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About Roundhay:
Roundhay is a large suburb of Leeds, West
Yorkshire, England. It is a very prosperous and
largely affluent suburb on the north eastern
edge of the city, adjacent to Alwoodley,
Shadwell Village, Chapel Allerton, Moortown,
Gledhow and Oakwood.
The most well known area of
the suburb is the 700 acre Roundhay Park, one of
Europe's largest. In the thirteenth century it
was a three square mile hunting park for the
DeLacy family of Pontefract Castle. The entire
estate was purchased by the City of Leeds in
1872 and opened as a public park by His Royal
Highness Prince Arthur on 19 September 1872.
At the time, the then Lord
Mayor of Leeds John Barran was ridiculed for
buying a 'White Elephant' - in that the park was
too far out of the city for the majority of the
population to enjoy, and in any event the park
had just one access road - an old turnpike road
dating from 1808.
The park was seen as a
reckless waste of ratepayers money - critics
even published a booklet under the title: 'The
Big White Elephant' in 1879.
In June 1907 an open air
swimming pool 'lido' opened, at a cost of just
over Ģ1,600, it was built mainly by unemployed
citizens. During the 1950s and 1960s about
100,000 people a year visited the Roundhay
'swimming baths'.
Roundhay holds the honour of
being the location of the world's oldest
surviving film, Roundhay Garden Scene,
which is thought to have been shot on 14 October
1888 by Louis Le Prince at Oakwood Grange.
Roundhay Park (2.8 kmē), is a
grand, Victorian park, the second largest city
park in Europe after the 'Englischer Garten'
(3.7 kmē), in Munich, Germany.
Roundhay Park comprises over
700 acres (2.8 km2) of parkland,
lakes and woodland. The Park includes scented
gardens for the blind, National Plant
Collections, Canal Gardens, the Monet and
Alhambra Gardens, plus Tropical World which
attracts visitors all year round. In 2005 the
Friends Garden was opened, located alongside
Canal Gardens and the Rainbow Garden.
Woodpeckers, common warblers
in spring and summer, mute swans, visiting
whooper swans, great-crested grebes and herons
can all be found at the park.
The Upper Lake is maintained
as a wildlife area, and the larger Waterloo Lake
is used for fishing. Roundhay Park also provides
the venue for many special events including
sporting events, flower and animal shows, music
festivals and a bonfire and firework displays on
5th November.
Facilities at Roundhay Park
also include tennis courts, skateboard ramps,
sports pitches, bowling greens, a sports arena,
a golf course, and fishing. A lakeside cafe
overlooks Waterloo Lake: it was damaged by fire
in 2007 but restored and re-opened in 2008.
There are several public
houses along Street Lane, there is a Co-op,
several banks, a post office, a Threshers
offlicence, The Flying Pizza Italian Restaurant,
a Mexican Restaurant, a Texaco filling station,
a Starbucks coffee shop, a bookmakers and many
other small retailers. At the opposite end of
the park at Oakwood Clock, there are two
supermarkets, a Somerfield and a Tesco. Away
from Street Lane, various areas of Roundhay have
other local amenities (corner shops etc). The
local centres in Moortown and Chapel Allerton
are also close by.
Roundhay also has a Spire
private hospital. There is one comprehensive
secondary school in Roundhay (Roundhay School),
which has been recently rebuilt, as well as
several primary schools in Roundhay and
neighbouring Gledhow. Roundhay is home to
Roundhegians RUFC who play at their Chelwood
Drive ground at the West end of Roundhay, near
Moortown. Leeds Golf Club is situated within
Roundhay Park and is the home to Del Verde
Mediterranean restaurant, the course is
considered one of the best in Leeds.
Roundhay has a wide variety
of housing. There is a large mixture of
Victorian through terraces, villas and twentieth
century detached and semi detached housing. All
of the housing in Roundhay is privately built,
the nearest council housing in on the Lincombe
Estate in neighbouring Gledhow; unlike many
council estates in Leeds, this has a favourable
reputation and house prices are high. Because
there has never been any mass house building in
Roundhay at any one time, there is no consistent
style throughout the area. Roundhay is perhaps
the most expensive area for houses within the
Leeds Outer Ring Road, however areas outside
such as Alwoodley, probably fetch higher house
prices. There are also many flats adjacent to
the park and along the northern edge of
Roundhay.
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