The Bramley History Community Archive

Not names one hears of these days, and yet in times gone by if you had lived in certain areas of Bramley, you would have been proud to have been referred to as such.

The origin of these names remain somewhat obscure, therefore one must assume they were something of a district or group name for those living within a relatively small part of Bramley, many years ago.

‘Gowsha Wildcats’ were the folk living in and around the Whitecote area, so if you live there now I guess you are entitled to refer to yourself as such!

Whilst the origin of this name is not known to us, it most certainly goes back a very long time.

If you live in the Whitecote of Bramley, did you know that troops supporting King Charles I, during the Civil War, camped in the area where you now live?  Unsurprisingly, they wore white coats – hence the area from then onwards being known as ‘Whitecote’. 

The Civil War between King Charles I, and his supporters the Cavaliers (The Royalists) and Oliver Cromwell and his Parliamentarians (The Roundheads, also known as Redcotes), came about due to the King believing in ‘the divine right of Kings’, i.e. himself.  In 1629, following Parliament’s impeachment of the Duke of Buckingham, he took the step of dissolving Parliament itself and imposed the taxes which Parliament itself had refused to sanction.  This was the beginning of an eleven-year period when the King, alone, ruled the country.

During this time he became more and more unpopular as he continued to apply his principles of divine right, along with his enforcement of the Anglican forms of worship to the exclusion of Calvinists and Presbyterians in England.

In Scotland the Presbyterian Kirk and ‘Covenanters’, who had vowed fidelity to their respective churches, were strongly opposed to this course of action by the King.

The Protestants of the land were also worried about the King’s wife, Henrietta Maria (daughter of the then King of France, Henry IV), who was herself a staunch Catholic, and primarily her influence over the King, especially where religious matters were concerned.

1642 was the year when the last act in this sorry saga of events occurred, when Parliament asserted itself and demanded to approve the King’s choice of ministers.  The King would not agree and so Civil War broke out.

Following defeat of the King and his Cavaliers, he was tried for treason against the realm, and died on the scaffold in 1649 when he was beheaded.

History would lead us to believe that very little fighting actually occurred in Bramley during the period of the Civil War, for which fact its then inhabitants must have been most relieved.

That the name ‘Waterloo Abdabs’ is, in any way, connected with the Civil War would be pure conjecture.  However, and what we do know, is that those living in the upper part of Waterloo Lane, where streets called the ‘Thrifts’ and the ‘Westmorlands’ were to be found, were referred to as such.

A group of youngsters, proud to be known as 'Abdabs', probably taken towards the end of the 19th century

Going down Waterloo Lane in the direction from Town Street, there were a number of businesses immediately prior to the demolition period of the 1950’s,

60’s and 70’s, including the Yorkshire Bank and Mr Orange - gentleman’s barbershop. Then there was Westmorland Mount, followed by the rows of terrace houses called ‘The Thrifts, which were situated opposite and below where Bramley Community Centre now stands.

On the same side as the Community Centre and going back up towards Town Street itself, and at the very top, stood the Midland Bank and 2-3 houses. The lower of these three houses was, at one time, a Fish & Chip shop.  A tannery had been located on the next land area but unfortunately this was eventually burned down.  Below the Tannery there were more stone built houses dating back many years. No longer there.

It is interesting to note, and still something of a sore point to many of Bramley’s older residents, that these buildings were all made of stone from Bramley quarries. Today they would have been highly prized by many a developer and would have prevented most of our village being robbed of its character!

At the time when the original buildings were being put up, had they continued building to the bottom of Waterloo Lane, where it junctions with Broad Lane, no doubt there would have been an even greater number of ‘Abdabs’ in the area.  As it is, and following building programmes as far back as the 1920’s and almost up to the present day, there are now quite a number of houses holding, potentially, many latter-day ‘Abdabs’ – something for the children now living there today to tell their school-friends!

As well as the large Waterloo Mill on the right-hand side going down Waterloo Lane, which was located immediately below the Thrifts, also on the right and more or less opposite where Belmount View is today, the only truly old property remaining in Waterloo Lane, and again on the right-hand side, is Waterloo Lodge. This is still a privately owned house.

2006.