Rawdon is a village and civil parish in the metropolitan borough of the City of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It sits on the River Aire and on the A65 south of Yeadon.
The northern parts of the village are part of the Guiseley and Rawdon ward of Leeds City Council and the southern part in the Horsforth ward. The whole village is included in the Pudsey parliamentary constituency.
History
The name comes from Old Norse rauðr meaning red, and Old English dūn meaning hill.
While no documentary reference has been made to Rawdon before the Domesday Book was composed in 1086, the area had seen human activity at least as early as in the Bronze Age, as evidenced by archeological finds of bronze axe heads and a gold torque. In the Domesday Book Rawdon (also spelt Roudun, Rowdun and Rowdon) is mentioned as terra regis (belonging to the King) with five taxable landholders, one of them Norman and the others Saxon, and approximately between 500 and 700 acres of pasture and 80 to 200 acres of arable land.
Paul (or Paulyn) de Rawdon, a commander of archers under William the Conqueror was awarded lands in Rawdon for his faithful and courageous service to the Normans, a portion of which was the manor on Rawden Hill, in 1069. He took his surname after his new possessions, meaning he became known as Paulyn of Rawden Hill Manor. For the following four centuries his descendants lived at or near to the house now known as Layton Hall, opposite the present churchyard, and on several occasions presented land to Bolton Priory, Kirkstall Abbey, and (once) to Esholt Nunnery.
After the dissolution of the monasteries the greater part of Rawdon passed to the Crown and shortly thereafter to Henry Clifford, second Earl of Cumberland, who died without issue in 1570. Afterwards, the lands changed owners several times until two thirds of the Manor of Rawdon, all the Manor of Yeadon and two fifths of the Manor of Horsforth had been acquired by Francis Layton, a great nephew of Richard Layton, Dean of York, and later Yeoman of the Jewel House to Charles I. For his support of the king in the English Civil War he was imprisoned in 1645 and heavily fined. He lived in the old family home of the Rawdons, which has since been called Leyton Hall. The Leyton estate remained in the hands of the family until 1718 when it was split up, and after various quarrels it was reunited in the hands of the Emmott family (later known as the Green-Emmott or the Green-Emmott-Rawdon family) who let out leyton Hall whole or in part for a long time during their ownership. Col. Charles Payne Barras, agent of the family in the 1860s, founded brick and tile works to use the abundant local clay.
George Rawdon, a descendant of the Rawdon family and brother of Ann Paslew, had a new hall built in Cliffe Lane, known as Rawdon Low Hall in the past and now as Rawdon Hall. According to a date stone it appears to have been completed in 1625. George Rawdon became secretary and agent of Edward, 1st Viscount Conway, and served in Ireland following the Catholic rebellion in Ulster in 1641. He left the management of his estates in the hands of his son-in-law, John Stanhope II of Horsforth.
Rawdon was civil parish from 1866 to 1 April 1937, when it was merged into Horsforth parish. Rawdon became a civil parish again on 15 October 2012.
Areas of interest
Rawdon Billing is a hill and well known local landmark that can be seen from a considerable distance. It is a popular area for walking and provides views of Rawdon from the top.
Little London
The village of Little London with its extensive conservation area lies in the westernmost part of Rawdon, about south of the centre of Guiseley. It is unique in that the historic area covered by the designation straddles the boundary of the Cities of Leeds and of Bradford. Until the local government reorganisation in 1974 this area was part of a district called Aireborough which was subsequently divided between Leeds and Bradford.
The portion of the conservation area lying in the City of Leeds was designated in 1975 and was extended in 1988. The portion of the conservation area lying in the City of Bradford was designated in 1977. The Bradford designation centres on Lane Head House, built for the steward of Esholt Hall Estate , with its associated cottages, and outbuildings and other mainly late 18th century development.
Cragg Wood
Rawdon Cragg Wood conservation area, is an exclusive rural suburb of Victorian villas with special architectural interest set in spacious wooded grounds developed in the second half of the 19th century, for the wealthy wool and cloth merchants of Leeds and Bradford.