Foundry Mill at Seacroft

Bunkers, shelters and other buildings
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The Parksider
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Re: Foundry Mill at Seacroft

Post by The Parksider »

warringtonrhino wrote:
We also discovered that when the beck was straightened, the earth that was thrown up the west bank, to form a level base for the footpath, created a 'dam' which caused a pond to form north of the Foxwood Farm area.
BINGO mystery pond alongside the straightened beck explained.

This means that the pond shown on the OS map http://maps.nls.uk/view/102344914

Back up towards the Wetherby Road alongside the wyke on the other side to the quarry is very likely to be one of the "ponds" Mathers has in his water power system?

Free pint for anyone who can post up the map zoomed in on this pond?

The Parksider
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Re: Foundry Mill at Seacroft

Post by The Parksider »

warringtonrhino wrote:
I am not sure where the existing footbridge or the weir below Mather's weir are, can you be more specific?
Walked the beck again today and between Easterly Road and south parkway. It's easy on a map to get the impression foundry mill was up a slope/hillside because it's set back from the beck but the land is quite flat between the Beck and the Mill site.

Walking back up towards Roundhay the beck becomes the straightened version and despite the obvious 20th. Century walling you can see some old low courses of blackened stone helping keep the beck straight. What's left is part hidden by overgrowth on the bank top

There's only a bit here and there left and consequently the beck (and this was fascinating) is well on the way to reverting to a "windey" (as in wind from side to side) beck carving out curves either side that cause collapse to the footpath........

When it was originally straightened we don't know do we? But it could be well after mathers??

The weir is below the footbridge that connects Kentmere approach and the footpath at the end of the road over the beck and through to Grange Park Crescent.

You can stand on the footbridge today and the water is rushing over the weir. I posted some time ago that something had been done to this weir very recently between my walks over the last few years. It seems to have had an extra span of stone/wood placed in there.

Again as an "Oldie" sick of fighting technology rather that having it work for me, I took no pictures and unable to find Brunel's kind picture I can't upload what it looks like now but suffice to say it is a weir and it looks like it still serves a purpose.

If we can establish what that purpose was - and probably still is - then ipso facto it's not a weir for powering an undershot waterwheel.

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Leodian
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Re: Foundry Mill at Seacroft

Post by Leodian »

Hi The Parksider :). Is this the pond that is between the 181 and 177 in the enlargement of part of the map?

I like looking at maps such as that you gave a link to. It's fascinating how names change, even if slightly. On just a quick look at the full map there is for example Wike Beck which to the bottom of the map is also called White Beck or Wike Beck, Fearneville, Fox Wood (not Foxwood), The Hare Hills, Addle Head, Stain Beck that becomes Bentley Beck. I don't recall hearing of Roundhay Bottoms before. I like the description 'Foot Plank' (rather than foot bridge) near Grange Cottage. There were (still are but hidden?) a number of wells. I'm particularly curious about the 'Shed' marked by the Foot Path near Low Gipton. I wonder if there was anything special about that shed that got it noted?
Pond.jpg
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warringtonrhino
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Re: Foundry Mill at Seacroft

Post by warringtonrhino »

The Parksider wrote:
warringtonrhino wrote:
I am not sure where the existing footbridge or the weir below Mather's weir are, can you be more specific?
Walked the beck again today and between Easterly Road and south parkway. It's easy on a map to get the impression foundry mill was up a slope/hillside because it's set back from the beck but the land is quite flat between the Beck and the Mill site.

Walking back up towards Roundhay the beck becomes the straightened version and despite the obvious 20th. Century walling you can see some old low courses of blackened stone helping keep the beck straight. What's left is part hidden by overgrowth on the bank top

There's only a bit here and there left and consequently the beck (and this was fascinating) is well on the way to reverting to a "windey" (as in wind from side to side) beck carving out curves either side that cause collapse to the footpath........

When it was originally straightened we don't know do we? But it could be well after mathers??

The weir is below the footbridge that connects Kentmere approach and the footpath at the end of the road over the beck and through to Grange Park Crescent.

You can stand on the footbridge today and the water is rushing over the weir. I posted some time ago that something had been done to this weir very recently between my walks over the last few years. It seems to have had an extra span of stone/wood placed in there.

Again as an "Oldie" sick of fighting technology rather that having it work for me, I took no pictures and unable to find Brunel's kind picture I can't upload what it looks like now but suffice to say it is a weir and it looks like it still serves a purpose.

If we can establish what that purpose was - and probably still is - then ipso facto it's not a weir for powering an undershot waterwheel.
The 'weir' near Grange Park Crescent is a actually a collection of pipes.
One is the mains water supply into the Askets and Kentmeres
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not a weir.jpg
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pipes not a weir.gif
pipes not a weir.gif (1.59 MiB) Viewed 4255 times

The Parksider
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Re: Foundry Mill at Seacroft

Post by The Parksider »

warringtonrhino wrote:
The Parksider wrote:
warringtonrhino wrote:
I am not sure where the existing footbridge or the weir below Mather's weir are, can you be more specific?
Walked the beck again today and between Easterly Road and south parkway. It's easy on a map to get the impression foundry mill was up a slope/hillside because it's set back from the beck but the land is quite flat between the Beck and the Mill site.

