian, Ralph Thoresby
, who visited the area in 1702. In 1886, the property was owned by Colonel Frederick Trench-Gascoigne, of Parlington Hall
, Aberford
, who rented it out for three pounds
, fourteen shilling
s and sixpence a year. Gascoigne owned and rented out a number of houses, coal mines, woodland and farm land in Seacroft, Whinmoor, Barnbow
, Garforth
, Barwick-in-Elmet, Cross Gates, and Scholes. The toll house was situated north of a cottage and a 19th-century granite-built windmill, which is now part of the Ramada
Leeds North hotel. In the mid-1800s, Isaac Chippindale, who lived at Windmill Farm, started the Scholes Brick and Tile Works on Wood Lane, on the border with Scholes. The company's quarry produced high quality bricks which were used to build many houses in the surrounding area. Its kilns and house were demolished in the early 1980s, leaving two small fishing lakes, but the site is still known as "Chippy's Quarry".
The Leeds to Wetherby
Railway had a station at Scholes and passed under the turnpike to the northeast. The line was built by the North Eastern Railway
and ran past the eastern border of Swarcliffe and Stanks. It opened on 1 May 1876 and closed in 1964. Services were withdrawn as part of the Beeching Axe
; an informal name for the British Government's attempt to reduce the cost of running British Railways in the 1960s.
In 1874, the Ecclesiastical Commissioners
published a report which noted that two new parishes would be delineated by "an imaginary line commencing at the point where the boundary dividing the said new parish of Seacroft from the new parish of Manston aforesaid crosses the footpath leading from Seacroft through Little Swarcliffe Plantation to Wood Laith Lane"—leading from the Cock Beck to Scholes; now called Wood Lane.
In 1812, the title Squire
of Seacroft was held by the Wilson family: the last member of which was Squire Darcy Bruce Wilson. According to the 1891 census, he lived at Seacroft Hall with his sister, Louisa, and five servants: a footman, cook, kitchen maid and two housemaids. He was a Master of Arts
, Barrister
at Law, Justice of the peace
, and a captain in the Yorkshire Hussars
. After his death at Seacroft Hall in 1936, his nephew sold the family estate to Leeds Corporation
one year later. The hall was demolished in 1953, and its ornamental lake was filled in to make way for Parklands Girls' High School
. Templar Villas, a cluster of semi-detached Victorian
houses, was built on Templar Lane/Barwick Road before 1893, and a row of large houses was built on Templar Lane before 1908. Between 1938 and 1952, private houses were built on the north side of Barwick Road, between Stanks Lane South and the Cock Beck.
. In 1953, The Civil Engineer reported that Leeds City Council paid Myton Ltd from Kingston upon Hull
, £227,232 "for the erection of 172 dwellings on the Swarcliffe (Seacroft) Estate". In 1955, The Civil Engineer reported that Leeds City Council paid £2,867 for "Electrical installations in 130 dwellings at the Swarcliffe (Seacroft) estate". The estate was built between the Seacroft and Manston estates, bordered by the A6120 Leeds Outer Ring Road to the west, the A64 York Road to the north, and Barwick Road to the south, with Cock Beck and Scholes to the east. The adjacent Whinmoor estate was built in the 1960s, to the east and north. Swarcliffe measures 0.84 miles (1.4 km), from north-west to south-east, and 0.83 miles (1.3 km), from east to west. It is 4.9 miles (7.9 km), east of the Leeds city centre, and within the LS14 Leeds postcode area, which encompasses Swarcliffe, Seacroft, Whinmoor, Killingbeck
, Scarcroft
, and Thorner
.
The housing estate consisted of two and three-bedroomed semi-detached houses, and a number of three-storey blocks containing 12 flats or more, but some have been demolished. Most houses were built of brick, but a number were constructed of prefabricated cinder and concrete panels. The right to buy scheme
, implemented by the Conservative Party
in the Housing Act of 1980
, enabled tenants to buy their homes. In 2008, the average price for a house in Swarcliffe was £109,810. In 2010, 1,025 homes were privately owned, and 1,394 were rented.
Swarcliffe was noted for its trio of brick ten-storey flats, built to a T-plan with access from balconies. Each block contained 60 dwellings. The Leeds Planning Committee approved the application in 1959.The contract to build the development was won by W J Simms Sons & Cooke Ltd. In 1998, Swarcliffe Towers and Manston Towers were demolished. In 2007, Elmet Towers was also demolished. An old people's home, Woodview Court, was built on the site of Swarcliffe Towers and Manston Towers, and new housing was built on the Elmet Towers site. The West Yorkshire Archaeological Service
believes that the Elmet Towers site may contain the remains of medieval pottery, which was once manufactured there.
Langbar Towers, next to a shopping parade, was the first of five 15-storey H-plan tower blocks to be completed at Whinmoor. The high rise blocks had reinforced concrete
frames with no-fines concrete infill panels. The planning application was approved in 1964 and the first block, Langbar Towers, completed on 24 January 1966 was officially opened on 19 February 1966 by Denis Healey MP. Ash Tree Court, Brayton Grange, Farndale Court, Langbar Grange, Langbar Towers and Pennwell Croft, six of seven high-rise blocks of flats built in 1966, were demolished in 2006. Sherburn Court, the remaining high-rise block, was refurbished and given a new roof, windows and lifts.
A £100 million scheme to refurbish the area's housing, funded by a public-private partnership scheme, started in 2006. This Private finance initiative
, operating as Yorkshire Transformations, is a partnership between Leeds City Council and private sector companies; Carillion and the Bank of Scotland. In the late 2000s, Persimmon Homes built St Gregory's, seventy-three private houses east of Stanks Drive.
of the City of Leeds
. It is currently represented by three Labour
councillors: Suzi Armitage (elected to serve until 2012), Peter Gruen (elected to serve until 2014), and Pauleen Grahame (elected 2011), who lives in Swarcliffe. All three hold surgeries
at St Gregory’s Youth & Adult Centre.
Denis Healey
(Labour) was the MP
from 1955
to 1992
, when he was succeeded by the present Labour MP, George Mudie
. Since the boundary changes which took effect before the 2010 general election, the Leeds East
constituency has been composed of Swarcliffe, Cross Gates, Whinmoor, Seacroft, Gipton
, Harehills
, Killingbeck
, Temple Newsam
, Halton Moor
, Halton
, Whitkirk
, Colton
and Austhorpe
.
Members of the European Parliament (MEPs)
for Yorkshire and the Humber European Parliament constituency
since the European Parliament election, 2009
, are Godfrey Bloom
(UK Independence Party), Andrew Brons
(BNP
), Timothy Kirkhope
(Conservative), Linda McAvan
(Labour), Edward McMillan-Scott
(Liberal Democrat
), and Diana Wallis
(Liberal Democrat).
, Whinmoor
and Manston
estates, and is bordered by the A64/York Road
to the north, Barwick Road to the south, Cock Beck and Scholes
to the east, and the A6120, Leeds Outer Ring Road
to the west. The smaller Stanks estate is included in the Swarcliffe area. After the western part of the estate was built in the 1950s, Whinmoor estate was built to the east and north in the 1960s. After a boundary change, the southern part of Whinmoor (to the east of the original Swarcliffe estate) is now part of Swarcliffe.
The underlying rocks are coal measures
towards the northern extremity of the Yorkshire coalfield containing shale
s, mudstones, sandstone
s and coal
seams laid down in the carboniferous
era. The rock strata have a general dip towards the south and south-east.
Great Swarcliffe Wood, formerly Great Swarcliffe Plantation, which borders Swarcliffe Avenue, Eastwood Gardens, Swarcliffe Drive and Eastwood Drive, contains an abundance of sycamore, oak
and rowan
trees, being approximately 260 yards long, and 170 yards wide. The Little Swarcliffe Wood, formerly Little Swarcliffe Plantation, borders Swarcliffe Drive, but can be accessed via Swarcliffe Bank. It has a collection of European trees, including sycamore, oak, ash
, elm
and lime
. It is approximately 138 yards long, and 97 yards wide. Although the woods can be crossed along desire pathways, there are no official public rights of way
. Fed by the Grimes Dike from the north of York Road, the Cock Beck runs in a southerly direction past Swarcliffe and Stanks' eastern borders, and joins the River Wharfe
to the south of Tadcaster
.
s were called to inspect the damage.
