[2] The actual site of the battle is disputed, but one possibility is that the River Winwaed is now the Cock Beck, to the east of Swarcliffe.

[4] After the Norman Conquest in 1066, William the Conqueror granted the parish of Whitkirk, which included Seacroft, to Ilbert de Lacy of Pontefract, whose descendants held the title of Earl of Lincoln.

[5] During the English Civil War in 1643, Lord Goring's Royalist army defeated the Parliamentarians under Sir Thomas Fairfax at the Battle of Seacroft Moor.

[8][9][10] Before the Swarcliffe Estate was built, the area contained Winmore Lodge (renamed Winn Moor Lodge in 1893), Penwell House, Hill Top, Spikeland Nook, Swarcliffe Farm,[NB 1] and a parochial school on Stanks Lane South/Barwick Road, which was replaced by Windsor Terrace before 1892.

[15] In 1886, the property was owned by Colonel Frederick Trench-Gascoigne, of Parlington Hall, Aberford, who rented it out for three pounds, fourteen shillings and sixpence a year.

Gascoigne owned and rented out a number of houses, coal mines, woodland and farm land in Seacroft, Whinmoor, Barnbow, Garforth, Barwick-in-Elmet, Cross Gates, and Scholes.

According to the 1891 census, he lived at Seacroft Hall with his sister, Louisa, and five servants - a footman, cook, kitchen maid and two housemaids.

Between 1938 and 1952, private houses were built on the north side of Barwick Road, between Stanks Lane South and the Cock Beck.

[11] In a boundary change on 1 April 1937, Whinmoor was added to the Leeds County Borough from the Tadcaster Rural District.

In 1953, The Civil Engineer reported that Myton Ltd, from Kingston upon Hull, were paid £227,232 "for the erection of 172 dwellings on the Swarcliffe (Seacroft) Estate".

The West Yorkshire Archaeological Service believes that the Elmet Towers site may contain the remains of medieval pottery, which was once manufactured there.

The planning application was approved in 1964 and the first block, Langbar Towers, completed on 24 January 1966 was officially opened on 19 February 1966 by Denis Healey.

[49] In the late 2000s, Persimmon Homes built St Gregory's, seventy-three private houses east of Stanks Drive.

[citation needed] Denis Healey was the Labour Party MP for Leeds East, including Swarcliffe, from 1955 to 1992, when he was succeeded by George Mudie.

[53] Fed by the Grimes Dike from the north of York Road, the Cock Beck runs in a southerly direction past Swarcliffe and Stanks' eastern borders, and joins the River Wharfe to the south of Tadcaster.

[54] Although the climate in Swarcliffe is generally relatively moderate, in 2011 it was reported that extreme winds had damaged the roofs of several flats in the Lombardy House block on Southwood Close.

[35][62][63][NB 3] Grimes Dyke Primary School was built in the late 1960s in the north eastern part of Swarcliffe.

[74] The land on which it stands was bought in 1954, but before building work started, mass was held in the priest's council house, with confessions taken through the dining hatch of the kitchen.

[70] The first church on the site, a simple red brick hall opened on 11 October 1956, is now occupied by St Gregory's Social Club.

[70] St Gregory's Social Club hosts meetings of the Swarcliffe and Stanks' Residents and Tenants' Association.

[78] As of 2011[update], the remaining parade consists of a Chinese takeaway,[79] a newsagent and off-licence,[80] a minimarket,[81] a bakery, and a betting shop.

[85][86] The Whinmoor public house was closed in December 2010, and re-opened three years (2012) later as a pub, but also offers self-defence classes for ages of all which is placed on the left hand side of the building.

no dentists' practices or doctors' surgeries in the Swarcliffe area, although the Windmill Health Centre is just outside the north-west boundary, on Mill Green View.

[97] East Leeds FM was started in 2003, by students from John Smeaton Community College in neighbouring Manston.

[98] In 2008, a Swarcliffe man posted more than eighty videos of his anti-social behaviour on YouTube, including high-speed road races, verbal abuse, trespassing, apparent theft and also illegal use of class A drugs.

[100][101] In 2010, a Swarcliffe smuggler was jailed for avoiding £1.5 million duty on cigarettes hidden in shipments of plastic bags and storage shelves.