Potternewton


Potternewton is a suburb and parish between Chapeltown and Chapel Allerton in north-east Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is in the Chapel Allerton ward of Leeds City Council.
Potternewton is bounded by Scott Hall Road to the west, Roundhay Road to the east and Harehills Lane to the north. The main thoroughfare is Chapeltown Road. The suburb is often considered to be part of Chapeltown. On older maps, Potternewton included the Chapeltown and Scott Hall areas and parts of Harehills. Potternewton is an historic village and many older maps prioritise its name over Chapeltown.

Etymology

The name is first attested in the twelfth century, simply as Neuton and Neuthon. This name comes from Old English nīwe and tūn, thus originally meaning 'new farmstead'. The name first appears with the addition of 'potter' in the thirteenth century, as Pottersneuton, Neuton Potter, Potterneuton and Potter Newton. This must be because pottery industry had developed there, and to distinguish the village from the many other villages called Newton in the country.
Potternewton once included the place Allerton Gledhow. The name Allerton comes from the Old English word alor, in its genitive plural form alra, and the word tūn. Thus it originally meant 'farmstead of the alder trees'. The element Gledhow refers to the nearby settlement of the same name, distinguishing the place from nearby places such as Chapel Allerton, Moor Allerton, and Allerton Bywater.

History

Potternewton was already the site of pottery manufacture in the Roman period. Coal was mined and stone was quarried. Over time the manor belonged to the Mauleverers, the Scotts of Scott Hall, the Hardwicks and in 1870 belonged to the Earl of Mexborough.
Lords of the manor, the Earl of Mexborough and Earl Cowper sold parts of their estates in the 1700s and litigated until the early 1800s as to who legally owned the land. Around this time, James Brown owned the copyhold of much of the area that became known as Chapeltown.

Newton Hall and Potternewton Hall

In the 18th century, the Barker/Ray family owned Newton Hall, known as Low Hall, which Ralph Thoresby described as "venerable old fabric, standing low and shady". In 1600, the Low Hall estate was worth 300 pounds a year. The family built Potternewton Hall, the upper house, for the widow, Mrs Barker, to retire to in the 1730s.
By the early 19th century a number of mansions, some with extensive grounds, had been established around the Potternewton and Chapeltown roads: James Brown owned Harehills Grove which was renamed Potternewton Park Mansion, the Scott family owned the mid-18th century Scott Hall and Potternewton Lodge, Newton Green Hall, Potternewton Hall and the adjacent Newton Hall Estates were owned by the Lupton family. The Earl of Mexborough's landholdings at Newton Hall, its surrounding parkland, farmhouse, fields, farm, stables and cottages, were owned by Arthur Lupton in 1845. The surveyor Henry Teal divided the land remaining in the earl's possession into lots for sale.
Across the field from Arthur at Newton Hall was Potternewton Hall, which, from c.1837–1847, was the residence of his brother Darnton Lupton, Mayor of Leeds who had married his second wife in 1838.
Arthur and Darnton's brother, Francis, lived at Potternewton Hall from 1847 and had purchased the freehold of the estate by 1860. Francis raised his family at the hall until. In 1870, Francis and Darnton Lupton purchased the Newton Hall estate from their brother.

Newton Park Union Church

As owner of Newton Hall, Arthur Lupton had supported the Potternewton Independent/Congregationalist Chapel and in 1870, Francis and Darnton "quickly accommodated" the building of a new Independent/Congregationalist chapel on their estate. The chapel was designed by architect W.H. Harris. By 1887, the eastern side of the chapel had a new church abutting it; the Newton Park Congregational/Baptist Church. It was designed by architect Archibald Neill in the 14th century Decorated Gothic style. Neill also designed the estate's shopping parade on Chapeltown Road. By 1952, the Newton Park Union Church was no longer a church but was in use as the Royal Air Force Association Club and the original 1870 Lupton family chapel at the rear was the premises of the Old Central Hebrew Congregational Synagogue.
Following Darnton Lupton's death in 1873, Francis inherited the estate and the Anglican St Martin's Church was built in 1879 near Newton Hall Lodge.
In the 1870s, the Potternewton township, covering 1,667 acres about two miles north of Leeds, comprised the villages of New Leeds, part of Buslingthorpe and the hamlets of Gipton, Harehills, and Squire-Pastures.
Diaries of Katherine Roubiliac Conder, granddaughter of Sir Edward Baines, record her father, Eustace Conder, preaching at Newton Park Chapel in 1874. Herbert Gladstone, 1st Viscount Gladstone worshipped there in May 1880. In March 1880, Gladstonian liberalism was at its peak at Newton Park; Sir John Barran talked of himself and Herbert Gladstone, the Liberal M.P. for Leeds, as being "one man". The Leeds Mercury reported on 8 October 1887 that the ceremony of the laying of the foundation stone of the Newton Park Union Church "will be performed by Mr. J. Barran, M.P., on behalf of the Baptists, and by Mr. E. Crossley, M.P., on behalf of the Congregationalists”.
The Georgian Newton Green Hall was part of Newton Park in the 1930s.
By the outbreak of the Second World War, Newton Hall and Potternewton Hall had been demolished and replaced by the city's largest private housing estate.
Francis Lupton's son, politician Francis Martineau Lupton inherited the family estate where his daughter, Olive Middleton grew up at Rockland.

Potternewton Park Mansion and park

Harehills Grove, another mansion, was built around 1817 for the woollen merchant James Brown. The Jowitt family owned it in 1861 and they later sold the 750 acre estate and back-to-back terraced houses were built on it. The house and its 30-acre park were bought by the Leeds Corporation to create Potternewton Park in 1900. By 1906 the house had been renamed Potternewton Mansion and was opened to the public in 1906. After 1929 the house was used for educational purposes.
The Leeds Carnival procession starts and finishes at Potternewton Park.

21st century

Transport Direct uses the names Potternewton and Chapeltown for separate areas. Potternewton is the small area around the north of Scott Hall Road around the Scott Hall Road/Potternewton Lane roundabout as most of the area is classified today as Chapeltown. West Yorkshire Metro and Transport Direct also identify the area as being in this location. Potternewton Lane is served by bus service 7.
Millfield Primary School, formerly known as Potternewton Primary, is on Potternewton Mount.

St Martin's Church

St Martin's Church, the Anglican parish church, off Chapeltown Road was built in 1879–1881 on land owned by the Lupton family. The parish was formed after a meeting at the Leeds Church Institute in April 1876, presided over by the Vicar of Leeds, Dr Gott. The site for St Martin's had been confirmed in June 1876. The church, designed by Adams & Kelly of Leeds, was consecrated in 1881. It was built of stone from local quarries. The stained glass was designed by Charles Eamer Kempe.
The original design for the church had a steeple, but lack of funds prevented its construction. St Martin's Church has a mainly West Indian congregation.

People of Potternewton