In the 2001 census
Swarcliffe was recorded as having 4,819 Christians, 18 Sikhs, 17 Muslims, nine Buddhists, six Hindus and six Jews. The census recorded the ethnicity of the inhabitants: 6,303 White British, forty-seven Irish, thirty-two mixed race Black Caribbean and White, three mixed race Black African and White, thirteen mixed race Asian and White, twelve Indian, eleven Pakistani, three Black Caribbean, eleven Black African, and seven Chinese.
made a colour film for its 21st anniversary about the pupils of Swarcliffe School, called Swarcliffe Junior School Presents Our Daily Bread, which featured pupils creating a stand for Leeds' Freedom From Hunger exhibition.
In 1968, St. Gregory's Catholic Primary School was built on Stanks Gardens to accommodate the overflow of children from St Theresa's Primary School in Cross Gates, which is 0.9 miles (1 km), to the south. In 1989, the school moved to the former St. Kevin's Secondary modern school
premises on Barwick Road. The school closed in 2008 and was demolished in late 2009. The old school became St Gregory’s Youth & Adult Centre, offering adult education classes, older people’s services, child care, a Youth Service, and the Swarcliffe Good Neighbours Scheme which was established in 1994. In 2010, 600 people signed a petition to prevent the closure of the centre. Grimes Dyke Primary School was built in the late 1960s in the north eastern part of Swarcliffe. In a 2008 census, it was reported that 1,419 children lived in the Swarcliffe area.
) churches in Seacroft, Whinmoor and Swarcliffe. The parish is in the Diocese of Ripon and Leeds
. Funds to build the church were provided by the Lilley family, who were connected with the Samuel Smith Brewery
in Tadcaster. The church was designed by M. J. Farmer and built in 1963. Stone taken from Ripon Cathedral
was used to support the altar. Swarcliffe Baptist
Church opposite Swarcliffe Primary School and Nursery, was used as a classroom when the school suffered from overcrowding. Stanks Methodist Church was opened on 23 February 1869, by Primitive Methodists
, but the building was closed and the congregation disbanded in 2007.
St. Gregory's Roman Catholic Church, formally called St. Gregory the Great Church, is in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Leeds. The land on which it stands was bought in 1954, but before building work started, mass
was held in the priest's council house, with confessions taken through the dining hatch of the kitchen. The first church on the site, a simple red brick hall opened on 11 October 1956, is now occupied by St. Gregory's Social Club. On 12 March 1970, an octagonal church of modern design, by A. G. Pritchard Son & Partners, was opened next to the original church. It has simple bench seating for 335 worshippers. St. Gregory's Social Club hosts meetings of the Swarcliffe and Stanks' Residents and Tenants' Association.
. , Stanks Parade has a newsagent, a fish-and-chip shop and a unisex hairdresser. A parade of shops and a post office on Langbar Gardens was closed after 2004.
The Squinting Cat public house
, once known as the John Smeaton
after the 18th-century civil engineer from nearby Austhorpe
, is boarded up and may be demolished. The Whinmoor public house was closed in December 2010, and its lease is for sale. Swarcliffe Working Men's Club
, a members only club, was built in the 1960s, in 2011 it had 1,700 members. St. Gregory’s Social Club is next to St. Gregory's Roman Catholic Church. The Staging Post public house is on Swarcliffe Avenue/Whinmoor Way.
in Swarcliffe is coordinated by the West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive
. The nearest rail station is Cross Gates station
. Bus links from Swarcliffe to other areas are operated by First Leeds
. The nearest international airport is Leeds Bradford Airport
, which is 12.4 miles (20 km) away.
Built in 1973, Stanks Fire Station is on Sherburn Road. Under the control of the West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service
, its 24 firefighters provide a service to more than 42,452 people, covering approximately 14.39 miles (23 km). Policing is provided by West Yorkshire Police
, operating from Killingbeck police station. There are currently no dentists' practices or doctors' surgeries in the Swarcliffe area, although the Windmill Health Centre is just outside the north-west boundary, on Mill Green View, and the Seacroft Dental Practice is on York Road, Seacroft. Swarcliffe library on Langbar Road was recently closed; it will be replaced with a mobile library.
Leeds City Council is responsible for providing all statutory local authority services in the area. These include: education, housing, planning, transport and highways, social services, libraries, leisure and recreation, waste collection, waste disposal, environmental health and revenue collection. Yorkshire Water
manages the area's drinking and waste water.
Northern Gas Networks distributes gas, and CE Electric UK distributes electricity from the national transmission system to customers in Yorkshire.
, and an evening paper, the Yorkshire Evening Post
(YEP). The Leeds Weekly News is a free publication, also produced by Yorkshire Post Newspapers in four geographic versions, which is distributed to households in the main urban areas of the city. Seacroft Today is an internet site, funded by the Yorkshire Evening Post, which features news specifically about Seacroft, Whinmoor and Swarcliffe. Local radio stations are BBC Radio Leeds
, 96.3 Radio Aire
, Magic 828
, 105 Capital FM, and East Leeds FM
, which was started in 2003, by students from John Smeaton Community College in neighbouring Manston. BBC Television
and ITV
have regional studios that serve the area.
, a trade unionist, tenants’ leader and socialist, published Staying Red: Why I Remain a Socialist, detailing his life and political activities while living at 40 Eastwood Crescent. In 2008, he was writing book about Doris Storey
, the winner of two Olympic swimming gold medals at the 1938 British Empire Games
in Sydney, Australia. Mr. Harding lives in the Swarcliffe area. The Leeds-born musician, Andrew Edge
, grew up in the area, attending Swarcliffe School. He used two photographs taken in Swarcliffe, of a sunrise and sunset, for his Northern Sky album in 1996 (BMG
Austria).
Swarcliffe residents take part in the annual Leeds in Bloom Private Gardens competition, with a number of gold, silver or bronze winners living in the area.
; an organisation involving the local police force, council, fire authority, and primary care trusts.
An example of anti-social behaviour
which prompted the enforcement of an Anti-Social Behaviour Order, ASBO
, was the case of a young man who, in 2008, had posted more than eighty videos of his anti-social behaviour on YouTube
, including high-speed road races, verbal abuse, trespassing, leaving a petrol station (supposedly), without paying for petrol, and videoing his use of class A drugs. He was branded "Leeds' dumbest criminal" by councillor Les Carter, who added: "In the last three years, we have seen a 32 per cent reduction in crime in Leeds. If more criminals were as obliging, the city would be even safer".
In 2010, a Chinese national, who led a gang of smugglers, was jailed for over three years for running an operation worth £1.5 million. The cargoes of cigarettes and alcohol were hidden in shipments of tea, plastic bags and storage shelves. In 2011, a 42-year-old female drug dealer was jailed for six years for paying others up to £5,000 to confess to her crimes.
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
, West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire is a metropolitan county within the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England with a population of 2.2 million. West Yorkshire came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972....
, England. It is 4.9 miles (8 km) east of Leeds city centre
Leeds City Centre
Leeds city centre is the central business district of Leeds, England. It is within the Leeds Central parliamentary constituency, represented by Hilary Benn as MP since a by-election in 1999...
, and within the LS14 Leeds postcode area
LS postcode area
The LS postcode area, also known as the Leeds postcode area, is a group of postcode districts around Leeds, Wetherby, Tadcaster, Pudsey, Otley and Ilkley in England...
.
In the 1950s, the Swarcliffe housing estate
Housing estate
A housing estate is a group of buildings built together as a single development. The exact form may vary from country to country. Accordingly, a housing estate is usually built by a single contractor, with only a few styles of house or building design, so they tend to be uniform in appearance...
was developed by the city council which built two and three-bedroomed semi-detached
Semi-detached
Semi-detached housing consists of pairs of houses built side by side as units sharing a party wall and usually in such a way that each house's layout is a mirror image of its twin...
council house
Council house
A council house, otherwise known as a local authority house, is a form of public or social housing. The term is used primarily in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. Council houses were built and operated by local councils to supply uncrowded, well-built homes on secure tenancies at...
s, a number of three-storey blocks containing 12 flats
Apartment
An apartment or flat is a self-contained housing unit that occupies only part of a building...
or more, and three brick-built nine-storey blocks of flats. Two of the blocks of flats were demolished in the 1990s and an old people's home was built on the site. In 2007, the remaining block was demolished. The previous year, six of seven fifteen-storey high-rise blocks of flats, built in 1966 as part of the Whinmoor
Whinmoor
Whinmoor is residential area of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The area is 5 miles to the north east of the city centre, adjacent to Swarcliffe and Seacroft in the LS14 Leeds postcode area...
estate, were demolished.
