Armley is predominantly and historically a largely working class area of the city, still retains many smaller industrial businesses, and has many rows of back-to-back terraced houses.

[5] Armley was recorded as lying within the hundred of Morley and was estimated to comprise only four households, placing it in the bottom fifth of settlements in the Domesday Book by population size.

Many of the buildings standing in and around Armley were built in the 1800s, including many of the churches, schools, shops and houses.

[11] Damage caused by a raid in the Leeds Blitz in March 1941[12] and later slum clearance schemes brought about the redevelopment of much of Armley in a programme beginning in the 1950s and finishing in the early 1970s.

This facility exposed residents to asbestos fibres and resulted in a mesothelioma cancer cluster which persists to this day.

One of the victims, June Hancock, launched a court action against Turner & Newall, the company that owned the J W Roberts' factory in 1993.

[13] Hancock's story was the subject of a play, Dust, by Kenneth F. Yates, performed in Armley and at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in July 2009.

[15] The smaller Christ Church is located at the end of Theaker Lane nearer the centre of Armley.

Legend has it that a pedlar called Charlie used to rest and water his pony and trap in Whingate Park in the 19th century.

[19] The Wesley Road Chapel is a Local Ecumenical Partnership also involving the Baptist and United Reformed Churches.

[20] The current church is the fourth on this site, where the original Methodist Wesleyan chapel stood and where John Wesley once preached.

The closure of the original 25-metre swimming pool with redundant and unused space attracted some controversy because of the age and local architectural significance of the building.

Corporation residential tower blocks, built to replace older housing stock at the centre of Armley, and neighbouring Wortley, are amongst the tallest in Leeds.