Remains Of North West Range Of White Cloth Hall Including Entrance

The remains of the north-west range of White Cloth Hall, including the main entrance, stand on Crown Street in Leeds. The visible structure dates primarily to 1776, incorporating elements from the Second Cloth Hall of 1756 and reflecting alterations made in 1865 and during the 20th century. The range is constructed of red brick, with some areas rendered and lined to imitate ashlar. It features stone dressings, a stone cupola, and a slate roof.

Ten arches of a blind arcade remain from what was originally a much longer west range. The hall originally comprised four wings arranged around a rectangular courtyard, with the northern range containing upper Assembly Rooms. A three-arched entrance bay projects forward, incorporating mouldings and key-blocks to the arches, which sit above rusticated pilasters. A central carriage entrance is flanked to the left by a glazed door set within an architrave, and a blocked circular window is framed by the remains of a shouldered architrave above. The flanking blind arcade contains four arches to the left and three to the right, with plain impost blocks and what were probably later inserted openings.

At the rear, the original walling to the right of the entrance bay is largely intact, with four round-arched recesses, two of which retain original small-pane windows together with stone sills and impost blocks. Brick dentilled eaves are also visible. The interior has not been inspected.

Historically, the Leeds cloth market was initially located in Briggate before the First Cloth Hall for undyed cloth was established in Kirkgate in 1711. The Cloth Halls facilitated trade between weavers and merchants, and the construction of the Second Cloth Hall in Meadow Lane in 1756 reflected the growth of the industry. A third Cloth Hall was built in the 1770s, a period when Leeds was a major exporter of cloth. The rise of factory processing in the 19th century led to the decline of the Cloth Hall, and demolition occurred in 1865 to accommodate a railway viaduct.