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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 had a population of 770,800 (2008 est.). Leeds
is the cultural, financial and commercial heart of the wider West Yorkshire Urban Area, which at the 2001 census had a population of 1.5 million, and the Leeds city region, an economic area with Leeds at
its core, had a population of 2.9 million. Leeds is the UK's largest centre for business, legal, and financial services outside London,and according to the most recent Office for National
Statistics estimates, Leeds is the fastest growing city in the UK.
Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, Leeds can trace its recorded history to fifth century when the Kingdom
of Elmet was covered by the forest of "Loidis", the origin of the name Leeds. The name has been applied to many administrative entities over the centuries. It changed from being the appellation
of a small manorial borough, in the 13th century, through several reincarnations, to being the name attached to the present metropolitan borough. In the 17th and 18th centuries Leeds became a major
centre for the production and trading of wool. Then, during the Industrial Revolution, Leeds developed into a major industrial centre; wool was still the dominant industry but flax, engineering, iron
foundries, printing and other industries were important. From being a compact market town in the valley of the River Aire in the 16th century Leeds expanded and absorbed the surrounding villages to
become a populous urban centre by the mid-20th century.
The diverse array of landmarks, which includes rural open spaces and impressive buildings, reflects both its industrial past and its many
current roles. The multicultural nature of the city is evidenced in the range of religious buildings and cultural festivals present. The city is a major centre of higher education, being the seat of the
internationally acclaimed University of Leeds as well as Leeds Metropolitan University and Leeds Trinity University College. The student population has stimulated growth of the nightlife in the city and
there are ample facilities for sporting and cultural activities, including classical and popular music festivals, and a varied collection of museums.
Public transport, rail and road communications
networks in the region are focused on Leeds and there are a number of twinning arrangements with towns and cities in other countries. Its assigned role in the Leeds City Region partnership recognises the
city's importance to regional economic development.
History
Toponomy
The name Leeds derives from "Loidis", the name given to a forest
covering most of the kingdom of Elmet, which existed during the 5th century into the early 7th century. Bede states in the fourteenth chapter of his Historia ecclesiastica, in a discussion of an altar
surviving from a church erected by Edwin of Northumbria, that it is located in "...regione quae vocatur Loidis", the region known as Loidis. An inhabitant of Leeds is locally known as a Loiner,
a word of uncertain origin.
Economic development
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The Leeds Corn Exchange opened in 1864.
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Leeds developed as a market town in the Middle Ages as part of the local agricultural economy. Prior to the Industrial Revolution it had become a
co-ordination centre for the making of woollen cloth; with white broadcloth being traded at the Leeds White Cloth Hall. Leeds was handling one sixth of
England's export trade in 1770. Growth, initially in textiles, was accelerated by the building of the Aire and Calder Navigation in 1699 and the Leeds and
Liverpool Canal in 1816. The railway network constructed around Leeds, starting with the Leeds and Selby Railway in 1834, provided improved
communications with national markets and, significantly for its development, an east-west connection with Manchester and the ports of Liverpool and Hull
giving improved access to international markets. Alongside technological advances and industrial expansion, Leeds retained an interest in trading in agricultural commodities, with the Corn
Exchange opening in 1864.
Marshall's Mill was one of the first of the many factories that were to be constructed in Leeds from around 1790. In the
early years the most significant of the factories were woollen finishing and flax mills; diversifying by 1914 to printing,
engineering, chemicals and clothing manufacture. Decline in manufacturing during the 1930s was temporarily reversed by
a switch to producing military uniforms and munitions during World War II. However, by the 1970s the clothing industry
was in irreversible decline, facing cheap foreign competition. The contemporary economy of Leeds has been shaped by
Leeds City Council having the vision of building a '24 hour European city' and a 'capital of the north'. It has developed
from the decay of the post-industrial era to become a telephone banking centre, connected to the electronic
infrastructure of the modern global economy. There has been growth in the corporate and legal sectors and increased
local affluence has led to an expanding retail sector, including the luxury goods market.
Local government
Leeds was a manor and township in the large ancient parish of Leeds St Peter, in the Skyrack wapentake of the West
Riding of Yorkshire. The Borough of Leeds was created in 1207, when Maurice Paynel, lord of the manor, granted a
charter to a small area within the manor, close to the river crossing, in what is now the city centre. Four centuries later,
the inhabitants of Leeds petitioned Charles I for a charter of incorporation, which was granted in 1626. The new charter
incorporated the entire parish, including all eleven townships, as the Borough of Leeds and withdrew the earlier charter.
Improvement commissioners were set up in 1755 for paving, lighting, and cleansing of the main streets, including Briggate; with further powers added in 1790 to improve the water supply.
The borough corporation was reformed under the provisions of Municipal Corporations Act 1835. Leeds Borough
Police force was formed in 1836 and Leeds Town Hall was completed by the corporation in 1858. In 1866 Leeds, and
each of the other townships in the borough, became a civil parish. The borough became a county borough in 1889,
giving it independence from the newly formed West Riding County Council and it gained city status in 1893. In 1904 the
Leeds parish absorbed Beeston, Chapel Allerton, Farnley, Headingley cum Burley and Potternewton from within the
borough. In the twentieth century the county borough initiated a series of significant territorial expansions, growing from
21,593 acres (87.38 km2) in 1911 to 40,612 acres (164.35 km2) in 1961. In 1912 the parish and county borough of
Leeds absorbed Leeds Rural District, consisting of the parishes of Roundhay and Seacroft; and Shadwell, which had
been part of Wetherby Rural District. On 1 April 1925 the parish of Leeds was expanded to cover the whole borough.
