﻿497 



LEASOWES. 



LEEDS. 



478 



for the indigent blind. The proprietary college, founded in lS4i, ia 

 a spacious and substantial edifice in the Tudor collegiate style, erected 

 in 1847. The education is of the first order; the pupils are chiefly 

 of the higher classes. The college had about 70 scholars in 1S52. A 

 superior school for the middle classes has also been established, called 

 the Vicar's Grammar schooL There is a literary and scientific insti- 

 tution. The benevolent institutions are verj' numerous : the chief is 

 the Wamford Hospital, erected in 1832, mainly through the munifi- 

 cence of Dr. Wamford, who subscribed 2625<. for the purpose. There 

 are also a savings bank, visiting societies, clothing societies, peniten- 

 tiariea, 4a There are bath-houses and pump-rooms, two assembly- 

 rooms,, a theatre, a music-hall, a tennis-court, several libraries and 

 reading-rooms, a town-hall, and a museum. The Jephson Gardens 

 are an extensive area, well laid out and planted for public use ; in 

 them is a marble statue of Dr. Jephson. In the immediate vicinity 

 of the town are numerous excellent rides, drives, and walks. Markets 

 are held on Tuesdav and Friday. 

 LEA.SOWES. . [SiiROWHiKE.] 

 LEATHERHEAD. [Surrey.] 

 LEBADEA, or LIVADIA. [BaoTiA.] 

 I.EBANON. [Stria.] 

 LE-BUGUE. [DoBDOONK.] 

 LE-BUIS. [DR6sre.] 



LECCE, a town in the kingdom of the Two Sicilies, in the province 

 of Terra di Otranto, is situated in about 40° 21' N. lat., 17° 50' E. long., 

 on the road from Brindisi to Otranto, and has a population of 16,000. 

 liooce is a bishop's see, and one of the best built towns in the kingdom, 

 with wide streets, a handsome market-place, several fine churches, 

 and a royal college. The town in surrounded by walls entered by 

 handsome gateways. The principal public buildings are the palace 

 of the Intendente, or governor of the province ; the cathedral of 

 Saot' Orozio, which is of Lombard architecture, and has a wooden 

 roof richly carved and gilt ; several other large churches and convents ; 

 a theatre, a foundling hospital, and a new town-halL Considerable 

 trade is carried on here in the agricultural products of the country, the 

 principal of which are oil, tobacco, wool, cotton, flax, and gum. Therti 

 are also manufactories of wuoUen, cotton, and silk goods ; lace, linen 

 thread, and snafi". 



Lecce is situated about 200 miles E. from Naples, and 9 miles from 

 the Adriatic coast, in a plain on the north-east side of the range of 

 hilU which traverse the Hessapian peninsula in its entire length. It 

 is connected by good roads with OallipoU, Toranto, Brindisi, and 

 Otranto. These are partly ancient Roman roads repaired. Lecce 

 occupies the site of the ancient Lupia, a town on the Via Trajana, 

 which ran south down from Brundusium to Hydruntum, and thence 

 along the coast to Tarentum. 

 LECCO. [CoMO.] 



LECHLADE. [Gloocestibshibii.] 

 LECKHAMPTON. [Olodce8teb8HIBE.1 

 LECTOURE. [Gebs.] 

 LEC'TUM. [Baba, Cape.] 



LEDBURY, Herefordshire, a market-town and the seat of a Poor- 

 Law Union in the parish of Ledbury, is situated in 52° 2' N. lat., 

 2* 24' W. long., distant 14 miles K by 3. from Hereford, and 120 

 miles W.N.W. from London. The population of the town of Led- 

 bury in 1851 was 8027. The living is a vicarage in the archdeaconry 

 and diocese of Hereford. Ledbury Poor-Law Union contains 22 

 parishes and townships, with an area of 47,627 acres, and a population 

 in 1851 of 13,141. 



Ledbury sent representatives to Parliament in the time of Edward I., 

 but this privilege was only exercised on two occasions. The town 

 consista chiefly of two streets, which are lighted with gas, and partially 

 paved. Some of the more ancient houses have projecting stories ; 

 those which are of recent erection are constructed of red brick, and 

 ore of neat appearanca The market-house ia an ancient structure. 

 In the town are — a commodious church of Norman date, which has 

 a detached tower surmonnted with a fine spire 60 feet high ; chapels 

 for Wesleyan Methodists, Independents, and Baptists ; National and 

 British schools; a Grammar school, founded in 1612, with a small 

 endowment, which had 41 scholars in 1853; a literary institution; 

 the hospital of St Catherine, founded by Bishop Foliot in 1232, for 

 11 old men and women and a nurse ; a dispenBai7;a savings bank ; 

 and some parochial charities. Tuesday is the manet-day. About 12 

 bin are held in the course of the year. A county court is held in 

 the town. Rope- and line-making and the sacking manufacture give 

 employment to some of the population. In the neighbourhood are 

 limestone and marble quarries. Hops are cultivated in the vicinity, 

 and there are numerous orchards. 

 LEUKSMA. [Legs.] 



LEKD.S, We.'it Riding of Yorkshire, a market-town, a municipal and 

 parliamentary borough, and the seat of a Poor-I^aw Union, is situated 

 on both sides, but chiefly on the left of the river Aire, in 53° 49' 

 N. lat, 1° 31' W. long., distant 24 miles S.W. from York, 189 miles 

 N.N.W. from London by road, and 206 miles by the Great Northern 

 railway. The population of the borough in 1851 was 172,270. The 

 parish of Leeds is n vicarage ; it is now divided into nine ecclesiastical 

 districts. The livings are in the archdeaconry of Craven and diooeee 

 of Ripon. The borough, which is divided into 12 wards, ia governed 



by 16 aldermeu and 48 councillors, one of whom ia mayor. Leeds 

 Poor-Law Union is co-extensive with the township of Leeds, and 

 contains an area of 2672 acres, with a population in 1851 of 101,331. 



