page_title: Middleton, Leeds
section_title: Transport
hierarchical_section_title: Middleton, Leeds / Transport
caption_attribution_description: Tram at Lingwell Road, Middleton, City of Leeds in West Yorkshire
context_page_description: Middleton is a largely residential suburb of Leeds in West Yorkshire, England and historically a village in the West Riding of Yorkshire. It is situated on a hill 4 miles south of Leeds city centre and 165 miles north north-west of London.
  It sits in the Middleton Park ward of Leeds City Council and Leeds Central parliamentary constituency. The population of Middleton Park ward - which includes Belle Isle - was 26,228 at the 2011 Census.
  Middleton was occupied before the Norman Conquest and recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Mildetone. It developed as a manorial estate and its owners began to exploit the coal seams that outcropped within its boundaries. At the start of the Industrial Revolution a wooden wagonway was built to link the coal pits to Leeds. The colliery agent, John Blenkinsop designed an iron railway and its first steam-powered locomotive which was built by Matthew Murray in Holbeck. The coal mines on which the local economy was based lasted until 1968 and the railway is preserved and run by a trust after operating for 200 years.
context_section_description: To serve the growing population of the council estate, the Middleton Light Railway, an electric tramway, was built in 1925 by Leeds Corporation Tramways. The tramway from Leeds ran parallel to the colliery line to Hunslet Moor staithes and then headed south through Middleton Woods to a terminus on the Ring Road.  As the Middleton tramway largely ran separately to the road it could run at higher speeds than other tram routes in the city; a specific fleet of trams with bogies for a smoother ride were procured for the running of the Middleton service and for most of its operation the Middleton route was not integrated with other city services.  The tramway was made into a circular route in 1949 when it was extended to Belle Isle Road and Balm Road in Hunslet. The tramway closed in 1959. Its route through the park is now a footpath.
  The original plans for the Leeds Supertram included a line to Middleton, but they were amended to save on costs and the later plans stipulated a terminus at Stourton. The scheme was axed when government funding was withdrawn.
  Public transport in Middleton is coordinated by West Yorkshire Metro. Middleton is served by several bus routes operated by Arriva Yorkshire and First Leeds, with buses to Leeds city centre, Wakefield, Roundhay, Morley and the White Rose Centre.
caption: Tram on Middleton Ring Road, Lingwell Road tram stop, the terminus before the extension to Belle Isle was built in 1949.
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