Swarcliffe is served by Swarcliffe Primary School and Nursery, Grimes Dyke Primary School and St. Gregory’s Youth & Adult Centre. Stanks Fire Station provides a service to more than 42,452 people. Swarcliffe has a dwindling number of public houses and shops. Great and Little Swarcliffe Woods lie within the boundaries of the estate.
The area is being regenerated by Yorkshire Transformations; a private finance initiative
Private Finance Initiative
The private finance initiative is a way of creating "public–private partnerships" by funding public infrastructure projects with private capital...
, which is a partnership between Leeds City Council
Leeds City Council
Leeds City Council is the local authority for the City of Leeds metropolitan district of West Yorkshire, England.-History:The city council was established in 1974, with the first elections being held in advance in 1973...
and two private sector companies: Carillion and the Bank of Scotland
Bank of Scotland
The Bank of Scotland plc is a commercial and clearing bank based in Edinburgh, Scotland. With a history dating to the 17th century, it is the second oldest surviving bank in what is now the United Kingdom, and is the only commercial institution created by the Parliament of Scotland to...
. The MP
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
for the Leeds East
Leeds East (UK Parliament constituency)
Leeds East is a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.-Boundaries:...
constituency from 1955 to 1992 was Denis Healey
Denis Healey
Denis Winston Healey, Baron Healey CH, MBE, PC is a British Labour politician, who served as Secretary of State for Defence from 1964 to 1970 and Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1974 to 1979.-Early life:...
who represented the Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
. He was succeeded by the present Labour MP, George Mudie
George Mudie
George Edward Mudie is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Leeds East since 1992.-Early life:...
. In 2009, the population of Swarcliffe and Stanks was 6,751, of which 4,544 were considered to be "hard-pressed", or experiencing financial difficulty.
History
The Battle of the WinwaedBattle of the Winwaed
The Battle of the Winwaed was fought on 15 November 655 , between King Penda of Mercia and Oswiu of Bernicia, ending in the Mercians' defeat and Penda's death.-History:Although the battle is said to be the most important between the early northern and southern divisions of...
, between the army of the Christian king Oswiu of Bernicia
Oswiu of Northumbria
Oswiu , also known as Oswy or Oswig , was a King of Bernicia. His father, Æthelfrith of Bernicia, was killed in battle, fighting against Rædwald, King of the East Angles and Edwin of Deira at the River Idle in 616...
and the pagan army of King Penda of Mercia, took place in 655 AD, according to Bede
Bede
Bede , also referred to as Saint Bede or the Venerable Bede , was a monk at the Northumbrian monastery of Saint Peter at Monkwearmouth, today part of Sunderland, England, and of its companion monastery, Saint Paul's, in modern Jarrow , both in the Kingdom of Northumbria...
, although some historians favour 654 or 656. The actual site of the battle is disputed, but one possibility is that the River Winwaed is now the Cock Beck
Cock Beck
Cock Beck is a stream in the outlying areas of East Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, which runs from its source due to a runoff north-west of Whinmoor, skirting east of Swarcliffe and Manston , past Pendas Fields, Scholes, Barwick-in-Elmet, Aberford, Towton, Stutton, and Tadcaster, where it flows...
; to the east of Swarcliffe. The battle is remembered in the names of Pendas Way, a street south of Swarcliffe, and the nearby Pendas Fields
Pendas Fields
Pendas Fields is a private, suburban housing estate in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is considered part of Cross Gates, as is Manston. Swarcliffe is close, and Cock Beck runs nearby....
estate.
After the Norman Conquest in 1066, William the Conqueror granted the parish of Whitkirk
Whitkirk
Whitkirk is a suburb of east Leeds, situated between Cross Gates to the north, Austhorpe to the east, Killingbeck to the west, Colton to the south-east and Halton to the south-west...
, which included Seacroft, to Ilbert de Lacy of Pontefract
Pontefract
Pontefract is an historic market town in West Yorkshire, England. Traditionally in the West Riding, near the A1 , the M62 motorway and Castleford. It is one of the five towns in the metropolitan borough of the City of Wakefield and has a population of 28,250...
, whose descendants held the title of Earl of Lincoln
Earl of Lincoln
Earl of Lincoln is a title that has been created eight times in the Peerage of England.-Earls of Lincoln, First Creation :*William d'Aubigny, 1st Earl of Lincoln and 1st Earl of Arundel Earl of Lincoln is a title that has been created eight times in the Peerage of England.-Earls of Lincoln, First...
. The parish was subsequently leased by the de Lacys to the Somerville family. During the English Civil War
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
in 1643, Lord Goring
George Goring, Lord Goring
George Goring, Lord Goring was an English Royalist soldier. He was known by the courtesy title Lord Goring as the eldest son of the 1st Earl of Norwich.- The Goring family :...
's Royalist
Cavalier
Cavalier was the name used by Parliamentarians for a Royalist supporter of King Charles I and son Charles II during the English Civil War, the Interregnum, and the Restoration...
army defeated the Parliamentarians
Roundhead
"Roundhead" was the nickname given to the supporters of the Parliament during the English Civil War. Also known as Parliamentarians, they fought against King Charles I and his supporters, the Cavaliers , who claimed absolute power and the divine right of kings...
under Sir Thomas Fairfax at the Battle of Seacroft Moor
Battle of Seacroft Moor
The Battle of Seacroft Moor, on 30 March 1643, was a decisive loss for the Parliamentary forces during the First Civil War. It took place near Seacroft, north east of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England...
.
In the 1820s, Swarcliffe and Stanks were part of the Barwick-in-Elmet
Barwick-in-Elmet
Barwick-in-Elmet is a village east of the centre of but still part of the City of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is one of only three places in the area to be explicitly associated with the ancient Celtic kingdom of Elmet, the others being Scholes-in-Elmet and Sherburn-in-Elmet. It is part of...
parish
Parish
A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...
. The name Stanks derives from a French word meaning ponds or pools of putrid water. Before the estate was built, the area contained Winmore Lodge, named Winn Moor Lodge in 1893, Penwell House, Hill Top, Spikeland Nook, Swarcliffe Farm, and a parochial school
Parochial school
A parochial school is a school that provides religious education in addition to conventional education. In a narrower sense, a parochial school is a Christian grammar school or high school which is part of, and run by, a parish.-United Kingdom:...
on Stanks Lane South/Barwick Road, which was replaced by Windsor Terrace before 1892.In 1997, Alan Noble, the church warden of St James’ Church, Seacroft, remembered moving to a tied cottage
Tied cottage
A tied cottage is a dwelling house typically owned by an employer that is only rented out to their employees, If the resident leave their job for any reason then they must move out of the house. Thus the employee is tied to that employer...
in Taylors Yard in 1926, when his father was employed by Mr. Presious; the owner of Swarcliffe Farm. From: Memories of Seacroft as a Village 1926 to 1947, a pamphlet by Alan Noble. Published by Seacroft St James' PCC. 1998
The Leeds to Halton Dial road was turnpiked
Turnpike trust
Turnpike trusts in the United Kingdom were bodies set up by individual Acts of Parliament, with powers to collect road tolls for maintaining the principal highways in Britain from the 17th but especially during the 18th and 19th centuries...
in 1751. Tolls were collected at the Penny Toll; a toll house
Toll house
A tollhouse or toll house is a building with accommodation for a toll collector, beside a tollgate on a toll road or canal. Many tollhouses were built by turnpike trusts in England, Wales and Scotland during the 18th and early 19th centuries...
on York Road, at the north-eastern border of the area. This road is the A64 Leeds to York road
A64 road
The A64 is a road in North and West Yorkshire, England which links Leeds, York and Scarborough. The A64 starts as the A64 ring road motorway in Leeds and then is a dual carriageway for the rest of its route, except parts of the road from Malton to Scarborough.The road approximates a section of the...
