LEEDS, a city and municipal county in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England, 185 m. N.N.W. from London. Pop. (1931) 482,789. It is the largest unit in the urban region of West York shire. It is on the river Aire, and lies above the marshy lowland which is liable to extensive flooding in winter. It early became a local market centre, attracting routes from all directions. To the north-west the Aire Valley leads to the Craven Gaps in the Pen nine Highland—the lowest ways through the Pennines in the whole length from Tyne to Trent. South-west of Leeds lie the shortest ways through the highland, for here the Pennines are at their nar rowest. Both road and rail routes have taken advantage of these physical conditions, with the result that Leeds has become an im portant nodal town. It occupies a central railway position and is served by the L.M.S.R. and L.N.E.R. ; it is a half way station on the main route from London to Scotland via the Craven gap, and connects with Liverpool by the Leeds-Liverpool canal and Goole and the Humber by the Aire and Calder Navigation. It is the centre of an important coal and iron district, and, though regarded as the capital of the great manufacturing district of the West Riding, Leeds is not its centre, but on its border. East and north the country is agricultural; west and south lie the manufacturing towns of the woollen area.
History.—It is probable that pre-Roman routes and Roman roads crossed the Pennines near the present site of Leeds, but there is no evidence of them. Leeds (Loidis, Ledes) belonged to the kingdom or principality of Elmete, and was ruled by British chieftains until Edwin conquered Northumbria in the 7th century. At the time of the Norman conquest, the township consisted of seven estates, each held by a thane, but, by 1086, these had been united into a single manorial estate. Throughout the middle ages it retained its rural character long after it became commercially important. In 1207, the lord of the manor, Maurice Pagnell, granted a charter to the inhabitants and in 1626 it was created a municipal borough by Charles I. The object of the charter was the regulation and protection of the woollen trade by local author ity. During the Commonwealth, Leeds gained, temporarily, parlia mentary representation, and a new charter was issued in 1661, giving Leeds its first mayor. This was superseded in 1684 by a charter which placed the corporation under the absolute power of the crown in certain contingencies, but the charter of 1661 was restored by William III. and this still forms the basis of munici pal constitution.
The town became a county borough in 1888 and was raised to the rank of a city in 1893. The city was extended by the addition of Roundhay, Seacroft, Shadwell and part of Crossgates in 1912, Middleton in 1919, part of Adel-cum-Eccup in 1925, and Eccup, Alwoodley, Thorpe Stapleton and part of Austhorpe in 1928. In 1918 the borough was divided into six constituencies, each area returning one member to parliament. In 1924, the city was constituted a single township under a separate board of guardians, by the amalgamation of the former townships of Leeds, Armley and Bramley, Holbeck and Hunslet, and the former parish of Osmondthorpe.
The original city of Leeds contains no historical buildings. With the growth of the borough in recent years, the Cistercian abbey of Kirkstall, founded in 1147, and the 12th century parish church of Adel have been included within the city boundary. The city has also acquired the mansion and park of Templenewsam, once the property of the Knights Templars; it was probably built in the first quarter of the 17th century.
Industries.—Leeds lies in the "soft water" area of the Pennines and this was a factor in the introduction of woollen manufacture in the 14th century. The industry became established in the Aire
and Calder valleys, but it was not until the middle of the 16th cen tury that Leeds was able to challenge the supremacy of York and Beverley. Even in the 17th century, cloth was made in the neigh bouring villages to the east and was only finished and sold in the town. In the early i8th century Halifax took the lead in worsted developments and during the 19th century, Bradford developed until it is now easily the largest wool textile centre in the country. With the Industrial Revolution the woollen industry of Leeds yielded pride of place to engineering. In the 18th and 19th cen turies the city was, and still is, concerned mainly with industrial and agricultural equipment, and transport services. Transport by air is the latest type, parts for seaplanes and airplanes being pro duced at Leeds for erection at Brough. During the second half of the 19th century, engineering was, in turn, displaced by the wholesale clothing industry, which was really an outgrowth of the woollen and worsted manufactures. It was introduced in 1855 and is now the largest single industry in the town. About one third of the "ready-made" clothes are exported. A recent development is the establishment in Leeds of the Research Association for Wool len and Worsted Industries (incorporated 1918). During the second half of the i8th century, Leeds was famed for its pottery, but the industry lapsed in the 19th century and the potteries closed down in 1878. The linen trade arrived in 1788, and was soon a prosperous industry. Owing to competition with Belfast and Dundee, the mills were closed. Only two or three firms re main. To-day, the most important industries are wholesale cloth ing, engineering, woollen and worsted manufactures, printing, coal mining, leather industries and furniture trades. Leeds has a repu tation for colour-printing, and some of the most complicated and efficient printing machinery is produced. The development of transport has been an important factor in the concentration of in dustries. In 1659 the Aire was made navigable to Leeds, and in 1760 was linked with the Calder, forming the Aire and Calder Navigation. The Leeds and Liverpool canal was begun in 177o, but was not completed until 1816. By 1848, Leeds was con nected by rail with all important neighbouring towns.
The University of Leeds originated with the foundation of the Medical School in 1831. In 1874, the Yorkshire College of Science was established to supply instruction in the arts and sciences which are applicable to the manufactures, engineering, mining and agri culture of the county. In 1884, the college was amalgamated with the Medical School and in 1887 it became one of the constituent colleges of Victoria University, and so remained until its separate incorporation in 1904. In 1928 the foundation stone was laid of new buildings to be erected to meet growing requirements. Other educational establishments include a grammar school (founded in 1552), a city training college, a Wesleyan Methodist theological college and the lecture hall and museum of the Philosophical and Literary Society. Leeds is the seat of a Roman Catholic bishop with a pro-Cathedral dedicated to St. Anne.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.-James Wardell, The Municipal History of the Borough of Leeds (1846) ; J. D. Whitaker, Loidis and Elmete (1816); D. H. Atkinson, Ralph Thoresby, the topographer; his town (Leeds) and times (1885-87) ; general handbook. British Association 1927; Leeds and its History—Three Hundred Years of Achievement. 1926. Publications of the Thoresby Society.