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{{Short description|District of Leeds, England}}
{{about|the suburb in England|the hamlet in Canada|Armley, Saskatchewan|the prison|HM Prison Leeds}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2024}}
{{Use British English|date=October 2018}}

{{Infobox UK place
| country                  = England
| coordinates              = {{coord|53.7981|-1.5872|display=inline,title}}
| official_name            = Armley
| pushpin_map              = United Kingdom Leeds
| static_image_name        = Town Street, Armley 26 June 2017.jpg
| static_image_caption     = Town Street
| population               = 25,550
| population_ref           = ([[United Kingdom Census 2011|2011 census]])<ref name="2011 census">{{NOMIS2011|id=1237321070|title=Armley Ward (as of 2011)|access-date=16 October 2018}}</ref>
| metropolitan_borough     = [[City of Leeds]]
| metropolitan_county      = [[West Yorkshire]]
| region                   = Yorkshire and the Humber
| constituency_westminster = [[Leeds West and Pudsey (UK Parliament constituency)|Leeds West and Pudsey]]
| post_town                = LEEDS
| postcode_area            = LS
| postcode_district        = LS12
| dial_code                = 0113
| os_grid_reference        = SE271335
}}

'''Armley''' is a district in the west of [[Leeds]], [[West Yorkshire]], England. It starts less than {{convert|1|mi|km|1}} from [[Leeds city centre]]. Like much of Leeds, Armley grew in the [[Industrial Revolution]] and had several [[textile mill|mill]]s, one of which now houses the [[Leeds Industrial Museum at Armley Mills]]. Armley is predominantly and historically a largely working class area of the city, still retains many smaller industrial businesses, and has many rows of [[Back-to-back house|back-to-back]] [[terraced house]]s.

It sits in the [[Armley (ward)|Armley]] ward of [[Leeds City Council]] and [[Leeds West and Pudsey (UK Parliament constituency)|Leeds West and Pudsey]] parliamentary constituency.

In 2022, statistics released by [[West Yorkshire Police]] revealed Armley and New Wortley had the second highest crime rate in Leeds after [[Leeds city centre]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.leeds-live.co.uk/news/leeds-news/10-most-dangerous-leeds-neighbourhoods-23615402#:~:text=Armley%20and%20New%20Wortley%20had,these%20crimes%20per%201%2C000%20residents.|title=The 10 most dangerous Leeds neighbourhoods including the place ranked one of the most violent in England|work=LeedsLive|date=7 April 2022 |accessdate=6 June 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/crime/the-leeds-areas-with-the-most-crime-in-2021-revealed-by-new-police-figures-3557028|title=Leeds crime: The 15 areas with the most crime in 2021 revealed by new West Yorkshire Police figures|work=Yorkshire Evening Post|accessdate=6 June 2022}}</ref>

==Etymology==
First attested in the [[Domesday Book]] of 1086 as ''Ermelai'', the name ''Armley'' comes from [[Old English]]. The second element is from Old English ''lēah'' ('open space in a wood'). The origin of the first element is less clear, but thought to come from an otherwise unattested Old English name ''Earma'', a plausible nickname form of the name ''Earnmund''. If so, the name originally meant 'Earma's woodland clearing'.<ref name=":0">Harry Parkin, ''Your City's Place-Names: Leeds'', English Place-Name Society City-Names Series, 3 (Nottingham: English Place-Names Society, 2017).</ref>{{rp|17–18}}

Historically lying within the township of Armley, to the south of Armley's centre, the district of Green Side is first mentioned by this name in the nineteenth century. The origin of the name is not certain, but is probably named after the green space now constituted as Wortley Recreation Ground and Western Flatts Cliff park.<ref name=":0" />{{rp|50}}

== History ==
{{See also|Armley asbestos disaster}}
[[File:Armley Mills Industrial Museum - geograph.org.uk - 260255.jpg|thumb|left|[[Leeds Industrial Museum at Armley Mills]]]]
[[File:St Bartholomew's Church, Armley (July 2010) geograph.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[St Bartholomew's Church, Armley]]]]

Armley is mentioned in the 1086 ''[[Domesday Book]]'' reference to "Ristone, Ermelai". At the time there were eight villagers in Ristone (now east Armley) and Ermelai (now west Armley).<ref name=Parsons>Parsons, Edward; [https://books.google.com/books?id=nug5AAAAMAAJ&dq=Ermelai&pg=PA184 "The Civil, Ecclesiastical, Literary, Commercial, and Miscellaneous History of Leeds, Bradford, Wakefield, Dewsbury, Otley, and the District Within Ten Miles of Leeds"], Volume 1, pp. 184, 185, 187. Nabu Press. Retrieved 23 December 2011</ref> Armley was recorded as lying within the hundred of Morley and was estimated to comprise only four households, placing it in the bottom fifth of settlements in the Domesday Book by population size.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://opendomesday.org/place/SE2733/armley/|title=Armley &#124; Domesday Book}}</ref> The actual population is indeterminable as this only accounts for the 'head of household'.<ref>[http://www.armleytoday.co.uk/yourarmley/Armley-Local-History.3741809.jp "Armley Local History"], ''[[Yorkshire Evening Post]]'', 4 February 2008. Retrieved 23 December 2011</ref>

