Seacroft village Seacroft village is mentioned in the
Domesday Book (1086). Evidence of much earlier inhabitation was found during construction of the estate in the 1950s. A stone axe dating from the
Neolithic age (3500–2100
BC) was found on Kentmere Avenue. In addition, two silver Roman coins were found on The Green in the 1850s. Seacroft village is the original part of Seacroft, around The Green and Cricketers Arms (pictured above), and is often referred to today. Seacroft Hall was built in the 17th century by the Shiletto family incorporating extensive landscaping and parkland. Despite being a
listed building, the hall was demolished in the 1950s. The original entrance lodge still stands on York Road, with Parklands School on South Parkway now occupying the location of the hall. It is a grade II listed building, along with its service buildings. Although the English Heritage record says it was rebuilt in 1837 The building included a celebrated late 17th century staircase thought to have been brought from
Austhorpe Hall. See also The Seacroft Village Preservation Society. There is an old non-operating windmill, that pre-dates the estate, which has been incorporated into a hotel (now known as the
Britannia Hotel Leeds).
Satellite town within the city boundary The village developed slowly over the centuries and saw very little change until the post-war years. Work on the estate began in the 1950s. Many of the older houses on the estate are more traditional red-brick semis built around the Beechwood area, to the North of the estate. In the 1960s many
prefabricated houses and high-rise flats were constructed on the estate. Two main roads were built through the estate, these being North Parkway and South Parkway. North Parkway was built with a dual carriageway, in a similar way as Oak Tree Drive, Coldcotes Drive and Gipton Approach in neighbouring Gipton. In 1934, Leeds City Council bought for municipal housing, and after World War II the majority of houses and blocks of flats were built. The council had planned for Seacroft to be a "satellite town within the city boundary" In addition to this vision, other areas surrounding Seacroft were built using the same principle. In the 1960s building work in the
Swarcliffe and Stanks areas started, and in the 1970s in
Whinmoor. However, none of these were as large or ambitious as Seacroft, with the intention that these areas use many of the amenities built along with the Seacroft Estate such as the Civic Centre and Seacroft's secondary schools. As such amenities were kept to a minimum in Swarcliffe and Whinmoor, with the estates only having small local shops, public houses and primary schools. Seacroft also has the main central bus interchange for North East Leeds, although the nearest railway station is in
Cross Gates.
Seacroft Civic Centre The 1960s also saw the construction of the Seacroft Civic Centre, which was at the time a novel way of building an outdoor purpose built town centre. The Civic Centre had a
Grandways supermarket and a
Woolworths as well as many other smaller shops, banks, pubs and a library. In the 1990s it had become apparent that the condition of the Civic Centre had deteriorated significantly in the 30 years since its construction. Talks were held with
Leeds City Council, and
Tesco were found as the preferred bidder to rebuild the Seacroft Civic Centre.
Seacroft Green Shopping Centre In 1999, work began clearing the site and in 2000 the new Seacroft Green Shopping Centre opened. The
Tesco supermarket was cited at the time to be the largest in Europe, a claim which may not have been true. It is, however, still an enormous supermarket spread over two levels (the second being a large mezzanine level, which was built a few years after the Tesco store had opened to give more space within the store). The car park was also enlarged and other shop units were built along the side of the supermarket, making the centre a crescent shape. The huge supermarket as well as the other shops promised to create hundreds more jobs then would be lost through the loss of trade in the Civic Centre, which among other factors made the redevelopment favourable with many Seacroft residents. The Seacroft Green Shopping Centre is also the main transport interchange in Seacroft, with the main bus station for Seacroft and the surrounding areas being centred there. From here buses run out through the estate as well as to the
city centre,
Wetherby and
Harrogate. Seacroft bus station has five stands and an average daily footfall of 2,687. (See Transport) The centre was not entirely popular with many local residents who said they had lost their town centre to a Tesco supermarket and to an extent, this may be true. Although there are shops besides Tesco, they are far fewer than there were, the precinct area has been lost, the pubs in the centre have been lost, and there are no offices. Until the building of the new centre, and since the closure of
Grandways, it was said that Seacroft suffered from 'food poverty' and fresh produce could not be bought on the estate. This was probably not true as there was a
Co-op (now
McColls in 2018) on South Parkway. The rebuilding of the Civic Centre did not alter the deprivation on the estate. Throughout the 2000s (decade), the condition of many of the houses on the estate deteriorated, particularly amongst the prefabricated housing to the South West of the estate. Many houses were vacated and either their condition or lack of demand dictated that the council boarded them up. The estate's high rise flats are seen as a refuge as they are harder to break into and in better condition than the houses, as such they have largely been allocated to older residents. Some (including Queensview) have become sheltered housing.
Amenities elsewhere Regular bus services allow residents to use amenities in
Leeds city centre,
Cross Gates and
Wetherby. The Cross Gates Centre (formerly Arndale Centre) provides many high street shops which Seacroft lacks, while Wetherby's many pubs make it an alternative destination for evening entertainment. ==Architecture==