Ilietory. — It appears probable that Leeds was a Roman station, for 

 Roman remains have been found in various parts of the town. The 

 great road from Tadcaster (Caloaria) to Manchester (Manounium) 

 passed through this place. The Northmen effected the subjugation 

 of this district about the year 850, aud it was again conquered by the 

 Saxons previous to the Norman Conquest The appellation Loidis 

 (Leeds) is Saxon, derived probably from the name of the first Saxon 

 possessor. No definite time can be named as the commencement of 

 manufactures at Leeds, but we may judge from the efforts made early 

 in the 16th century to provide the various accommodations required 

 by an increasing population, that such efforts were immediately sub- 

 sequent to the commencement of its manufacturing activity. In 1638 

 Leeds had to furuish its proportion of ship-money ; the town al.so 

 participated in the conflict between Charles and the Parliament. 

 It sufl'ered under several sev^ere visitations of the plague, and in 

 1644-45 more than one-fifth of its population perished. The first 

 charter was granted by Charles I. Of late years the town has con- 

 tinued to improve rapidly, and it possesses the local establishments 

 requisite for a large commercial community, as well as the institutions 

 and societies necessary for supplying the wants and advancing the 

 interests of its population. 



aUuation arul Inland Communication. — Leeds is situate^ on the 

 slope and partly on the summit of a hill which rises from the left bank 

 of the river Aire, and from the top declines to the east, west, and 

 north. The northern and southern parts aro connected by the old 

 bridge, leading from the Briggate, or main street ; it is a freestone 

 bridge, over which the tr&ffic is very great Two suspension-bridges 

 over the river, on the bow-and-string principle (which was fii-st intro- 

 duced here), were erected, the first in 1827 and the second in 1832. 

 The Victoria and the Wellington bridges of stone, and the Crown 

 Point bridge of iron, are modern bridges. Leeds is admirably situated 

 for trade, being placed in the heart of the inland navigation of the 

 country. It communicates with the eastern seas by means of the Aire 

 and Ctdder Navigation to the Humber, and westward by the Leeds 

 and Liverpool Canal with the Mersey. The warehouses of the Aire 

 and Calder Company are of great dimensions, and suited to the 

 immense traffic is which they are auxiliary. "There are also conve- 

 nient docks. Leeds is the centre of a network of railways converging 

 to it from all poinU of the compass, and placing it in connection with 

 every important town in Yorkshire and in England. 



The streeta of the older porta of the town are, with the exception 

 of the Briggate, generally narrow aud crooked. The more recently- 

 formed streets are wider and straighter. There are a great many 

 public buildings, and some of them ore handsome ; but on the whole 

 the aspect of the town is inelegant and unpicturesque. Improve- 

 menu are however in steady progress. Some yean back an Improve- 

 ment Act was obtained, which conferred great powers on the town 

 council Since then many valuable changes have been made, aud 

 othera are in progress. 



Manirfactitrti. — The principal manufacture of Leeds is woollen- 

 cloth; and the town is the centre and mart of a large number of 

 clothing villages and hamleta The woollen manufacture, flax spinning, 

 and the manufacture of machinery, may now be considered as its 

 staple occupations. The woollen factories are very numerous, and 

 many of them are immense buildings ; the entire process, from the 

 breaking of the wool to the finishing of the cloth for the consumer, 

 is carried on in them. In and around Leeds are also many small 

 manufacturera who carry on separata stages of the operations. The 

 dye-houses and dressing-shops at Leeds are very extensive. In these 

 establishmenta both woollen and worsted goods are finished after being 

 purchased in the rough at the cloth-halls and piece-halls. Great 

 quantities of wonted goods are still brought to Leeds to be dyed 

 and dressed. The mills for the spinning of flax for canvass, linen, 

 socking, thread, kc, ore very extensive : that of Messra. Marshall is 

 indeed of enormous size, the great room covering an area of nearly 

 two acres, and it is remarkably complete in all its arrangements. In 

 the flax-spinning manufacture there was an increase iu the county of 

 York between 1835 and 1850 from 1560 to 2425 horse-power, by far 

 the greater port of which is in and around Leeds. The manufacture 

 of steam-engines is carried on very largely; as is also that of flax, 

 wonted, and woollen machinery. The manufacture of locomotive 

 engines, which was established in Leeds about 15 years ago, is now a 

 very important feature of the industry of the town. Perhaps the 

 most extensive tobacco manufactories out of London are at Leeds. 

 The leather is an important and growing trade of the town. The 

 manufactures of silk-thread and of felted-cloth and carpcta are very 

 considerable. Paper-staining is conducted on an extensive scale ; 

 and there are large manufactories of gloss and earthenware. Tliesa 

 and the other operations of the town and district aro facilitated by 

 the abundant supply of coals, produced from the mines in the vicinity. 

 Placa of Wonhip, SchovU, ic. — There are within the borough of 

 Leeds in all 17 places of wonhip of the Establishment. AVithin the 

 lost 18 yeara there have been 3 old churches relniilt, including the 

 parish church, which cost upwards of 30,000/. ; and 12 new churches 

 erected, each having a panouage. It is iu contemplation to erect 