The toll house was owned by Sir Thomas Gascoigne, whose agents charged one penny per pair of wheels, which was "a considerable sum", according to the historian, Ralph Thoresby
Ralph Thoresby
Ralph Thoresby , born in Leeds and is widely credited with being the first historian of that city. He was besides a merchant, non-conformist, fellow of the Royal Society, diarist, author, common-councilman in the Corporation of Leeds, and museum keeper.-Upbringing:Ralph Thoresby was the son of John...
, who visited the area in 1702. In 1886, the property was owned by Colonel Frederick Trench-Gascoigne, of Parlington Hall
Parlington Hall
Parlington Hall was the seat of the Gascoigne family, Aberford near Leeds in the county of Yorkshire, in England. It was the birthplace of Isabella and Elizabeth Oliver Gascoigne, who inherited the Gascoigne family fortune in 1843...
, Aberford
Aberford
Aberford is a large village and civil parish on the eastern outskirts of the City of Leeds metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. It has a population of 1,059 according to the 2001 census...
, who rented it out for three pounds
Pound (currency)
The pound is a unit of currency in some nations. The term originated in England as the value of a pound of silver.The word pound is the English translation of the Latin word libra, which was the unit of account of the Roman Empire...
, fourteen shilling
Shilling
The shilling is a unit of currency used in some current and former British Commonwealth countries. The word shilling comes from scilling, an accounting term that dates back to Anglo-Saxon times where it was deemed to be the value of a cow in Kent or a sheep elsewhere. The word is thought to derive...
s and sixpence a year. Gascoigne owned and rented out a number of houses, coal mines, woodland and farm land in Seacroft, Whinmoor, Barnbow
Barnbow
Barnbow was a munitions factory situated near the city of Leeds during World War I. It was officially known as National Filling Factory No. 1. In 1916 the factory suffered the worst tragedy in the history of the city , when a massive explosion killed 35 of the women who worked there.After the...
, Garforth
Garforth
Garforth is a town within the City of Leeds metropolitan borough, in West Yorkshire, England. The 2001 Census lists 23,892 residents in the Garforth and Swillington ward - 80.57% of which are homeowners, 20% more than the average for Leeds. Garforth itself has 15,394 of those people...
, Barwick-in-Elmet, Cross Gates, and Scholes. The toll house was situated north of a cottage and a 19th-century granite-built windmill, which is now part of the Ramada
Ramada
Ramada is a hotel chain owned and operated by Wyndham Worldwide.- History :The lodging chain was founded in 1953 by longtime Chicago restaurateur Marion W...
Leeds North hotel. In the mid-1800s, Isaac Chippindale, who lived at Windmill Farm, started the Scholes Brick and Tile Works on Wood Lane, on the border with Scholes. The company's quarry produced high quality bricks which were used to build many houses in the surrounding area. Its kilns and house were demolished in the early 1980s, leaving two small fishing lakes, but the site is still known as "Chippy's Quarry".
The Leeds to Wetherby
Wetherby
Wetherby is a market town and civil parish within the metropolitan borough of the City of Leeds, in West Yorkshire, England. It stands on the River Wharfe, and has been for centuries a crossing place and staging post on the Great North Road, being mid-way between London and Edinburgh...
Railway had a station at Scholes and passed under the turnpike to the northeast. The line was built by the North Eastern Railway
North Eastern Railway (UK)
The North Eastern Railway , was an English railway company. It was incorporated in 1854, when four existing companies were combined, and was absorbed into the London and North Eastern Railway at the Grouping in 1923...
and ran past the eastern border of Swarcliffe and Stanks. It opened on 1 May 1876 and closed in 1964. Services were withdrawn as part of the Beeching Axe
Beeching Axe
The Beeching Axe or the Beeching Cuts are informal names for the British Government's attempt in the 1960s to reduce the cost of running British Railways, the nationalised railway system in the United Kingdom. The name is that of the main author of The Reshaping of British Railways, Dr Richard...
; an informal name for the British Government's attempt to reduce the cost of running British Railways in the 1960s.
In 1874, the Ecclesiastical Commissioners
Ecclesiastical Commissioners
Ecclesiastical Commissioners were, in England and Wales, a body corporate, whose full title is Ecclesiastical and Church Estates Commissioners for England. The commissioners were authorized to determine the distribution of revenues of the Church of England, and they made extensive changes in how...
published a report which noted that two new parishes would be delineated by "an imaginary line commencing at the point where the boundary dividing the said new parish of Seacroft from the new parish of Manston aforesaid crosses the footpath leading from Seacroft through Little Swarcliffe Plantation to Wood Laith Lane"—leading from the Cock Beck to Scholes; now called Wood Lane.
In 1812, the title Squire
Squire
The English word squire is a shortened version of the word Esquire, from the Old French , itself derived from the Late Latin , in medieval or Old English a scutifer. The Classical Latin equivalent was , "arms bearer"...
of Seacroft was held by the Wilson family: the last member of which was Squire Darcy Bruce Wilson. According to the 1891 census, he lived at Seacroft Hall with his sister, Louisa, and five servants: a footman, cook, kitchen maid and two housemaids. He was a Master of Arts
Master of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...
, Barrister
Barrister
A barrister is a member of one of the two classes of lawyer found in many common law jurisdictions with split legal professions. Barristers specialise in courtroom advocacy, drafting legal pleadings and giving expert legal opinions...
at Law, Justice of the peace
Justice of the Peace
A justice of the peace is a puisne judicial officer elected or appointed by means of a commission to keep the peace. Depending on the jurisdiction, they might dispense summary justice or merely deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions...
, and a captain in the Yorkshire Hussars
Yorkshire Hussars
The Yorkshire Hussars was a unit of the British Army from 1794 to 1956.The regiment was formed as volunteer cavalry in 1794 during the French Revolutionary Wars. It was converted to an armoured role during World War II. In 1956 it merged with two other Yorkshire yeomanry regiments to form the...
. After his death at Seacroft Hall in 1936, his nephew sold the family estate to Leeds Corporation
County Borough of Leeds
The County Borough of Leeds, and its predecessor, the Municipal Borough of Leeds, was a local government district in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England, from 1835 to 1974. Its origin was the ancient borough of Leeds, which was reformed by the Municipal Corporations Act 1835...
one year later. The hall was demolished in 1953, and its ornamental lake was filled in to make way for Parklands Girls' High School
Parklands High School, Seacroft
Parklands High School is a secondary school in the Seacroft area of Leeds, West Yorkshire. The school is an all-girls school, being the last single-sex school in Leeds...
. Templar Villas, a cluster of semi-detached Victorian
Victorian architecture
The term Victorian architecture refers collectively to several architectural styles employed predominantly during the middle and late 19th century. The period that it indicates may slightly overlap the actual reign, 20 June 1837 – 22 January 1901, of Queen Victoria. This represents the British and...
houses, was built on Templar Lane/Barwick Road before 1893, and a row of large houses was built on Templar Lane before 1908. Between 1938 and 1952, private houses were built on the north side of Barwick Road, between Stanks Lane South and the Cock Beck.
Development
In a boundary change on 1 April 1937, Whinmoor was added to the Leeds County Borough from the Tadcaster Rural DistrictTadcaster Rural District
Tadcaster was a rural district in the West Riding of Yorkshire from 1894 to 1974. It was named after Tadcaster.It was created by the Local Government Act 1894 from the Tadcaster rural sanitary district. It was enlarged in 1937 by the abolition of Bishopthorpe Rural District.It was abolished in...
. In 1953, The Civil Engineer reported that Leeds City Council paid Myton Ltd from Kingston upon Hull
Kingston upon Hull
Kingston upon Hull , usually referred to as Hull, is a city and unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It stands on the River Hull at its junction with the Humber estuary, 25 miles inland from the North Sea. Hull has a resident population of...
