R.A.F aerial photography over Leeds in 1951.

Chrism · Post by **Chrism** » Mon 14 Oct, 2013 3:08 pm

Phill_dvsn wrote: Full size map here http://tinyurl.com/lvzz4drJust found this great map to work out the area below. It's pretty hard to recognise today with the Inner Ring Road built through it. The area is roughly around the Y.E.P Wellington Bridge flyover. Full size photo herehttp://tinyurl.com/p6zwsbwAnd one of the building seen in the 1951 photo. The two photos must have been taken within weeks of each other as well. I might add some more old photos to some areas that no longer exist. 16th July 1951. Canteen of Wellington Foundry on South East end of Kirkstall Road between Bingley Street and Spark Street. This is a two storey plain brick building with casement windows possibly belonging to Fairbairn, Lawson, Combe, Barbour Ltd, engineers which are located on the opposite side of Kirkstall Road.http://www.leodis.net/display.aspx?reso ... SPLAY=FULL Patch of land just right of centre is where The Marlborough's are now.

Phill_dvsn · Post by **Phill_dvsn** » Mon 14 Oct, 2013 3:12 pm

Chrism wrote: Patch of land just right of centre is where The Marlborough's are now. It was the Inner Ring Road phases that destroyed this area. First image shows how the top part of the aerial photo was changed beyond recognition. Then the later Wellington Bridge phase in the 70's changed the bottom part of the photo.

Omegaman · Post by **Omegaman** » Mon 14 Oct, 2013 5:25 pm

Hi All,First, many thanks to Phill for posting these photos. A lot of work must have been involved in doing this. Well done Sir!If it's not considered 'Hi-jacking' the thread, I'd like to make some comments regarding the Farnley picture.I grew up in this area and have many memories of it. I've marked some points on the picture and hope to describe these for other peoples reference.The info I provide is from (Hazy) memory so may not be absolutely 100% but hopefully of use/interest.Firstly, I would call this area Lower Wortley rather than Farnley.A - F: The buildings of Lower Wortley School. I started here in 1969 and by that time buildings B & D had been demolished. C had a dining room in the lower floor and the boiler house was to the right hand side. E was a derelict outside toilet block. F was also a smaller dining room in a pre-fab building. The school meals were delivered in large aluminium boxes by van. Another pre-fab building containing further classrooms was to the left of building F.G: The premises of Thorite (Thomas Wright) Pneumatics Ltd. The company moved from here mid 70's to new premises on Lowfields Road. This building was then taken over by Dransfield Novelty for the storage of fruit machines. There was a smaller building behind where a company made/packed Potato Croquettes. The croquettes were often scattered all around outside and the area smelled quite bad some times! Can't recall the company name.H: The premises of Joe Clay & Sons. Panel Beaters. They mended my bike when the frame broke.I: Sankeys plumbers merchants. I distinctly remember the large rolls of aluminium flue liner in the front yard.J: The dirt road shown had become Low Mills Road. There was, and still is, a row of buildings along the side. K was A.G.A. welding equipment. L was Property Guards security. They used to park their brown painted Mini vans on the wasteground at the end of the row. M was Robophone Ltd. Telephone answering machines. N was Dransfield Novelty Ltd. Fruit machines. They also used the premises mentioned earlier for storage. There were another couple of companies here, but I can't remember who.O: The premises of Somnus Beds Ltd. I remember standing at the open door watching a machine making bed springs.P: This half of the old mill was used as storage for a company called Direct Shoes Ltd. Their main premises were located at the top of Hales Road. My Mother worked there.Q: Wortley beck had been culverted over to allow the building of Ringways Garage on top. At the side of the lubrication bays at the front of Ringways there was an opening with bars over the top where the beck could be seen underneath before going under the Ring Road to emerge again next to Low Mills road. One of my friends dropped the rubber shark from his Action Man Deep Sea Diver down into the beck. We all dashed across the Ring Road to see it emerge from the other side. It never came out. He was gutted!R: The junction of Bluehill Lane and Lower Wortley Road. If I recall correctly, this was Gerards Off Licence. I went to school with the lad who lived there.S: Laburnum House. This was the junction of where Hales Road joined Lower Wortley Road. The aforementioned Direct Shoes Ltd was here. There was a footpath that led up to here through the Glovers Chemicals plant.T: The gasometer and the row of houses in front on Whitehall Road had been demolished. The area was wasteland with only the large round concrete base and hole where the gasometer had stood. The hole was full of water and as kids we used to play around it. Who knows how deep it was... The 'Elf and Softy brigade would have had kittens seeing the kids here! The lower end of Hales Road was just behind. Ryedale Avenue is just to the right and is not yet joined to Kellett Lane at the upper end.U: Walkers Lane.V: Kellet Crescent. Under construction around this time. I lived here from 1970 until 1982.W: The construction of houses to Kellett Avenue.X: Standard Villas. An old chap that was a television engineer lived in one of the houses. He had a Jack Russell dog.Y: The premises of TRF Pland. (Taylor Rustless Fittings) My Grandmother worked here during the war. She made the sheet steel parts for Sten guns and also ammunition boxes.Z: I don't remember this tunnel, but used to frequently walk along the tracks to play in the 'Fireclay'.AA: Glovers Chemicals plant.Sorry if I've rambled a bit.....

