Meanwood Valley Urban Farm was founded in 1980 on a plot of land which has always been free of development. The area has likely been cultivated since before the 13th century, when much of Meanwood was given to the monks at Kirkstall Abbey.
As early as 1560 there is evidence of mill development with Scott Mill erected on Meanwood Beck. The early 17th Century saw the construction of more corn mills along the Beck as it was an important source of power.
A goit, a man made mill stream, was mentioned in a deed of 1631, the route of which is now the public footpath.
A detailed estate map from 1762 shows Sugar Well Hill, on the northern side of the valley, covered by Scot Wood. The site the Farm now occupies was called Farr Wood Close. This map appears to show an area in transition from woodland to arable and pasture, and gives an origin for the name of the Farm’s ‘Scott Hall’ area (now a grazing field and coppice).
In 1825, access to the valley was opened up by the Leeds-Meanwood turnpike road.
This saw more development in the area, including tanneries as well as botanical and manufacturing chemical works.
John Clapham, a botanical chemist, built the present Farm office and cafe in the 1870s for his laboratory and herbal distillery, and Oakdale House for his growing family in 1885.
During the second half of the 19th century more housing developments took place along Meanwood Road, and the Farm site was used as a market garden to feed the growing urban population.
‘Night soil’ – human waste from the thousands of houses nearby – was deposited across some of the Farm site in the 1870s. This made the land highly fertile, with soil ideal for growing rhubarb. Leeds was part of the ‘Rhubarb Triangle’ at the time, an area of Yorkshire where forcing sheds where used to make rhubarb sweeter. Rhubarb is still grown on the Farm to this day.
The distribution of night soil, building work during the 1880’s, and the dumping of rubbish from the nearby furnace has resulted in a wealth of Victorian artefacts on the Farm site.
This includes bottles, clay pipes and fragments of pottery on the market garden area. Shire Wood, the nature area behind our cafe, was opposite the old furnace site and a variety of incinerated Victorian rubbish including clinker has been found there.
Some of the best examples of artefacts and other curiosities from across the Farm are on display in the EpiCentre’s Education Room.
Inner city decline and dereliction in the 1970s prompted groups of people across the nation to try to improve derelict land for the benefit of local communities.
The Meanwood Valley was an attractive site for the City Farm movement, as a green corridor linking countryside to the inner city. Meanwood Valley Urban Farm was officially opened in 1980, thanks to support from volunteers and the land owners Leeds City Council.