Bunkers

sheret · Post by **sheret** » Sun 22 Jul, 2007 10:31 pm

Came across the arch to the cellar that Dongsdale was referring to. Whereabouts is the old bank bunker? I carried on along the Meanwood Valley Trail, passed the disused Seven Arches Aqueduct and carried on through Adel Woods as far as Stairfoot Lane. Was I close?

sheret · Post by **sheret** » Sun 22 Jul, 2007 10:31 pm

Came across the arch to the cellar that Dongsdale was referring to. Whereabouts is the old bank bunker? I carried on along the Meanwood Valley Trail, passed the disused Seven Arches Aqueduct and carried on through Adel Woods as far as Stairfoot Lane. Was I close?

sheret · Post by **sheret** » Sun 22 Jul, 2007 10:31 pm

Came across the arch to the cellar that Dongsdale was referring to. Whereabouts is the old bank bunker? I carried on along the Meanwood Valley Trail, passed the disused Seven Arches Aqueduct and carried on through Adel Woods as far as Stairfoot Lane. Was I close?

rikj · Post by **rikj** » Sun 22 Jul, 2007 11:08 pm

Yes, it's not far off Stairfoot Lane. The path from the lowest point of Stairfoot LAne leads pretty much up to it.

Sgt. Washbourne · Post by **Sgt. Washbourne** » Sun 22 Jul, 2007 11:15 pm

Ro-Man,The bunker picture I uploaded is on the Meanwood Valley Trail at the bottom of Woodhouse Ridge. It's certainley nothing to with any civil war skirmishes...it's a more modern structure.I believe the bunker is a remnant from the old Switchgear factory on Meanwood Rd....the factory has long since been demolished to make way for housing.

LS1 · Post by **LS1** » Mon 23 Jul, 2007 2:08 pm

Phill_d wrote: Got it. The first 3 pics are what you want

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rikj/39396 ... 542181241/ Hi, bit of a newbie here I have just signed up to the forum. Love this website and have been looking for ages thought I would finally join up. This was part of Scotland Mill at one point that was burned down so may times it was decided in the 1900's to just leave it as was. I was told that you can see some of the pits that the flax was left in to cure or whatever you do to flax. Apparently though this was just one of the cellars to the mill and nothing more sinister than that!

LS1 · Post by **LS1** » Mon 23 Jul, 2007 2:20 pm

Phill_d wrote: No nobody at all has ever been in, There's no pics or info of what it's like inside these days!! I went in a few times about 7 or 8 years ago, and it doesn't seem to add up. The shelving there is not what you would expect for files to be kept on, they do look like the type of shelves that bombs were kept on. Certaily the shaft that is at the far end of the tunnels (the one that you can see on the outside that I think is refered to as a 'dumb waiter') does look like one that more in keeping with what would be used to transport bombs rather than one used to transport documents. I had heard stories when I was a kid that this went down 20 odd floors but when I was in there it went down two floors and then the steps came to an abrupt end. It didnt look like they went down any further or had been altered in any way or blocked up. The holes that are refered to were ont he fist floor and no further down. It's a shame that access has been stopped, but I remember a small hole where the bottom right of the door is now that had been blasted out of the original concrete used to block up the entry. I was just able to squeeze through and see above me about 20 bricks mixed with concrete that had been used to try to stop people going in. The graffiti was great!! Loads of stuff from the 60's through to the 90's that was really interesting. Shame they didn't have mobile phone cameras then!!!!!

rikj · Post by **rikj** » Mon 23 Jul, 2007 3:43 pm

Here's a pic from leodis that shows Scotland Mill Cottages, with the ruins of the burned down Scotland Mill in the background.The cottages are presumably now the piles of stones back towards the Ring Road. Scotland Mill is quite a significant site in Leeds history, I hadn't realised quite how significant.Here's what leodis has to say:"It is thought that Scotland Mill was the first site to successfully spin flax using water-powered machinery. In 1785, a Leeds dyer, James Whiteley erected a mill. John Marshall leased the mill from Whiteley and with Matthew Murray, engineer, adapted spinning machinery to the use of flax rather than cotton. The flax spinning was successful, Marshall needed a larger, less isolated site to expand his business and so moved to Holbeck."So, it's really one of the key sites of the start of the industrial revolution in Leeds. I think it deserves a Blue Plaque!

LS1 · Post by **LS1** » Mon 23 Jul, 2007 10:26 pm

rikj wrote: Here's a pic from leodis that shows Scotland Mill Cottages, with the ruins of the burned down Scotland Mill in the background.The cottages are presumably now the piles of stones back towards the Ring Road. Scotland Mill is quite a significant site in Leeds history, I hadn't realised quite how significant.Here's what leodis has to say:"It is thought that Scotland Mill was the first site to successfully spin flax using water-powered machinery. In 1785, a Leeds dyer, James Whiteley erected a mill. John Marshall leased the mill from Whiteley and with Matthew Murray, engineer, adapted spinning machinery to the use of flax rather than cotton. The flax spinning was successful, Marshall needed a larger, less isolated site to expand his business and so moved to Holbeck."So, it's really one of the key sites of the start of the industrial revolution in Leeds. I think it deserves a Blue Plaque! It would be good if there was some more history about the Mill, I found some info. in "Meanwood" by Casperson and Hopwood, with some pics I have attached from the book (pages 24 and 25) showing again the cottages and also the mill after burning down in 1906. Apparently Murray went there after coming from Teeside and stayed at the Myrtle Tavern further up the road and Marshall gave him his big break, after which the two became great rivals!

LS1 · Post by **LS1** » Mon 23 Jul, 2007 10:43 pm

2nd pic