Ashfield House, Scholes
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A Brief History of Ashfield House, Scholes.
from The Barwicker No.61
Ashfield House, No.7 Station Road,
Scholes, is on the junction of Morwick Grove
next to Scholes (Elmet) Junior and Infant School.
It was built in October 1884. It was located in
a garth of grassland - 1 acre, 1 rood and 10
perches. The area was known as Low Moor,
Whinmoor, and was part of the wastes of the manor
of Barwick and Scholes. Originally this part of
Scholes was uninhabited. On the Enclosure Award
of 1804, it was divided into garths by the Lord
of the Manor, Sir Thomas Gascoigne of Parlington,
who owned other land including Lotherton Hall
and much of Garforth.
The very first copyhold tenure was granted
to a Richard Dennison who used it for grazing.
As far back as 14 February 1810 William Dawson, a
miller of Rothwell, and his first wife Ann, held
the garth. Also connected with the garth were
two cottages, an orchard and outbuildings in Town
Street (now Main Street). These were situated
opposite Snowdrop Cottages and were called Rose
Cottages or Villas and were occupied by James
Armitage and his wife as tenants.
Manor courts were held regularly and one
on 8 February 1850 stated that Thomas Dawson of
Seacroft surrendered the lease of the copyhold
tenancy for œ33 to James Turner, stonemason of
Bradford, and Sarah his wife. This tenancy
lasted to 24 May 1854 when he was paid œ195 by
Thomas Dawson to buy the garth back. The garth
at this time was still grassland. The Dawson
family lived somewhere in Seacroft village.
Thomas Dawson's first wife died aged 33 on 19
October 1825 in childbirth. There were several
children but 3 died in childhood. Thomas died 12
February 1861 aged 78. The family are buried in
St James' churchyard at Seacroft. When David
Dawson died on 7 April 1892, he too was buried in
this grave. Before his death he had owned other
property in Scholes and lived at Snowdrop
Cottages in Town Street.
In the 1800s Scholes was still a village
in the countryside. The railway and the station
including the two railway cottages by the bridge
were built around 1876. Isaac Chippendale of
Seacroft Mill started to quarry the land down
Wood Lane behind the garth and opened his brick
and tile works sometime in 1877 and started
selling bricks in 1879.
On 14 October 1884, two spinster sisters
Emma and Mary Ann Arnott (daughters of John and
Hannah Arnott - a builder and plasterer of
Harehills, Leeds) purchased the Scholes Plain
Close Garth from David Dawson for œ140. It
appears that they also intended buying two
cottages (Rose Villas), garth and orchard
mentioned earlier but on the day of the sale they
declined and the items were crossed off the title
deeds. The sisters came from a large family and
their father built many of the back-to-back
houses in Harehills, Leeds, at the Conways, Bexleys and Ashtons. Emma
and Mary Ann, with the help of their brother
Frederick, built a large gentleman's residence in
the right-hand side of the garth, surrounded by
gardens, an orchard and fields. The original
plot of 1 acre, 1 rood and 30 perches can still
be ascertained from the row of trees along the
school boundary and behind the houses in Morwick
Grove and backing onto Chippendale's land.
The house was named Ashfield House. The
local brickworks proved very convenient - 49,000
common bricks and 4,530 pressed bricks were
purchased together with lime, ash and barrels of
water. The old brickyard ledgers show an account
opened 14 October 1884 for the the sisters and
continuing until after 1907. On 23 October 1884,
3850 common bricks and 800 well bricks were
delivered by cart. The well bricks were used for
lining the first ten feet of the well which had
been excavated for 32 feet through the clay in
the rear garden near the rear entrance. A pump
yard and stone trough were used to transfer the
water through iron pipes (still visible) via the
cellar through to a hand pump in the scullery.
The well is still there and always has just two
feet of water in. Sometime in the 1940s the well
water was tested by Leeds University and found to
be pure enough to drink. Ashfield House did not
have mains water until 1959. Mains electricity
was installed in February 1936. Previously there
had been oil lamps on the chimney breast and
presumably candles. A telephone was established
in November 1951.
Ashfield House is one of the oldest houses
in the village and is typically Victorian with
large airy rooms. The rear faces south west. It
originally had five rooms upstairs. Downstairs
consisted of the entrance hall as now and three
reception rooms with a passage to the rear porch
with doors through to the kitchen, scullery,
larder and extensive cellars. The house seems to
have been constructed over several years.
The 1891 census records John and Hannah
Arnott and their grandson Frederick as residents.
By 1895, the sisters' 14 year old nephew,
Frederick, was living there. He kept a diary
through to 1951 which records many interesting
details of life at Ashfield House including work
which he carried out. Frederick became a painter
and decorator. The house today retains many
Victorian features. Many of the rooms still have
the original covings, deep skirting boards and
sash windows. Frederick meticulously recorded
the quantities of paper and paint for every room
- even the cost sometimes. He was also a keen
photographer. At one time he photographed
Scholes and Barwick-in-Elmet and sold the
pictures to raise money for the local church -
St. Philip's. In 1910 he took several pictures
of the Ashfield House and garden. Copies of
these are still available.
By 1905, the house had a battery bell push
system with push buttons located on either side
of the lounge fireplace, front and back doors
with extensions to the outside washhouse and
greenhouse. The wires can still be seen in the
cellars. The gates of Ashfield House were bought
from Samuel Dennison of Vicar Lane, Leeds, in
November 1897 for a few pounds. Other gate posts
were made by Frederick himself. On 3 May 1902,
Frederick secured a flagpole to the front of the
house to celebrate the coronation of Edward VII.
The iron brackets of this pole are still there.
In 1902 to 1904 the front terraces were built by
Frederick with a matching garden wall. He cast
all the copings using wooden moulds including a
special stone around an apple tree.
The Arnotts were some of the first people
in Scholes to own a car. A two seater Jowett was
purchased for œ71 from Harrogate Motors in 1924,
followed by a second Jowett in 1928. for œ141.
After Emma died in 1913 and Mary Ann in 1929, the
house was inherited by Frederick, their nephew,
who had looked after the house for so long. He
continued to live there until his death in
February 1959 aged 78.
In September 1941 two large cellars were
cleared to provide an air raid shelter for 125
children and 5 teachers from the local school
next door. The West Riding Education Board (as it
was then called) could not have been too happy at
the thought of 200 tons of brickwork falling on
their charges and so they purchased 38 timber
posts to support the flooring in January 1941.
Several of the posts are still standing. They
also constructed a wooden escape door which is
still visible from inside.
After Frederick died in 1959, the house
was put up for auction. It was bought by John
Strong, a Leeds builder and shop fitter, and his
wife Doreen. In 1968 the Strong family decided
to sell off some of the land at the rear of the
house to the developers Cooper and Wood. The old
wash houses etc. had already been demolished to
be replaced with a double garage. The long drive
was constructed and two existing stone gateposts
were set further apart, but the winding garden
path built by Frederick was left and is still in
use. The sale of the land left Ashfield House
standing in a third of an acre. The original
gate to the field adjacent to Ashfield House
became the road to the new houses - Morwick
Grove.
Mr Strong died suddenly in 1973. By 1976
Mrs Strong decided to sell the house and it was
bought by Mr and Mrs Mitchell. In 1980, the
Mitchells decided to sell the house and move to
Scotland. My husband Brian and I bought Ashfield
House in August 1981. I have spent many hours at
archives and record offices researching both the
history of the house and its owners.
MARY EATON
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