Farnley Hall

Farnley Hall is a stately home in Farnley, west Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is a grade II listed building. It was built in Elizabethan times by the Danbys. The manor is recorded in the 1086 Domesday Book as Fernelei, so it is probable that this house was a replacement for earlier medieval structures. The Danbys owned part of the manor and the hall until 1799, when it was sold to James Armitage. Thomas Danby was first Mayor of Leeds, and Thomas Danby College in Leeds was named after him. The Hall was acquired by the Leeds City Council in 1945 and its grounds were turned into a park. The hall is used as the headquarters of the council's Parks and Countryside Service and is home to Farnley Hall Park. Part of the 16th-century house still exists. In the early 19th century a classical front was added. There are gateposts probably dating to the 19th century to the south of the hall at the end of the woodland. Farnley Parish Church, built in 1885 and dedicated to St Michael, stands across the park from the hall. It replaced an 18th-century building, attributed to John Carr. The classical belfry from this chapel is extant in the churchyard. A chapel is known on this site from 1240. The chapel at Farnley had a historic dedication to St Helen, and a well dedicated to the saint was extant in the village of Farnley until the 1950s when the site was developed for housing by Leeds city council. Remains of medieval tracery used to be preserved in the interior of the church. In October 2011, the church was bought by Saint Makarios The Great Ecclesiastical Trust, who converted it for Romanian Orthodox use. There is a cottage close by, which is several hundred years old and is linked to the park.