Armley Mills, now the Leeds Industrial Museum, was the world's largest [[woollen mill]] when it was built in 1788. In the 18th and 19th centuries Armley was, through its mills, a major contributor to the [[Economic system|economy]] of the city of Leeds. Many of the buildings standing in and around Armley were built in the 1800s, including many of the churches, schools, shops and houses. Ledgard Way is named after the entrepreneur [[Samuel Ledgard]]. Armley also has picturesque views over the rest of Leeds from certain vantage points. William Tetley started his business of [[malt]]ers in Armley in the 1740s. His grandson [[Joshua Tetley]] founded [[Tetley's Brewery]] in [[Hunslet]] in 1822.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://imfromyorkshire.uk.com/made-yorkshire-volume-12-tetleys-brewery/ | title = Made in Yorkshire Volume 12 – Tetley's Brewery | publisher = I'm from Yorkshire | location = Wakefield | access-date = 12 April 2017 |url-status = live| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170412143546/https://imfromyorkshire.uk.com/made-yorkshire-volume-12-tetleys-brewery/ | archive-date = 12 April 2017 }}</ref>

Armley was formerly a [[Township (England)|township]] and [[chapelry]] in the parish of Leeds,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://visionofbritain.org.uk/place/11209|title=History of Armley, in Leeds and West Riding|publisher=[[A Vision of Britain through Time]]|accessdate=6 October 2024}}</ref> in 1866 Armley became a separate [[civil parish]], on 26 March 1904 the parish was abolished to form [[Armley and Bramley]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10389306|title=Relationships and changes Armley CP/Ch through time|publisher=A Vision of Britain through Time|accessdate=6 October 2024}}</ref> In 1901 the parish had a population of 27,521.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10389306/cube/TOT_POP|title=Population statistics Armley CP/Ch through time|publisher=A Vision of Britain through Time|accessdate=6 October 2024}}</ref>

Damage caused by a raid in the [[Leeds Blitz]] in March 1941<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.leodis.net/display.aspx?resourceIdentifier=2002315_87702579|title=Model Road|first=Leeds City Engineers|last=Department|website=leodis.net|access-date=25 April 2018|url-status = live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180116135223/http://www.leodis.net/display.aspx?resourceIdentifier=2002315_87702579|archive-date=16 January 2018}}</ref> and later [[Slum clearance in the United Kingdom|slum clearance]] schemes brought about the [[urban renewal|redevelopment]] of much of Armley in a programme beginning in the 1950s and finishing in the early 1970s.

From the 1870s until 1956, Armley was home to the J W Roberts [[asbestos]] mattress and boiler lining factory. This facility exposed residents to asbestos fibres and resulted in a [[mesothelioma]] cancer cluster which persists to this day. One of the victims, June Hancock, launched a court action against [[Turner & Newall]], the company that owned the J W Roberts' factory in 1993. Although the court case was successful, corporate restructuring had, as of 2005, avoided the case being settled.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/features/Asbestos-The-final-reckoning.1213072.jp|title=Asestos: the final reckoning|last=Lazenby|first=Peter|date=6 October 2005|work=Yorkshire Evening Post|access-date=19 July 2009|url-status = live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100427202205/http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/features/Asbestos-The-final-reckoning.1213072.jp|archive-date=27 April 2010}}</ref> Hancock's story was the subject of a play, ''Dust'', by Kenneth F. Yates, performed in Armley and at the [[West Yorkshire Playhouse]] in July 2009.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/highlights/Echoes-of-Erin-Brockovich-as.5371305.jp|title=Echoes of Erin Brockovich as doughty campaigner for justice 'stars' in Dust|last=Ahad|first=Nick |date=16 June 2009|work=Yorkshire Evening Post|access-date=19 July 2009}}</ref>

The parish church, [[St Bartholomew's Church, Armley|St Bartholomew's]], is home to a notable pipe organ built by the German organ builder [[Edmund Schulze]]. Originally built for Meanwood Towers in 1866–69, it was opened by [[Samuel Sebastian Wesley|S. S. Wesley]]. It was moved to St Bartholomew's in 1879. Schulze's work, and this organ in particular, had enormous influence on the development of British organ building in the 19th century. Both church and organ have been restored.<ref name="Orgel">{{cite web | url = http://www.armley-schulze.co.uk/OrgHist.htm | title = St. Bartholomew's, Armley. Brief History of the Organ | first = Graham | last =Barber | access-date = 12 April 2017 | quote = Written with much reference to The Armley Schulze Organ  by Kenneth I. Johnstone |url-status = live| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20161011032544/http://armley-schulze.co.uk/OrgHist.htm | archive-date = 11 October 2016 }}</ref> The smaller [[Christ Church, Armley|Christ Church]] is located at the end of Theaker Lane nearer the centre of Armley.

