Belle Isle and surrounding areas.

beckyox · Post by **beckyox** » Tue 31 Jul, 2012 11:32 am

I am undertaking a history project with a group of over 55's in the Belle Isle area aimed at getting information together for a group of school children aged between 10 & 15. If anyone has any pictures or information of the area from around the 1940's and 50's I would be very gratefulThanks Becky

buffaloskinner · Post by **buffaloskinner** » Tue 31 Jul, 2012 3:31 pm

Have a look on Leodis, its at the top left of this page

Jogon · Post by **Jogon** » Tue 31 Jul, 2012 4:21 pm

Becks - WELCOMEAlso do bear in mind 'unexpected routes' to interesting stuff.Someone here on SL put me onto a transport/bus/trams flickr photo group.The older bus + trams of our childhood are great to see but also the backround and street views too.So my tip would be to google + photo web sites for bus, trams for that area.See jb303 excellent flickr pictures.Leeds: Middleton 1955.On the Ring Road tramway between Belle Isle & Middleton

carith · Post by **carith** » Tue 31 Jul, 2012 4:42 pm

I was led to believe that there is an old air raid shelter buried under Belle-isle Circus.

buffaloskinner · Post by **buffaloskinner** » Tue 31 Jul, 2012 11:19 pm

Dont recall an Air Raid shelter, but there was a couple of elephants when the circus left!

buffaloskinner · Post by **buffaloskinner** » Tue 31 Jul, 2012 11:23 pm

Seriously, this is taken from Wikipedia but I am not sure how true it may beThe name "Belle Isle", French for Beautiful Island, might be a pun on Bell Hill (which derives from the distinctive "bell" shaped early coal mining bell pits of the hilly area). A "Newbell-ile" at Middleton Wood End is mentioned in the Rothwell parish register for 1762.In the late 18th century, Belle Isle was just a small hamlet for workers at a colliery opposite Middleton Woods, near the current site of Middleton colliery railway.Belle Isle now consists largely of housing estates built on farming land by the local authority housing department during the clearance of slum dwellings and the expansion of Leeds in the early twentieth-century; some of these homes are now in private ownership.The estate is divided north to south by Belle Isle Road with the wide expanse of Belle Isle Circus lying at the centre of the estate.

Jogon · Post by **Jogon** » Wed 01 Aug, 2012 12:42 pm

Recall a French/Canadian visitor to Leeds circa '72 who saw the title on a city centre bus and went to see the 'beautiful island'.He took it with gracious good humourps changed my tram pic above

tomq · Post by **tomq** » Wed 01 Aug, 2012 1:25 pm

Jogon wrote: Becks - WELCOMEAlso do bear in mind 'unexpected routes' to interesting stuff.Someone here on SL put me onto a transport/bus/trams flickr photo group.The older bus + trams of our childhood are great to see but also the backround and street views too.So my tip would be to google + photo web sites for bus, trams for that area.See jb303 excellent flickr pictures.Leeds: Middleton 1955.On the Ring Road tramway between Belle Isle & Middleton Nice photo Jogon, brings back some childhood memories although the date would be 1958 or early 1959. For the bus enthusiasts on the site, the field on the far right was where Middleton Bus Garage was built a few years later.

somme1916 · Post by **somme1916** » Thu 02 Aug, 2012 8:44 am

beckyox wrote: I am undertaking a history project with a group of over 55's in the Belle Isle area aimed at getting information together for a group of school children aged between 10 & 15. If anyone has any pictures or information of the area from around the 1940's and 50's I would be very gratefulThanks Becky Be interesting to see if there are surviving photographs of the now defunct New Hall colliery in Belle Isle......it is featured on my 1950 geological map of The Yorkshire Coalfield issued by The Midland Institute of Mining Engineers.I know the approximate location of same....I suspect the actual shaft to be buried under the M1 just north of the M62 intersection and slightly south of junction 7 northbound exit slip,M621,at Stourton.If anybody has any info this would be most interesting indeed.