, £227,232 "for the erection of 172 dwellings on the Swarcliffe (Seacroft) Estate". In 1955, The Civil Engineer reported that Leeds City Council paid £2,867 for "Electrical installations in 130 dwellings at the Swarcliffe (Seacroft) estate". The estate was built between the Seacroft and Manston estates, bordered by the A6120 Leeds Outer Ring Road to the west, the A64 York Road to the north, and Barwick Road to the south, with Cock Beck and Scholes to the east. The adjacent Whinmoor estate was built in the 1960s, to the east and north. Swarcliffe measures 0.84 miles (1.4 km), from north-west to south-east, and 0.83 miles (1.3 km), from east to west. It is 4.9 miles (7.9 km), east of the Leeds city centre, and within the LS14 Leeds postcode area, which encompasses Swarcliffe, Seacroft, Whinmoor, Killingbeck
Killingbeck
Killingbeck is a district of east Leeds, West Yorkshire, England that is situated between Seacroft to the north, Cross Gates and Whitkirk to the east, Gipton to the west, Halton Moor to the south, Halton to the south east and Osmondthorpe to the south west. It blends in to the Cross Gates and...
, Scarcroft
Scarcroft
Scarcroft is an upmarket village and civil parish north east of Leeds city centre in the City of Leeds metropolitan borough, West Yorkshire, England. The village lies on the main A58 road between Leeds and Wetherby. Scarcroft has a LS14 postcode and two of the most expenisve streets in Yorkshire...
, and Thorner
Thorner
Thorner is a rural village and civil parish in the City of Leeds in West Yorkshire, England, located between Seacroft and Wetherby. It has a population of 1,503.-History:...
.
The housing estate consisted of two and three-bedroomed semi-detached houses, and a number of three-storey blocks containing 12 flats or more, but some have been demolished. Most houses were built of brick, but a number were constructed of prefabricated cinder and concrete panels. The right to buy scheme
Right to buy scheme
The Right to buy scheme is a policy in the United Kingdom which gives tenants of council housing the right to buy the home they are living in. Currently, there is also a right to acquire for the tenants of housing associations...
, implemented by the Conservative Party
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
in the Housing Act of 1980
Housing Act 1980
The Housing Act 1980 was an Act of Parliament passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom that gave five million council house tenants in England and Wales the Right to Buy their house from their local authority. The Act came into force on the 3 October 1980 and is seen as a defining policy of...
, enabled tenants to buy their homes. In 2008, the average price for a house in Swarcliffe was £109,810. In 2010, 1,025 homes were privately owned, and 1,394 were rented.
Swarcliffe was noted for its trio of brick ten-storey flats, built to a T-plan with access from balconies. Each block contained 60 dwellings. The Leeds Planning Committee approved the application in 1959.The contract to build the development was won by W J Simms Sons & Cooke Ltd. In 1998, Swarcliffe Towers and Manston Towers were demolished. In 2007, Elmet Towers was also demolished. An old people's home, Woodview Court, was built on the site of Swarcliffe Towers and Manston Towers, and new housing was built on the Elmet Towers site. The West Yorkshire Archaeological Service
West Yorkshire Joint Services
West Yorkshire Joint Services provides certain public services to the five districts of West Yorkshire, England . It is jointly funded by the five district councils, pro rata to their population, and is run by a committee of equal numbers of councillors from the five councils...
believes that the Elmet Towers site may contain the remains of medieval pottery, which was once manufactured there.
Boundary change, demolitions and redevelopment
Since Swarcliffe estate was built in the 1950s, and Whinmoor estate in the 1960s, the southern part of Whinmoor is now within the Swarcliffe boundary.A small part of the Swarcliffe estate in the north-east is now within Seacroft Houses built in the Whinmoor area were mostly prefabricated terraces, along with seven partly prefabricated high-rise blocks: 44 metres high, with fifteen floors. The Leeds Neighbourhood Index, provided by Leeds City Council, states that the new boundary contains 38 per cent terraced housing, 37 per cent semi-detached and 22 per cent purpose-built flats: 1,187 semi-detached homes, 873 terraced, 488 flats, 108 detached, 46 bungalows, and 28 maisonettes.Langbar Towers, next to a shopping parade, was the first of five 15-storey H-plan tower blocks to be completed at Whinmoor. The high rise blocks had reinforced concrete
Reinforced concrete
Reinforced concrete is concrete in which reinforcement bars , reinforcement grids, plates or fibers have been incorporated to strengthen the concrete in tension. It was invented by French gardener Joseph Monier in 1849 and patented in 1867. The term Ferro Concrete refers only to concrete that is...
frames with no-fines concrete infill panels. The planning application was approved in 1964 and the first block, Langbar Towers, completed on 24 January 1966 was officially opened on 19 February 1966 by Denis Healey MP. Ash Tree Court, Brayton Grange, Farndale Court, Langbar Grange, Langbar Towers and Pennwell Croft, six of seven high-rise blocks of flats built in 1966, were demolished in 2006. Sherburn Court, the remaining high-rise block, was refurbished and given a new roof, windows and lifts.
A £100 million scheme to refurbish the area's housing, funded by a public-private partnership scheme, started in 2006. This Private finance initiative
Private Finance Initiative
The private finance initiative is a way of creating "public–private partnerships" by funding public infrastructure projects with private capital...
, operating as Yorkshire Transformations, is a partnership between Leeds City Council and private sector companies; Carillion and the Bank of Scotland. In the late 2000s, Persimmon Homes built St Gregory's, seventy-three private houses east of Stanks Drive.
Government
Swarcliffe is in the Cross Gates and Whinmoor wardWards of the United Kingdom
A ward in the United Kingdom is an electoral district at sub-national level represented by one or more councillors. It is the primary unit of British administrative and electoral geography .-England:...
of the City of Leeds
City of Leeds
The City of Leeds is a local government district of West Yorkshire, England, governed by Leeds City Council, with the status of a city and metropolitan borough. The metropolitan district includes Leeds and the towns of Farsley, Garforth, Guiseley, Horsforth, Morley, Otley, Pudsey, Rothwell,...
. It is currently represented by three Labour
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
councillors: Suzi Armitage (elected to serve until 2012), Peter Gruen (elected to serve until 2014), and Pauleen Grahame (elected 2011), who lives in Swarcliffe. All three hold surgeries
Surgery (politics)
A political surgery or clinic is a term used to describe a series of one-to-one meetings. A Member of Parliament may have with his or her constituents, at which a constituent may raise issues of local concern...
at St Gregory’s Youth & Adult Centre.
Denis Healey
Denis Healey
Denis Winston Healey, Baron Healey CH, MBE, PC is a British Labour politician, who served as Secretary of State for Defence from 1964 to 1970 and Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1974 to 1979.-Early life:...
(Labour) was the MP
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
from 1955
United Kingdom general election, 1955
The 1955 United Kingdom general election was held on 26 May 1955, four years after the previous general election. It resulted in a substantially increased majority of 60 for the Conservative government under new leader and prime minister Sir Anthony Eden against Labour Party, now in their 20th year...
to 1992
United Kingdom general election, 1992
The United Kingdom general election of 1992 was held on 9 April 1992, and was the fourth consecutive victory for the Conservative Party. This election result was one of the biggest surprises in 20th Century politics, as polling leading up to the day of the election showed Labour under leader Neil...
, when he was succeeded by the present Labour MP, George Mudie
George Mudie
George Edward Mudie is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Leeds East since 1992.-Early life:...
. Since the boundary changes which took effect before the 2010 general election, the Leeds East
Leeds East (UK Parliament constituency)
Leeds East is a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.-Boundaries:...
constituency has been composed of Swarcliffe, Cross Gates, Whinmoor, Seacroft, Gipton
Gipton
Gipton is a suburb of East Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, between the A58 to the north and the A64 to the south. It is joined with Harehills as a City Council Ward...
, Harehills
Harehills
Harehills is an inner-city area of east Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is approximately north east of Leeds city centre. Harehills is situated between the A58 and the A64 .- Overview :...
, Killingbeck
Killingbeck
Killingbeck is a district of east Leeds, West Yorkshire, England that is situated between Seacroft to the north, Cross Gates and Whitkirk to the east, Gipton to the west, Halton Moor to the south, Halton to the south east and Osmondthorpe to the south west. It blends in to the Cross Gates and...
, Temple Newsam
Temple Newsam
Temple Newsam is a Tudor-Jacobean house with grounds landscaped by Capability Brown, in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England...