Walking back up towards Roundhay the beck becomes the straightened version and despite the obvious 20th. Century walling you can see some old low courses of blackened stone helping keep the beck straight. What's left is part hidden by overgrowth on the bank top

There's only a bit here and there left and consequently the beck (and this was fascinating) is well on the way to reverting to a "windey" (as in wind from side to side) beck carving out curves either side that cause collapse to the footpath........

When it was originally straightened we don't know do we? But it could be well after mathers??

The weir is below the footbridge that connects Kentmere approach and the footpath at the end of the road over the beck and through to Grange Park Crescent.

You can stand on the footbridge today and the water is rushing over the weir. I posted some time ago that something had been done to this weir very recently between my walks over the last few years. It seems to have had an extra span of stone/wood placed in there.

Again as an "Oldie" sick of fighting technology rather that having it work for me, I took no pictures and unable to find Brunel's kind picture I can't upload what it looks like now but suffice to say it is a weir and it looks like it still serves a purpose.

If we can establish what that purpose was - and probably still is - then ipso facto it's not a weir for powering an undershot waterwheel.
The 'weir' near Grange Park Crescent is a actually a collection of pipes.
One is the mains water supply into the Askets and Kentmeres

This could be embarassing, but I much favour that if it reveals the truth!!

When I first saw the "structure" in the beck a few years back it looked very much like it was stone and it was one single span. but low in the water.

As I noted above there are additions to it since I first saw it so can I confirm that ALL these structures are pipes including the single one (mains supply to my estate) that was in there originally when I was a lot younger??

And when you first surveyed the beck from a more expert perspective!!
Last edited by The Parksider on Sun 20 Dec, 2015 9:13 am, edited 1 time in total.

The Parksider
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Re: Foundry Mill at Seacroft

Post by The Parksider »

LEO

Thanks for posting the map of the pond by the straightened Wyke Beck.

This is the one created by the straightening wyke beck in which the movement of earth left a bit of a dam/undulation that filled with water. Ref: Warrington Rhino.

By modern times it had silted up and is marked as soft ground with a few trees in it - which could then have been interpreted as rough ground where a building could have stood. It wasn't

The Pond I'd like to illustrate is further up Wyke Beck. On the 6" OS map start at Roundhay Park Lake and follow down the beck under Wetherby Road and it is in that field on the west bank of the beck opposite the quarry on the hill to the east.

This could be anything, but it could have been a Mill Pond to boost the Wyke Beck/leat when water was low, with it being filled overnight and re-introduced to the beck during Milling. It could be a pond referred to as being in Mathers ownership.

It is close to "Ellers close" which by Victorian times wasn't a short road on a private estate!! But was a big house in it's own grounds just above the pond.

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tyke bhoy
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Re: Foundry Mill at Seacroft

Post by tyke bhoy »

The Parksider wrote: Tyke Bhoy duly obliges
Thanks Parksider but it was your detective work in locating Chameleon's post on page 22 of the East Leeds Coal mining thread and Uncle Mick bumping it that enabled me to display it on this thread too.
living a stones throw from the Leeds MDC border at Lofthousehttp://tykebhoy.wordpress.com/

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Leodian
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Re: Foundry Mill at Seacroft

Post by Leodian »

Hi The Parksider :).

Is this the pond you are referring to in this zoomed-in view of the NLS map? Though it is very close to Wykebeck I note that there does not seem to be any definite connection shown between the pond and the beck. It's all fascinating stuff in this superb thread.
Pond2.jpg
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The Parksider
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Re: Foundry Mill at Seacroft

Post by The Parksider »

Leodian wrote:Hi The Parksider :).

Is this the pond you are referring to in this zoomed-in view of the NLS map? Though it is very close to Wykebeck I note that there does not seem to be any definite connection shown between the pond and the beck. It's all fascinating stuff in this superb thread.
Pond2.jpg
Bingo! and the boy wins a beer! PM me for your prize!

Mathers water power system dates back many years before the ordnance survey map you very kindly post up for me, so any connecting leat/channel may have long gone if this was one of Mathers ponds or even the "dam" at Ellers Close.......

However note the line alongside the pond that joins the beck above the pond and re-joins it past the pond. It could just be a wall, it could be a leat......

Note a dotted line across from the line alongside the pond to the beck?

The pond could just be a fish pond, but I'm fascinated by Warrington Rhinos excellent research and just want to get a few more thoughts if not conclusions to the mysteries of water power on the Wyke!!!

grumpytramp
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Re: Foundry Mill at Seacroft

Post by grumpytramp »

The Parksider wrote:The pond could just be a fish pond,
According to the The West Yorkshire Archaeology Advisory Service's report for the Roundhay Park Conservation area
There was little industrial development in this area, apart from a bleachworks that had been established to the south of Wetherby Road by 1829, which stood adjacent to Wyke Beck, with a water channel and reservoir in the vicinity of Roundhay Grove
I guess that this pond is the obvious candidate. From what I remember the west bank of Wyke Beck are relatively high until you reach the vicinity of the pond. From what I understand the pond was filled during the construction of the adajcent housing estate (Elmete Drive, Elmete Walk & Elmete Close)

In the context of the OS map shown above (surveyed in 1847) and particularly the 1897 sheet (see http://maps.nls.uk/view/100946579 ) it looks like the pond had been incorporated in the landscaped grounds of Roundhay Grove?

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