Gildersome
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Gildersome | |
  Gildersome shown within West Yorkshire |
|
| OS grid reference | |
|---|---|
| Metropolitan borough | City of Leeds |
| Metropolitan county | West Yorkshire |
| Region | Yorkshire and the Humber |
| Constituent country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | MORLEY |
| Postcode district | LS27 |
| Dialling code | 0113 |
| Police | West Yorkshire |
| Fire | West Yorkshire |
| Ambulance | Yorkshire |
| European Parliament | Yorkshire and the Humber |
| List of places: UK • England • Yorkshire | |
Gildersome is a village in the Leeds Metropolitan District 5 miles (7 km) south west of Leeds City Centre in West Yorkshire, England.
It is situated midway between Leeds, Wakefield and Bradford but is considered part of Morley in the LS27 (Leeds (Morley)) postcode area. The village now has a parish council.
Gildersome is one of the highest parts of the Leeds district area at 171 metres above sea level (Hart Hill).
The M621 motorway begins at M62 motorway junction 27 which is near to Gildersome. The A62 Leeds to Huddersfield (Gelderd Road) also runs near the village.
Gildersome has many services such as a library, doctors, dentists and a small Co-op store. A playground sits next to the library. A war memorial is situated on the village green. Perhaps slightly unusual for a village of its size, it has always had a number of schools, right through its history. At present, there are two primary schools; Gildersome Primary and Birchfield Country Primary. The schools are both feeding schools to a range of high schools in the area, as the village is allocated centrally between the likes of Farnley High School, and the Morley Schools. In November 2007, a project headed by Councillor [ and ex-mayor of Morley ] Bob Gettings, commissioned a flag-pole topped with a Union Jack to be positioned on the Village Green to coincide with Remembrance Sunday. This project, along with many others in the village, have been managed by the successful Parish Council, which have also directed the inclusion of projects such as the village Christmas lights, a scheme which aims to bring together the village as a community.
Gildersome has a largely sporting community, especially within football and cricket sectors. The village team, Gildersome Spurs, trains and plays teams in football from an early age, and holds an annual gala. The cricket club, located at the top of Street Lane, has been successfully operating for decades. In 2007, they broke records, when their junior team played four matches, one in each country in the space of 12 hours, a feat which was recorded by local and national media. In September 2007 Gildersome entered Rugby League with a team playing in the CMS Yorkshire league Division 4.
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[edit] History
Gildersome is thought to be a corruption of Guelderzoom in recognition of Dutch immigrants fleeing from Guelderland around 1751 who found asylum in the area.[1] Gildersome has changed in size and population a lot over time, and has changed beyond recognition in 100 years, when the village was a thriving mining community with many local pits. A lot of the original mining locations remain, such as the 'brownhills', a large area of land which separates Gildersome from neighbouring Drighlington. The provisions created for the miners, including the increased number of housing remain today, including the town houses and terraces built on Street Lane. A lot of the land has also been redeveloped. The land on which Mill Lane and its subsequent housing now sits was, as the name suggests, a large industrial area, with Maiden Mills built on the site. Originally, there was a flax mill, but during an incident in 1914, the mill burnt down, and a new one was built. In the 1990s, the land was cleared and re-developed for housing.
Churches have always played a major part of the community of Gildersome, and the first Gildersome Baptist Church Chapel was constructed in 1707. It was built for public worship with an intended capacity of 250 people. In 2007 there were many celebrations and events to coincide with the 300th year anniversary of the original place of worship. In 1866, for a cost of approximately £2,000, a new chapel was built, much larger than the original. It was opened on 2 May 1866, and the original building remains. However in recent years, the church was redeveloped, with the adjoining halls and facilities being converted into flats. The original hall was renovated, with a new and modern interior and brand new facilities. Through grants, volunteering schemes and assistance from various sources, the graveyard has also been converted into a community garden, which encourages local school children to learn more about the environment and nature.
Turton Hall in Gildersome (now residential flats) was a prominent and wealthy school, for higher education students, during the 1700's. It is said that preacher John Wesley visited and preached in the dining room.
Gildersome also used to have a fully functioning station which ran at the turn of the century, and it was located at the Cross Roads at the top of the village (towards Morley)
On the 4 February 1974, the village and surrounding area gathered widespread national attention, when there was a coach bomb, on the M62 motorway which passes the boundary of the village. 12 people including soldiers and members of their families, died in the incident, which the media claimed to be the work of the IRA.
For more information surrounding the history of the village, local history books about Morley and the surrounding area, along with newspaper references are always good points of information. However, for a more-indepth and photographic history, then the community books created by Gildersome Baptist Churches during the 90's are excellent points of research; "Gildersome Past & Present" and "Gildersome....Do You Remember?"
[edit] Trivia
- Gildersome Primary School's emblem which is placed on the uniforms and school-related products, is a phoenix. The school was initially built in 1984, to educate the students of the merging Gildersome Junior School and St Peters Infant school, allowing children to be taught from reception age, through to 11. However the philosophy behind the Phoenix comes from the fact that both schools suffered terrible fires, in the 70's and 80's. The new school was seen as a new beginning, and the Phoenix was chosen as an emblem, which remains to this date. A revised edition was designed in 2003, for multimedia purposes.
- During the war years, on the land on which the Green Park sits, at the bottom of the Gildersome Primary drive, there was a public air-raid shelter.
- Winston Churchill once made a visit to the village, stopping on the boundary between Leeds (city centre) and Morley, where he "meeted and greeted" people near St Bernards (now on Gelderd Road)
- Gildersome gained national widespread attention in 1663, when a foiled plot aimed at taking over the city of Leeds, and other strongholds in the Yorkshire area came to the attention of the public. This plot, is now commonly known as the Farnley Wood Plot, as where the plotters met, yet many of them came from the Gildersome area. In conjunction with this plot, many people were arrested and held captive at York. Three who managed to escape were brought back to Leeds for immediate execution. Some people go as far to say, that the land on which one of the plotters house used to stand, along with the original plantains, is now haunted.
[edit] References
- ^ History of Morley by Norris Scatcherd
[edit] External links
- The Ancient Parish of Batley. GENUKI. Retrieved on 2007-10-29. Gildersome was in this parish
