Pudsey Housing and change

HOUSING

The three communities of Pudsey, Farsley and Calverley share a similar type of architecture with much of the building even today being of local sandstone, many houses still retaining their original stone flagged roofs.

Most houses over about 120 years old were built to accommodate at least one handloom. Three storeyed 'garret houses' and double fronted two storeyed houses, so typical of the district, were originally built with the upper storey left open for use as weaving chambers. Today, with the chambers divided into bedrooms, they make spacious family houses.

The complete lack of town planning until the late l9th Century led to the concentrated cottage development of folds and yards usually called after the builder, hence such developments as Northrop's Fold, Newell Square, Scarth's Yard and Huggan Row. It was said that the cottages sprang up as if from 'seeds dropped unawares'.

Booth's Yard in Pudsey Lowtown, which contains cottages dating back to the 17th Century has recently been sympathetically developed as a small shopping precinct.

A hundred years ago the district still retained a number of old halls, most built in the 17th Century by gentlemen and yeomen who owned the larger estates. Today only Calverley Hall, already mentioned, Tyersal Hall and Hutton Hall remain, all now protected by being listed as buildings of special architectural merit.

YESTERDAY AND TODAY

The last 50 years have seen many changes in the three communities which made up the old Pudsey Borough.

Perhaps the most basic has been the decline in the textile industry.

The number of places of worship too has declined. In Pudsey the number has more than halved, mainly through the amalgamation of the various manifestations of Methodism, while Farsley and Calverley have witnessed similar closures. Sunday Schools are no longer the social centres they used to be, Whitsuntide passes almost unnoticed and even the local feasts are shadows of their former selves.

Visually, however, most would agree that the district has improved, not least because of the introduction of "clean air" regulations. At last the worth of the district's solidly built old stone cottages has been recognised. Now, rather than being demolished in the name of slum clearance, they are being sympathetically modernised and cottage property districts such as Pudsey Crimbles are becoming distinctly "up-market".

Pudsey has swimming baths, a lovely park set in the middle of the town with a children's playground, extensive greenhouses and now a small zoo. There is also a sports centre. Farsley and Calverley too have their own parks and playing fields, while the old Pudsey Borough has no less than three golf Courses.

Today Pudsey combines the intimacy of a small town with a considerable wealth of amenities. This makes it a good place to live, and therefore attractive to new light industry which is moving into the town's industrial estate.