Leeds

Leeds stands on the River Aire in the West Riding of Yorkshire, at the centre of a district of woollen manufacture. Clothiers brought their products from the town and neighbouring villages to be sold to merchants, who arranged finishing and trade to more distant markets. In 1711 merchants and tradesmen opened the first White Cloth Hall in Kirkgate, providing a covered market for undyed cloth. Larger halls followed as the trade expanded through the eighteenth century. Much of the cloth was still made in homes and small workshops, but the concentration of merchants, finishers and buyers made Leeds a leading centre of the Yorkshire woollen industry.