Woodhouse is a fantastic place, possibly the most historic and interesting place in the city. Not many people know this, but all of the area now covered by what we now know as Hyde Park and Woodhouse ward, was originally known as Woodhouse. It included all of the university precinct, Little London, Hyde Park, North Hyde Park, Little Woodhouse, and Woodhouse. You can see that Woodhouse Moor got its name because it was centrally placed within Woodhouse. We no longer know all of the original boundary of Woodhouse, but we do know that part of its boundary with Headingley ran along Cliff Lane in what we now call North Hyde Park.
Neil Hudson, the author of the Yorkshire Evening Post’s Yorkshire Diary column has published a short history of Woodhouse entitled “Never a dull moment . . “ It’s a fascinating story in which Woodhouse Moor consistently plays a major part – just as it does today.
The above photograph shows Temperance Hall, also known as Woodhouse Mechanics Institute. The local Temperance Movement was one of the groups that in the early 1850s pressed for Leeds Town Council to purchase Woodhouse Moor.