Legend has it that a [[Peddler|pedlar]] called Charlie used to rest and water his pony and trap in Whingate Park in the 19th century. He apparently sold spicy shortbread to the citizens of [[Upper Armley]] for 1d a piece. Today the triangular-shaped park is known as Charlie or Charley Cake Park. According to ''Armley Through the Camera'', written in 1901, the park was "within memory of many present residents of Armley, a patch of wasteland. Some of them regularly played cricket on its turf".<ref>Kirkby, T. (1901) ''Armley Through the Camera'', p.20, Hanson & Oak, Theaker Lane, Leeds.</ref>

There were two railway stations in Armley. [[Armley Moor railway station]] on the line between Leeds and Bradford Exchange closed in 1966, and [[Armley Canal Road railway station]] on the line between Leeds and Shipley closed in 1965.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://lostrailwayswestyorkshire.co.uk/station%20closures.htm | title = Station Closures | publisher = Lost Railways West Yorkshire | first = John | last = Whitaker | access-date = 11 April 2017 |url-status = live| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170705170334/http://www.lostrailwayswestyorkshire.co.uk/station%20closures.htm | archive-date = 5 July 2017 }}</ref>

==Geography==
Armley is located between the [[M621 motorway]] and the [[River Aire]], stretching from roughly the [[Wortley, West Yorkshire|New Wortley]] roundabout (the Armley Gyratory) to the start of the [[A647 road|Stanningley By-pass]] and Cockshott Lane where it merges into [[Bramley, Leeds|Bramley]].

== Amenities ==
Armley Town Street includes high street names, [[charity shop]]s and food and independent retailers. There are bus links to Leeds, Bradford, Pudsey and Whinmoor. Armley's Town Street has free off-road car parking, but parking is mainly on-street, with few car parks in the centre. Armley's only supermarket is a [[LIDL]] on Armley Road, but Aldi in neighbouring [[Wortley, Leeds|Wortley]] in a five-minute walk from Town Street.
[[File:Armley Sport and Leisure Centre.jpg|thumb|left|The former Armley Sports and Leisure Centre]]
Other amenities include [[Armley Park|Armley (Gott's) Park]], Gott's Park Golf Club and [[Armley Mills Industrial Museum]], and numerous former cinemas and churches. The old [[Methodist]] chapel is now a carpet outlet, like a similar chapel in [[Holbeck]]. There are present-day Methodist churches in Wesley Road, built in 1987,<ref name="wesleyroadchurch">{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304031542/http://www.leedshwmethodistcircuit.org.uk/wesleyroad.html |url=http://www.leedshwmethodistcircuit.org.uk/wesleyroad.html |title=Wesley Road |publisher=The Methodist Church |archive-date=4 March 2016 |url-status = dead}}</ref> and in Whingate, built in 1884.<ref>{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304030443/http://www.leedshwmethodistcircuit.org.uk/whingate.html |url=http://www.leedshwmethodistcircuit.org.uk/whingate.html |title=Whingate |publisher=The Methodist Church |archive-date=4 March 2016 |url-status = dead}}</ref> The Wesley Road Chapel is a [[Local Ecumenical Partnership]] also involving the [[Baptist Union of Great Britain and Ireland|Baptist]] and [[United Reformed Church]]es.<ref>[http://wesleyroadchapel.org/history.htm Wesley Road Chapel History] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151223001041/http://wesleyroadchapel.org/history.htm |date=23 December 2015 }}, accessed 22 December 2015</ref>  The current church is the fourth on this site, where the original Methodist Wesleyan chapel stood and where [[John Wesley]] once preached.<ref name = "wesleyroadchurch"/>

Armley's original leisure centre, based on the old Armley swimming baths, was demolished in 2009. The land is now a large car park for the new leisure centre. The closure of the original 25-metre swimming pool with redundant and unused space attracted some controversy because of the age and local architectural significance of the building.{{according to whom|date=December 2011}}  [[HM Prison Leeds]], formerly Armley Gaol is located in Armley.{{clear left}}

==Housing==
[[File:Overview of Western Armley.jpg|thumb|right|A view of Western Armley]]
Armley housing includes Victorian [[back-to-back house]]s, through terraces and tower blocks.

There is much council housing, although most of the housing stock is privately built and dates from the 1960s. Back-to-back housing has been converted to through terraces.

