Churwell

Churwell, St Brigid's R.C. Church

Churwell is a small village in the City of Leeds metropolitan borough, West Yorkshire, England, between Leeds city centre and Morley. It is 3 miles (5 km) southwest of Leeds city centre and 1.5 miles (2 km) away from the Leeds United Elland Road Football Ground.

It is in the LS27 postcode area, and its telephone area code is 0113, the Leeds prefix. The village once formed part of the former Municipal Borough of Morley, and is still classed as part of Morley in the census. It is now governed by Leeds City Council and Morley Town Council.

Churwell means old man's well. Chur means old man and well means well.

Churwell still retains its semi-rural feel with farms nearby cultivating, in particular, vegetables and rhubarb.

Political location

Churwell is in the new Morley and Outwood constituency, and is represented by Ed Balls (Labour). Boundary changes in 2010 saw it leave the now-defunct Morley and Rothwell constituency, in which it was represented by Colin Challen (Labour).

Historical landmarks

Back of Clarendon Terrace, Park St, Churwell

Churwell is centred around "Churwell Hill" which is made up of the A643. About three-quarters of the way up Churwell Hill, the road changes name from Elland Road to Victoria Road. There have historically been three local public houses, of which two remain: The Commercial, Golden Fleece (demolished) and The New Inn. These are known locally as top oyle, middle oyle and bottom oyle, relating to their position on the hill. The Golden Fleece was demolished in 2010 and is now occupied by a Tesco Express store which still as The Golden Fleece sign outside of it.

Churwell once had a poor house. The building, Grade II listed, was built in 1865, it is just off Elland Road, and was used as a community centre up until May 2011, at which point the Stanhope Memorial Hall, across the road from the Poor Hall, became the community centre.

The village expanded considerably in the early 1960s with new private and council housing developments, particularly to the north on land between School Street and the then-Leeds City boundary. In the 1980s, the old stone Churwell Primary School in School Street was demolished and relocated to modern premises in the village. Houses now stand on the old school site.

In 1923, a runaway tram ran down Churwell Hill and ended in tragedy: six people were killed and 35 injured when the brakes failed and the tram crashed into a field wall at Cottingley.

Tragedy hit the village in 1962, when a motorcyclist ploughed into a group of girls returning from Sunday school on Churwell Hill, killing two and injuring several others.

Churwell New Village

Since 2001, a considerable amount of housing development has taken place, one notable area is Churwell New Village a development with more than 350 new residencies, planners estimated 0.5 cars per household. The development was built on a green field industrial area , that once had a pit, brick works and later a reclamation yard on it.

Public transport

Rail

Churwell, and particularly the New Village development, is very near to Cottingley railway station on the Huddersfield Line between Leeds and Morley. From there, there are hourly train services to Huddersfield and Leeds, with increased frequency at peak times, and additional destinations including Sheffield and Manchester in the evening peak.

Bus

Churwell is well served by local bus services, particularly by bus services 51, 53 and 55 to c which go via Leeds city centre. As of May 2010, there are eight buses per hour along this route.

External links

• Churwell Community Association
• All Saints' Church, Churwell
• Morley Town Council
• "The Ancient Parish of Batley". GENUKI. http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/YKS/WRY/Batley/index.html. Retrieved 2007-10-29.  Churwell was in this parish
• Details from listed building database (433184) - Old Poor House. Images of England. English Heritage.