An Exploration of Headingley Hill - Part 2

 

A detail of the entrance to the Headingley Reformed Methodist church

Continuing my exploration of Headingley Hill, while undertaking a British Listed Buildings Photo Challenge, the next building on my list was No. 1 Ashwood Villas (1870), a pair of semi-detached houses built in a Gothic Revival style using sandstone from the Elland Flags for the rock-faced walling and coarse grained Rough Rock for the dressings. 

 

No. 1 Ashwood Villas

 

By the time that the 1851 Ordnance Survey (OS) map was published, the development of Headingley was mainly restricted to plots strung along Headingley Lane but, in the later Victorian period, most of the building took place on its north side up to Woodhouse Cliff, principally along Cumberland Road and Grosvenor Road as marked on the 1893 OS map. 

 

Headingley Hill on the 1893 OS map

 

The next building on my list to photograph was the former Headingley United Reformed church, with its walls and gate piers (1864), designed in the Gothic Revival style by Cuthbert Brodrick, who designed Ashfield (c.1860) on Grove Road, but was best known for Leeds Town Hall (1858), Leeds Corn Exchange (1863) and Leeds City Museum (1868). 

 

Headingley United Reformed church

The by now familiar pattern of Elland Flags sandstone for walling and Rough Rock for the dressings is again seen here, but I was more interested in the dull red sandstone used for the columns to the south door and which I immediately considered to be Red Mansfield dolomitic sandstone – a long since unavailable stone that was widely distributed across England following the growth of the railway network. 

 

Red sandstone columns in the south door

 

To form the columns, the sandstone has been laid edge bedded and one of these had spalled, which enabled me to collect a few specimens of stone that had become detached. When I examined them with my hand lens, I could see that it is very fine grained and looks quite different to the Permo-Triassic sandstones, which tend to be medium grained and a much brighter red. 

 

Specimens of stone from the south door

I continued up Cumberland Road and just got glimpses of the rear of Nos. 1-5 Headingley Terrace, its attached garden studio and gate piers and the semi-detached houses forming part of Devonshire Hall but, although I took a few record photos for the purpose of my Photo Challenge, I can't say too much about them. 

 

Spring Hill

 

Spring Hill (1846) is a Gothic Revival house by Thomas Shaw and, although I didn't try and take a close up photo of them, each gable has its apex adorned by a heraldic beast. Elland Flags sandstone for the walling and Rough Rock for the dressings are again the favoured building materials, which are also used for its coach house and stables. 

 

The coach house and stables to the north of Spring Hill

 

On the opposite side of the road is the mid C19 gatehouse to Devonshire Hall, surrounded on each side by a cottage, which are built with large blocks of massive sandstone from the Elland Flags with a tooled finish. Gritstone is used for the dressings and the parapet, which is pierced with alternate large and small roundels. 

 

The gatehouse to Devonshire Hall

 

From the gateway, I got a a distant view of Devonshire Hall (1928), which was designed in the C17 Scottish Baronial style by J.C. Proctor and F.L. Charlton as a hall of residence for the University of Leeds. The walls are rendered, but stonework is exposed in the snecked masonry to the ground floor, the oriel that rises to the clock tower, the crenellated parapet and the dressings.

 

The central block of Devonshire Hall

Yellowish sandstone from the Elland Flags, with Rough Rock dressings, is again used for the Tudor Revival style Cumberland Priory (c.1840), another speculative development by John Child at Headingley Hill, which has its boundary wall and gate piers separately listed. 

 

Cumberland Priory

At the end of Cumberland Road, I could only catch a glimpse of the west elevation of Ridgeway House (1848), built for the linen yarn draper Mr Blackett, which is built in gritstone with a rusticated/rock-faced ground floor and ashlar for the upper storeys. 

 

Ridgeway House

 

Its substantial coach house and stables, which is now converted into the residential Ridgeway Cottage, is built with sandstone from the Elland Flags, which would suggest that the transport costs of the Rough Rock from the Meanwood and Weetwood quarries limit its use to dressings and the higher quality buildings. 

 

Ridgeway Cottage

 

Making my way back down Cumberland Road, I found the archway in the boundary wall that forms the entrance to a snicket, which preserves the public right of way that existed before the land was sold off for development and, together with the boundary walls and gate piers on Grosvenor Road, is Grade II listed. 

 

The snicket to Grosvenor Road

Arriving on Grosvenor Road, I took a quick snap of Hilly Ridge House (1839) and its gate piers and railings, before walking down the road to photograph the boundary wall to the west of Grosvenor Terrace (1845) and the rear elevation of the houses that I could see. 

 

The rear elevation of Grosvenor Terrace

Passing Elmfield (1846), another house by Thomas Shaw that I could only partially see behind a high garden wall, I took a few photos of Nos. 1 to 3 Grosvenor Mount and its separately listed boundary walls, which are again built with yellowish sandstone from the Elland Flags. 