, Halton Moor
Halton Moor
Halton Moor is a district of east Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, located around three miles east of Leeds city centre and is close to the A63. It is situated between Killingbeck to the north, Temple Newsam to the south, Osmondthorpe to the west and Halton and Colton to the east.The area is mainly...
, Halton
Halton, Leeds
Halton is a district of east Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, situated between Cross Gates to the north, Halton Moor to the west, Colton to the east and Whitkirk to the South. Temple Newsam lies directly south of the estate.-History:...
, Whitkirk
Whitkirk
Whitkirk is a suburb of east Leeds, situated between Cross Gates to the north, Austhorpe to the east, Killingbeck to the west, Colton to the south-east and Halton to the south-west...
, Colton
Colton, Leeds
Colton is a district of east Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, situated between Cross Gates to the north, Halton and Halton Moor to the west, Whitkirk to the north-west and Austhorpe to the north-east...
and Austhorpe
Austhorpe
Austhorpe is a civil parish in east Leeds, West Yorkshire, England that is situated between Pendas Fields to the north, Whitkirk to the west, Cross Gates to the north-west and Colton to the south-west....
.
Members of the European Parliament (MEPs)
Member of the European Parliament
A Member of the European Parliament is a person who has been elected to the European Parliament. The name of MEPs differ in different languages, with terms such as europarliamentarian or eurodeputy being common in Romance language-speaking areas.When the European Parliament was first established,...
for Yorkshire and the Humber European Parliament constituency
Yorkshire and the Humber (European Parliament constituency)
Yorkshire and the Humber is a constituency of the European Parliament. It currently elects 6 MEPs using the d'Hondt method of party-list proportional representation.- Boundaries :...
since the European Parliament election, 2009
European Parliament election, 2009
Elections to the European Parliament were held in the 27 member states of the European Union between 4 and 7 June 2009. A total of 736 Members of the European Parliament were elected to represent some 500 million Europeans, making these the biggest trans-national elections in history...
, are Godfrey Bloom
Godfrey Bloom
Godfrey Bloom is a Member of the European Parliament for Yorkshire and the Humber for the United Kingdom Independence Party...
(UK Independence Party), Andrew Brons
Andrew Brons
Andrew Henry William Brons is a British politician. Long active in far right politics in Britain, he was elected as a Member of the European Parliament for Yorkshire and the Humber for the British National Party at the 2009 European Parliament election...
(BNP
British National Party
The British National Party is a British far-right political party formed as a splinter group from the National Front by John Tyndall in 1982...
), Timothy Kirkhope
Timothy Kirkhope
Timothy John Robert Kirkhope is a British lawyer and politician, currently serving as Member of the European Parliament for Yorkshire and the Humber for the Conservative Party. After serving for ten years as Member of Parliament for Leeds North East, he was first elected to the European Parliament...
(Conservative), Linda McAvan
Linda McAvan
Linda McAvan is a British Labour Party politician, who is a Member of the European Parliament for the Labour Party for Yorkshire and the Humber...
(Labour), Edward McMillan-Scott
Edward McMillan-Scott
Edward Hugh Christian McMillan-Scott is a British Member of the European Parliament and one of the Vice-Presidents of the European Parliament...
(Liberal Democrat
Liberal Democrats
The Liberal Democrats are a social liberal political party in the United Kingdom which supports constitutional and electoral reform, progressive taxation, wealth taxation, human rights laws, cultural liberalism, banking reform and civil liberties .The party was formed in 1988 by a merger of the...
), and Diana Wallis
Diana Wallis
Diana Paulette Wallis is a British Liberal Democrat politician who is a Member of the European Parliament for Yorkshire and the Humber. Wallis was first elected in 1999 and re-elected in 2004 and in 2009....
(Liberal Democrat).
Geography
The Swarcliffe housing estate is situated between the SeacroftSeacroft
Seacroft is an outer-city suburb consisting mainly of council estate housing covering an extensive area of east Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is east of Leeds city centre and lies in the LS14 Leeds postcode area....
, Whinmoor
Whinmoor
Whinmoor is residential area of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The area is 5 miles to the north east of the city centre, adjacent to Swarcliffe and Seacroft in the LS14 Leeds postcode area...
and Manston
Manston, Leeds
Manston is a small area of Cross Gates, Leeds, England, that lies to the east of Leeds city centre.Manston is a residential part of Cross Gates. It has its own park, Manston Park, and had a pub named after it, the Manston hotel, which is now known as The Barnbow, next to the park. It has a Parish...
estates, and is bordered by the A64/York Road
A64 road
The A64 is a road in North and West Yorkshire, England which links Leeds, York and Scarborough. The A64 starts as the A64 ring road motorway in Leeds and then is a dual carriageway for the rest of its route, except parts of the road from Malton to Scarborough.The road approximates a section of the...
to the north, Barwick Road to the south, Cock Beck and Scholes
Scholes, Leeds
Scholes is a village between Leeds and Barwick-in-Elmet, West Yorkshire, England. It is part of the civil parish of Barwick in Elmet and Scholes in the City of Leeds. It is sometimes known as Scholes-in-Elmet to distinguish it from the Scholes, Holme Valley and Scholes, Cleckheaton in Kirklees,...
to the east, and the A6120, Leeds Outer Ring Road
Leeds Outer Ring Road
The Leeds Outer Ring Road is a main road that runs around most of the perimeter of the city of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The ring road is approximately long and consists of single and dual carriageways....
to the west. The smaller Stanks estate is included in the Swarcliffe area. After the western part of the estate was built in the 1950s, Whinmoor estate was built to the east and north in the 1960s. After a boundary change, the southern part of Whinmoor (to the east of the original Swarcliffe estate) is now part of Swarcliffe.
The underlying rocks are coal measures
Coal Measures
The Coal Measures is a lithostratigraphical term for the coal-bearing part of the Upper Carboniferous System. It represents the remains of fluvio-deltaic sediment, and consists mainly of clastic rocks interstratified with the beds of coal...
towards the northern extremity of the Yorkshire coalfield containing shale
Shale
Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock composed of mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals and tiny fragments of other minerals, especially quartz and calcite. The ratio of clay to other minerals is variable. Shale is characterized by breaks along thin laminae or parallel layering...
s, mudstones, sandstone
Sandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
s and coal
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
seams laid down in the carboniferous
Carboniferous
The Carboniferous is a geologic period and system that extends from the end of the Devonian Period, about 359.2 ± 2.5 Mya , to the beginning of the Permian Period, about 299.0 ± 0.8 Mya . The name is derived from the Latin word for coal, carbo. Carboniferous means "coal-bearing"...
era. The rock strata have a general dip towards the south and south-east.
Great Swarcliffe Wood, formerly Great Swarcliffe Plantation, which borders Swarcliffe Avenue, Eastwood Gardens, Swarcliffe Drive and Eastwood Drive, contains an abundance of sycamore, oak
Oak
An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus Quercus , of which about 600 species exist. "Oak" may also appear in the names of species in related genera, notably Lithocarpus...
and rowan
Rowan
The rowans or mountain-ashes are shrubs or small trees in genus Sorbus of family Rosaceae. They are native throughout the cool temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, with the highest species diversity in the mountains of western China and the Himalaya, where numerous apomictic microspecies...
trees, being approximately 260 yards long, and 170 yards wide. The Little Swarcliffe Wood, formerly Little Swarcliffe Plantation, borders Swarcliffe Drive, but can be accessed via Swarcliffe Bank. It has a collection of European trees, including sycamore, oak, ash
Zanthoxylum
Zanthoxylum is a genus of about 250 species of deciduous and evergreen trees and shrubs in the citrus or rue family, Rutaceae, native to warm temperate and subtropical areas worldwide. Common names include Prickly-ash and Hercules' Club.The fruit of several species are used to make the spice...
, elm
Elm
Elms are deciduous and semi-deciduous trees comprising the genus Ulmus in the plant family Ulmaceae. The dozens of species are found in temperate and tropical-montane regions of North America and Eurasia, ranging southward into Indonesia. Elms are components of many kinds of natural forests...
and lime
Tilia
Tilia is a genus of about 30 species of trees native throughout most of the temperate Northern Hemisphere. The greatest species diversity is found in Asia, and the genus also occurs in Europe and eastern North America, but not western North America...
