Calverley Explained

Country:England
Official Name:Calverley
Coordinates:53.8266°N -1.6908°W
Pushpin Map:United Kingdom Leeds
Population:4,328
Population Ref:(2011 census)
Metropolitan Borough:City of Leeds
Metropolitan County:West Yorkshire
Region:Yorkshire and the Humber
Constituency Westminster:Leeds West and Pudsey
Post Town:PUDSEY
Postcode Area:LS
Postcode District:LS28
Dial Code:0113
Os Grid Reference:SE209368
Static Image:WilfredsCalverley.JPG
Static Image Caption:Calverley Parish Church
London Distance Mi:170
London Direction:SSE

Calverley is a village in the City of Leeds metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England, on the A657 road, about 16km (10miles) from Leeds city centre and 7km (04miles) from Bradford, and lying north of the town of Pudsey. The population of Calverley in 2011 was 4,328.[1] It is part of the City of Leeds ward Calverley and Farsley, with a population of 22,594 at the 2011 Census.

Etymology

The name of Calverley is first attested in the 1086 Domesday Book, as Caverlei and Caverleia.[2] Spellings including the l, such as Kalverlay, are found in twelfth-century sources. The name comes from the Old English words calfra, the genitive plural of calf ('calf'), and lēah ('open ground in woodland'). Thus the name once meant "calves' clearing" or something similar.[3]

History

Calverley is a rural village with a medieval manor house, Calverley Old Hall, which dates back to the 14th century and was home to the Calverley family. In 1605 the landowner, Walter Calverley, went insane and murdered some of his children in Calverley Hall. He refused to plead and was ordered to be pressed to death, a method used to try to force a confession. He died without confessing his crime in order to ensure that his estate was not taken from his remaining family.[4]

Houses in the village are mostly constructed of sandstone, darkened by the soot of the Industrial Revolution, though there are brick buildings to the south of the original village. The Anglican parish church St Wilfrid's has parts dating from the 11th or 12th century. The tower was added and increased in the 13th to 15th century.[5] The Methodist church beside Victoria Park opened in 1872. Both churches are Grade II listed buildings.[6]

Calverley Cutting, a straight road which was intended to replace the old winding packhorse way through the woods between Carr Road in Calverley and Apperley Bridge, was cut through the local sandstone rock by 1856. It was meant to be part of a scheme to develop the area for luxurious residential purposes which, however, failed. Local residents objected to the closure of the old route because the new road proved to be very steep.[7] [8]

Calverley and Rodley railway station on the line of the former Leeds and Bradford Railway was opened in 1846, closed to passengers in 1965 and to freight in 1968.

In 1931 the parish had a population of 3655.[9]

Governance

Historically, Calverley was an ecclesiastical parish in the district of Bradford and the Morley wapentake. In 1894 Calverley Urban District was formed and on 1 April 1937 it was abolished and merged into the Municipal Borough of Pudsey,[10] where it remained until its abolition in 1974.[11] Both Pudsey and Farsley were part of the Calverley parish.[12]

Sports and recreation

The recreation ground in Victoria Park is home to Calverley St Wilfrid's Cricket Club.[13] There are two golf courses to the south of the village: Woodhall Hills (established 1905) off Woodhall Road, and Calverley Golf Club off Woodhall Lane.

Notable people

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.co.uk/ Census 2011 Output Areas E00058402-E00058405 and E00048441-E00058450
  2. Web site: Place: Calverley . Open Domesday . 2 December 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20151208095821/http://opendomesday.org/place/SE2137/calverley/# . 8 December 2015 . live .
  3. Harry Parkin, Your City's Place-Names: Leeds, English Place-Name Society City-Names Series, 3 (Nottingham: English Place-Name Society, 2017), p. 32.
  4. Web site: The History of Calverley . 2 April 2009 . https://web.archive.org/web/20090505052235/http://www.calverleytoday.co.uk/news/Village-History.3610741.jp# . 5 May 2009 . live .
  5. http://www.calverleytoday.co.uk/yourcalverley/Calverley-Village-History.3610741.jp Calverley Today
  6. http://www.calverleytoday.co.uk/communitydirectory/Faith.3496179.jp Claverley Today
  7. Web site: Calverley Cutting . Leodis. A photographic Archive of Leeds . 10 May 2017 . 27 November 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20181127091819/http://www.leodis.net/display.aspx?resourceIdentifier=2005414_24630373 . live .
  8. Web site: Calverley Cutting, top, from a watercolour by Fred Swaine . Leodis. A photographic Archive of Leeds . 10 May 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20171201034402/http://www.leodis.net/display.aspx?resourceIdentifier=200824_165994# . 1 December 2017 . live .
  9. Web site: Population statistics Calverley CP through time. A Vision of Britain through Time. 8 June 2023. 8 June 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230608175612/https://visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10407801/cube/TOT_POP. live.
  10. Web site: Relationships and changes Calverley UD through time. A Vision of Britain through Time. 8 June 2023. 8 June 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230608175613/https://visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10108470. live.
  11. Web site: Calverley West Riding . A Vision of Britain through Time . 10 May 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20171201042817/http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/603# . 1 December 2017 . live .
  12. Web site: Calverley Parish past boundaries . 27 March 2006 . https://web.archive.org/web/20051202045109/http://www.calverley.info/map.htm# . 2 December 2005 . live .
  13. http://www.calverleycc.co.uk/ Calverley St Wilfrid's Cricket Club
  14. Watson . Giles C . Blunt, Alfred Walter Frank (1879–1957) . 5 January 2018 . 10.1093/ref:odnb/49183 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180106065421/http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-49183?rskey=EjiLx0&result=2# . 6 January 2018 . live.
  15. Gilley . Sheridan . Faber, Frederick William (1814–1863) . 5 January 2018. 10.1093/ref:odnb/9050 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180106065409/http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-9050?rskey=IVljE7&result=2# . 6 January 2018 . live.
  16. Book: O'Connor . W.J. . British physiologists, 1885–1914 : a biographical dictionary. . 1990 . Manchester University Press . Manchester . 0-7190-3282-2 . 464.
  17. Web site: Charles Smith . ESPNcricinfo . 5 January 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20171108210526/http://www.espncricinfo.com/england/content/player/20834.html# . 8 November 2017 . live .