Scholes

Robin Hood's Grave

Bradley · 4.3 miles

The monument traditionally associated with the burial of the folk hero Robin Hood stands within the privately owned woodland of Kirklees Park Estate, West Yorkshire, close to the ruined remains of Kirklees Priory and about 650 metres from the surviving gatehouse where the outlaw is thought to have lodged at the time of his death. The stone lies near the village of Bradley and is listed as a historic memorial by Historic England. The low stone wall and fence that surround the gravestone date from the nineteenth century, when local labourers were reputed to remove fragments as a cure for toothache. The inscription, rendered in a form of Middle English that scholars such as Maurice Keen describe as clearly spurious, claims the interment of “Robert, Earl of Huntingdon” on 24 December 1247 – a date that does not exist in the medieval calendar. References to a grave marker at this site appear in documents from the sixteenth century, including John Leland’s Collectanea and Richard Grafton’s 1569 chronicle, while later observers such as Ralph Thoresby and Richard Gough recorded the stone as heavily weathered and partially illegible. A 2015 investigation by the television programme *Expedition Unknown* employed ground-penetrating radar but found no evidence of a burial disturbance. Visitors should note that the monument is set in private woodland with no visitor facilities, admission charges or official opening hours provided. Access is therefore at the visitor’s own risk, and there are no amenities such as car parks, toilets or information displays on site.

Farnley Hall Park

Farnley · 4.3 miles

Farnley Hall Park is a park in Farnley, Leeds, England, approximately four miles from the city centre. Sixteen hectares in size, it lies in the grounds of Farnley Hall and hosts the main base of Leeds City Parks.

Middleton Park

Middleton · 5 miles

Spanning nearly a square mile, the public space in Middleton, Leeds, offers a mixture of ancient woodland, a small lake and a former golf course within its 630 acres. The park also incorporates the reclaimed site of the former Middleton Broom Colliery, and its northern edge abuts the South Leeds Stadium, home to the Hunslet rugby league club. A historic railway line runs through the area, linking Moor Road, Hunslet with the Park Halt station, while the Leeds Urban Bike Park provides dedicated facilities for cyclists. The landscape traces its origins to a manorial estate recorded after the Norman Conquest, with Middleton itself appearing in the Domesday Book of 1086. An earthwork dating from 1204 marks the historic boundary with Beeston, and the Brandling family, who cleared land and erected Middleton Lodge around 1760, later built the Middleton Railway to serve local coal workings. Since 1919 the land has been owned by Wade’s Charity, which leases it to Leeds City Council for a nominal rent, establishing the site as one of the city’s public parks. Visitors can use the visitor centre, which includes a café, toilet facilities and a bandstand, and a replica horse gin that illustrates the area’s industrial past. Regular programmes feature outdoor theatre, music, history walks, wildlife spotting and craft demonstrations, alongside a September produce show. The Clearings area supports model-aircraft flying, the lake is popular with anglers, and the varied terrain attracts walkers, cyclists and the Middleton Woods parkrun community. Access is free, and the park is managed by Leeds City Council.

National Coal Mining Museum

Overton · 5.6 miles

Set within the former Caphouse Colliery near Overton, Wakefield, the museum occupies a site whose mining activity began in the late eighteenth century. The original pit, later expanded with the Hope Pit in the 1820s, passed through private ownership before nationalisation in 1947 and closure in 1985. The Yorkshire Mining Museum opened on the premises in 1988 and received national status in 1995, becoming the National Coal Mining Museum for England. Surviving structures such as the Grade II listed boiler house, chimney, steam winding engine house and the Grade II* listed ventilation shaft date from the nineteenth- and early-twentieth centuries, illustrating the evolution of coal-working facilities. Visitors can descend on guided underground tours that recreate the working conditions and display the tools used by miners over successive eras. Above ground, more than a dozen galleries interpret the social and industrial heritage of mining, while a library and archive hold rare items including a first edition of *De re Metallica* and historic copies of *Coal News*. Original features such as pit-head baths, the steam winding house, boiler house and coal-screening plant remain in situ. A narrow-gauge paddy train links the main hub to the Hope Pit area, where a reed-bed water-treatment facility and bird hides are operated with the Coal Authority, and an interpretive nature trail winds through the wooded valley. Recent additions include a Miners Memorial Garden (2015), a mining-themed adventure playground (2017), an expanded visitor hub with retail, education, catering and conference spaces, and a Pony Discovery Centre opened in 2021. The site lies on the A642, signposted from the M1, and is reachable by car or public transport; opening times are published on the museum’s listing.

Bramley Park

Bradley Hill · 6.2 miles

Bramley Park is a community park situated near the centre of Bramley, four miles west of Leeds city centre, West Yorkshire, England.

Leeds Industrial Museum

Armley · 6.2 miles

Industrial heritage visitors can explore a substantial collection of textile machinery, railway equipment and heavy engineering within a former woollen mill that dominates the Armley landscape. The museum sits on the south bank of the River Aire, sandwiched between the river and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, and can be reached from Canal Road or Milford Place in the Armley district of Leeds, West Yorkshire. Opening hours are listed on the museum’s public listing, and the site forms part of Leeds Museums & Galleries, alongside the city’s art gallery, city museum and several historic houses. The building, protected at Grade II* status, dates from 1805 when Benjamin Gott reconstructed the mill after a fire, employing fire-proof construction techniques such as cast-iron columns and brick arches. Its L-shaped form varies from four to two storeys across the sloping site, and the mill-race runs beneath a series of finely detailed arches. Original water-wheel structures, including the metal wheels named Wellington and Blucher and a surviving wooden wheel from the corn mill, remain on site, though some are awaiting repair. The mill’s evolution—from a 16th-century fulling operation, through expansion under Thomas Lloyd and Gott, to the introduction of a steam engine in the mid-19th century—mirrors Leeds’s rise as an industrial centre. After commercial use ceased in 1969, Leeds City Council reopened the complex as an industrial museum in 1982; it recovered from flood damage in 2015 and continues to present the city’s manufacturing legacy to visitors.