Adel History and the Leeds Museum

Adel, or ‘filthy place’ according to the name-explanation board, is well-represented in the new Museum.  However the museum hasn’t the space to attempt to explain all but the most basic stories, so this write-up attempts to fill in some of the ancient Adel-related history.  It got its name – until about 1860 Addle – carried through in today’s pronunciation (how many of your out-of-Leeds relatives pronounce it A-dell?) from the heavy clay and the springs which together would make it pretty filthy.  But, since the Romans tried to place their settlements near springs (presumably less liable to contamination than streams) and may have used the clay for utensils, its due to these elements that Adel warrants its own information board in the Museum.

The main Adel content is in the "The Leeds Story".  It starts with the geology - when warm seas became replaced by dense forests - the basis of the coal seam.  I have a tree-fern fossil in my garden - maybe you have stones in yours with a story?   Mesolithic people who were hunters came later and many flints have been found in Adel - especially from the Reformatory and Spring Hill areas where the land was cultivated for market gardening.  The stone axe is a Spring Hill find.   Later Bronze Age people used the Aire Valley as a trading route and these were followed by the Beaker People, who had metal-working skills and a distinctive style of pottery - the Tinshill Beaker and a reconstruction of an Iron-Age Roundhouse, celebrate this period of our distant history.  The actual sites in Tinshill can be located on www.leeds.gov.uk, (use the a-z index, clicking on a & then ancient monuments. On the right are downloadable files - choose Class 1 - with maps and Class 2, without).

Next comes the Romans, Anglo-Saxons and Vikings and in the first two categories Adel material features.  From the Adel Roman fort is a wonderful jar, an altar, a tombstone, plus some pottery shards.  The website www.roman-britain.org/places/adel.htm is given in the additional information.  This site has the translation of the inscriptions, but the location of the material is dated - it implies the Church museum (removed in the mid-1960's) is still extant.  It mentions the phallus stone, which is in the Museum Discovery Centre - perhaps too explicit for young eyes?  One of the items originally in the Adel museum - the Commandments Stone from Nablus Palestine, looks very fine in the Ancient Worlds Gallery.  The Anglo-Saxon stones are fabulously displayed and nearby a reconstructed and painted cross based on the Cross in the Leeds Church show how it would have looked.

There are more Adel connections to be made in the Leeds Story - some of the people featured either living or being buried in Adel.  Since the majority of these will have had a Blue Plaque commemorated to their memory,  I will deal with them under that heading, in a separate article - but names include William Hey, Peter Fairburn, John Marshall and Matthew Murray.  There could well be more.  For instance, I was thrilled to see a model of a balance plough - from John Fowler Steam Plough works. The Adel connection is through Robert Wm Eddison 1835-1900 who was a director of the company from the outset and who is believed to have tested out new equipment when he lived at Adel Mill (there is a photo of a vine-plough destined for Italy at Adel in the definitive work on this company). R.W. Eddison is remembered in Adel in the stained glass Norman light in Adel Church - he died at Adel Manor.   Adel Church is featured, I'm told, as a backdrop in the kiddies area.

The history group would welcome any Adel-related stories that you find.