Gipton
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Coordinates: 53°48′33″N 1°29′38″W / 53.8093°N 1.4940°W
| Gipton | |
 Gipton Gate West and other tower blocks on Oak Tree Drive |
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 Gipton
Gipton shown within West Yorkshire |
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| OS grid reference | SE334348 |
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| Metropolitan borough | City of Leeds |
| Metropolitan county | West Yorkshire |
| Region | Yorkshire and the Humber |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | LEEDS |
| Postcode district | LS9 |
| Dialling code | 0113 |
| Police | West Yorkshire |
| Fire | West Yorkshire |
| Ambulance | Yorkshire |
| EU Parliament | Yorkshire and the Humber |
| UK Parliament | Leeds North East |
| List of places: UK • England • Yorkshire | |
Gipton is a suburb of East Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, between the A58 to the north and the A64 to the south. It is joined with Harehills (adjacent to the west) as a City Council Ward. Note that Gipton Wood is an area north of the A58 in the Roundhay Ward.
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[edit] History
The 1817 village was somewhat west of the location now called Gipton, featuring the Gipton Spa or bathhouse in what is now Gledhow Valley Woods.[1]
Gipton derives from Old English: the first element is a personal name: in this case, it is Gippa (same as in Ipswich, although almost certainly not the same man) and tun "village, settlement, farm" (here, it refers to a village). The town's name was recorded as Cepetun, suggesting village with a market, suggesting a trading-town, or residence of the traders, as with Market Weighton. The first element of the name in the Domesday Book record wrongly suggests Old English ceap "market, trading-place", but it was a corruption of the personal name, Gippa. However, a record from 1018 as Gipentune[citation needed] proves that the first element is a personal name. The name Coldcotes which prefixes many of the areas street names comes from 'cold cottages'.
[edit] Housing
The Gipton housing estate was the first council estate built in 1935 as a "Garden suburb" for the working classes, with a mixture of 2 to 5 bedroom houses with gardens.[2] Some 10-storey blocks of flats (Gipton Gates) were built by the council from 1956 onwards and 12-storey blocks (Briarsdale Croft) from 1963.[3]
[edit] General information
In local parlance, those that live in or originate from Gipton are known as "Giptoners", or more recently, youths have adopted the term "Giptonites" which is actually a form of insult and used in a derogatory way because of the poverty stigma the area has.
The large Church of the Epiphany located on Beech Lane was constructed in 1936-1938 by N.F. Cachemaille-Day, and is a Grade I listed building.
St. Augustine's Roman Catholic Primary School on St Wilfrid's Circus was opened in 1975 after the old school off Harehills Road ran into a dilapidated state. The school was once again re-built in 1993 after a fire destroyed the whole building early one morning in 1990.
Some people call the area "Mother Shipton" (rhymes with Gipton) or "Corned Beef Island" - relating to a corned beef robbery that took place in the area during World War II. It is also home to the Harehills rugby team - playing out of the Gipton WMC.
[edit] Amenities
There are few amenities actually on the estate. Many of the shops have since closed down, but there is a Lidl at the lower end of Oak Tree Drive, and the Fairway public house is situated towards the upper end of Oak Tree Drive. There a several shops situated on Coldcotes Drive, while Gipton Working Men's Club is also situated here. There is a small off licence on Foundry Avenue (once a part of what was locally known as the "eight shops") and a Happy Shopper (now closed and boarded up) on Gipton Approach. The shops on Brander Road have all closed and are boarded up, now leaving the estate with only one Post Office. Dib Lane, situated just off the estate has many local shops which serve the northern side of the estate, whilst the southern side of the estate is also served by the amenities on York Road. The nearest large supermarkets are Asda in Killingbeck and Tesco in Seacroft. Cross Gates is the closest shopping area of any size, as well as its indoor shopping centre it also provides the closest railway station to the area. There are several churches on the estate, with a heavy emphasis on Catholic churches which serve the areas large Irish-Catholic community.
[edit] People
- Former Elmet (Wetherby, Garforth, Rothwell) MP, Colin Burgon is from Gipton.
- Author Jack Sheffield (born 1945, writer of humorous books such as "Teacher, Teacher") was born in Gipton.[4]
[edit] Location grid
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Roundhay | |
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| Gledhow |  |
Seacroft | ||
 Gipton  |
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| Harehills |
[edit] References
- ^ Friends of Gledhow Valley Woods
- ^ www.leodis.net Discovering Leeds: poverty and riches - the working classes
- ^ English Heritage Pastscape database
- ^ Author's website
[edit] External links
- Details from listed building database (465473) - Church of the Epiphany. Images of England. English Heritage.
- The ancient parish of Leeds: historical and genealogical information at GENUKI (Gipton was in this parish)
- Gipton Arts Centre
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