Burmantofts
Encyclopedia
Burmantofts is an area of 1960s high-rise housing blocks in inner-city east Leeds
, West Yorkshire
, England adjacent to the city centre and St. James's Hospital
. It is a racially diverse area, with sizable Afro-Caribbean and Irish communities, but suffers the social problems typical of similar areas across the country. The area has a small selection of pubs and a working mens club on Torre Road. Burmantofts is perhaps most notable for Burmantofts Pottery
and the former Burtons textile factory, which is still owned by Burtons, but only used as a storage facility. In the 1900s and early twentieth century, Burmantofts was a large centre of the textile industry.
The name comes from the half-acre parcels of land (or tofts) given to owners of building plots (or burgages) by the River Aire
, thus Burgage Men's Tofts. The burgage men pursued craft businesses in the town, and grew crops on their tofts, such as grain which would be processed at the nearby mill on what is now Miles Hill
.
Burmantofts grew alongside Leeds during the industrial revolution
, and provided Leeds with many of its textile works. As a rule of thumb, North, East and West Leeds developed textile industries while South Leeds was centred around more heavy engineering, such as foundries and engine works.
The Burmantofts Pottery started in 1842 and closed down in 1957. The land was bought by Leeds in 1960, cleared and made into the Shakespeare school and housing estate.
In 1878, Burmantofts was the site of Leeds' first municipal waste incinerator, making use of a former industrial chimney.
After the Second World War Burmantofts was in a very poor condition, however redevelopment did not occur for sometime. While the area was dilapidated and buildings such as the Pineapple Hotel (no 77 Accommodation Road) stood derelict for many years throughout the 1930s and 1940s, no real redevelopment started until the mid 1950s, most of this however was just demolition and in this time only a handful of houses were built around Torre Road and Lupton Avenue.
, however redevelopment through the 1950s and 1960s brought high density living to Burmantofts and it is this redevelopment that has shaped modern Burmantofts.
By the 1960s, neighbouring Lincoln Green
was seeing many new high rise council flats being erected, however it did not take long for Burmantofts to catch up and by the mid 1960s most of the blocks that stand today had been completed. Burmantofts as it is known today was completed around the early 1970s, since then changes in the area have been few and far between.
Burmantofts has changed very little in the last forty years, the only area of change is a St James' Hospital, which separated Harehills and Burmantofts. St Bridgets R.C. Secondary Modern School on Torre Road closed down in the early 1980s and is now St. Patrick's Primary School, while the transport depot opposite is now the site of Benfield Ford. In September 2006, the area's main secondary school, Primrose High School moved into new premises.
Burmantofts has a sizeable Afro Caribbean
community. The age range of Burmantofts residents is quite varied, with probably the two largest age groups being young adults and the elderly. Burmantofts has a high unemployment
rate, which is one of the contributing factors to its low house prices.
local elections. In 2007, Burmatofts elected the Liberal Democrat
, with the Labour
candidate coming second, while the British National Party
and the Conservatives
stood very much as minority parties in the area, with the Conservatives finishing last. The results imply the area has left leaning political views. The results were as follows:
Leeds City Council Election 4 May 2007
Total votes cast 4843
Burmantofts has fairly limited facilities. Neighbouring Lincoln Green
has a small shopping precinct with a Co-op, Post Office
, Bargain Booze and other shops, this is walking distance for most of Burmantofts. Burmantofts itself has a junior school, a working men's club
on Torre Road as well as 'The Sportsman' public house
on Stoney Rock Lane. Burmantofts is in most parts less than a mile from the Eastern fringes of Leeds city centre
providing it with many other amenities close by. Burmantofts amateur boxing
club are based in parts of the former Burtons factory, on the corner of Hudson Road and Stoney Rock Lane (http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?rlz=1C1SNNT_enUS333US333&q=hudson+road+leeds&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=0x48795c7a7ac878eb:0xd3075fb31e25ee04,Hudson+Rd,+Leeds+LS9+6&gl=uk&ei=jDiUTqS4NsK18QPW8bz2Bg&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=image&resnum=1&ved=0CB8Q8gEwAA). Under changes made to the provision of Health Care, Burmantofts will receive a 'super surgery', so far such large surgeries have opened in Bradford
and Wetherby
, they are open 365 days a year for long hours and serve many more patients then standard surgeries.
, this being Primrose High School
. In a report released in January 2008, pupils of schools who live in the Burmantofts area were found to have the worst truancy
rate in Leeds
. Primrose High School moved into new buildings in September 2006, having moved from its original site on Dolly Lane to Stoney Rock Lane. The other primary school in Burmantofts is Shakespeare Primary School which is on the same site as the new Primrose High School. Agnes Stewart C of E Secondary School in neighbouring Lincoln Green
closed in July 2006.
Leeds
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 has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
, West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire is a metropolitan county within the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England with a population of 2.2 million. West Yorkshire came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972....
