Little Church Lane, Methley
Holmville, No. 11, Little Church Lane
This house is the largest house on Little Church Lane. (No. 9, which is
attached to it, for many years shared the same front gate.) It was built
1844-46 and soon after its erection was occupied by Mr. John Holmes, hence
the name of the house. (The Methley Community Archive has a copy of the
Deeds of this house.)
John Holmes was born in Sheffield but his parents were natives of Oulton
and he returned to this area. He had several drapers shops, including
one in Rothwell, a small shop at first but then he moved to larger premises
in Commercial Street. Here with his brother-in-law, Samuel Batty, he established
a prosperous business. The Batty family is that of John Batty, who wrote
a History of Rothwell. Holmes built rows of small cottages in Rothwell,
where Marsh Street carpark is now.
He
was a great social worker, also a political worker and a great traveller.
He had other commercial interests too. He was a great collector of antiques
and Holmville was the resort of antiquarians and connoisseurs, who delighted
to inspect the valuable and curious articles collected by Mr. Holmes from
lands near and far. Holmville had to be extended to accommodate them all.
Later, in ill health, he planned to go and live abroad though never did)
and he sold all his collection to the then Leeds City Corporation at half
their estimated value, and they became the nucleus of the city museum.
John Holmes also owned land in Main Street, Mickletown, eg Holmes yard,
where he built 14 houses and he sold land to members of the United Methodist
Church for building their chapel in 1863. He also owned a large shop and
dwelling at the top of Holmes Yard - the upper front window bears a plaque
each side, the left hand bears the initials J.I.H. and the right hand
side the date 1863.
This old postcard show the view near the top of Church Lane, almost in
front of the large houses. There were iron railings on top of the low
brick wall. The wall is still there but the railings were removed to aid
the war effort in the 1939-45 war. The wooden fence around cricket field
perimeter encircled the entire cricket field. The small swing gate in
the right foreground gave an entrance to the cricket field from here.
A few pence were paid to enter the field and watch if a match was in progress.
The money was often collected in a clothes basket. In the background is
the Rose and Crown Inn and Old Rose and Crown (later Churchside Farm),
just visible through the mist.
View over Methley Cricket Field in 1984 taken from Church Lane. A match
is in progress. The houses of Little Church Lane, the cricket pavilion
and trees hide the Infant School. The boundary of the cricket area used
to be marked by a fence, and benches were outside the fence.
