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→History: Harrying of the North |
→History: Chapeltown Moor |
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In medieval times, the area was mostly small farms, with a village (and chapel) centred on a crossroads. In 1645 there was a plague (probably [[cholera]]) in Leeds, particularly virulent around the town markets. Instead of travelling in to sell produce, the people from Chapel Allerton sold it at Chapeltown Green, at the north end of what is now Chapeltown Road. To pay, the buyer had to put money into a basin of vinegar, specially built into a wall.<ref name=Clarke/>
Chapeltown Moor was an open area extending from Stainbeck Lane on the North down to Potternewton Lane on the South, bounded to the West by the stream known as Stain Beck and the turnpike road to Harrogate on the East. In the 17th and 18th centuries it had a racecourse and was also used for archery, cricket, foot racing, and cockfighting. It was finally enclosed between 1803 and 1813.<ref name=Tucker/>
By the end of the 17th century, it had become a resort or second home for wealthy people from Leeds<ref name=LeedsPlan/> and in 1767 was described as the [[Montpellier]] of Yorkshire by one visitor.<ref name=Faulkner/><ref name=Wrathmell>{{cite book |last=Wrathmell |first=Susan |date=2005 |title=Pevsner Architectural Guides: Leeds |url= |location= |publisher=Yale University Press |page=227 |isbn=0-300-10736-6 |author-link= }}</ref> In 1834 [[Edward Parsons (minister)|Edward Parsons]] described it as "by far the most beautiful and respectable in the Parish of Leeds".<ref name=Wrathmell/> An 1853 directory called Chapel Allerton "a neat and pleasant village" with the "beautiful hamlets" of Moor-Allerton, Meanwood and Gledhow and a population of 2497 within its chapelry, noting that "It has many handsome mansions and neat houses, mostly occupied by merchants &c. who have their places of business in Leeds.<ref name=White/>
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