Rodley

Location

This quiet and convenient area of Rodley has grown in popularity over the last couple of years and is now popular with a wide range of buyers. enjoys easy access to local canal walks, the local newsagent and schools.

The villages of Horsforth and Farsley are close by which offers a range of bars, restaurants and supermarkets. A short drive away are the Leeds Outer Ring Road and the A65 giving access into Leeds City Centre, Leeds/Bradford airport, York, Harrogate and the motorway networks.

This is a profile for the central postcode in LS13 which is LS13 3NX. Neighbourhood profiles vary significantly from postcode to postcode. Often, many of the people who live in this sort of postcode will be home owning families living in terraces. Neighbourhoods fitting this profile are largely found in former mining, industrial and manufacturing areas of Wales and northern England. Examples include Merthyr Tydfil, Rhonda, Burnley, Barrow in Furness and Halifax.

Young families with two children under 10, living in small terraced housing, characterise this type of postcode. Adults tend to be in the 20-40 age group with fewer older people and retired. There are some single parent households.

This is the type with the highest incidence of terraced housing. The houses tend to be small, with two or sometimes three bedrooms, and at the lower end of the house price scale. 70% of households are owner occupiers, with most buying on a mortgage.

Most of the rest are renting from private landlords, with a smaller proportion renting from the local authority. Generally, employment is in blue-collar jobs in manufacturing, mining and other manual occupations, with shopworkers also common. There is some unemployment, and long term illness is above the national average.

As might be expected, educational qualification levels are generally low. Car ownership is below the national average, and many people travel to work on foot or cycle. Incomes are on the low side so there is little scope for investments and savings. Use of credit cards is below average. Leisure interests include camping, angling, bingo, horseracing and rugby, as well as watching cable TV and going to the pub.

Popular newspapers include the Daily Mirror, Daily Sport and their Sunday equivalents, as well as the Daily Star. Rodley is a village on the outskirts of west Leeds, West Yorkshire, England with a strong history dating back a thousand years.

History

The earliest use of the name on record appears to be RODELE (without surname) who was listed as a tenant in the Domesday Book of 1086, and REDLEGA (without surname) was recorded in Yorkshire in the year 1157. ROTHELAY (without surname) was listed in a document in Gloucestershire in the year 1227. It borders the equally ancient hamlet of Bagley.

The Leeds and Liverpool Canal passes through Rodley, running parallel with Rodley Town Street. Many of the stone-built industrial buildings and mills that once lined the banks of the canal have been demolished and replaced with modern apartments and houses, as Rodley develops as a commuter village equidistant between Leeds and Bradford. However at least some of the area is now protected as a Conservation Area.

Some mills and industrial buildings survive, though many are in a desperate state of disrepair having lost their roofs and windows. Rodley was the location where Thomas Smith’s Steam Crane Works was established in 1820; a company which, by 1888, became world-famous for the manufacture of cranes and lifting gear.

More recently, Rodley was also the home of Rowley Workshop: makers of Dusty Bin, Wizbit and Dusty the Dawg (housed in the former Bethel Chapel which is also now flats).Rodley is also home to Rodley Nature Reserve, a wetland reserve built on the former site of a sewage works. Rodley has a successful cricket club who are members of the Dales Council Cricket League and play at Canal Bank Sports Ground adjacent to the nature reserve.