Chapeltown, West Yorkshire

infobox UK place
country = England
official_name= Chapeltown
latitude= 53.816
longitude= -1.531
population=
metropolitan_borough= City of Leeds
metropolitan_county= West Yorkshire
region = Yorkshire and the Humber
post_town= LEEDS
postcode_area= LS
postcode_district= LS7
dial_code= 0113
os_grid_reference= SE3093435637
static_

static_image_caption=

Chapeltown is a suburb of north-east Leeds, in West Yorkshire, England, and is the centre of the city's British Afro-Caribbean community. It is approximately one mile north of Leeds City Centre. Along with neighbouring Harehills, Chapeltown has in the past suffered from rioting. [http://www.bbc.co.uk/1xtra/tx/documentaries/round_my_way.shtml] However Chapeltown has had no notable unrest since 1987.

Location and boundaries

Neighbouring areas to Chapeltown in Leeds include Chapel Allerton, Scott Hall, Gledhow, Moortown and Potternewton. Harehills is adjacent, but not a direct neighbour. [ cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/leeds/content/articles/2005/04/19/civic_life_round_my_way_feature.shtml |title=Round my way |accessdate=2008-05-16 |last=G |first=Genna |date=2006-05-26 |publisher=BBC Leeds ] However, Chapeltown does not have any official boundaries. It is not recognised by the Land Registry or the Post Office, but is widely recognised by residents of Leeds.

The main thoroughfare of Chapeltown is Chapeltown Road which runs through the centre of the area north-south for approx. 2 miles, linking Sheepscar Interchange (at the edge of Leeds city centre) and Harehills Lane/Chapel Allerton. "Spencer Place" in the east is another major through route, and once well-known as a red light district although the area's popularity with prostitutes has reportedly recently declined [cite web|url=http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/Still-trapped-in-vice.955188.jp |title=Still trapped in vice |accessdate=2008-07-06 |last=Edwards |first=Richard |publisher=Yorkshire Evening Post ] .

Potternewton Park is a spacious and attractive park in the north-east of the area, but - as with most poorly lit urban spaces - can be dangerous at night. Buslingthorpe Recreation Ground, a smaller playground and sports field, lies in the south of Chapeltown.

Location grid

History

The area was originally constructed as a wealthy suburb in the nineteenth-century, and many large terraces and villas from the period remain, though a large proportion have fallen into disuse or are divided up into smaller, low-rent flats. However the area remains leafy and architecturally notable. Buildings have been adapted over the years by successive communities who have settled in the area as places of worship and for a range of social uses. For example, the Union Chapel on Chapeltown Road became a synagogue and then a Sikh temple, although it is now disused following a period of disrepair and fire damage.

The building of Chapeltown

A map made of Leeds in 1834 shows the area that is now Chapeltown was pasture land between Chapel Allerton and Potternewton villages and Leeds. Through the centre of this farmland, which was already earmarked at this time as a planned 'New Town of Leeds' suburb, ran the Leeds-Harrogate Turnpike Road which would later become Chapeltown Road. Much of this land, called 'Squire's Pastures' was part of Earl Cowper’s estate. The Earl first sold this land for development in 1825, but planning and building was slow, and the sale was not completed until 1873. Before selling his land, the Earl also set out a Deed of Arrangement defining the residential character of any future building including the limitation of livestock, heavy industry and public houses in the area [cite web|url=http://www.latch.org.uk/ls-history/part1.html |title=Leopold Street history |accessdate=2008-07-06 |publisher=Latch ] .

Further north towards 'Potter Newton' work began in 1856 on Newton Grove. Work continued for the Lupton family on their Newton Park estate following the housing designs of Charles Chorley and John Connon. The development continued to expand, including the addition of Sholebroke Avenue south of the Newton Park Estate by the 1880s.

In the next decade, the popularity of Chapeltown appears to have waned, in favour of areas further from the city. The remaining empty plots were filled with smaller, cheaper, terraced housing. By the turn of the century, the area was almost completely filled with housing.

The Lupton family residence of Newton Hall was demolished in the 1920s and the grounds were replaced with streets of semi-detached housing.

Population

Throughout its history Chapeltown has been home to successive emigre communities that have each added a new dimension to the culture, religious practices and heritage of the area.

Ashkenazi Jews fleeing pogroms in Eastern Europe towards the end of the 19th century that moved to Leeds tended to settle in the inner city area of Leylands [ cite web|url=http://www.movinghere.org.uk/galleries/histories/jewish/settling/settling.htm |title=Migration Histories: Jewish - Settling |accessdate=2008-08-28 |first=Carol |last=Seigel |publisher=movinghere.org.uk ] . As families became more established many moved to the more desirable area of Chapeltown.

area. In 1985 the synagogue closed and the building was bought by Leeds City Council. It is now home to the Northern School of Contemporary Dance.

The British African-Caribbean community in Leeds mostly came to the UK between the end of World War Two and the early 1960s. Many of the first Jamaicans to settle in Leeds were ex-servicemen. In order to try to encourage mass immigration from the countries of the British Empire and Commonwealth to fill shortages in the labour market, the 1948 British Nationality Act gave British citizenship to all people living in Commonwealth countries, and full rights of entry and settlement in Britain. Many of the first generation of Jamaicans living in Chapeltown today immigrated in this period [ cite web|url=http://www.lhi.org.uk/docs/jamacia_society.pdf |title=A journey through history |accessdate=2008-09-09 |first=Melody |last=Walker |publisher=Jamaica Society (Leeds) Publication ] . The [http://www.lhi.org.uk/projects_directory/projects_by_region/yorkshire_the_humber/leeds/jamaica_society_leeds/the_jamaican.html Jamaica Society] was formed, with its headquarters in 277 Chapeltown Road to support the needs and celebrate the contributions of the African-Caribbean population in West Yorkshire and Leeds.

