The reason we have the Moor today is because of the public spirited people who back in the 1850s fought to acquire it for the people.  What on earth would they think if they knew how their precious Moor is being used today.  Here are clues from the pages of the Leeds Mercury, beginning with an extract from an article that was written on the 23rd June 1855 :

“Woodhouse Moor, ‘the lungs of Leeds,’ is the people’s park, and almost the only open space within the borough where our citizens can assemble for recreation in the open air. It has from time immemorial been the favourite resort of our working classes on all holiday occasions, and there they have year after year, while enjoying innocent pastime, gathered fresh strength from the pure air they inhaled.”

Shortly afterwards, at a public meeting, the Revd W Sinclair said :

“All they asked was only that they should be permitted to enjoy without interruption their Noble Moor, where they could breathe the pure air, and where no doubt they were enjoying invigorating games, and adding greatly to their manly health.”

Following the meeting, the Leeds Mercury wrote :

“It is our “People’s Park,” and of late years, as the heart of the town has become more thickly populated, the moor has been increasingly the resort of the inhabitants, – thousands of whom now daily visit it to breathe its free air, and escape the denser atmosphere surrounding their hemmed-in homes.”

And later that year, the Mercury wrote :

“There can hardly be two opinions as to the value of a place like Woodhouse Moor to such a town as Leeds.  We all of us require now and then, after confinement to our desks and factories, a place within easy distance, which we can reach without expense, where we may walk or run, or play at cricket, and clear our brains and invigorate our bodies by wholesome exercise in the fresh air.  “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy,” and we no know place where Jack can so healthfully and innocently disport himself as on the Moor.  The beautiful view which it commands, – the ample space it affords for manly exercises, – and the breezes sweeping over it from the north and west, make it a most desirable place for public recreation.”