Found a Photo - Holbeck Workhouse

[polo]

Hi there to my knowledge we don't have a photo of the old holbeck workhouse on lane end place "south lodge" on here (i dont think it was from lack of searching either). I remember it being a black hole area in regards to photos. Well things have a funny way of cropping up when you stop searching for them here it isI apologize completely if anyone's already posted this but i thought it was a rare pic !

[Carona]

Horrible looking place

[Cardiarms]

Isn't it just. Even on a sunny day it'd give you the chills. Perhaps that was the point.

[kango]

Looks like the one from the YEPs archives and yes a truly horrible place in which My late Father and Mother spent some time.The last "Governor" was, I believe, a chap whose surname was Howarth/Howard who later went on to run the women's refuge in Marsh lane with His sister whom , I recall Him relating to Me, had to take the name "Miss Smith" as working with relatives was considered a no-no at that time .Mentioned here fourth and second posts from the bottom...http://www.secretleeds.com/forum/Messag ... sage=0Plus another shot, as seen above, courtesy of LeodisThe view, as near as I can get, today...http://goo.gl/maps/Q3uNk                

[iansmithofotley]

Hi Polo,http://www.workhouses.org.uk/Holbeck/Ian

[claireblue]

Hiya. Not posted for a while, but always good to rekindle an old thread eh...
I'm a Holbeck resident and was looking at the site of the old Workhouse, you are right @polo its a real 'black hole' in terms of photos. There are so many of the surrounding terraces on Leodis, and I can only find two of the Workhouse, both of which have been posted on here. It seems quite an imposing building to not be documented at the time?

I was quite interested to work out where Mosley spoke when he address the crowds on Holbeck Moor in 1936 (the one where the British Union of Fascists were outnumbered 30-1 by the people of Leeds) . In this photo, again one of very few of the event, i wonder if the building in the background is the workhouse?

https://tinyurl.com/2nk7dt4z

That is the main image when you google 'battle of Holbeck moor'

But there is also one from a slightly different angle, do you think this could be the Cambrian Vinegar Brewer in the background? Again, not many images, I cant find a photo, only some sketches of the building.

https://scontent.flba3-2.fna.fbcdn.net/ ... e=60D03267


Sorry I cant work out how to post a pics direct. Its just something that has been puzzling me on every dog walk for the last few weeks !

Any thoughts would be much welcome

[tyke bhoy]

Confused.com
Firstly I suspect South Lodge was demolished around the time of my birth and I certainly don't recall that part of Holbeck without a great big motorway passing through so this is all observation and not knowledge of an area I wasn't too far of a local of for 20 years.

Firstly there do appear to be the two widely circulated pictures posted by Polo and Kango. However other than the large brick chimney they don't look like the same building to me. The one by Polo is presumably from the front with a Central entrance and the Chimney behind and to the left. Although obscured by the railing there appears to be nothing further to the left of a gable end chimney itself just to the left of the tall chimney which would make the building symetrical from the front. The one by Kango has the chimney on the near side but pretty much central in again something appearing reasonably symetrical while what is to the left of the chimney is reasonably consistent with Polo's photo what is to the right of Kango's photo is not to me consistent with what appears to be off the left of Polo's.

Now on to Claireblue's finds. The mounted police photo. I think the chimney in that is too tall compared to the building for it to be South Lodge. I also wonder what the dome like structure is. Finally the church to the right would be somewhere up "Beeston Hill" and it appears to be at a similar level. Was there a church in the vicinity? I know there was/is one on Tempest Road but that is way higher, and there was St Peter's on the edge of Hunslet Moor but I'd expect from Holbeck moor that to be much further to the left. The Mosley photo. Again I think the chimney is out of proportion with the building for it to be South Lodge.

Incidentally and not Leeds related Oswald's son Max died today.

[jma]

This street view is where South Lodge used to be. What I presume was the "back" of the building - the other side from the image posted by polo in 2014 - was on Beeston Road, directly opposite the end of Hunslet Hall Road and it ran next to the pavement of Beeston Road. As I think a couple of contributors to Leodis have noted, this building was still in use for otherwise homeless women and their children at least to the late 1960s and probably later. (Men were accommodated at the nearby Shaftesbury House.) I could easily imagine that had it not been for the building of the M621, it would not have been demolished and might by now have been a listed building.

My memory is vague about what, if anything was between South Lodge and Holbeck Moor.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.78295 ... 384!8i8192

Here are two leodis images of the site of this former workhouse with some interesting comments.

https://www.leodis.net/viewimage/107886

https://www.leodis.net/viewimage/107887

[TABBYCAT]

Both My parents were in South Lodge together before moving to a rented house in Linden Rd.
As far as I'm aware Shaftsbury house was opened as hostel for the homeless of both sexes albeit separated and in the 60' 70's was still a hostel for the homeless and unemployed of both sexes not just men.

The women's refuge transferred to the former Police Station in Marsh lane and was run by the last warden of South lodge along with his sister after it closed in the late 60's. A likable chap who I met and conversed with during my visits there when I had a short stint at L.C.C.

[buffaloskinner]

Three different maps of the workhouse