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The Leeds Charter

09 Feb 2026

Alex Pearson, archives assistant with West Yorkshire Archive Service with the copy of the Leeds Charter and a second ornate charter, granted decades later in 1661 by Charles II. The granting of the prestigious charter changed the course of the city’s history, laying the foundations of modern-day Leeds by incorporating it as a “free borough” and a “body corporate and politic.”

The Leeds Charter: Alex Pearson, archives assistant with West Yorkshire Archive Service with the copy of the Leeds Charter and a second ornate charter, granted decades later in 1661 by Charles II. The granting of the prestigious charter changed the course of the city’s history, laying the foundations of modern-day Leeds by incorporating it as a “free borough” and a “body corporate and politic.”
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