Corporation residential tower blocks, built to replace older housing stock at the centre of Armley, and neighbouring [[Wortley, Leeds|Wortley]], are amongst the tallest in Leeds.
{{clear left}}

== Notable people==
*[[Alfred Atkinson]] [[Victoria Cross|VC]] &ndash; born in Armley in 1874<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.northeastmedals.co.uk/vc_victoria_cross/alfred_atkinson.htm|title=Sergeant Alfred Atkinson VC|website=northeastmedals.co.uk|access-date=25 April 2018}}</ref>
*[[Alan Bennett]] &ndash; playwright<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2004/may/14/theatre3 The Guardian profile: Alan Bennett] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160927230609/https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2004/may/14/theatre3 |date=27 September 2016 }} The Guardian, 14 May 2004</ref>
*[[Barbara Taylor Bradford]] &ndash; novelist
*[[Diana Coupland]] &ndash; film and television actress and singer born and lived on Tennant Street, Armley.
*[[William Boynton Butler]] [[Victoria Cross|VC]], [[Croix de Guerre]] &ndash; born in Armley in 1894
*[[Chumbawamba]] &ndash;  band; lived in Armley for some time
*[[Lily Elsie]] &ndash; actress born in Armley in 1886
*[[Benjamin Gott]] and [[William Gott (industrialist)|William Gott]] &ndash; mill owners in Armley
*[[Geoff Gunney]] – professional [[rugby league]] footballer who played for Great Britain and Yorkshire and at club level for Hunslet.
*[[Adam Lowe (writer)|Adam Lowe]] – poet and LGBT+ History Month Poet Laureate was raised in the area<ref>{{cite web |last=electricliterature |date=19 August 2010 |title=DIGITISE THIS by Adam Lowe |url=https://electricliterature.com/digitise-this-by-adam-lowe/ |access-date=13 February 2024 |website=Electric Literature }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=TO BE AN ARTIST: Adam Lowe – Poet, Performer |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-x--WiLT_0 |access-date=13 February 2024 }}</ref>
*[[Alison Lowe]] – former Labour councillor for Armley (1990–2019) and current [[Police and crime commissioner|Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime]] in [[West Yorkshire]] (2021–) lived in the area<ref>{{cite web |title=Alison Natalie Kay LOWE personal appointments – Find and update company information – GOV.UK |url=https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/officers/LEq6S9nLwVut3DWk98wM6e4RY8s/appointments |access-date=13 February 2024 |website=find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=13 February 2024 |title=Declarations of interest, 3 February 2023 – 14 February 2024 |url=https://democracy.leeds.gov.uk/mglistdeclarationsofinterest.aspx?aiid=11306&isai=1 |access-date=13 February 2024 |website=democracy.leeds.gov.uk }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=About the Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime |url=https://www.westyorks-ca.gov.uk/policing-and-crime/about-the-deputy-mayor-for-policing-and-crime/ |access-date=13 February 2024 |website=West Yorkshire Combined Authority }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=westleedslife |date=7 January 2020 |title=West Leeds: Two former councillors to receive top honour |url=https://westleedsdispatch.com/west-leeds-two-former-councillors-to-receive-top-honour/ |access-date=13 February 2024 |website=West Leeds Dispatch }}</ref>
*[[Alice Nutter (writer)|Alice Nutter]] – writer and musician, who lived in Armley beginning in 1982<ref>{{cite news |title=Alice Nutter: A career of writing, music and politics|url=https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/arts-and-culture/theatre-and-stage/alice-nutter-career-writing-music-and-politics-1855793 |date=4 October 2013|work=Yorkshire Post|access-date=30 October 2020}}</ref>

== Popular culture ==
The tank scene in the 1963 film [[Billy Liar (film)|''Billy Liar'']] was filmed in Wellington Road, Armley, and local residents were used as extras.{{cn|date=December 2011}}

==Location grid==
{{NSEW|[[Kirkstall]]|[[Wortley, West Yorkshire|Wortley]]|[[Holbeck]]|[[Bramley, Leeds|Bramley]]|||||}}

==See also==
*[[Listed buildings in Leeds (Armley Ward)]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
*Kirkby T. (1901) ''Armley Through The Camera'', Hanson & Oak, Theaker Lane, Armley, Leeds.

==External links==
{{Commons category|Armley}}
*{{Genuki|county=WRY|Leeds||Armley}}
*[http://www.towpathtreks.co.uk/LLC/shipley_leeds.html#armley Photographs of the Leeds & Liverpool Canal at Armley, Leeds]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20120701223227/http://www.leeds.gov.uk/armleymills/ Leeds Industrial Museum at Armley Mills, Armley, Leeds]
*{{OpenDomesday|SE2733|armley|Armley}}

{{City of Leeds}}

[[Category:Armley| ]]
[[Category:Places in Leeds]]
[[Category:Former civil parishes in West Yorkshire]]