Calverley Woods

[Gambit]

I was wondering what used to go on in Calverley Woods. There are several foundations and building frames still there but I can't work out what they were. There are also loads of other paths, some walled and cuttings down there, so it looks like it's been a busy place at one time or another.

[Phill_d]

The unusual black hoppers you mean Gambit? I think it was part of a cement works that was either side of the railway. It was nothing top secret i don't think .

[RFarrell]

I live in Calverley and once spoke to a local when walking through this part of the woods. He told me that the buildings were the remains of a POW camp and that, after the war, Italian POWs based there built some of the houses opposite New Line in Greengates. How true it is I don't know. I think I heard that it may later have been a fireworks factory though that seems unlikely in a wood.The other features in the woods are more clear cut. At one time there was a plan to build a big upper class Victorian estate around Calverley with the woods being a prominent part of it (like those on the Rawdon side of the valley). 3 lodges were built - one on Wood Lane in Calverley, one at the bottom of Clara Drive and one round the back of Eccleshill. All survive though the Eccleshill one is derelict (though only after being done up extensively a few years ago). A fourth, more impressive gateway'd lodge, known as the Needles Eye was built at the bottom of Calverley cutting and rather sadly later demolished. The cutting, and the walls in the woods plus, I would imagine, Clara drive were all part of this though it got no further (hence all the Clara drive houses being fairly modern). Calverley Cutting replaced an old path through the woods that wound its way gently down; some locals complained about the loss of the old route as the cutting is pretty steep and looks like an inclined railway belongs to it. One day I shall try to trace the route of the old path.The only other survival of the development is a large tree on Woodhall road at the top of the village which is the last survivor of what was pnce an impressive avenue (aside from the house of that name next to Calverley Stores).

[Keith]

I think originally the remains of the buildings in Calverley woods beyond Clara Drive were an old WW2 army camp which later became Guy's Fireworks in the late fifties. Very unfortunately there was a massive explosion at the factory in the early sixties. I was on Harrogate Road Eccleshill at the time and remember hearing a bang and a small mushroom cloud appeared at Calverley two or three miles away. Several Guys employees were killed in the explosion which brought Guy Fireworks to an abrupt end. I find it quite amazing that I cannot find any reference to this incident on the internet. Does anyone else remember the accident or Guy’s Fireworks?

[Inquirer]

The explosion in one hut at the Ferncliffe works of Guy's Fireworks in Calverley woods was on June 19 1957. Three people died and four others were injured. An inquest was told the explosion occurred when a worker had been drilling into rockets and a spark from a steel bit ignited gunpowder stored in the same hut. The factory consisted of 16 huts in the woods which were formerly an Army and European Volunteer workers camp. The factory which opened in 1953 and employed up to 80 people at peak prodiction periods was closed on December 31 1957. The three people who died after the explosion were Peter Lunnis, Elsie Thompson and Mary Conroy.

[TomD]

at one point in the woods there is a long concrete platform with a row of knee-height concrete blocks on it...I was told this was an old tank/gun range,thinking about it though i would guess they are something to do with a railway

[Keith]

Thanks to Enquirer for clarifying the dates of the Guy’s Fireworks accident. I don’t think safety standards at the factory were very high. I believe the huts were often broken into by local youths and there were sometimes firework displays on the nearby council estate. Guy’s fireworks tipped their rubbish into a nearby disused quarry and I remember the tip catching fire with a resulting firework spectacular.

[Tyler]

All the information here is consistant with what I heard and know of the area. It is also a disused quarry.Next to the bridge over the cutting is a house which was called "The Plains" when I lived there. It was built in 1933 allegedly for the owner of the Quarry. It did have a flat roof and was considerably modern at the time. When my grandfather eventualy bought it, he discovered the roof leaked and so had it built over. Was the cutting as it's name suggests a Railway Cuttinhg? If so which railway linewas it used for, as it seems a little narrow.Also there is a strange structure above one of the quarry pits which can only be describes as having a "bus stop" like appearance. Can anyone shed any light on this?

[RFarrell]

Tyler wrote: Was the cutting as it's name suggests a Railway Cuttinhg? If so which railway linewas it used for, as it seems a little narrow.Also there is a strange structure above one of the quarry pits which can only be describes as having a "bus stop" like appearance. Can anyone shed any light on this? See here: http://www.secretleeds.com/forum/Messag ... dID=225The cutting was never a railway though certainly looks like it ought to be - wide enough for narrow gauge certainly! (Duff pic attached!)As for the bus stop - that is an oddity. It sits above a delph looking like some kind of look out post; but looking at what?

[Tyler]

Oooof! I just had a brain storm! Maybe it was where the Guards sat, watching the POWs thought thats just my immagination going wild!Maybe it's something more modern. A rest stop for hikers perhaps.When did you take those photos I was up there the other day ha ha!