Statue of James Watt
STATUE OF JAMES WATT, CITY SQUARE
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1375034
- Date first listed:
- 26-Sept-1963
- List Entry Name:
- Statue of James Watt
- Statutory Address:
- STATUE OF JAMES WATT, CITY SQUARE
Location
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Images of England Project
- Date:
- 2000-09-03
- Reference:
- IOE01/01540/08
- Rights:
- © Mr Erik Borg. Source: Historic England Archive
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1375034
- Date first listed:
- 26-Sept-1963
- Date of most recent amendment:
- 11-Sept-1996
- List Entry Name:
- Statue of James Watt
- Statutory Address 1:
- STATUE OF JAMES WATT, CITY SQUARE
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- STATUE OF JAMES WATT, CITY SQUARE
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- District:
- Leeds (Metropolitan Authority)
- Parish:
- Non Civil Parish
- National Grid Reference:
- SE2986533449
Details
SE2933SE
714-1/77/105
26/09/63
LEEDS
CITY SQUARE
Statue of James Watt
(Formerly Listed as:
CITY SQUARE
Statues of Joseph Priestley, Dean
Hook, John Harrison and James Watt)
GV
II
Statue of James Watt. 1898. By HC Fehr. Polished granite
plinth with bronze plaque and raised lettering: 'JAMES/ WATT/
1736-1819'. Life-size bronze statue on a square base with
raised lettering: 'THE GIFT OF/ RICHARD WAINWRIGHT 1898/
ERECTED 1903'. On the rear of the base: 'J W SINGER & SONS LTD
FOUNDERS'.
One of 4 statues of prominent men in Leeds' history, part of
the City Square design by William Bakewell for Walter Harding,
completed 1903.
HISTORICAL NOTE: the firm of Boulton and Watt supplied
machines to some of the first steam-powered mills in the town
at the end of the C18; historians of the town's industrial
development have since suggested however that a statue of the
local engineer, Matthew Murray, whose Round Foundry Complex,
Foundry Street pioneered the steam engine, would have been
more appropriate.
(Scott, E Kilburn: Matthew Murray, Pioneer Engineer: Leeds:
1928-).
Listing NGR: SE2986533449
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 465914
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Sources
Books and journals
Scott, K, Matthew Murray Pioneer Engineer, ()
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 10-Jun-2026 at 07:42:49.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
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