Gledhow Hall

Gledhow Hall circa 1890

Civic Trust plaque

Gledhow Hall is built on what was monastic land, the property of Kirkstall Abbey. The abbey was the major landowner in the Allerton area in the 13th century. The abbey lands were seized by the Crown in 1539 at the Dissolution of the Monasteries.

John Thwaites bought the land and built a hall. It was remodelled between 1764 and 1767 by John Carr for Jeremiah Dixon, who was by then the owner.[2]

J. M. W. Turner painted a watercolour view of the hall in about 1816, staying at the house while he made preparatory sketches.[3][4]

By 1885, James Kitson, 1st Baron Airedale had purchased the hall and was living there.[5] Between 1885 and 1890, the hall was altered and extended by architects, Chorley and Connon.[6] Burmantofts Pottery created an elaborate faience (glazed architectural terra-cotta) bathroom before a visit from the Prince of Wales (later Edward VII) circa 1885.[7]

Albert Kitson, 2nd Baron Airedale succeeded to the title and the estate on his father's death in 1911. The Kitsons entertained several Liberal Prime Ministers and their families at Gledhow: William Gladstone and his son,[8] H. H. Asquith and his wife in 1913,[9] and in 1920, Margaret Lloyd George when she was in Leeds for a reception of women supporters of the wartime coalition.[10]

After the outbreak of the First World War, Lord Airedale offered the hall for use as a Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) hospital.[11] Run by the British Red Cross, it was staffed by both professional and VAD nurses.[12] The hospital opened in 1915 and his cousin Edith Cliff was its commandant (i.e. officer in charge) throughout the war.[11] She kept a scrapbook, The Great European War, Gledhow Hall Hospital, documenting life there between 1915 and 1919.[13]

The scrapbook, filled with "photographs, newscuttings, letters and ephemera",[14] is held by Leeds Libraries as one of its most important treasures[15] The scrapbook was chosen for the UK-wide Digital War Memorial, hosted by Historypin, a user-generated archive in 2014. Community groups from local libraries, guided by an artist, worked to "find the voice" of the scrapbook and explore themes around it, visited and photographed Gledhow Hall[16] including its faience bathroom.[17]