, England adjacent to the city centre and St. James's Hospital
St James's University Hospital, Leeds
St. James's University Hospital in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, popularly known as Jimmy's, is one of the United Kingdom's most famous hospitals...
. It is a racially diverse area, with sizable Afro-Caribbean and Irish communities, but suffers the social problems typical of similar areas across the country. The area has a small selection of pubs and a working mens club on Torre Road. Burmantofts is perhaps most notable for Burmantofts Pottery
Burmantofts Pottery
Burmantofts Pottery was the common trading name of a manufacturer of ceramic pipes and construction materials, named after the Burmantofts district of Leeds, England....
and the former Burtons textile factory, which is still owned by Burtons, but only used as a storage facility. In the 1900s and early twentieth century, Burmantofts was a large centre of the textile industry.
History
River Aire
The River Aire is a major river in Yorkshire, England of length . Part of the river is canalised, and is known as the Aire and Calder Navigation....
, thus Burgage Men's Tofts. The burgage men pursued craft businesses in the town, and grew crops on their tofts, such as grain which would be processed at the nearby mill on what is now Miles Hill
Miles Hill
Miles Hill is a district in Leeds. It is about north of Leeds city centre, West Yorkshire, England and is situated between the Meanwood and Chapel Allerton areas of the city, next to Beck Hill....
.
Burmantofts grew alongside Leeds during the industrial revolution
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...
, and provided Leeds with many of its textile works. As a rule of thumb, North, East and West Leeds developed textile industries while South Leeds was centred around more heavy engineering, such as foundries and engine works.
The Burmantofts Pottery started in 1842 and closed down in 1957. The land was bought by Leeds in 1960, cleared and made into the Shakespeare school and housing estate.
In 1878, Burmantofts was the site of Leeds' first municipal waste incinerator, making use of a former industrial chimney.
After the Second World War Burmantofts was in a very poor condition, however redevelopment did not occur for sometime. While the area was dilapidated and buildings such as the Pineapple Hotel (no 77 Accommodation Road) stood derelict for many years throughout the 1930s and 1940s, no real redevelopment started until the mid 1950s, most of this however was just demolition and in this time only a handful of houses were built around Torre Road and Lupton Avenue.
Housing
There was relatively little housing in Burmantofts until the twentieth century, just a few low rent houses built amongst the mills. Most of the workers in Burmantofts would have lived in nearby areas such as HarehillsHarehills
Harehills is an inner-city area of east Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is approximately north east of Leeds city centre. Harehills is situated between the A58 and the A64 .- Overview :...
, however redevelopment through the 1950s and 1960s brought high density living to Burmantofts and it is this redevelopment that has shaped modern Burmantofts.
By the 1960s, neighbouring Lincoln Green
Lincoln Green
Lincoln Green is an area of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The area is mainly residential with a small local shopping centre. The area also has public houses and a working men's club . Most housing in Lincoln Green is council owned high rise flats, these are in a significantly worse condition then...
was seeing many new high rise council flats being erected, however it did not take long for Burmantofts to catch up and by the mid 1960s most of the blocks that stand today had been completed. Burmantofts as it is known today was completed around the early 1970s, since then changes in the area have been few and far between.
Population
Negro
The word Negro is used in the English-speaking world to refer to a person of black ancestry or appearance, whether of African descent or not...
community. The age range of Burmantofts residents is quite varied, with probably the two largest age groups being young adults and the elderly. Burmantofts has a high unemployment
Unemployment
Unemployment , as defined by the International Labour Organization, occurs when people are without jobs and they have actively sought work within the past four weeks...
rate, which is one of the contributing factors to its low house prices.
Politics
Burmantofts falls into the 'Burmantofts and Richmond Hill' ward for Leeds City CouncilLeeds City Council
Leeds City Council is the local authority for the City of Leeds metropolitan district of West Yorkshire, England.-History:The city council was established in 1974, with the first elections being held in advance in 1973...
local elections. In 2007, Burmatofts elected the Liberal Democrat
Liberal Democrats
The Liberal Democrats are a social liberal political party in the United Kingdom which supports constitutional and electoral reform, progressive taxation, wealth taxation, human rights laws, cultural liberalism, banking reform and civil liberties .The party was formed in 1988 by a merger of the...
, with the Labour
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
candidate coming second, while the British National Party
British National Party
The British National Party is a British far-right political party formed as a splinter group from the National Front by John Tyndall in 1982...
and the Conservatives
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
stood very much as minority parties in the area, with the Conservatives finishing last. The results imply the area has left leaning political views. The results were as follows:
Leeds City Council Election 4 May 2007
- Richard Jeffrey Brett (Lib Dem) 2,331 (48.13%)
- Ron Grahame (Lab) 1,450 (29.94%)
- Mark Adrian Collett (BNP) 898 (18.54%)
- Elliott Burton (Con) 164 (3.39%)
Total votes cast 4843
Facilities
Lincoln Green
Lincoln Green is an area of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The area is mainly residential with a small local shopping centre. The area also has public houses and a working men's club . Most housing in Lincoln Green is council owned high rise flats, these are in a significantly worse condition then...
has a small shopping precinct with a Co-op, Post Office
Post office
A post office is a facility forming part of a postal system for the posting, receipt, sorting, handling, transmission or delivery of mail.Post offices offer mail-related services such as post office boxes, postage and packaging supplies...
