Headingley-Story of an Acorn

Headingley - the story of an acorn

The Brigantes were a loose affiliation of Celtic tribes.
Around the year 250BC a small group of Brigantes started moving into an area of the oak forest area of what would become Adel.
Shortly afterwards two small settlements were begun a little way to the south.
The first was at the present day junction of Moor Road and Weetwood Lane; close by where the modern, and slightly famous, Bryans Fish and Chip shop restaurant is located.
The second settlement was approximately on the site of the present St Michael's church, about 1200 yards south of the Moor Road settlement.
Most probably the settlers would have been pig breeders, attracted to the area as acorns and fungi would have been in abundance.

One hundred and fifty years later the area was known as the 'forest clearing settlement that belongs to Hedde'. The three ancient words for that phrase are 'Hedde-ingas-leah'. Over time they become Headingley.

One hundred and fifty years later the Romans arrived in Britain.

In 75AD General Julius Agricola (77-93) established forts at Newton Kyme, Ilkley and Castleford.
He also set up camps at Adel, Tadcaster and Cleckheaton. Roads were then built to connect these bases, one of which ran from Ilkley, over Ilkley Moor onto Otley Chevin, down Otley Old Road (it wasn't so old then) to the camp at Adel. From there the road ran along the high ridge of Alwoodley on to Wigton Lane before travelling on to Brandon, Scarcroft and then on to Calcaria (Tadcaster).

In 155AD the Brigantes were revolting against the rule of the Romans and burnt down the fort at Ilkley.
They were defeated quickly and the fort rebuilt. At that time the tribe at Headingley split from the Brigantes and forms an alliance with the Romans. The Romans found it convenient to rule by alliances with local chiefs.
The tribe forms itself into the British/Celtic kingdom of Elmet. The little kingdom of Elmet was to remain an ally of the Romans for over two hundred years. The Romans left Britain on 410AD.

In the year 300AD an acorn fell to the ground in Headingley. It was to prove a significant event.

Time passes and that fateful year 1066 comes along.
In April of that year thousands flock to the churches. A great comet is leaving its trail across the sky. Its appearance is believed to spell doom and disaster for the country. In seven hundred years time Edmund Halley will predict the appearance of the comet again.
On Christmas Day of that year William the Conqueror is crowned the new king of England in Westminster Abbey.

Following the invasion there are many rebellions against the Normans. In 1068 two earls, Edwin and Morcar led a revolt against the Normans in Yorkshire. It failed.
The following year William, as a prelude to the 'harrying of the north' and in retaliation for the uprising led by the two earls, sends one of his lords, Ilbert de Laci to crush the inhabitants. Headingley is destroyed.

Eventually, peace returns to the country. Over the next nine hundred years Headingley will grow along with her neighbour, Leeds, eventually being swallowed by that town and becoming the suburb of Leeds we know today.

Headingley Lane, looking towards the Oak, before the introduction of burger and pizza shops.

That oak tree continued to thrive and through its life saw many changes in Headingley. The following are just a few of the incidents that occurred throughout its life.

1100 Seleth, a shepherd, arrived in Headingley forest looking for an isolated site in which to live a religious life as a hermit. The site he chose would become the location for Kirkstall Abbey.

1584 Queen Elizabeth I gave the lands of Kirkstall Abbey to Robert Saville.
The Saville family are the last great landowners of the Headingley township. Through marriage they become Brudenells and heirs to the Earl of Cardigan. The family is today remembered in the roads around Headingley and in a local inn, the Cardigan Arms.

1626 The Saville and Wade families join to give Headingley a new church. Sir John Saville donated the ground and the Wades supply the money to build it. The following year, on the 19th January, the newly built St. Michael's is dedicated.

1663 A Hearth Tax is levied in Headingley. The surveyors found thirty-eight houses and seventy-six hearths. One of the houses was Headingley Hall, the home of one John Killingbeck.

1677 John Killingbeck became mayor of Leeds.

1725 (?) The Killingbeck family, now living at Allerton Grange, move to a new site at Gipton. The new site at Gipton will, in time, become the famous Killingbeck Hospital.

1759 The track known as Headingley Lane is improved all the way to Otley and the Leeds-Otley turnpike is opened.

1775 The population of Headingley with Burley and Kirkstall is just 667.

1783 Headingley gets one of the first public elementary schools in the country. It was built on St Michael's Road on ground given by the Lord of the Manor and with money donated by Benjamin Wade.

1798 A police constable was appointed in the township of Headingley. It was a part-time job and the first officer a schoolmaster.

1801 The population of Headingley with Burley and Kirkstall is 1313. In 1837 it will be 4000.

On the 26th May 1941 the Original Oak collapsed. A sapling oak was planted in its place.

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