. It is approximately 138 yards long, and 97 yards wide. Although the woods can be crossed along desire pathways, there are no official public rights of way
Right of way (public throughway)
Right of way is a term first used to describe the right to travel unhindered, to access a route regardless of land ownership or any other legality.The right of way may be limited...
. Fed by the Grimes Dike from the north of York Road, the Cock Beck runs in a southerly direction past Swarcliffe and Stanks' eastern borders, and joins the River Wharfe
River Wharfe
The River Wharfe is a river in Yorkshire, England. For much of its length it is the county boundary between West Yorkshire and North Yorkshire. The name Wharfe is Celtic and means "twisting, winding".The valley of the River Wharfe is known as Wharfedale...
to the south of Tadcaster
Tadcaster
Tadcaster is a market town and civil parish in the Selby district of North Yorkshire, England. Lying on the Great North Road approximately east of Leeds and west of York. It is the last town on the River Wharfe before it joins the River Ouse about downstream...
.
Neighbouring districts
Climate
Although the climate in Swarcliffe is generally relatively moderate, in 2011 it was reported that extreme winds had damaged the roofs of several flats in the Lombardy House block on Southwood Close. Structural engineerStructural engineer
Structural engineers analyze, design, plan, and research structural components and structural systems to achieve design goals and ensure the safety and comfort of users or occupants...
s were called to inspect the damage.
Demography
In 2009, the population of Swarcliffe and Stanks was 6,751, of which 4,544 were considered to be "hard-pressed", or experiencing financial difficulty.In the 2001 census
United Kingdom Census 2001
A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK Census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194....
Swarcliffe was recorded as having 4,819 Christians, 18 Sikhs, 17 Muslims, nine Buddhists, six Hindus and six Jews. The census recorded the ethnicity of the inhabitants: 6,303 White British, forty-seven Irish, thirty-two mixed race Black Caribbean and White, three mixed race Black African and White, thirteen mixed race Asian and White, twelve Indian, eleven Pakistani, three Black Caribbean, eleven Black African, and seven Chinese.
Education
Swarcliffe School, on Swarcliffe Drive, was an infant (5 to 8-years-old) and junior school (8 to 11-years-old), but the junior section was demolished in the 2000s, and the school renamed Swarcliffe Primary School and Nursery. In the early 1960s, OxfamOxfam
Oxfam is an international confederation of 15 organizations working in 98 countries worldwide to find lasting solutions to poverty and related injustice around the world. In all Oxfam’s actions, the ultimate goal is to enable people to exercise their rights and manage their own lives...
made a colour film for its 21st anniversary about the pupils of Swarcliffe School, called Swarcliffe Junior School Presents Our Daily Bread, which featured pupils creating a stand for Leeds' Freedom From Hunger exhibition.
In 1968, St. Gregory's Catholic Primary School was built on Stanks Gardens to accommodate the overflow of children from St Theresa's Primary School in Cross Gates, which is 0.9 miles (1 km), to the south. In 1989, the school moved to the former St. Kevin's Secondary modern school
Secondary modern school
A secondary modern school is a type of secondary school that existed in most of the United Kingdom from 1944 until the early 1970s, under the Tripartite System, and was designed for the majority of pupils - those who do not achieve scores in the top 25% of the eleven plus examination...
premises on Barwick Road. The school closed in 2008 and was demolished in late 2009. The old school became St Gregory’s Youth & Adult Centre, offering adult education classes, older people’s services, child care, a Youth Service, and the Swarcliffe Good Neighbours Scheme which was established in 1994. In 2010, 600 people signed a petition to prevent the closure of the centre. Grimes Dyke Primary School was built in the late 1960s in the north eastern part of Swarcliffe. In a 2008 census, it was reported that 1,419 children lived in the Swarcliffe area.
Churches
St Luke's Church is in the parish of Seacroft and part of the Seacroft Team Ministry; a group of (AnglicanChurch of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
) churches in Seacroft, Whinmoor and Swarcliffe. The parish is in the Diocese of Ripon and Leeds
Diocese of Ripon and Leeds
The Diocese of Ripon and Leeds is an administrative division of the Church of England, part of the Province of York. It covers an area in western and northern Yorkshire as well as the south Teesdale area administered by County Durham which is traditionally part of Yorkshire...
. Funds to build the church were provided by the Lilley family, who were connected with the Samuel Smith Brewery
Samuel Smith Brewery
Samuel Smith's Old Brewery, popularly known as Samuel Smith's or Sam Smith's, is an independent brewery in Tadcaster, North Yorkshire, England. It is Yorkshire's oldest brewery, founded in 1758.-History:...
in Tadcaster. The church was designed by M. J. Farmer and built in 1963. Stone taken from Ripon Cathedral
Ripon Cathedral
Ripon Cathedral is the seat of the Bishop of Ripon and Leeds and the mother church of the Diocese of Ripon and Leeds, situated in the small North Yorkshire city of Ripon, England.-Background:...
was used to support the altar. Swarcliffe Baptist
Baptist
Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...
Church opposite Swarcliffe Primary School and Nursery, was used as a classroom when the school suffered from overcrowding. Stanks Methodist Church was opened on 23 February 1869, by Primitive Methodists
Primitive Methodism
Primitive Methodism was a major movement in English Methodism from about 1810 until the Methodist Union in 1932. The Primitive Methodist Church still exists in the United States.-Origins:...
, but the building was closed and the congregation disbanded in 2007.
St. Gregory's Roman Catholic Church, formally called St. Gregory the Great Church, is in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Leeds. The land on which it stands was bought in 1954, but before building work started, mass
Mass (liturgy)
"Mass" is one of the names by which the sacrament of the Eucharist is called in the Roman Catholic Church: others are "Eucharist", the "Lord's Supper", the "Breaking of Bread", the "Eucharistic assembly ", the "memorial of the Lord's Passion and Resurrection", the "Holy Sacrifice", the "Holy and...
was held in the priest's council house, with confessions taken through the dining hatch of the kitchen. The first church on the site, a simple red brick hall opened on 11 October 1956, is now occupied by St. Gregory's Social Club. On 12 March 1970, an octagonal church of modern design, by A. G. Pritchard Son & Partners, was opened next to the original church. It has simple bench seating for 335 worshippers. St. Gregory's Social Club hosts meetings of the Swarcliffe and Stanks' Residents and Tenants' Association.
Shops and public houses
Swarcliffe Parade once had two rows of shops, but the north row was demolished in the 1980s. , the remaining parade consists of a Chinese takeaway, a newsagent and off-licence, a minimarket, a bakery, and a betting shopThe Tote
The Tote, formerly the Horserace Totalisator Board, is a British bookmaker with head offices in Wigan. It was owned from its formation in 1928 by the UK Government but was sold to Betfred in July 2011. Under the brand totesport the Tote has 514 high street betting shops, outlets on Britain's 60...
. , Stanks Parade has a newsagent, a fish-and-chip shop and a unisex hairdresser. A parade of shops and a post office on Langbar Gardens was closed after 2004.
The Squinting Cat public house
Public house
A public house, informally known as a pub, is a drinking establishment fundamental to the culture of Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. There are approximately 53,500 public houses in the United Kingdom. This number has been declining every year, so that nearly half of the smaller...
, once known as the John Smeaton
John Smeaton
John Smeaton, FRS, was an English civil engineer responsible for the design of bridges, canals, harbours and lighthouses. He was also a capable mechanical engineer and an eminent physicist...
after the 18th-century civil engineer from nearby Austhorpe
Austhorpe
Austhorpe is a civil parish in east Leeds, West Yorkshire, England that is situated between Pendas Fields to the north, Whitkirk to the west, Cross Gates to the north-west and Colton to the south-west....
, is boarded up and may be demolished. The Whinmoor public house was closed in December 2010, and its lease is for sale. Swarcliffe Working Men's Club
Working men's club
Working men's clubs are a type of private social club founded in the 19th century in industrial areas of the United Kingdom, particularly the North of England, the Midlands and many parts of the South Wales Valleys, to provide recreation and education for working class men and their families.-...
, a members only club, was built in the 1960s, in 2011 it had 1,700 members. St. Gregory’s Social Club is next to St. Gregory's Roman Catholic Church. The Staging Post public house is on Swarcliffe Avenue/Whinmoor Way.
