SecretLeeds - History, culture and architecture in Leeds

Along Low Hall Lane there's three large semi detached houses with gardens drives and detached garages.They are of modern construction. All now dilapidated and abandoned.They are just onto the Sandoz land. There's no modern housing for miles around so anyone know why they were built, and why they have ben abandoned?

On Street View it look's like Plod's investigating unauthorised removal of the radiators...."He's behind you!" http://g.co/maps/vf4vm

I know the houses you mean, they are now in an advanced stage of dereliction but only about 5 years ago they were been lived in. I think they were either built for some of the employees of the Sandoz factory, they were probably the dwelling places for onsite caretakers / security as the site was so large it probably required the attention of more than one person and obviously there was accommodation for their familes too. Also the wire fencing that fences the properties in wasnt there a few years ago, the houses had gardens and paths that ran right up to the side of the road. A couple of years ago all the trees in the gardens were cut down and the properties were fenced in with the high wire fencing so that they are firmly within the boundaries of the Sandoz site. Thats the best guess I can make, and it seems more than a coincidence that these houses became empty around the same time that the Sandoz site started to close down. Also furthur along Low Hall Road on the left hand side you come to some similar looking houses where the caretaker of the old dyeworks site lives still to this day. Have you had a look around there? Very interesting.    

jonleeds wrote: They were probably the dwelling places for onsite caretakers / security as the site was so large it probably required the attention of more than one person and obviously there was accommodation for their familes too. Thats the best guess I can make.It seems more than a coincidence that these houses became empty around the same time that the Sandoz site started to close down. Ta jon. I just don't know anywhere where a company will build quality housing for security......But then again Sandoz may have been security sensitive - just what did they get up to in those buildings?It's of course a very logical guess, and the coincidence is a glaring clue.....Thank you Jon.Anyone have any more? What did they do at the site?????

Well, pharmaceuticals, so probably some very naughty stuff i.e, morphine / painkillers etc that would have been worth millions of pounds on the black market.

The Parksider wrote: Along Low Hall Lane there's three large semi detached houses with gardens drives and detached garages.They are of modern construction. All now dilapidated and abandoned.They are just onto the Sandoz land. There's no modern housing for miles around so anyone know why they were built, and why they have ben abandoned? Three semi-detached houses? How does that work?

drapesy wrote: The Parksider wrote: Along Low Hall Lane there's three large semi detached houses with gardens drives and detached garages.They are of modern construction. All now dilapidated and abandoned.They are just onto the Sandoz land. There's no modern housing for miles around so anyone know why they were built, and why they have ben abandoned? Three semi-detached houses? How does that work? Sorry three pairs of.............That wouldn't work in Poker....

jonleeds wrote: Well, pharmaceuticals, so probably some very naughty stuff i.e, morphine / painkillers etc that would have been worth millions of pounds on the black market. I always used to associate Sandoz with LSD (the drug). I unmderstood that one of their chemists discovered its properties in the 60s - though maybe not at Horsforth.

Wikipedia pages for "Sandoz" and "Novartis" cover the companys well. LSD isolated in 1938, marketed 1949, taken off market 1960s.

LSD was first synthesized by Albert Hofmann in 1938 from ergotamine, a chemical derived by Arthur Stoll from ergot, a grain fungus that grows on Rye. It's also thought that a lot of women were put to death, after eating bread made from ergot contaminated Rye, and being thought as witches in the Salem witch trial, Middle Ages.