 

Grosvenor Mount

 

The character of the streetscape in this part of Headingley appears to mark the beginning of a change from large detached and semi-detached villas set in substantial plots, which were owned by wealthy businessmen to, to more densely built terraced housing targetted at a lower social class that desired to live in this affluent suburb. 

 

Grosvenor House

 

Taking a photo of Grosvenor House, where only its separately listed railings and garden wall were were part of my Photo Challenge, I carried on down Grosvenor Road past the site of a quarry that was marked as still active on the 1851 OS map. The 1893 OS map shows that it was incorporated into the garden of Grosvenor House, but since the 1970s has been used as a communal garden known as Dagmar Wood. 

 

Grosvenor Road on the 1851 OS map

 

An Exploration of Headingley Hill - Part 1

 

Hilton Court

Returning to Headingley Lane from Ford House, during an exploration of the area between St. Michael’s Road and Headingley Lane, which involved a diversion to take a quick look at the very late Victorian villas on Shire Oak Road, I had by now reached the halfway point in my British Listed Buildings Photo Challenge that comprised 99 buildings - although a few of these were in large private grounds and inaccessible. 

 

Listed buildings in Headingley Hill

 

Now in the Headingley Hill area of Leeds, where much of the land had been purchased in 1827 by the woollen merchant and property speculator George Bischoff, the large villas here are mainly set around four parallel roads – North Grange Road, North Hill Road, Cumberland Road and Grosvenor Road – that end as cul-de-sacs at Woodhouse Ridge. 

 

The Headingley Hill & Hyde Park & Woodhouse Moor Conservation Area

When undertaking preliminary research to prepare for my day out to Headingley, I used Google Street View to identify the houses that were on my Photo Challenge. I discovered that the houses were set in large plots and were set back from the road and mature trees and other vegetation obscured very many of these. 

 

An aerial view of Headingley Hill

According to the Conservation Area Appraisal, between 1829 and 1846, 9 houses had been built on the 13 plots that had George Bischoff had acquired, which are shown on the 1851 Ordnance Survey (OS) map along with others on the south side of Headingley Lane. 

 

Headingley Hill on the 1851 OS map

 

Starting on North Grange Road, I came across the first of 14 ‘listed buildings’ at Headingley Hill that are actually gate piers or garden walls, which are built with coarse grained gritstone from the Rough Rock for the former and mainly Elland Flags sandstone for the latter and do not merit specific mention in this post. 

 

North Grange

 

The original early C19 house at North Grange is built with gritstone ashlar but, as expected, I could only see part of its east elevation and a view along the rear elevation of the later C19 additions, which are built with the distinctive yellow Elland Flags that is also used for the unlisted Coach House (No. 53) immediately to the north. 

 

The Coach House

 

Virginia House is of approximately the same date and is described by Historic England (HE) as having the main faces built with ashlar, but I could only get a glimpse of the rear elevation, which is built with yellow Elland Flags sandstone, when photographing the Grade II listed pump. 

 

The pump at the rear of Virginia House

Returning to Headingley Lane, Highfield House (c.1830) is largely obscured by trees and bushes but I could see that there is the same pattern of building stone for the main and rear elevations. HE notes that this was one of George Bischoff’s speculative houses, following his acquisition of 10 ha of land in 1827, and that it was purchased by Samuel Glover, a Leeds druggist. 

 

Highfield House

On the opposite of the drive that provides access to the servant’s quarters, Nos. 50-52 Headingley Lane is a pair of mid C19 semi-detached villas which, from my photos of the west and elevations, I can see that massive yellowish sandstone from the Elland Flags has been used for the ashlar masonry and not gritstone. 

 

Nos. 50 and 52 Headingley Lane

 

Holmfield (1835) on North Hill Road is a substantial house built speculatively in the Tudor Revival style by J. Calvert, a Leeds dyer. Seen from a distance, the large size of the masonry blocks, tooled finish and severe blackening suggest that it is built with coarse grained gritstone. 

 

Holmfield

 

Continuing up North Hill Road, past the brick built Lincolme (1898) by Francis Bedford and Sydney Kitson, who also designed Red Hill on Shire Oak Road, No. 17 is another large mid C19 house in the Tudor Revival style, built in gritstone with an embattled parapet. 

 

No. 17 North Hill Road

Retracing my steps, the late C19 coach house to the north of Devonshire Hall is Grade II listed for its group value. From a distance, I could see that gritstone is used for the rock-faced walling and the dressings and part of the Welsh slate roof has a fish scale design. 

 

The coach house on North Hill Road

 

At the south end of North Hill Road, Hilton Court (c.1840) is built with large blocks of gritstone ashlar, which shows well developed large scale cross-bedding, with fluted Ionic columns to the entrance on the south elevation. 

Hilton Court

 

Ashwood (c.1836) was the last of the late Georgian to early Victorian houses that I encountered at Headingley Hill, but I could only get a glimpse of the Perpendicular Gothic style tracery from Headingley Lane. HE state that this was probably built for the wool stapler Joseph Austin by the architect of Headingley Castle, John Child, who speculated as a house builder around Headingley.