Recent history

In May 2003, Leeds City Council designated parts of Chapeltown as a conservation area in recognition of its special architectural and historic interest and to protect its character from harmful change. This enlarges the St Mary's Road (Chapeltown) conservation area which was first designated in December 1974 [ cite web|url=http://www.leeds.gov.uk/files/2005/week39/inter__3BD8F416F4688DCA80256E160050DA57_e068ae28-5d9e-4cbb-b36e-18d1c0cfb745.pdf |title=Chapeltown Conservation Area Appraisal |accessdate=2008-07-06 |date=2003-05-21 |publisher=Development Department, Leeds City Council ] .

Culture and environment

The area is home to a wide range of community and creative organisations including the [http://www.nscd.ac.uk Northern School of Contemporary Dance] , the Chapletown house choir, the Host Media centre, and Leeds West Indian Centre (now famous for its club nights, particularly the monthly "SubDub").

Chapel Allerton Hospital is found in the area, and is one of Leeds' main hospitals, though it does not have an Accident and Emergency department.

Carnival

Every August bank holiday weekend the area hosts the Leeds Carnival, second only in size to London's Notting Hill Carnival, and is Europe's longest-standing Caribbean [ cite web|url=http://www.maxfarrar.org.uk/docs/CarnivalHistoryWYAS.pdf |title=A Short History of the Leeds West Indian Carnival, between 1967 and 2000 |accessdate=2008-08-28 |date=2000 |last=Farrar |first=Max |publisher=West Yorkshire Archive Service. ] carnival.

Arthur France, a Leeds University student from Saint Kitts helped to organise the first West Indian Carnival in Britain in Leeds in 1967. That year Vicki Celto was the first Carnival Queen for Leeds in a costume titled "Sun Goddess" [ cite web|url=http://www.leedscarnival.co.uk/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=2&Itemid=35 |title=Carnival Through the Years, 1967 |accessdate=2008-07-06 |publisher=Leeds West Indian Carnival Website ] .

Northern School of Contemporary Dance

The NSCD is a modern conservatoire dance school with its origins in the Leeds dance education of the 1970s and 80s. Two years after the founding of the school in 1985, it moved to its current home in Chapeltown in 1987. The Riley Theatre was built in the former synagogue, and over the next ten years a number of new dance studios were created on the site and the Brandsby Lodge was renovated. Today the school is recognised as a world-class contemporary dance institution with nearly 200 students [ cite web|url=http://www.nscd.ac.uk/view.aspx?id=20 |title=Northern School of Contemporary Dance: History |accessdate=2008-09-09 ] .

Crime

"See Also Chapeltown riot (1975),Chapeltown riot (1981) and Chapeltown riot (1987)"

Not surprisingly, as a neighbourhood with a history of economic downturn, Chapeltown has some associations with crime. [http://www.bbc.co.uk/leeds/content/articles/2005/04/19/civic_life_round_my_way_feature.shtml] The area has suffered some serious social problems, including some street drug dealing and a fear of gun crime in the last decade [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_yorkshire/7543216.stm] [ cite web|url=http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/500-police-swoop-on-Chapeltown.889497.jp |title=500 police swoop on Chapeltown |accessdate=2008-07-06 |last=Bruce |first=David |publisher=Yorkshire Evening Post ] . However, its reputation might be outdated, as recent figures from West Yorkshire Police show that the area has crime rates below the average for West Yorkshire. [http://www.beatcrime.info/beat.asp?beat=BA22]

In July 1981 it was one of the areas of English cities home to the widespread race riots of that year. There have been sporadic moments of social unrest since then including a riot in 1987 and a night of rioting in neighbouring Harehills in June 2001 [ cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1372301.stm |title='No excuse' for Leeds riot |accessdate=2008-07-06 |date=2001-06-06 |publisher=BBC News ] . [http://www.channel4.com/history/microsites/U/untold/programs/riot/timeline.html]

Notable residents

*Aaron Lennon Tottenham Hotspur and England footballer.
*Micah Richards Manchester City and England footballer.
*Jason Robinson MBE Wigan and Great Britain Rugby League Player and English Rugby Union Player.
*Kieron Harvey Musician and reality television star.

References

External links

* [http://www.movinghere.org.uk/stories/story125/story125.htm?identifier=stories/story125/story125.htm Arthur France MBE - Moving Here Stories]
* [http://www.maxfarrar.org.uk/docs/ZONEGunnMorris2001.DOC Max Farrar "The Zone of the Other: Imposing and Resisting Alien Identities in Chapeltown, Leeds, During the Twentieth Century"]
* [http://www.flickr.com/photos/devegallery/113746746/in/set-72057594084201148/ Chapeltown Carnival Queen 2005 Flickr]
* [http://www.flickr.com/photos/41003010@N00/24875660 Chapeltown Carnival Leeds 2004 Flickr]
*cite web |url=http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/YKS/WRY/Leeds/index.html |title=The Ancient Parish of Leeds |publisher=GENUKI Historical and genealogical resource for area including Chapeltown