Kirkgate in Leeds has a long history dating back to the medieval period. It was originally the site of the medieval village of Leeds and hosted important buildings like the parish church from the 9th century. Over subsequent centuries, Kirkgate developed as the economic center of Leeds with structures like the First White Cloth Hall built in 1710-11. The antiquarian Ralph Thoresby lived on Kirkgate in the 18th century and opened a museum on the street. Kirkgate continued to be redeveloped throughout the 19th and 20th centuries with new markets, buildings and other improvements shaping the area. Uncovering remnants of the original medieval village remains an important archaeological challenge.

1. A History of Kirkgate

2. Kirkgate in the
Middle Ages

3. Medieval Parish
Church
and its 9th and 10th
Century Crosses

6. Visualisation of the Manor of Kirkgate in 1089
The peasant farmsteads on the south side

7. 1. The medieval parish church with ditch
2. The Manor of Kirkgate manor house complex
4. Timble Bridge

8. Surviving stone wall of the medieval hospitium
or the chantry priest’s house at the front of the
First White Cloth Hall

9. Surviving stone wall of the medieval
hospitium at the back of the First White
Cloth Hall?

10. The site of the medieval village of Leeds.
Our most important archaeological site.

11. The medieval ‘back lane’ of Kirkgate
between Kirkgate and the north side of
the Third White Cloth Hall?

15. Leeds in 1560

16. Kirkgate in the
16th and 17th Century

17. View today

18. Same View in c. 1900 showing 17th century
and early 18th century houses

19. Wharf St
17th Century (or earlier) Old Crown and Cookson House

20. Kirkgate in the
18th Century

21. 1726
Plan

23. Ralph Thoresby
(1658-1725)
The great Leeds
antiquarian and
historian
And his house and
museum on Kirkgate

24. Location of Thoresby’s House
on Cossins’ Plan of Leeds (1726)

25. Vicar Lane
and Vicar’s
Croft
Thoresby’s
House

26. Thoresby’s Museum in the garden
behind his house

27. Early Georgian Merchant
Houses on Kirkgate

28. T

31. The Building of the First
White Cloth Hall 1710-11

32. The First White Cloth Hall, Kirkgate (1710-11)
Shown on John Cossins’ Plan of Leeds 1726

33. Artist’s impression of what the appearance of
the back of the cloth hall (Peter Brears)

34. First White Cloth Hall (built 1710-11)
(Reconstruction Drawing by Peter Brears)

36. First White
Cloth Hall
Rediscovered
1983
Our Challenge
for the Future

38. Kirkgate in the
late 18th Century

40. 1767

41. Andrew Wilson’s
House in Infirmary
Yard, Kirkgate
The temporary home
of the first General
Infirmary at Leeds
in 1767

42. Rotation Office
Yard, Kirkgate
Looking north
toward
Kirkgate,
opposite Vicar
Lane

43. Kirkgate in the
19th Century

44. Giles Map of
Leeds, 1815

45. The National School between the White Cloth Hall
and the Parish Church (Giles Map 1815)

47. The National School (erected 1812-13) April 1933

48. Kirkgate in late 1840s ( junction with Vicar Lane)
Left Barrett’s Hat Warehouse, then Kirkgate Market

49. Alderman Barstow’s House, Kirkgate
opposite High Court Lane

50. Kirkgate and its
squalid yards in the
mid-19 century
th

51. Leeds Board of Health Report 1833 Cholera Map

52. Entrance to
Cherry Tree Yard
Kirkgate
Opp west end of
Parish Church

53. Cherry Tree Yard, north side of Kirkgate

54. Kirkgate
Improvements in the
19 century
th

55. The new Parish
Church (1838-41)

56. Kirkgate First
Covered Market
built 1857

57. Bird’s Eye View of the Town of Leeds
By Frank Pettingell and Brownlow Thompson 1886

60. April
1895

62. New Market Hall, Kirkgate (opened 1904)

64. Kirkgate in the
20th Century

65. Wharf St
Kirkgate
Juncton of Kirkgate and Wharf Street c.
1899 and in the next slide how it changed.

66. Eveland House, J. Landey, smallware and
fancy goods importer (photo 1934)

73. The site of the medieval village of Leeds.
Our most important archaeological site.

74. Surviving stone wall of the medieval
hospitium or the Chantry Priest’s at the
front of the First White Cloth Hall

75. Surviving stone wall of the medieval
hospitium at the back of the First White
Cloth Hall?

76. The biggest challenge for the future?

77. A History of Kirkgate