SecretLeeds - History, culture and architecture in Leeds

Well yes, I know where Adel is! However there is the 12c. church there surrounded mainly by fields. Usually a church of this age would be in the middle of a settlement but there does not seem to be any evidence of habitation of any great age close by. Hence the question, why is Adel church stood there in isolation?

Referred to in many works, just to hand, Edmund Bogg's Round About Leeds,'Cookridge, Adel and Breary, places of a very ancient population, ..... traces of Roman, Celtic, Anglian and Norman people'.Many other snippets through the book all indicationg an importanrt habitat over time.

'Cookridge, Adel and Breary, places of a very ancient population, ..... traces of Roman, Celtic, Anglian and Norman people'.That is what I mean, the church, which is normally in a central position in a village, is all by itself. There is no sign of any of the old Adel anywhere around it.

grumpybloke wrote: 'Cookridge, Adel and Breary, places of a very ancient population, ..... traces of Roman, Celtic, Anglian and Norman people'.That is what I mean, the church, which is normally in a central position in a village, is all by itself. There is no sign of any of the old Adel anywhere around it. For the periods mentioned it is likely to be archeological rather than vissible remains though references are make to 'remainingartefacts' as well as the eveidence of and from earthworks and the topography - more recent times - as you say, conspicuous by their absenceOld Maps goes back to 1851 but littel to be seen even then.

Villages were not all the permanent, even if the population remained fairly local, the average country village would be periodically rebuilt on a differnt site every generation or so.These were often dirt and turf affair construction, and it took several hundred years before they even got to wattle and daub of the Tudor style.These humble little shacks soon crumbled, the old and ancient buidlings you see toady were always the better built structures.In many cases population was spread out, there actually wasn't a village as such, just lots of farmsteads.    

Yes, perhaps this is the case. I have often wondered whether the dwellings were under the field opposite or under the golf course. Who knows!

grumpybloke wrote: Well yes, I know where Adel is! However there is the 12c. church there surrounded mainly by fields. Usually a church of this age would be in the middle of a settlement but there does not seem to be any evidence of habitation of any great age close by. Hence the question, why is Adel church stood there in isolation? The size of the parish of Adel has reduced over the years, the church originally was for a rather large agricultural area including villages at Eccup, Breary and Arthington, a manor house and associated dwellings in Adel itself and the estate of Cookridge.The whole area was agricultural which meant that as well as the families who lived in the farms there would be families of farm labourers who lived in some very small poor quality "houses" if you could call them that. At Mosely Wood Farm one survives. It looks like an old outhouse but in fact housed a farm labourer his wife and six kids.The Adel Manor and Cookridge Hall would have had many servants, and in later years there were Mills like Adel Mill and scotland Mill. for which small overcrowded cheap cottages would have been built but not survived. then there were gamekeepers and woodsmen- their substantial cottages survive on Tinshill Road. The smithy survives on Otley Old Road, Adel school survives and so do a number of small stone cottages dotted all over the place, and farms aplenty.One could imagine a few hundred years ago how people would walk from miles around to the church which was indeed the centre of a sizeable - but very spread out, community.

Whilst I believe that some churches are isolated because their surrounding village has disappeared ( eg due to the black death) some churches have never formed the nucleus of a built up village but instead served a scattered farming community. Adel is a case in point. There are few other buildings of much antiquity in what we now regard as Adel but many scattered across the old parish which once extended as far North as the River Wharfe.If David Wilson Homes and other rapacious developers get their way, Adel church will not be isolated for much longer ( thanks to the idiotic planning legislation which led to this state of affairs).    

The Parksider wrote: grumpybloke wrote: Well yes, I know where Adel is! However there is the 12c. church there surrounded mainly by fields. Usually a church of this age would be in the middle of a settlement but there does not seem to be any evidence of habitation of any great age close by. Hence the question, why is Adel church stood there in isolation? The size of the parish of Adel has reduced over the years, the church originally was for a rather large agricultural area including villages at Eccup, Breary and Arthington, a manor house and associated dwellings in Adel itself and the estate of Cookridge.The whole area was agricultural which meant that as well as the families who lived in the farms there would be families of farm labourers who lived in some very small poor quality "houses" if you could call them that. At Mosely Wood Farm one survives. It looks like an old outhouse but in fact housed a farm labourer his wife and six kids.The Adel Manor and Cookridge Hall would have had many servants, and in later years there were Mills like Adel Mill and scotland Mill. for which small overcrowded cheap cottages would have been built but not survived. then there were gamekeepers and woodsmen- their substantial cottages survive on Tinshill Road. The smithy survives on Otley Old Road, Adel school survives and so do a number of small stone cottages dotted all over the place, and farms aplenty.One could imagine a few hundred years ago how people would walk from miles around to the church which was indeed the centre of a sizeable - but very spread out, community. Have an ancestor who was Blacksmith at Cookridge,mid to late 18th century.I think there is a Smithy Lane in Cookridge,but its quite frustrating as there appears to be no actual "heart" to Cookridge as such,no remnants of anything.So it must have been nothing nore than a scattering of farms,weavers cottages.

cnosni wrote: Have an ancestor who was Blacksmith at Cookridge,mid to late 18th century.I think there is a Smithy Lane in Cookridge,but its quite frustrating as there appears to be no actual "heart" to Cookridge as such,no remnants of anything.So it must have been nothing nore than a scattering of farms,weavers cottages. When the first hundred or so houses were built at the northern end of Green Lane it suddenly became a "Village". What I know of Cookridge where I live is that it was of course a large wood. In that wood was the woodsmans cottage and the gamekeepers cottage. Check google earth and Tinshill Road and you can spot those two, and lovely they are. Also you can see the smithy built end on to otley old road.