SecretLeeds - History, culture and architecture in Leeds

anyone know anything about these - a chum of mine lives in them now they've been converted to city centre rabbit hutches - I'd be interested to see how they fit into the palace pub/waterfront mythology.it was originally William Turtons Granary and has (as shown on the photo if I made it work...) a great horses head over the door to the court yard

Hi Sarah,The Chandlers was the first of the waterfront developments in Leeds aimed at regenerating what was at the time (1983) one of the most run down areas of the city.A friend of mine moved into The Chandlers in about 1990 when the area was still a red light district - she used to run down the street when she had to leave the flat at night, as it was a bit seedy!These days it is home to a rather different sort of business with architects, accountants - and more importantly the offices of Marketing Leeds! I have a photo of that horse's head statue I've been meaning to upload for ages - in fact, I can see it out of my window right now Would love to hear more about the history of the building prior to regeneration - I've spoken to one person that said that horse head sculptures were often placed on the front of fire brigade buildings?Cheers,Dsco

sarah_orange wrote: anyone know anything about these - a chum of mine lives in them now they've been converted to city centre rabbit hutches - I'd be interested to see how they fit into the palace pub/waterfront mythology.it was originally William Turtons Granary and has (as shown on the photo if I made it work...) a great horses head over the door to the court yard ....I'd be interested to see how they fit into the palace pub/waterfront mythology..... What mythology is that Sarah?

ah that's just me picking up stuff from here - all this talk of exciting tunnels is going to my head - do the palace tunnels join in to some exciting secret basement in the chandlers etc etc

No such luck Sarah.. I think it was more of a deep passageway rather than a tunnel.. I've a few pics here about it here http://www.flickr.com/photos/phill_dvsn ... 07/detail/

Built in 1876 by William Turton this building operated as a Corn Chandlers. William Turton supplied food for horses and ran horse trams

I thought it may be of interest to show a photo I took today (August 19 2011). It shows the view of the William Turton building at the junction of the 'Calls' and 'Crown Point Road'. In the middle wording it states the building was established in 1844. Above that it states it was "Rebuilt in 1876". I wonder how much of the present building is still from that rebuilding?There is a blue plaque commemorating William Turton on the wall in the 'Calls'. I have put a photo of that plaque in my next post.

As I mentioned in my previous post this is a photo of the blue plaque commemorating William Turton.

This is a really fascinating topic - even though I am deeply interested in the history of transport in Leeds I had never realised that this is the William Turton of horse drawn omnibus fame. In more recent times, however, there is a more sinister side to this building, and a mystery which I believe has never been solved. Perhaps in the 1970s/80s the building was still a warehouse of sorts and a young Gipton chap of, I believe, eighteen years worked there. I can't recall the exact circumstances but I seem to remember that he left home early one morning for work and was then found dead on the premises in suspicious circumstances.

Just been in W H Smiths, where I found a newly published book "Horse Drawn Transport in Leeds - William Turton, Corn Merchant and Tramway Entrepreneur" 320pp by Andrew Turton. Lots of fascinating stuff covering a wider field than is apparent in the title, it should interest several contributors. £16.99 - or less if you are buying a magazine as well and have one of the current WHS "£5 off £20 vouchers"!