SecretLeeds - History, culture and architecture in Leeds

As older contributors will know, the layout of Bramham Crossroads (A1/A64) has been totally altered many times over the years from hazaedous junction to roundabout to flyover and so on. Every time I travel east though I can't help looking with fascination at the crumbling houses on the left after the A1 - they really do seem to have been something really special in their heyday, and look as if they are very old indeed. What tales they could tell if the ghosts of the original and earliest occupants could "send a message."Does anyone know anything about these quite substantial looking dwellings ??

You mean these fine old ramshackle buildings Blakey?http://www.flickr.com/photos/phill_dvsn ... detail/One was a turnpike inn so i believe in days of old.

In 1849, it was known as Filbert Grove, and the buildings included the White Hart Inn. By 1892, there was just the Crossroads Farm on that site.

Wow thanks indeed for those Phill - yes they're the ones. So it would appear that their past is even more important and dramatic than I'd imagined from hundreds of passing glances over the years. What an awful shame that they couldn't have been refurbished and kept in use.

Phill_dvsn wrote: You mean these fine old ramshackle buildings Blakey?http://www.flickr.com/photos/phill_dvsn ... detail/One was a turnpike inn so i believe in days of old. Nice pics, Phill. Did you get any inside?

Well done for utilising that wealth of info you have to hand Tasa.Top research job again Sadly i don't have any interior shots Si.Part of the farm is still occupied.I always assosciate Farmers to have shotguns e.t.c

I like those too, & have pics on my 'www'Wasn't it called Mrs Barkers for a while in the 19th century in acknowledgement of a previou land-lady?

Phill_dvsn wrote: Well done for utilising that wealth of info you have to hand Tasa.Top research job again Sadly i don't have any interior shots Si.Part of the farm is still occupied.I always assosciate Farmers to have shotguns e.t.c Goodness me! Have we found something that can actually stop the intrepid in his tracks??? As a youngster, I used to watch the stream of cars coming down the old York Road and on towards town on Bank Holiday evenings as they returned from a trip to the coast.Every now and then, there would be a lull in the flow which I was told was 'beacause the lights have changed at Bramham Cross Roads' Somehow I don't think that was right, but something interupted the traffic....    

[quotenick="chameleon"] Phill_dvsn wrote: Well done for utilising that wealth of info you have to hand Tasa.Top research job again Sadly i don't have any interior shots Si.Part of the farm is still occupied.I always assosciate Farmers to have shotguns e.t.c Goodness me! Have we found something that can actually stop the intrepid in his tracks??? No.I chanced a visit to R.A.F Bempton recently.The Farmer who's land it is on, has been know to fire off several shots from his 12 bore in the direction of univited guests before http://www.flickr.com/photos/phill_dvsn ... 35/detail/

[quotenick="Phill_dvsn"] chameleon wrote: Phill_dvsn wrote: Well done for utilising that wealth of info you have to hand Tasa.Top research job again Sadly i don't have any interior shots Si.Part of the farm is still occupied.I always assosciate Farmers to have shotguns e.t.c Goodness me! Have we found something that can actually stop the intrepid in his tracks??? No.I chanced a visit to R.A.F Bempton recently.The Farmer who's land it is on, has been know to fire off several shots from his 12 bore in the direction of univited guests before http://www.flickr.com/photos/phill_dvsn ... 35/detail/ Yes saw those with interest Phill. Father in Law worked in these places and I remember being rather bemused at his talking of going into a solitary bungalow at one base (not this one) and the 'caretaker' sending him a considerable depth underground in the lift!He'd never reallyelaborate further, which I suppose was the right thing - but I know he had some interesting stories to tell.