Leeds: the Biography

by J S Fletcher

Published 28 March 2015
Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England, the principal settlement in the City of Leeds metropolitan district. In the 2011 census the City of Leeds had an estimated population of roughly 757,700 making it the third largest city in the United Kingdom. Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, the history of Leeds can be traced to the 5th century when the Kingdom of Elmet was covered by the forest of 'Loidis', the origin of the name Leeds. From being a compact market town in the valley of the River Aire in the sixteenth century Leeds expanded and absorbed the surrounding villages to become a populous urban centre by the mid-twentieth century. This is the biography of Leeds, from birth through to the modern day.