The Bramley History Community Archive

No doubt one of the oldest areas of Bramley, sitting as it does more or less at the centre of Town Street itself.

There is no doubt that it has been a meeting place for all the villagers over the years.   As the village well was located at this point, on what could have been known as the Village Green in those early years, one can imagine the habit being formed by the villagers when drawing water from the well, of socialising and discussing the business of the day, be it local or maybe from afar.  That it was a focal point of village life in years gone by is almost certainly true.

One of the little known features of the life of the hill is that following the coming of the Plague to London 1644-5; the people of Leeds itself (a much smaller and separate entity in those days) did not escape from its effects when a fifth of its population died.

Therefore, for the duration of this insidious disease’s presence in Leeds, their market was held in Bramley, until such time as it was deemed safe for it to return to Leeds once more.  To commemorate this period, a cross or pillar was erected on the Hill itself, with the Town Well being located on the opposite side.  In 1798 during the widening of what we now know as Town Street, the cross or pillar was broken, and when in 1827 the hill was altered yet again the broken pieces were used in the erection of the wall we now see today.

Originally a mound of grass covered earth with the village pump, horse tough and commemorative pillar placed on it (as shown in the early engraving in our "Home" page). Our photograph shows the Hill following one of its changes and following the road widening mentioned in this article.

Had conservationists had such standing and inclination then, as they do today, one wonders what they might have said and done about it – hopefully they would have rescued this commemorative piece of history and restored it – now that would have been something to see!

Road sweepers in the late 19th century doing a 'grand' job. This also shows the still relatively new telegraph poles. The sideways view of Stocks Hill gives a real insight into life at that time with its gas lamps (introduced into Bramley in 1844) and handcart to the left of the picture; immediately opposite was Out Gang, the steepest hill leading off Town Street and down, eventually to Kirkstall.

This time our photograph takes us into the early part of the 20th century, by which time the first tram tracks along Town Street had been laid and the cast iron posts to hold the overhead power supply to the trams can also be seen. The single line track had a loop, which can just be seen in front of the hill, which allowed one tram to wait whilst the another went in the opposite direction. The road in the foreground had been widened slightly too; quite a few changes made in a very few years.

The Hill was the site and scene for many Bramley events, not to mention the Stocks themselves for the punishment of local miscreants. Also, come election days the results would be read out to all who congregated on and below the hill.

Many a “Whit Walk” set off from Stocks Hill, preceded by the local Brass Band (of which we were very proud).

Many of our older readers (certainly those involved in the 1950’s and earlier) will remember this event with great fondness.  Almost every child in our village were provided by their families, with new clothes at this time of the year, and these were proudly displayed at the “Whitsuntide Walk”.

How parents with large families managed to provide clothes for their offspring must have been something of a mammoth task, not only because of the cost of buying materials for coats and dresses for the girls, most of which would have been made by mothers, elder sisters, grandmothers or even aunts and neighbours, but trousers (be they long or short), jackets and even waistcoats had to be found for the boys as well.  Anyone fortunate enough to become the owner of a two or three-piece suit had really hit the jackpot.   I remember my cousin telling me he was to have a “New ‘Pullie’ as well” (Pullover, to give it its correct title) which fact meant that my aunt and uncle were really ‘pushing the boat out’. 

As well as the items mentioned above, one must remember that no outfit was complete, for the girls, without new shoes, hats, ribbons and gloves, and certainly shoes and sometimes hats, for the boys as well.

Summing up I believe most of the children loved parading in their finery and just hoped that Whit Sunday would turn out to be a warm and dry day.

BML/2006.