LEEDS. 
In tli£ open ftreet, Is now conduced In two halls, which 
have been built for the accommodation of the clothiers. 
The Mixed-cloth Hall, which is the principal, was erect¬ 
ed in 1758 ; it is a quadrangular building, inclofing an 
open area of about a hundred yards fquare, and is divided 
Into feven partitions or ftreets, each of which contains 
four rows of ftands ; and thefe are the freehold property 
of feparate manufacturers. The whole number of ftands 
is 1770. The White-cloth Hall, built in 1775, is parti¬ 
tioned in a fimilar manner, and contains 1210 ftands. 
Over the former building is an aflembly-room, and over 
the latter a mufic-hall. The manufacture of broad cloth 
is now almoft wholly performed by machinery, which has 
occafioned a confiderable reduction in the price. By this 
means, very few hands are wanted in the firft ftages of the 
manufacture, particularly in carding and fcribbling the 
wool, and in fpinning it. This circumftance, on the firft 
introduction of machinery, deprived great numbers of 
people of their cuftomary employment. 
Previous to the reign of Charles I. Leeds had but one 
church : there are now, however, feveral ecclefiaftical edi¬ 
fices, appropriated to the eftablifhed religion, and to dif¬ 
ferent lefts of diflenters. The church of St. Peter, the 
original, is built in the form of a crof's, with a tower in 
the middle; and has a pointing in frefco of the Afcen- 
fion, by Parmentier, who prelented the town with this 
fpecimen of his genius. St. John’s church was erefted in 
1634, at the foie expenfe of Mr. Harrifon, who alfo built 
a free-fchool and a market-crofs, and was in other relpects 
a great benefaCtor to the town. The church of the Holy 
Trinity, which is an elegant ItruCture, with a fpire, was 
built in the eighteenth century. Eight other places of 
worfhip are appropriated to the feveral denominations 
of dilfenters. Here are three alms-houfes, a charity- 
fchool, and an extenfive workhoufe, in which children 
are taught the eafy branches of the woollen manufacture. 
A fpacious infirmary was built by fubfcription in the year 
1786. The ftreets, in the upper part of the town, are 
narrow; but in the other parts they are broad, and the 
houfes are moftly uniform, and many of them elegant. 
Here are feveral large open fquares,the areas of which are 
in fome cafes planted, and in others ufed as tenter- grounds. 
The buildings are chiefly of brick, and covered w ith white 
Hate ; and every ftreet has a flagged foot-way on each fide. 
The civil government of the town is vetted, by the char¬ 
ter of Charles II. in a mayor, twelve aldermen, and twen¬ 
ty-four common-council men. 
A dreadful ftorm was felt here June 20, 1772, which 
damaged a great many houfes, barns, &c. the hail-ftones 
were laid to have been as big as nutmegs. In May 1794, 
as fome workmen were pulling down an old houfe, near 
Zion-chapel, in Leeds, they found a great number of fil- 
ver coins, fome of them dated 1604, of our James II. and 
others of Charles XII. and Philip IV. of Sweden, &c. 
An accident happened at the Methodift meeting-houfe 
here on the 16th of May, 1796; the floor gave way, by 
which eighteen perfons were killed, and eighty dreadfully 
bruifed. In the year 1S09, the workmen employed in re¬ 
pairing the parifti-church in Leeds, found a (tone coffin, 
containing a complete fkeleton, and the bones of two 
other human fubjeCts, under the foundation of the church, 
near the entrance to the bell-chamber. This coffin has 
the appearance of having been cut out of a folid block 
about feven feet long, by a foot and a half deep; its in¬ 
terior dimenfions are fix feet three inches in length, about 
twelve inches deep, and of width fufficient to hold a to¬ 
lerably large figure. From the fituation in which it was 
found, it muft have lain in that place ever fince the church 
was erected, probably above 700 years ; and fo completely 
was the air excluded, that the bones remained as firm and 
entire as if they had been recently interred. A ftone, 
luppofed to be the cover, had been previoully found, but 
no traces of an infcription any where appear. 
Leeds is 192 miles diftant from London, and 25 from 
York. Two fairs are held annually ; and two weekly 
Vox. XII. No. 842. 