, Bargain Booze and other shops, this is walking distance for most of Burmantofts. Burmantofts itself has a junior school, a working men's club
Working men's club
Working men's clubs are a type of private social club founded in the 19th century in industrial areas of the United Kingdom, particularly the North of England, the Midlands and many parts of the South Wales Valleys, to provide recreation and education for working class men and their families.-...
on Torre Road as well as 'The Sportsman' public house
Public house
A public house, informally known as a pub, is a drinking establishment fundamental to the culture of Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. There are approximately 53,500 public houses in the United Kingdom. This number has been declining every year, so that nearly half of the smaller...
on Stoney Rock Lane. Burmantofts is in most parts less than a mile from the Eastern fringes of Leeds city centre
Leeds City Centre
Leeds city centre is the central business district of Leeds, England. It is within the Leeds Central parliamentary constituency, represented by Hilary Benn as MP since a by-election in 1999...
providing it with many other amenities close by. Burmantofts amateur boxing
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
club are based in parts of the former Burtons factory, on the corner of Hudson Road and Stoney Rock Lane (http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?rlz=1C1SNNT_enUS333US333&q=hudson+road+leeds&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=0x48795c7a7ac878eb:0xd3075fb31e25ee04,Hudson+Rd,+Leeds+LS9+6&gl=uk&ei=jDiUTqS4NsK18QPW8bz2Bg&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=image&resnum=1&ved=0CB8Q8gEwAA). Under changes made to the provision of Health Care, Burmantofts will receive a 'super surgery', so far such large surgeries have opened in Bradford
Bradford
Bradford lies at the heart of the City of Bradford, a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, in Northern England. It is situated in the foothills of the Pennines, west of Leeds, and northwest of Wakefield. Bradford became a municipal borough in 1847, and received its charter as a city in 1897...
and Wetherby
Wetherby
Wetherby is a market town and civil parish within the metropolitan borough of the City of Leeds, in West Yorkshire, England. It stands on the River Wharfe, and has been for centuries a crossing place and staging post on the Great North Road, being mid-way between London and Edinburgh...
, they are open 365 days a year for long hours and serve many more patients then standard surgeries.
Education
St. Brigid's RC Secondary Modern School first opened in 1935 and was originally a secondary modern school for girls. In 1979, the school became a mixed Middle school until it became a primary school ten years later in 1989 and was re-named as St. Patrick's Catholic Primary School. Following the closure of St Brigid's, Burmantofts only has one secondary schoolSecondary school
Secondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of schooling, known as secondary education and usually compulsory up to a specified age, takes place...
, this being Primrose High School
Primrose High School
The Co-operative Academy of Leeds is a comprehensive school in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The school is part of the Central Leeds Learning Federation along with City of Leeds School and Shakespeare Primary School, which means they share an executive head teacher and a board of governors.The...
. In a report released in January 2008, pupils of schools who live in the Burmantofts area were found to have the worst truancy
Truancy
Truancy is any intentional unauthorized absence from compulsory schooling. The term typically describes absences caused by students of their own free will, and usually does not refer to legitimate "excused" absences, such as ones related to medical conditions...
rate in Leeds
Leeds
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 has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
. Primrose High School moved into new buildings in September 2006, having moved from its original site on Dolly Lane to Stoney Rock Lane. The other primary school in Burmantofts is Shakespeare Primary School which is on the same site as the new Primrose High School. Agnes Stewart C of E Secondary School in neighbouring Lincoln Green
Lincoln Green
Lincoln Green is an area of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The area is mainly residential with a small local shopping centre. The area also has public houses and a working men's club . Most housing in Lincoln Green is council owned high rise flats, these are in a significantly worse condition then...
closed in July 2006.
People
- Elizabeth DawnElizabeth DawnElizabeth 'Liz' Dawn MBE , is an English actress, best known for her role as Vera Duckworth in the long-running British soap opera, Coronation Street...
, actress best known for her portrayal of Vera DuckworthVera DuckworthVeronica "Vera" Duckworth , played by Elizabeth Dawn, is a fictional character on the British soap opera Coronation Street, first appearing in August 1974 and last appearing in episode 6,734 on 18 January 2008, where the character peacefully died in her sleep at the age of 70 from heart failure...
in Coronation StreetCoronation StreetCoronation Street is a British soap opera set in Weatherfield, a fictional town in Greater Manchester based on Salford. Created by Tony Warren, Coronation Street was first broadcast on 9 December 1960...
was born and raised in the area.