The Nookin, Seacroft, in 1911
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The Nookin, Seacroft, in 1911
From the Barwicker No.100
December 2010
Long before the Ring Road at Seacroft was constructed through to
Whinmoor, a winding cinder path known as The Nookin linked
Barwick Road with York Road at Seacroft Town End, coming out near
to the old Lion & Lamb.
The Nookin was more than just a lane, and a hundred years ago it
housed a thriving community of farmers and labourers, business
people, a coal-miner, a cabinet-maker and other trades. As well as a
few brick-built terraced cottages in the lane, more were scattered in the
triangle of land at the junction of the two busy roads, and there were
three largish houses and outbuildings, with Swarcliffe Farm nearby.
Swarcliffe Farm was held by Walter Townend who, as well as being a
farmer, was also a dairyman. Walter and his wife Annie employed a
nursemaid for their son John, and had a domestic helper who lived in.
Another John Townend, lived at Grove House. He described himself as
a "farm worker" and he was probably Walter's brother, as his lifestyle
appears better than might be expected of the average farm labourer.
John and his wife Kate lived in Grove House with their new baby, and
they also employed a live-in domestic servant.
Oliver Clough worked as a drayman in a hay warehouse, probably for
the Dobsons at Poplar House. Mr. Samuel Dobson traded as a hay and
corn merchant as well as being a farmer, with his 19 year old son,
Albert doing the farming, while his daughter Mildred kept the books.
Oliver and Paulina Clough came to Seacroft from Barwick-in-Elmet.
With nine children ranging in age from 17 to 4 years, the Cloughs were
by far the largest family in The Nookin at that time. Three of their four
older sons were farm labourers, and the younger children went to
school.
One of the local farms employed a man, Edwin Daniel, to look after
the horses. Edwin and his wife, Annie Maria nee Mason married at St
Peter’s Church, Thorner in June 1906. Their two sons, aged 1 and 2,
were born in Scholes. Thomas Burnell, who also lived in The Nookin
was a coal hewer at Brian Pit down York Road. His son Edgar, a
brickyard labourer, probably tramped over the fields to the
Chippindale brickyard at Scholes.
The Nookin's youngsters were tending towards non-industrial trades
such as baking (Harold Turnpenny, apprentice), market gardening
(Albert Burnell), and grocery (Ernest Clough), though one of the major
sources of employment in The Nookin, as in the rest of Seacroft in the
early years of the 20th century, was agriculture. In 1912 Seacroft was
to become absorbed into Leeds, and fifty years after that, The Nookin
was demolished to make way for the encroaching council housing
estate. Netto and Carphone Warehouse companies now occupy the site.
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