YOKKSHIEE. 257 



glass houses, chemical works, leather works, and many others. The lower part of 

 the town, with its numerous factories lit up on a winter night, is a sight never to 

 be forgotten. The principal edifices of Leeds are naturally connected with its 

 leading industries ; but, proud of its wealth, the metropolis of the clothing trade 

 has built itself a magnificent town-hall, created public libraries and museums, 

 erected statues to its great men, and provided, in Woodhouse Moor and Roundhay, 

 ample breathing grounds for its population. A grammar school, founded in 1552, 

 a medical school, and a AVesleyan college are the foremost educational establish- 

 ments of the town. The merchants of Leeds own neat villas on the surrounding 

 heights, and more especially near Chapel Allerton. The ruins of Kirkstall Abbey 

 lie a short distance above the town, near the Aire. Priestley, the illustrious 

 physicist, was born near Leeds. 



Castleford, just below the junction of the Aire with the Calder, is the modern 

 representative of the Roman station of LegeoUum. Its glass houses supply 

 millions of bottles every year. Knottingley, on the margin of the plain of York, 

 has a magnificent abbey church, and depends upon glass works and limestone 

 quarries. On the height of land to the south of Castleford lies the cheerful old 

 town of Pontefrad, i.e. " Broken Bridge," often called Pomfret. Its chief 

 curiosities are the ruins of the Norman castle in which Richard II. was starved to 

 death (1400). The town is famous for its liquorice. 



Bradford, in a narrow valley which trends northward towards the Aire, and 

 to the west of Leeds, has made wonderful progress in wealth and population since 

 the beginning of this century. In 1801 the town only numbered 13,000 

 inhabitants; in 1822 the first steam-engine was set up; but at present Bradford 

 stands foremost for its woollen stufis and worsted yarns, and has close upon 

 200,000 inhabitants. No other town in Yorkshire surpasses it in public spirit. 

 The town-hall, with its carillon chimes, is one of the finest buildings in Yorkshire ; 

 there are three parks; and statues have been raised in honour of several bene- 

 factors of the town. Bierley, almost a suburb of Bradford, is dependent upon the 

 Bowling and Lowmoor iron works, the latter the oldest and most important in 

 Yorkshire. 



The river Calder rises in the moors around Todmorden, a brisk manufacturing 

 town, with numerous cotton-mills, on the boundary of Lancashire. This upper 

 valley of the Calder is very pretty, and would present scenes of rural peace and 

 beauty if it were not for the numerous factories which have invaded it. Soiverhi/, 

 Elland, and Brighouse, quiet villages in former times, have grown into little 

 manufacturing towns, principally engaged in the production of textiles. Far 

 more ancient than either of these, and, in fact, the most venerable manufacturing 

 town of Yorkshire, is Halifax, which rises on the slopes of the picturesque hills 

 overlooking the Hebble, a tribxitary of the Calder. Though outstripped in impor- 

 tance by Leeds and Bradford, Halifax nevertheless remains one of the most interest- 

 ing and picturesque towns of Yorkshire. It is one of the chief seats of the worsted 

 and carpet trades. Huddersfiekl is a well-built town on the Colne, which joins the 

 Calder from the south. It carries on the manufacture of woollens, cottons, and 



