SecretLeeds - History, culture and architecture in Leeds

Wiggy's reference to the Wars of the Roses on the pub names thread as the first English Civil War put this in my mind. What signs of the official English Civil War are there in Leeds Met?There was a skirmish at Drighlington and there is a Fairfax Avenue there - plus of course there are the remains of Howley Hall, sacked by the Royalists. Any other references around and about?

Trojan, Try doing a search on here as there are a few threads that have a lot of information on them.There is one particularly about the battle of Meanwood which is quite interesting.There is always the story of Charles I being imprisoned in Red Hall and John Harrison offereing him a tankard of gold coins to bribe the guard and escape.Also wondered if Fairfax house at the corner of Wade Lane and Merrion street has anything to do with Thomas Fairfax, 1st Lord Fairfax of Cameron, and his son Ferdinando Fairfax, 2nd Lord Fairfax of Cameron the parliamentarians with links to Yorkshire?Wonder if he was associated with Leeds

There is a monument out past the Crooked Billet on the way to Saxton / Towton east of Lotherton Hall. There was a huge battle over that way walle dthe Battle of Towton. 80,000 soldiers, 30,000 dead they estimate.

it is said that when they pulled the olde worlde schofields cafe down,that they found cannon balls embedded into a couple of the beams,also that many royalists were drowned in the river around where the canal basin now standsas they fled fairfax forces.in my mums garden we found lots and lots of old clay pipe bits,the lock from an ancient matchlock and the odd brass button.i know it was old farmland in the last couple of centuries,but the romantic in me thinks they are bits from a cromwellian camp,as it is very high ground there and looks out over all the city centre.

Reginal Perrin wrote: There is a monument out past the Crooked Billet on the way to Saxton / Towton east of Lotherton Hall. There was a huge battle over that way walle dthe Battle of Towton. 80,000 soldiers, 30,000 dead they estimate. thats the one i was on about in the other thread,its palm sunday 1461,bloodiest battle fought on british soil,the monument reads 50,000 were slain,experts recon only 30,000...but they were not there.the lancastrians were slain almost to a man in a screaming snow blizzard,many of whose graves and monuments are in saxton church yard,one of whom was burried sat on his horse.just a year or two back,a farmer digging footings for a new barn found quite a few skeletons,some with vicious wound.some even had arrow heads still in them.it seems you can't put a spade in the ground around there without finding medieval artifacts or bones of some kind.there is a book in the crooked billet that can tell you much much more,it's well worth a visit.

Reginal Perrin wrote: There is a monument out past the Crooked Billet on the way to Saxton / Towton east of Lotherton Hall. There was a huge battle over that way walle dthe Battle of Towton. 80,000 soldiers, 30,000 dead they estimate. There was a huge battle at Towton but it took place in the Wars of the Roses.The civil war battle site is Marston Moor - nr Tockwith.The fact that three historically significant and decisive land battles all took place in the vicinity of York speak volumes about what and important place York must have been in the past.

LS1 wrote: Trojan, Try doing a search on here as there are a few threads that have a lot of information on them.There is one particularly about the battle of Meanwood which is quite interesting.There is always the story of Charles I being imprisoned in Red Hall and John Harrison offereing him a tankard of gold coins to bribe the guard and escape.Also wondered if Fairfax house at the corner of Wade Lane and Merrion street has anything to do with Thomas Fairfax, 1st Lord Fairfax of Cameron, and his son Ferdinando Fairfax, 2nd Lord Fairfax of Cameron the parliamentarians with links to Yorkshire?Wonder if he was associated with Leeds Well not quite with Leeds but certainly Otley.Thomas Fairfax was baptised at Denton Chapel,a "Donative" Chapel (Chapel of ease)within the parish of Otley,connected with the family estate at Denton.The chapel allowed the family to attend ordinary church services without having to rub shoulders with my common ancestors who were using Otley Church at the timeat the time,though the Fairfaxes did have seats of their own at the Parish church it would appear they only attended on certain days,ie festivals etc,otherewise they used the chapel on the estate.The Otley Parish register,25/12/1612 Baptisms, showsThomas sone and heire of Sr Fardinando Fairfaxe bapt at Denton the xxvth day.(sic)Heres some details about Thomas on the Genuki webpage."Denton Park is delightfully situated upon the banks of the Wharf; and "was for several generations the principal residence of the Fairfaxes, of whom Sir William Fairfax married Isabel, daughter of Thomas Thwaites, by whom he had the manor of Denton. This line, in seven generations, produced two judges, Sir Guy and William Fairfax; and two distinguished generals, Ferdinando and Thomas, successively Lords Fairfax, the well known commanders for the Parliament." To Thomas Lord Fairfax, the public are indebted for the voluminous collections of Dodsworth. In the old house at Denton, Prince Rupert lodged on his way from Lancashire to York, a few days before the battle of Marston Moor in 1644, and was only prevented destroying the house, by the sight of a fine portrait of John Fairfax, younger brother of the then Lord, who had been slain while defending Frankendale, in the palatinate, A.D. 1621. "In this house, where he had been born 60 years before, died Thomas, Lord Fairfax, the general, Nov. 12, 1671. In the same house, April 9, 1688, died Henry, Lord Fairfax, and was interred in the chapel at Denton."Attached is a picture of the chapel at Denton,though the one in this picture would appear to be of later construction,probably 18th century