West Park Fields were originally part of the lands of New Grange, a farm established by Kirkstall Abbey in the middle ages, to manage its estates in Headingley. After the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the land around New Grange was acquired by the Wade family, who rebuilt the Grange, made the fields to the south into a park, and retained the fields to the north, with Old Oak Farm. In 1832, the estate was bought by the Becketts, who renamed the house Kirkstall Grange, and improved access from Otley Road (with a lodge) and from Spen Lane (with a drive across the fields). They in turn sold the land to Leeds in 1908, for development as a training college, and the parkland to the south became Beckett Park. Some fifteen fields or so to the north remained farmland, stretching from Otley Road to Spen Lane, interrupted only by the ancient Cowgill Wood. The fields were steadily encroached by housing on either side, and after the Second World War, the Wood was felled, the drive covered and the Farm demolished (though its name survives in local streets), and the half-dozen remaining fields were turned into playing fields, now West Park Fields.

There appear to be no historic photographs of West Park Fields as such. There are however a number of maps which show the Fields, from the eighteenth century to the present day: see A History in Maps.

See also, photographs of West Park Fields now.

For historic photos of other parks, go to Parks in the Past.