© William Morgan

North Milford Hall, located near Tadcaster in the parish Kirby Wharfe, southeast of York, was home to the Leedes family for many generations. Englebert (mistakenly called Edward in some sources) Leedes, who inherited Milford following the death of his father in 1656, was succeeded by his son Anthony in 1703, and Anthony by his younger brother Robert in 1711. The latter died in 1720, when the property passed to his eldest daughter, Mary. Mary married, in 1741, Edward Rookes of Royds Hall, who took the surname Leedes. Mary Leedes died in 1758; Edward Rookes Leedes subsequently remarried and died in 1785.

The house is 16th century on the bottom level and late 17th on above. The barns, converted into houses, were presumably where the horses were born - they are certainly old, for the most part.

Leedes Arabian, his son Leedes and perhaps the most influential of all, Betty Leeds herself, grazed in the Milford paddocks. Betty Leeds later produced the brothers Flying Childers and Bartlet's Childers.

© William Morgan