 

Ashwood

 

St. Michael's Road to Headingley Lane

 

Headingley war memorial

Leaving St. Michael’s Road, having photographed several listed buildings on this street, the next stage of my Photo Challenge for Headingley was on Shire Oak Road, a part of Headingley that was largely undeveloped when the 1851 Ordnance Survey (OS) map was published, but the 1893 edition shows was occupied with large detached and semi-detached villas. 

 

The area around Shire Oak Road on the 1893 OS map

 

Before setting off to find these, I took a few photographs of Headingley war memorial (1921), a plain Portland stone obelisk with bronze panels that record the fallen, which stands at the junction of St. Michael’s Road and Otley Road. 

 

A detail of Headingley war memorial

Opposite the war memorial on Otley Road is the early C19 Original Oak public house, which provides a particularly good example of the use of the distinctly yellow plane bedded sandstone from the Elland Flags formation, which was probably obtained from one of the quarries at Woodhouse or Scott Hill. 

 

The Original Oak public house

Arriving at Shire Oak Road, it was immediately obvious that this part of Headingley has a completely different character to the area to the west of Otley Road, which was developed with terraced houses - including back to backs. Upon the death of the 7th Earl of Cardigan James Thomas Brudenell in 1868, land that had been owned by the family since 1671 was gradually sold off – cumulating in a 4 day auction in 1888. 

 

Various listed buildings on Shire Oak Road

 

The late C19 listed buildings on Shire Oak Road, Nos. 4 and 6, Arncliffe and No. 22D, the stable block to Arncliffe, were all built in brick by Francis Bedford in 1893, for his brother James – a prominent chemical manufacturer. In 1901, Red Hill was built in the Vernacular Revival style by Francis Bedford and Sydney Kitson, for Edward Audus Hirst. 

 

An obscured view of Ivy Lodge

 

From a distance I took record photographs of these, which have little interest to my Language of Stone Blog, before retracing my steps and continuing along Otley Road until I arrived at Headingley Lane, where Ivy Lodge was the first of many buildings that were inaccessible, obscured by trees and vegetation or only glimpsed from a distance. 

 

A former lodge to Headingley Castle

 

Although I couldn’t get to Headingley Castle, its former Gothic Revival style lodge (1886) is immediately adjacent to the road and, without looking closely at the rock-faced walling, I could see that this is the yellowish sandstone from the Elland Flags, with its plane bedding exposed on the weathered lower courses, and not gritstone as stated by Historic England (HE) – although this is used for the dressings. 

 

Springbank Cottage

Continuing along Headingley Lane into the Headingley Hill Conservation Area, my next stop was the Jacobethan style Springbank Cottage (c.1857), the lodge to the John Taylor Teachers Centre (JTTC) (c.1857) – the house originally designed by John Fox for Robert J Ellershaw, an oil merchant and soap maker. 

 

Outbuildings to the John Taylor Teaching Centre

Along with the outbuildings to the JTTC, it provides yet another example of yellow sandstone from the Elland Flags, with massive coarse grained gritstone used for the dressings, which is very probably from the Rough Rock that was quarried along the Meanwood Valley 2 km to the north. 

 

The John Taylor Teachers Centre

The JTTC, formerly known as Spring Bank, was only visible from the Headingley Lane but I could still see the same pattern of building stones used for the walling and the dressings. HE mentions that later alterations were made 1877-78 by C.R. Chorley for James Kitson and 1885-86 by William Thorp for William Harvey - a member of a prominent Leeds Quaker family. 

 

Lodge House

A little further along the north side of Headingley Lane, Lodge House (c.1846) was the original lodge to Headingley Castle and designed by the local architect John Child for Thomas England, a wealthy corn factor. Looking at the stonework from my photos, the very well squared masonry to the lodge and walls beside the entrance gates have a course height that is greater than the Elland Flags sandstone and this is very probably another example of locally quarried Rough Rock. 

 

The 1932 extension to the former First Church of Christ, Scientist

 

Continuing along Headingley Lane for a short distance, the Golden Beam public house forms a great contrast to all of the listed buildings seen on my walk to date, with its use of Portland stone. The original block was built in 1912 to the design of William Peel Schofield, in an Egyptian/Classical style, as the Church of Christ, Scientist. 

 

The principal elevation of the Golden Beam

After a delay that was probably due to the onset of WWI, the south-west extension was only completed in 1932 and, with it being used as a Sunday School and by Leeds Girls High School until 2010, when it remained unoccupied until opening as a Wetherspoons public house in 2021. 

 

The east elevation of Buckingham House

 

Buckingham House, built c.1840 with later C19 additions, is another house that is only visible from Headingley Lane and I just took a couple of photos of the east elevation, where gritstone ashlar is used for the original building and rock faced walling for the single storey extension. I then continued to Buckingham Road, where I took a few quick snaps of the west wall and the rear elevation of Ford House – another building described by HE as being built with gritstone, when it is in fact sandstone from the Elland Flags.

 

Views of Ford House