Small Graveyard in Stanningley

The green spaces and places of Leeds
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jimbo
Posts: 10
Joined: Wed 21 Feb, 2007 4:05 pm

Post by jimbo »

Does anyone know any history on the small ''graveyard' adjacent Sun Field in Stanningley bottoms. There is 15-20 graves, some of them pretty large dating from 1750-1940s all squashed in to the top corner of the grassed area. Does anyone know if there was a church on the land before or why these graves are there?Jimbo

Inquirer
Posts: 53
Joined: Fri 27 Apr, 2007 6:55 am

Post by Inquirer »

There was an old chapel on this site until the 1960s: the Sunfield Centenary Wesleyan Methodist church. According to Steve Gaunt's website baptisms for this chapel started in 1836, though an unofficial earlier document shows a few earlier baptisms. Marriages started in 1903. As a young reporter on the old Pudsey and Stanningley News I wrote one of my first stories about the fate of this graveyard in April 1968.

jimbo
Posts: 10
Joined: Wed 21 Feb, 2007 4:05 pm

Post by jimbo »

Thanks for that!Had a look again at the grave stones and the most impressive one is of a gentleman called Joseph Butler who (and I'm not 100% sure about this) owned an old iron foundry in Farsley. Not sure if teh Foundry is still there as I'm new to the area

billy the buffalo
Posts: 69
Joined: Thu 17 May, 2007 12:17 pm

Post by billy the buffalo »

Dont know whether you have noticed the building on Stanningley town street that has the inscription on the wall that relates to it once having being a Sunday School this is still legible (just) and now the building looks like it is a small engineering works.

Inquirer
Posts: 53
Joined: Fri 27 Apr, 2007 6:55 am

Post by Inquirer »

The Butler family owned the iron works and foundry which later become George Cohen's on Town Street, Stanningley. They lived at Westroyd, New Street, Farsley, a Yorkshire Victorian "Brass Castle" - - it's on the cover of the book of that name. Westroyd was owned by Pudsey and later Leeds Council and was used as an old people's shelter, a small museum and by Farsley Art Club but the house has recently been sold by the council and made into flats. The grounds are still a public park.

isambard01
Posts: 15
Joined: Sat 10 May, 2008 1:30 pm

Post by isambard01 »

There are now houses on most of Butler's site. Butler's of Stanningley provided the roof for York railway station of which the original still exists and countless bridges e.g. the iron bridge at Filey which leads to beach (photograph above). Built in 1847!I used to go to Sunfield Sunday School and Chapel in the 1950s/60s - does anyone have a photograph of either/both that they are will to post to this thread?                
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David Gowing

DynamiteDaz
Posts: 28
Joined: Sat 07 Sep, 2019 7:24 pm

Re: Small Graveyard in Stanningley

Post by DynamiteDaz »

This was the thread that got me reading Secret Leeds yesterday- my girlfriend lives right next to this cemetery, though I know there was no church nearby which I thought was odd. She told me they'd apparently knocked half of it down already to build some of the newer houses which I thought was mad. Anyway, this thread is what popped up when I googled it.

Going past it today I tried to have a little nosey, but its all fenced off and locked. Not sure why they'd lock it all up, but continue to cut the grass there! Thinking of jumping the fence in the next week or so and getting pictures/videos of the tombstones and monuments for posterity sake before they bulldozer over these too if anyone would be interested?

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