Transport and infrastructure
Public transportPublic transport
Public transport is a shared passenger transportation service which is available for use by the general public, as distinct from modes such as taxicab, car pooling or hired buses which are not shared by strangers without private arrangement.Public transport modes include buses, trolleybuses, trams...
in Swarcliffe is coordinated by the West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive
West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive
The West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive is the Passenger Transport Executive for the county of West Yorkshire, England. It is the executive arm of the West Yorkshire Integrated Transport Authority and was originally formed on 1 April 1974 as the West Yorkshire Passenger Transport...
. The nearest rail station is Cross Gates station
Cross Gates railway station
Cross Gates railway station serves Cross Gates, an area in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It lies on the York and Selby Lines, operated by Northern Rail east of Leeds railway station...
. Bus links from Swarcliffe to other areas are operated by First Leeds
First Leeds
First Leeds is one of the bus companies serving the area of West Yorkshire, England. It forms part of FirstGroup, a company operating transport services across the British Isles and in North America...
. The nearest international airport is Leeds Bradford Airport
Leeds Bradford International Airport
Leeds Bradford International Airport is located at Yeadon, in the City of Leeds Metropolitan District in West Yorkshire, England, northwest of Leeds city centre itself...
, which is 12.4 miles (20 km) away.
Built in 1973, Stanks Fire Station is on Sherburn Road. Under the control of the West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service
West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service
The West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service is the county-wide, statutory emergency fire and rescue service for the metropolitan county of West Yorkshire, England...
, its 24 firefighters provide a service to more than 42,452 people, covering approximately 14.39 miles (23 km). Policing is provided by West Yorkshire Police
West Yorkshire Police
West Yorkshire Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing West Yorkshire in England. It is the fourth largest force in England and Wales by number of officers, with 5671 officers....
, operating from Killingbeck police station. There are currently no dentists' practices or doctors' surgeries in the Swarcliffe area, although the Windmill Health Centre is just outside the north-west boundary, on Mill Green View, and the Seacroft Dental Practice is on York Road, Seacroft. Swarcliffe library on Langbar Road was recently closed; it will be replaced with a mobile library.
Leeds City Council is responsible for providing all statutory local authority services in the area. These include: education, housing, planning, transport and highways, social services, libraries, leisure and recreation, waste collection, waste disposal, environmental health and revenue collection. Yorkshire Water
Yorkshire Water
Yorkshire Water is a water supply and treatment utility company servicing West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, the East Riding of Yorkshire, part of North Lincolnshire, most of North Yorkshire and part of Derbyshire, in England. The company has its origins in the Yorkshire Water Authority, one of ten...
manages the area's drinking and waste water.
Northern Gas Networks distributes gas, and CE Electric UK distributes electricity from the national transmission system to customers in Yorkshire.
Media
As well as national newspapers, Swarcliffe is served by the daily Yorkshire PostYorkshire Post
The Yorkshire Post is a daily broadsheet newspaper, published in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England by Yorkshire Post Newspapers, a company owned by Johnston Press...
, and an evening paper, the Yorkshire Evening Post
Yorkshire Evening Post
The Yorkshire Evening Post is a daily evening publication published by Yorkshire Post Newspapers Ltd in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England...
(YEP). The Leeds Weekly News is a free publication, also produced by Yorkshire Post Newspapers in four geographic versions, which is distributed to households in the main urban areas of the city. Seacroft Today is an internet site, funded by the Yorkshire Evening Post, which features news specifically about Seacroft, Whinmoor and Swarcliffe. Local radio stations are BBC Radio Leeds
BBC Radio Leeds
BBC Radio Leeds is the BBC Local Radio service for the English metropolitan county of West Yorkshire.- Frequencies :It broadcasts from its studios at St...
, 96.3 Radio Aire
96.3 Radio Aire
96.3 Radio Aire is the main Independent Local Radio station for Leeds and West Yorkshire. It is the sister station of Magic 828. The station is owned & operated by Bauer Radio and forms part of Bauer's Place Network of stations.-History:...
, Magic 828
Magic 828
Magic 828 is the AM sister service of Radio Aire and broadcasts to West Yorkshire on 828 kHz.-History:Magic 828 began when Radio Aire split its AM & FM frequencies to form two different stations...
, 105 Capital FM, and East Leeds FM
East Leeds FM
East Leeds FM is a community radio station based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The station started in 2003 when Heads Together, a Huddersfield based community arts organisation, joined forces with local ease Leeds high school John Smeaton. The two organisations had worked together previously...
, which was started in 2003, by students from John Smeaton Community College in neighbouring Manston. BBC Television
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
and ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
have regional studios that serve the area.
Inhabitants
In 2005, Norman HardingNorman Harding
Norman Harding published the book, Staying Red: Why I Remain a Socialist, in 2005, which detailed his political activities from 1954 to 1985. Now retired, he was a trade unionist, tenants’ leader, and worked for the Workers Revolutionary Party whilst living in London.-Early years:Born on...
, a trade unionist, tenants’ leader and socialist, published Staying Red: Why I Remain a Socialist, detailing his life and political activities while living at 40 Eastwood Crescent. In 2008, he was writing book about Doris Storey
Doris Storey
Doris Storey was an English breaststroke swimmer from Leeds who competed for Great Britain in the 1936 Summer Olympics and for England at the 1938 British Empire Games....
, the winner of two Olympic swimming gold medals at the 1938 British Empire Games
1938 British Empire Games
The 1938 British Empire Games was the third British Empire Games, the Commonwealth Games being the modern-day equivalent. Held in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia from February 5–12, 1938, they were timed to coincide with Sydney's sesqui-centenary...
in Sydney, Australia. Mr. Harding lives in the Swarcliffe area. The Leeds-born musician, Andrew Edge
Andrew Edge
Andrew Edge is a musician from Leeds, England who has played pop music, dance, synth pop and ballads. After playing in local Leeds jazz-rock bands and Working Men's Club bands, he moved to London in the late 1970s, and joined the Thompson Twins...
, grew up in the area, attending Swarcliffe School. He used two photographs taken in Swarcliffe, of a sunrise and sunset, for his Northern Sky album in 1996 (BMG
BMG
Bertelsmann Music Group, , was a division of Bertelsmann before its completion of sale of the majority of its assets to Japan's Sony Corporation of America on October 1, 2008. It was established in 1987 to combine the music label activities of Bertelsmann...
Austria).
Swarcliffe residents take part in the annual Leeds in Bloom Private Gardens competition, with a number of gold, silver or bronze winners living in the area.
Crime
Crime rate data is collected by the Crime and Disorder Reduction PartnershipCrime and Disorder Reduction Partnership
-England & Wales:A Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership is one of a number of statutory local partnerships in England and Wales, and was established by the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 to co-ordinate action on crime and disorder.-Wales:...
; an organisation involving the local police force, council, fire authority, and primary care trusts.
An example of anti-social behaviour
Anti-social behaviour
Anti-social behaviour is behaviour that lacks consideration for others and that may cause damage to society, whether intentionally or through negligence, as opposed to pro-social behaviour, behaviour that helps or benefits society...
which prompted the enforcement of an Anti-Social Behaviour Order, ASBO
Anti-Social Behaviour Order
An Anti-Social Behaviour Order or ASBO is a civil order made against a person who has been shown, on the balance of evidence, to have engaged in anti-social behaviour. The orders, introduced in the United Kingdom by Prime Minister Tony Blair in 1998, were designed to correct minor incidents that...
, was the case of a young man who, in 2008, had posted more than eighty videos of his anti-social behaviour on YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
, including high-speed road races, verbal abuse, trespassing, leaving a petrol station (supposedly), without paying for petrol, and videoing his use of class A drugs. He was branded "Leeds' dumbest criminal" by councillor Les Carter, who added: "In the last three years, we have seen a 32 per cent reduction in crime in Leeds. If more criminals were as obliging, the city would be even safer".
In 2010, a Chinese national, who led a gang of smugglers, was jailed for over three years for running an operation worth £1.5 million. The cargoes of cigarettes and alcohol were hidden in shipments of tea, plastic bags and storage shelves. In 2011, a 42-year-old female drug dealer was jailed for six years for paying others up to £5,000 to confess to her crimes.