Late Victorian Burley-2

It was at this time, in the 1890's, that the road was widened. The most startling evidence of this can be seen in the house at the edge of the park, Burley Grove, now the park-keeper's house. The front of the house, facing the river, is asymmetrical. Once it was considerably wider, with outbuildings behind it, but half the house was cut off for the sake of the road.

Opposite the park, the Burley Steam Laundry (recently refurbished as offices) already existed by 1890. It was then known as the Old Hall Laundry, and was owned by Constantine and Lavender. The factory next door began life as a printing works, the Cardigan Press (subsequently taken over by John Waddingtons) at the turn of the century. Next to the factory, the Burley Methodist Chapel was opened in 1898. A chapel on Kirkstall Road, known as the 'tin chapel', had become inadequate for the growing local population, so in 1894 the site - then occupied by a dwelling house with attendant coach house and stables - had been acquired. Fierce debate surrounded whether a spire should be built for £700, taking the cost of the enterprise over £7,000; few today would doubt the wisdom of the builders, however, for without the spire the church would lose much of its dignity and grace.

Burley Methodist Church and the Burley park-keeper's house

Many of the houses clustered at this end of Cardigan Lane were long-established by the late 1890's. These included Rose Cottage, 'Woodlands' (on the site of Richard Oastler School), Burley House, the fine Georgian house on the corner of Burley Road and Cardigan Lane, and the substantial semi-detached villas along the back of Vinery Road - so-called because it was the former site of the glass-houses and vinery of Burley House.

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