Scholes - The Holy City!
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Scholes - The Holy City!
Some memories of Scholes over the last 75 years
Barwicker No.110
June 2013
I was born just before the Second World War in Arthursdale in a house
overlooking Arthursdale cricket field (now buried beneath the Wimpey
estate). It appeared to me that Barwick and Scholes were communities
very different from one another.
Although Barwick probably existed in some form before Scholes, the
remains of the ancient earth works are still evident in both
communities. What was apparent for much of the 20th Century was
that the two villages had developed quite differently from each other.
To the south of Barwick there were still numerous operational coal
mines and beyond Garforth and many colliery workers lived in
Barwick and Aberford (where the old Fly Line terminated.) Each
village was surrounded by farmland an, in the absence of the powerful
agricultural machinery available these days, the bulk of farm work
required teams of manual workers throughout the year with many extra
helpers drafted in at harvest time. The heavy jobs of ploughing,
harrowing, harvesting and haulage involved the use of heavy horses,
but they in turn created considerable work in their stabling, feeding,
harness maintenance (as any horse owner will know only too well),
and the occasional attention of the farrier, or blacksmith whenever they
needed to be re-shod.
Even after the Second World War there was still open country from
Seacroft to Stanks; Stanks to Scholes and from Scholes to Barwick.
The earliest public transport was horse-drawn and the introduction of
motor transport completely transformed travel and boosted by the
development of the railway and the opening of the station in 1876,
Scholes began to develop as a dormitory suburb of Leeds. In the
1920s/30s houses were built along Leeds Road, Station Road (and
various short cul-de-sacs leading off it) and Arthursdale was developed
along The Avenue and up Nook Road. The large developments
involving the Belle Vue Estate and the accompanied extensions of the
Station Road cul-de-sacs, and the Arthursdales did not proceed until
the 1950s and the late 1960s/ 1970s respectively.
The West Yorkshire bus service to Scholes terminated at Rakehill
Road, the buses turning round by reversing into the station (The
Buffers) entrance and stopping, often for some considerable time,
outside Brookes' (now Satnam's) shop. From Leeds one bus service to
Barwick and Aberford went direct, past the Coronation Tree, but
another went via Scholes Station. Because, by then, more residents of
Scholes than of Barwick tended to be in 'white collared' occupations
some of the bus conductors often scornfully referred to Scholes as 'The
Holy City'. With its very old, stone-built houses along Main Street,
Barwick remained more of a typical old village until the
Richmondfield, Flats Lane, and Elmwood estates were completed and,
although boasting three times as many public houses, it seemed to us to
have lagged somewhat behind Scholes.
In 1929 Arthursdale Cricket Club was created by a splinter group from
Scholes Cricket Club and both played in the Wetherby League.
Barwick played in the Barkston Ash League which was then
considered inferior. Not until many years later did Barwick change
leagues, after some Barwickers joined Arthursdale CC.
In Scholes we had the Village Players; successful tennis and
badminton clubs; the first horticultural society in the area; a steam
traction engine and threshing machine used at harvest time; an
orchestra albeit not a frequent performer, and a dance band. The Parish
Council offices were in Scholes and most Saturday night entertainment
was centred in Scholes Village Hall where the (alcohol-free) frequent
dances drew regulars from both villages and beyond.
It is only in fairly recent times that Barwick has developed to consider
itself to be the predominant community. Those of us of a certain age
remember it as it was, and Scholes as the Holy City.
R G GREEN
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