Woodhouse Moor

Woodhouse Moor
Woodhouse Moor Park
Type	Parkland, woodland, gardens
Location	Leeds, West Yorkshire, England
Coordinates	53°48′39″N 1°33′40″W / 53.81083°N 1.56111°W / 53.81083; -1.56111Coordinates: 53°48′39″N 1°33′40″W / 53.81083°N 1.56111°W / 53.81083; -1.56111
Area	26 hectares
Created	1857
Operated by	Leeds City Council
Status	Open all year

Woodhouse Moor is an open space approximately one mile (1.6 km) from Leeds city centre, West Yorkshire, England. Today it consists of 3 parts: a formal park, Woodhouse Moor (often referred to as Hyde Park - see below), of around 26 hectares in area on the west of Woodhouse Lane (the A660), and two other open areas on the east of it. These are known as the Monument (or Upper) and Cinder (or Gravel, or Lower) Moors which are used for events such as circuses and sporting matches, and sometimes car parking. Woodhouse Moor is north-west of Leeds city centre and is bounded by Woodhouse, the University of Leeds, Burley, Hyde Park, and Headingley.

As of 2005 the park had just under 3 million visits a year and is the second most popular urban park in Leeds. The park has five main paths which meet in the centre, each is tree-lined and they divide the park into different areas of usage.

In the New Year Honours 2009, Head Gardener John Egan was awarded an MBE for services to the community.

The park was once part of a much larger moor of the same name, including land now occupied by the University of Leeds. As high position above Leeds, it has been a military rallying point, and Rampart Road is named after the ramparts which were once there. During the English Civil War, in 1642, Parliamentary forces led by Thomas Fairfax massed on Woodhouse Moor before taking Leeds from the royalists.

The land was acquired by Leeds Corporation for the sum of £3,000 on 19 May 1857. Clarendon Road, which runs alongside Woodhouse Moor, used to be Reservoir Street because of a reservoir belonging to Leeds Corporation Waterworks. The reservoir was begun in 1837, after cholera epidemics swept Leeds in 1832, and was covered over in 1863. Two stone lodges were built alongside the reservoir in 1840; one still stands (behind the gardener's cottage near the Victoria Monument); the other was converted into an observatory in 1906, and subsequently demolished.