SecretLeeds - History, culture and architecture in Leeds

In the southern side of Leeds Minster (what used to be called Leeds Parish Church) there is a brickwork 'arch' that could perhaps have once been an access/egress point into the church grounds. I wonder if the arch could be the remains of a wall there? I have not been able to readily find any information about the feature. In something I did find that may or may not be relevant it stated "In March 1838 work commenced on the renovation but due to the discovery of severe structural problems most of the building was to be demolished and re-built to new designs by Robert Chantrell. Apart from the South wall, the Church was entirely rebuilt" and opened in September 1841. I have had a look through maps in the Old-Maps UK website going back to 1850 but if there was an 'arch' on any of them it was too small to be noted. I will be grateful for any information about the 'arch'.I took this photo of the 'arch' on April 2 2013 (shame about the litter bin which I felt like moving but did not!). I shall post another view in my next post here.

This is the photo taken from a different angle.

Would it be the remains of the Girls School? The shape fits and the location is correct.    

Cheers liits. That does seem very likely. The 'arch' is an interesting feature. This photo shows that the arch/door is quite overgrown. The Melbourne brewery Palace Hotel is in the rear. Access to view the door face on from that side was barred, without possibly trespassing.

A Leodis shot of the Parish Church with the school in the background. I've enlarged the right hand end of the building [looks like it could well have been a truncated something or other... maybe a tower was planned?] The corners of this part of the structure certainly seem stick out at the correct angle.Looks like your arch was actually a door on the ground floor.

The area in front of Leeds Minster certainly looks very different now liits. I had to be careful there as I first typed Leeds Monster. Well the I and O are next to each other on the keyboard.

Leodian, did you see the lovely carved stone sign from the school in the nearby wall? There's a link to someone's Flickr photo here:http://www.flickr.com/photos/milknosugar/1352377932/In this Google Street View, you are looking directly at the wall (behind the black and white car, right at the back of the car park):http://goo.gl/maps/K4eeGI think the carving must have been moved from its original position (perhaps over a main entrance to the school) as it doesn't make any sense where it is now, at ground level.

Hi Tasa. Yes I did spot that nice carved sign but I doubt I could have got all of the wording in a photograph that would be legible enough. Going off topic but near to the 'door' is an old foundation stone that is in this photo that I also took on April 2 2013. That foundation stone is getting eroded, as sadly are many in the centre of Leeds or whose wording is very hard to discern in photographs due to lack of definition.

I wonder what the foundation stone was for, as it's dated 1894 and the National School was founded in 1812? Perhaps it was for a new building for the school?Another interesting plaque in the Minster grounds is just to the side of the main steps. It commemorates the switching-on ceremony of the floodlights, which was performed by a Tetley dray horse (I assume by stepping on some kind of hoof-plate)!! Those were the days!     

Tasa wrote: I wonder what the foundation stone was for, as it's dated 1894 and the National School was founded in 1812? Perhaps it was for a new building for the school?Another interesting plaque in the Minster grounds is just to the side of the main steps. It commemorates the switching-on ceremony of the floodlights, which was performed by a Tetley dray horse (I assume by stepping on some kind of hoof-plate)!! Those were the days!      Part of an article from The Leeds Mercury Tue 6th Nov 1894