Tag: heritage

Middleton Railway: Metal thieves strike again

Heartless thieves have struck at the heart of south Leeds’ heritage by targeting the Middleton Railway for the second time in under a year. In this latest incident, thieves took between £6,000 to £7,000 of metal from the world’s oldest continuously working railway, which has been running since 1758. Volunteers who now run the

Public meetings examine Middleton’s rich history

South Leeds residents are cordially invited to two public meetings which will examine the history of their community. The first meeting will be held next Wednesday, March 21, and will feature a talk by representatives of Leeds online history photograph archive Leodis. The following Wednesday, March 28, will see representatives from

Middleton Life: Our visit to the National Coalmining Museum

Fancy your six year old son or daughter working down the mine, tied to stop them escaping the pitch black conditions for 14 hours a day? That was the question posed to members of the Middleton Life local history group as they went deep underground at the National Coalmining Museum near Wakefield. Middleton’s

Middleton Railway to celebrate 200 years of steam

Andy Hardy, the traffic manager at Middleton Railway, has written this guest post about a special anniversary and the biggest event in the railway’s history in June. This year, on June 24th the Middleton Railway will be celebrating an important anniversary. On that day 200 years ago, the first commercially

Council housing pioneer nets Belle Isle blue plaque

The pioneer of council housing in south Leeds – whose legacy can still be felt in Middleton, Belle Isle and across south Leeds even today – has been commemorated with a historic blue plaque marking his achievements. Social reformer the Rev Charles  Jenkinson (1887-1949) was also vicar of Holbeck and was responsible for driving the clearance