Historic Wood Lane Area
The hinterland of Headingley Hall was part of the vast Kirkstall Abbey estate until the Dissolution, after which it passed into the hands of the Earls of Cardigan. Open fields were crossed by a lane winding from the Hall to Woodhouse Ridge. A mill was built on Meanwood Beck in the eighteenth century, and Oil Mill Lane linked the village with the existing lane, dropping down the Ridge to the mill, while Mill Lane took an easier route, branching off from what is now Shaw Lane. The Cardigan estate was sold for development during the nineteenth century, the first villas were built on Oil Mill Lane in the 1850s, and Alma Road (named after the battle of 1854) was laid as a service road. The main suburban development began in the 1870s, when Shire Oak Road was laid and the mill lanes were renamed Wood Lane and Grove Lane, all acquiring grand new housing. Between the last and Alma Road, the 1930s saw the building of the sunshine houses
For an outline description of the area, go to Wood Lane and see also the Listed Buildings there. For more on the history of the area, follow the Eastern Walk in the HEART Walks, which you can find on the Walk page. And also, explore the Millside Meander which finishes at the Old Oil Mill at the far end of Wood Lane. The history of the local park is shown in Woodhouse Ridge in the Past.
Acknowledgements: Leeds Library and Information Service, at www.Leodis.com; University of Leeds Library, Special Collections: Godfrey Bingley; The Thoresby Society: Leeds Historical Society; Leeds Civic Trust; Francis Frith and Company; Eveleigh Bradford; and Helen Pickering. Some of these photos are copyright and should not be reproduced without the owner's permission. Every effort has been made to contact all copyright owners. We would be pleased to rectify at the earliest opportunity any omissions and errors brought to our notice.
For photos of the area now, go to the Wood Lane Area gallery.
For other neighbourhoods in the past, see Historic Headingley.
Read more about the history of the Wood Lane area in Chapter 12 of Eveleigh Bradford, Headingley, Northern Heritage Publications, 2008.