441 
markets, on Tuefdays and Saturdays, are well fupplied 
with all kinds of provifions. A coniiderable pottery is 
eftablifhed here, which furnifhes large quantities of earthen 
ware, both for home-confumption and exportation. By 
means of the rivers Aire and Calder, and the canal navi- 
gation, Leeds has communication with Wakefield, York, 
and Hull; from which latter place the woollen goods are 
ufually ftiipped to foreign parts. The carriage of coals 
from the interior of Yorkffiire is alfo a great fource of 
traffic ; thefe are carried in veflels from 45 to 60 tons bur¬ 
then, to Selby, York, Howden, Hull, Beverley, and all 
the intermediate towns fituated on the rivers Oufe and 
Humber. 
Three miles from this town are the grand and pic- 
turefque ruins of Kirkftall Abbey, feated on the banks of 
the river Aire. For an account of thefe, fee vol. xi. 
p. 764. 
Hunfleet, or Houndfleet, on the fouth bank of the Aire, 
almoft over-againft Leeds, and in its parifb, was improved 
from a dog-kennel, as the name imports, to an-eminent 
town for clothiers, and then to a corporation in the reign 
of Charles II. becaufe, by making that fort of cloth called 
northern-dozens, it had much increafed the crown-reve¬ 
nue. It had formerly a manor-houfe and park. 
Thorp on the Hill is alfo to the fouth of Leeds. In the 
neighbourhood there is fuppofed to have been a Roman 
camp; and at a place here called Lingwell-Yate, certain 
clay moulds were found in 1697, which, by the impreffions, 
were fuppofed to have been invented for counterfeiting 
Roman coins. 
Ofmondthorp, on the eaft fide of Leeds, is more pro¬ 
perly Ofwinthorp, it having been a royal village, and the 
feat of the Northumbrian king Ofwin. 
At Addle, a village about five miles north of Leeds, 
was a Roman camp, until lately very entire, being fur- 
rounded with a fingle ditch. The occupier, wiftiing to 
turn the ground to fome profitable ufe, began, in 1809, to 
level it with the neighbouring fields, and turned up a 
coniiderable number of mill-ftones, about half a yard di¬ 
ameter, which, from their fize, muft have been ufed for 
grinding corn by hand; ltones hollowed out in the form 
of bowls, large enough to receive thefe mill-ftones, have 
alfo been dug up. This appears to have been a ttation cf 
fome confequence when the Roman empire was in its molt 
flouriihing ftate, for a road may be traced through Cock- 
ridge to Ilkley, another ftation of the Remans, and the 
foundations of a city near the camp have been clearly af- 
certained, where a vaft many fragments of urns, ftatues, 
and altars, have frequently been found, as well as feveral 
coins of Conftantine, and various Roman emperors prior 
to his reign. About a quarter of a mile diftant is the 
church, built of fquare (tones; it had formerly a fingular 
appearance; but a few years ago, when it was “ repaired 
and beautified,” one of the two towers that attracted no¬ 
tice was taken down ; at the fame time the infide was 
completely renewed, and it is now fitted up in a very neat 
manner. The fine Saxon gateway at the entrance, and a’ 
beautiful light ornamented arch within the church, for¬ 
tunately efcaped alteration. In the veftry are placed two 
monumental (tones or altars, lately brought from the Ro¬ 
man camp. On the whole, few places are more deferv- 
ing the attention of the antiquary, or appear to have at¬ 
tracted iefs obfervation. 
Harewood is a parifh and final 1 market-town about eight 
miles from Leeds. The country around here abounds 
with woods, moft of which belong to Harewood-houfe, 
the noble feat of lord Harewood. This manficn was built 
in 1708, and has two handfome architectural fronts. Hare- 
wood-catlle is an interellirig fpecimen of caftellated archi¬ 
tecture. Soon after the Norman conqueft it belonged to 
the family of Romily, from whom it defeended to the 
Mefchines’s. Mr. King (Archaeologia, vol. vi.) aferibes. 
the prefent building to an age from Edward I. to Ed¬ 
ward III. The remains (land on the north fide of a tri- 
pie-fquare entrenchment, on the brow of a hill. The em- 
5 U bankments 