Cardiarms · Post by **Cardiarms** » Mon 14 Oct, 2013 5:47 pm

Phill_dvsn wrote: It's the next photo past the Highland pub area that's got me scratching my head a bit now.Full size photo herehttp://tinyurl.com/ofsg5r5 I think the junction in the foreground if Woodhouse Lane and Fenton Street, the building with the semicircle of shrubbery or lawn is the old BBC premises and everything to the right of it has gone.

Phill_dvsn · Post by **Phill_dvsn** » Mon 14 Oct, 2013 5:50 pm

Omegaman wrote: Hi All,If it's not considered 'Hi-jacking' the thread, I'd like to make some comments regarding the Farnley picture. Sorry if I've rambled a bit..... Ramble on all you like if it's great info like that, I'll certainly use some of it myself when I get to that section. Thank you

Cardiarms · Post by **Cardiarms** » Mon 14 Oct, 2013 5:51 pm

The Carlton Barracks are visible, is that a field gun on the parde ground?

Phill_dvsn · Post by **Phill_dvsn** » Mon 14 Oct, 2013 6:09 pm

That's spot on Cardi I would say, for some reason there seems a long jump in the sequence of photos. I don't think I've left any off, I'll check though.And yes Carlton Barracks too.The beauty of these photos is the zoom ability, you can see so much more than the normal aerial photos when viewed full size!

Cardiarms · Post by **Cardiarms** » Mon 14 Oct, 2013 8:58 pm

Flight line 1, photos 9 & 10. I've spotted the Melbourne Brewery (a bit slow I know). West of Lovell park there's an old drill ground with some huts and vehicles on it, I'm assuming it was military? Also, are they Nissen huts on Lewis's roof in pic 9?

Phill_dvsn · Post by **Phill_dvsn** » Mon 14 Oct, 2013 9:09 pm

Cardiarms wrote: Flight line 1, photos 9 & 10. I've spotted the Melbourne Brewery (a bit slow I know). West of Lovell park there's an old drill ground with some huts and vehicles on it, I'm assuming it was military? Also, are they Nissen huts on Lewis's roof in pic 9? Another good spot on Lewis's roof, I wonder if they were left over from W.W.2?I've mentioned the military ground on my text underneath photo 10 ''The land where the Nissen huts are is marked as a military drill ground as far back as 1891 on old maps, by 1931 it appears as Gibraltar Barracks (Territorial) The drill hall can be seen at the top of the field''

Cardiarms · Post by **Cardiarms** » Mon 14 Oct, 2013 10:07 pm

D'oh!Flight Line 5 Picture 5 - a while back wasn't somebody looking for a picture of the pub opposite the BP garage by the viaduct on Kirkstall Road? You can see it, John Smiths it was.