Mark's History 2

01/06/2026

Unseen High Royds: A Rare Glimpse into Menston Asylum in 1901…

I recently came across a fascinating record of local medical and architectural history: a historic photograph album containing 32 gelatin silver prints. It offers a rare visual record of life and design at Menston Asylum just after the turn of the 20th century.

The album features an inscription on the front endpaper dated 12 November 1901, belonging to Dr Thomas O’Conor Donelan. Dr Donelan served as a medical officer at the asylum before relocating to the Middlesex County Asylum in 1905; sadly, his career was cut short when he died of pneumonia in 1914.

Originally opened in 1888 as the West Riding Pauper Lunatic Asylum, the site was also known over the years as the Third West Riding County Lunatic Asylum, Menston Asylum, and latterly, High Royds Hospital.

The sprawling complex was designed by the architect J. Vickers Edwards as a self-contained community set within a grand 300-acre estate in the metropolitan borough of Leeds. Although the hospital closed in 2003 and the site has since been developed for residential use.

The original images and album are preserved in the collections at the University of Manchester.

01/06/2026

31/05/2026

The Canal in Town...

30/05/2026

Diana Phillip: Leeds’ First Black Magistrate…

In April 1969, Diana Phillip made history when she was appointed as the first Black magistrate in Leeds. Originally from St. Kitts, Mrs Phillip migrated to the United Kingdom during the 1950s and settled in West Yorkshire, where she became a prominent figure in local civic life.
A qualified teacher by profession, she taught at several primary schools across Leeds while dedicating her spare time to community development, social integration, and local politics.
Her appointment to the Leeds bench occurred during a period of significant social change and heightened racial tensions in the United Kingdom. By taking her place within the judiciary, she broke important racial barriers and ensured that the local legal system began to reflect the city’s increasingly multicultural population.
Beyond her judicial responsibilities, Mrs Phillip was heavily involved in grassroots initiatives in the Chapeltown area. She served on committees for the Citizens' Advice Bureau and the Leeds Playhouse, and she was a key organizer for the Leeds Afro-West Indian Self-Help Association. In 1968, she also joined the BBC Education Advisory body in Leeds, assisting with the region's first radio programming tailored to the Caribbean community.
Diana Phillip passed away in July 2011. Today, her contributions to the city are officially recognized on the Leeds Windrush Plaque Trail, and her historic 1969 portrait is preserved within the West Yorkshire Archive Service as a record of local judicial history.
https://equality.leeds.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/64/2021/10/Leeds-Windrush-Trail-Map.pdf

29/05/2026

The Lost Community Beneath West Street Car Park…

Around 1900, Tom Broadhurst’s Dining Rooms stood proudly at no. 157 West Street, right on the corner with Primitive Street. A wonderful photograph from the era captures Mrs Lucy Broadhurst (née Croft) standing by the doorway alongside her daughter, Pearl Beatrice Broadhurst.

Both mother and daughter originally hailed from Willenhall, Staffordshire—Lucy having been born there in 1857, and Pearl later in 1881. Pearl lived a long life, passing away in 1964. A subsequent photograph from the 1910s catches another glimpse of Mrs Lucy Broadhurst later in her life, maintaining the family's deep connection to the street.

Today, many know the area as the West Street Car Park on Wellington Street. However, this footprint was once a bustling community packed with a church, a school, numerous houses, and local pubs.

St Philip's Church: Consecrated in 1847, the church served the community for decades. While it was demolished at its original site in 1931, it was actually carefully dismantled stone by stone and rebuilt. It lives on today as St Philip's RC Church in Middleton. Is it still there?

By the 1950s, the surrounding school, pubs, and terraced houses had mostly vanished from the landscape.

Among those lost residential roads was Henry Street. In 1921, a resident named Mary Jane Holland lived at No. 4. Coincidentally, four was also the exact number of aliases Mary was known to use. That same year, she was convicted for receiving stolen goods and sentenced to nine months in prison, leaving.

https://www.leodis.net/SearchResults/c3ByaW5nd2VsbCBzdHJlZXQ/?page=1

28/05/2026

The Anglo-Saxon and Norse Origins of Leeds Place Names…

The following details are drawn from the 'Annals of Yorkshire, From the Earliest Period to the Present Time' (1861), compiled by John Mayhall. It reveals how our local place names are heavily derived from the languages of our Anglo-Saxon and Viking ancestors.

For the city of Leeds itself, historical opinions vary. Ralph Thoresby—Leeds’ very first historian and an antiquary who lived on Kirkgate in the late 17th century—supposed the name came from the British 'cair loid coit', meaning 'a town in the wood'. Meanwhile, the Venerable Bede, an 8th-century monk widely considered the 'Father of English History', suggested it came from its first Saxon possessor, Loidi. Others believe the name has German roots, noting a town called Leeds on the river Dender in Austrian Flanders, which sits near a village named Holbeck.

This linguistic history also extends to old northern street names. The suffix 'gate' does not refer to a physical wall barrier, but rather comes from the Old Norse Viking word 'gata', which simply means road or street. Therefore, Briggate translates to Bridge Street, and Kirkgate to Church Street. Similarly, Swinegate was named because it was the road leading to a beck where swine were washed, and Boar-lane likely shares a similar animal-washing derivation.

This Anglo-Saxon and Norse influence extends far beyond the city centre. When examining the names of the surrounding suburbs and settlements, distinct patterns emerge based on the landscape, early inhabitants, and local agriculture.

Nature & Trees -
Allerton: Alder tree town
Burley: Bur tree field
Weetwood: Wet or marshy wood
Meanwood: A wood held in common

Wild Plants & Shrubs -
Bramley: Bramble (wild shrub) field
Farnley: Fern field
Farsley: Furze (gorse) field
Wortley: Wort (wild plant) field

People -
Armley: Arm’s (or Orm's) field
Beeston: Bede’s town
Gipton: Gip’s town
Osmundthorpe: Osmund’s village

Landscape & Water -
Gledhow: Hawk hill (Gled = hawk, how = hill)
Swinnow: Swine hill
Knowsthorpe: The village on the brow of a hill
Holbeck: A stream in a low place
Skelton: Water town

Houses & Settlements -
Coldcotes: Cold houses
Potternewton: The new town near the pottery
Kirkstall: Church place
Rodley: Cross field (Rood = cross)
Hunslet: Hound meeting place

Meadows & Fields -
Cottingley: Cot (house) meadow field
Headingley: Heath (moor) meadow field
Stanningley: Stone meadow field

27/05/2026

Leeds 1974. Video by Phil Edwards...