The township covered about 1700 acres, of which 450 are woodland known as Middleton Woods and contain the largest area of ancient woodland remaining in Leeds. The old village was a ribbon development along Town Street which runs west–east along a ridge and Middleton housing estate occupies flattish land to the south. The high point of Middleton is by the water tower at the western end of Town Street. Middleton is in an area surrounded by three motorways, the M62 motorway to the south, the M1 to the east and the M621 to the north.
