Cad Beeston Manor House

At the top of Beeston Hill stands the oldest known secular building in Leeds.  Frank Goddard takes a look at this gem of medieval architecture, a house in which all residents of Beeston should take pride.

When our Local History Society was invited to view the manor house at Cad Beeston in May, 1991, it was a visit we had awaited with no small anticipation.  This building, inside as well as out, proved to be everything - and more - that we had ever hoped; a slice of medieval history dropped like a time capsule into the twentieth century.
The strange thing is that the house had stood at the top of Beeston Hill overlooking Leeds and the Aire valley for 570 years but for maybe half of that time no one, not even those who lived inside, knew of anything that might single it out as special.  It was not until 1985 that its worth was recognised.  At that time it was in a state of disrepair and there was some doubt about its future but fortunately, when the brick and rendered rubble of the walls began to be removed, there was someone on hand to appreciate the significance of the timber framing that was revealed beneath that crumbling facade.
The wooden beams and posts had a tale to tell and three houses were immediately scheduled as grade " listed buildings.  On one side was a terrace dwelling with a few medieval timbers remaining and on the other a Regency town house which contained incognito a substantial hint of hidden riches.  But between them stood the jewel in the crown, the fifteenth century manor house of Cad Beeston.

The ancient oak frame supports a  roof of medieval design, when first listed thought to be sixteenth century.  The stone slates (originally there may have been a thatched roof) are supported by crown post trusses but the structure has been considerably modified to allow for the insertion of an upper storey; as a hall it would have been open from the ground floor to the roof.  While the ridge of the roof remains at the original height the tops of the walls have been raised so that the roof has a shallower pitch, or slope.  The rafters have been shortened for they would have been too long in their new position.  This meant that when refurbishment was undertaken the roof could not be restored to its original alignment - you cannot put back what has been cut off! - but it remains substantially a fifteenth century roof, its old oak timers an impressive document of medieval construction methods.
How old is medieval in this case?  We can be quite precise about the building date.  A sample of timber was examined at Nottingham University using the schience of dendrochronology.  That sounds impressive but it basically means dating by a syudy of the sequence of growth in tree rings year by year and as the weather is never the same each successive year (don't we know it!) the pattern of the growth rings in trees will vary.  You might call it time's finger print.  The wood tested came from trees which put on growth for the final time in the summer of 1420 so must have been felled between then and spring 1421.  Building timber was used 2green2 in those days (see Stank Barn) so Cad Beeston Manor House was certainly built in 1421, probably in spring.
During restoration a small area of the earliest plasterworkwas found high inside the south wall, framed in a triangle of ancient woodwork.  It has been left in situ because it is impregnated with fifteenth century soot and is visible evidence of life in the hall five hundred years ago.
An informed alternative derivation relates to the Old English personal name, Cada.  There is reference to a "Cadtheweit" in Beeston in 1202, which may translate as "Cada's thwaite" (a thwaite was a clearing).  The name could be a folk memory of a fellow called Cada.  Perhaps he cleared enough land to build a farmstead on this tree-clad hill in the days before William of Normandy parcelled up his new English territories to share amongst his followers after the Conquest.
There is a third possible source of theis intriguing name.  It has been suggested that "Cad" was added to differentiate between the two constituent parts of the Beeston estate after a cadastral survey.  A cadaster is an official register of ownership, boundaries and value of property for taxation purposes.  This seems a reasonable derivation except that the first known written record of the word in English appears in the nineteenth century, much later thn documented references to Cad Beeston.  The origin of the word is from the French (cadastro) or Italian (catastro).  A version may have been current in medieval days and crossed the Channel with the Normans fromwhom it could have entered the vernacular to be used it when taxation surveys were made.
The possible origins are as fascinating as the name itself, a detective story as compelling as anything investigated by Inspector Morse.  Perhaps there is an element of all these sources in the final answer - or maybe it is just lax medieval spelling and really does just refers to the wooden hillside where the wildcat had its lair.  Cada or cat - it remains an intriguing name for a special place.
Cad Beeston is now owned by Bradlor Developments Limited who are responsible for the magnificent restoration.  They have understandably chosen to move into the Manor House which they now use as offices - with no detriment to the splendid interior which surely provides the most individually distinctive and enviable workplace in Leeds.  I suppose, in a sense, they may be regarded as the Lords of the Manor.  It can only be an honorary title but it's good to know that oldest secular building in the city now has a future as well as a past.

The Manor of Beeston

Sadly, Beeston's old manor house no longer remains, Frank Goddard takes a brief glance at its history.
In the Domesday Survey Beeston is mentioned as part of Ilbert de Lacy's lands.  Leeds had several manors and presumably Beeston and possibly Cad Beeston were two of these.  In the twelfth century the Manor of Beeston was held in two parts (known as moieties), Cad Beeston being one.
There, the recently re-discovered manor house remains but there was another in Beeston itself.  Until 1936, when it was demolished, Beeston Hall stood where the Oldroyd Estate has been built.  Although subjected to much alteration over the years there seems no doubt that this was the manorial centre of the village.  The building may have contained elements of an original structure at least as old as Cad Beeston Manor House.  The lower storey was of local gritstone to which an upper floor of brickwork surmounted by a slate roof was added in the 18th century.
According to old documents, in early days the Beeston half of the Manor was held by the L'Isle family, then the Rotherfields.  Later a family called de Beeston became under-tenants of an estate which included Cottingley Hall (demolished 1946) and Stank Hall which, with its adjoining New Hall, fortunately remains.  The last of the family, a Captain Beeston, sold out in 1641.  Thus the estate was broken up until 1712 when Thomas Kitchingman, twice mayor of Leeds, reunited the divided parts in a single purchase.
In its final days Beeston Hall was the property of the Low Moor Mining Company of Bradford.  They owned much of the village and so were effectively the Lords of the Manor.  Down the hill, behind the hall, was one of their coal mines, appropriately enough called Hall Pit.  In 1907 they put the house on the market and the Stones family bought it and turned the place into flats.  But decay and lack of finance at last took control and in 1928 it was sold for building development and ultimately demolished in 1936.
For some time the old ornamental lake remained below the Oldroyds and was known as Stone's Pond.  I remember taking a fishing net to the place and dipping - with little success. Now even the pool is now more, which is perhaps as well for such unattended water is a hazard to youngsters.
Some 300 years ago Ralph Thoresby, the Leeds historian, launched into print to complain that "a Gothic arched gateway leading from the street of the village, the last relic of the old manor house, has lately been removed.  Thus an antiquary has the yearly mortification of seeing one vestige of antiquity after another disappear."  And he was only grumbling about the loss of a gateway.  Now there is no manor house at all - Thoresby must have turned in his grave!