The county borough was abolished on 1 April 1974 and its former area was combined with that of the municipal
boroughs of Morley and Pudsey; the urban districts of Aireborough, Horsforth, Otley, Garforth and Rothwell; and parts
of the rural districts of Tadcaster, Wetherby and Wharfedale. This area was used to form a new metropolitan district in
the county of West Yorkshire; it gained both borough and city status and is known as the City of Leeds. Initially, local
government services were provided by Leeds City Council and West Yorkshire County Council. However, the county
council was abolished in 1986 and the city council absorbed its functions, with some powers passing to organisations
such as the West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Authority. From 1988 two run-down and derelict areas close to the
city centre were designated for regeneration and formed the area of responsibility of Leeds Development Corporation,
outside the planning remit of the city council. Planning powers were restored to the local authority in 1995 when the development corporation was wound up.
Geography
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Map of Leeds in West Yorkshire
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River Aire in Leeds
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At (53.799°, −1.549°), and 190 miles (310 km) north-northwest of central London, the central area of Leeds is located on the River Aire in a narrow
section of the Aire Valley, which is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. The city centre lies at about 206 feet (63 m) above sea level while the district ranges
from 1,115 feet (340 m) in the far west on the slopes of Ilkley Moor to about 33 feet (10 m) where the rivers Aire and Wharfe cross the eastern boundary.
The centre of Leeds is part of a continuously built-up area extending to Pudsey, Bramley, Horsforth, Alwoodley, Seacroft, Middleton and Morley. Leeds has
the second highest population of any local authority district in the UK (after Birmingham), and the second greatest area of any English metropolitan district
(after Doncaster), extending 15 miles (24 km) from east to west, and 13 miles (21 km) from north to south. The northern boundary follows the River Wharfe
for several miles but crosses the river to include the section of Otley which lies north of the river. Over 65% of the Leeds district is green belt land and the city
centre is less than twenty miles (32 km) from the Yorkshire Dales National Park, which offers some of the most spectacular scenery and countryside in the
UK. Inner and southern areas of Leeds lie on a layer of coal measure sandstones. To the north parts are built on older sand and gritstones and to the
east it extends into the magnesian limestone belt. The land use in the central areas of Leeds is overwhelmingly urban.
Attempts to define the exact geographic meaning of Leeds lead to a variety of concepts of its extent, varying by context;
they include the area of the city centre, the urban sprawl, the administrative boundaries, and the functional region.
“ Leeds is much more a generalised concept place name in inverted commas, it is the city, but it is also the commuter
villages and the region as well. ”
Leeds city centre is contained within the Leeds Inner Ring Road, formed from parts of the A58 road, A61 road, A64
road, A643 road and the M621 motorway. Briggate, the principal north-south shopping street, is pedestrianised and
Queen Victoria Street, a part of the Victoria Quarter, is enclosed under a glass roof. Millennium Square is a significant
urban focal point. The Leeds postcode area covers most of the City of Leeds and is almost entirely made up of the
Leeds post town. Otley, Wetherby, Tadcaster, Pudsey and Ilkley are separate post towns within the postcode area.
Aside from the built up area of Leeds itself, there are a number of suburbs and exurbs within the district.
Climate
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Heavy snowfall at Roundhay Park, Leeds.
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Leeds has a temperate climate, with four distinct seasons. As with most of the eastern counties of England, Leeds is a relatively dry city, with an average of
747.3 mm of rain falling annualy, which is drier then New York City, Sydney, and even Rome.
Snowfall can occur from November - April, but is most common from January -
March, and when snowfall does occur, it rarely sticks on the ground for more then a few days. An exception to this would be the snowfall of 2009-2010,
where snow first fell in mid-December, and early January, and didn't thaw until February.
Summers in Leeds are warm, with an average high of 21°C (70°F), and occasionally exceed 25°C (77°F), and in 2003
& 2006, temperatures stayed above 25°C for several days, and even reached 30°C (86°F), and were one of the hottest
summers in the city since the 20th century. The summers of 2007-2009 were very wet, not just for Leeds, but for most
of the UK, with high humidity and frequent thunderstorms, hail showers and flooding. Winters in Leeds are chilly,
sometimes below freezing, with an average low of 2°C (36°F). 2010 was the coldest winter in Leeds, like much of the
UK, for decades, with night time temperatures falling as low as -8°C (17.6°F), and daytime temperatures staying well below freezing point.
Spring and Autumn are transitions between Summer and Winter. Spring is usually pleasent, with highs of around
9-16°C(48-61°F), with plentiful rain, this is also the time of the year when flowers and trees burst into life in the
numourous parks in the city. Autumn is usually unsettled, with low preasure systems moving from the Atlantic over the UK, nevertheless, temperatures remain mild, with highs of around 9-17°C(48-63°C).
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