Bunkers

electricaldave · Post by **electricaldave** » Fri 30 Nov, 2007 10:37 pm

I worked for a few months at Woodhead on Kirkstall road, but the moment I walked in I was already looking for other work as it was a very old fashioned engineering works, and you could tell it would be sold off, or even closed down.During WW2 it was quite an important place, there were several other engineering places down there too, with the Forge at one end, and the fork truck place at the Wellington Street end Green somethign or other.Anyhoo, the upshot is that this was viewed as a real target, and there are bunkers that extend from some of the former factories along Kirkstall road, and out under the road itself.I went down the one in Woodheads, there are quite a few tunnels under there, so I expect that there are bunkers coming out from under the sites of the other works up Kirkstall Road, I wouldn't be at all surprised to find out that some of the tunnels and shelters go right under Kirkstall road from one side to the other.Interesting story and completely unrelated.I was on the afternoon shift at Woodheads, and doing a late evening walk around the main building. I guess this was in the mid 1980'sI saw in one corner of the place some of the high bay lights were on, everything else was in darkness, so I went to take a look, rumour has it the place is haunted so it had to be worth investigating.Anyways, I saw a little old bloke, looking pretty much like something out of the past, he was working away on a couple of the smaller furnaces and stamping machines. (Bear in mind that some of those machines were easily 1900's, some were older and had only been changed by having electric motors fitted)This guy turned out to be real, and looked about as old as the machines themselves.I looked and saw he was knocking out some leaf springs,stamping, them setting the curves setting and spring rates for them, etc but they looked to be for a small vehicle, Woodheads at that time only did springs for artic trucks.Being nosy, and also it was around 10 oclock in the evening I asked him about the job.It turns out he was making leaf springs for the old Rolls Royce Silver Ghost if you look here you can see the very thing.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolls-Royc ... ost'Listen son, (me in my mid 30's!) you'll never see this again so just watch'He then told me that an American Vintage car owner had commissioned them, turns out he had got some built elsewhere but wasn't happy with them.This American somehow found out that Woodhead originally made the springs, it also turned out that they had the original drawings, and on top of that, the original machines they had been made on.You'll have to look carefully to find the referance in the first couple of paragraphs, but it would appear that Woodheads must have been making replacement springs.http://www.chassisregister.com/display/rr/64EUI thought that was one heck of a story, but there's more, the old chap making them had worked at Woodheads 50 years, from around age 12( with a break for WW2 where he left to join the army) and had come in specially, and, you guessed it, he had been one of the people who made them!Stuff like that gives that Silver Ghost an irreplaceable history, I'll bet the old boy is dead and buried now.

simonm · Post by **simonm** » Fri 30 Nov, 2007 10:52 pm

Electricaldave, I used to work in a place called Lounge Upholstery, that was in a the place now occupied by the garage, next to Netto's. On the land that was a car wash a year or so back was an old tailoring factory that burnt down years before. In the middle of the derelict land was a massive concrete floor with a manhole in it. A few of us ventured down one day and a right bloody labarynth faced us. Nowt there but a few inches of water, but from what you were saying, it looks as though it could have part of the complex of bunkers for the area.Doubt the manhole is still there now. Maybe worth a look, next time I'm passing. If anyone else is interested to take a look, the manhole would be in the middle of what used to be the car wash, next to Netto's on Kirkstall Rd.

Phill_d · Post by **Phill_d** » Fri 30 Nov, 2007 11:20 pm

Good read that Electrical Dave... That sounds interesting Simon.. There's all sorts of stuff hid away down that Redcoate lane, so i'm not suprised if there's more stuff like you say. I shall have to look into that... Rather than post all the pics on here again, silverstealth started an 'Underground Leeds mini report' on 28 days later urbex site with some bunker stuff around Leeds herehttp://www.28dayslater.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=22537

Post by **chameleon** » Sat 01 Dec, 2007 11:42 am

'Good read that Electrical Dave... That sounds interesting Simon.. 'chameleon senses that blank expression of glee coming accross phills face again.....!

simonm · Post by **simonm** » Sat 01 Dec, 2007 12:41 pm

Well, due to the building of the car wash (that is no more) they may have filled over the old manhole covers??? However, I walked over the old iron bridge yesterday (the one that goes to the health & fitness centre) to see if those tree carvings actually existed. The ones in another thread. Could find nowt. However, I did spot many many remnants of the old power station down there. Concrete run off's, old brickworks etc, but NO carved trees.I didn't go upstream of the river as it was a tad difficult and I was pushed for time, but I bet if you do, it may uncover some interesting sights from the old bunker systems, MAYBE!!! Would be a better perspective than the road, I would imagine anyway??

Phill_d · Post by **Phill_d** » Sat 01 Dec, 2007 4:42 pm

Ha nice one Chamaleon... i always have a cheeky grin on my face mate Hey Simon you walked straight over a little hidden place of Leeds if you went over the iron bridge. There's an old buried subway underneath the stone bridge from when the area was heavy industry.

Phill_d · Post by **Phill_d** » Sat 01 Dec, 2007 4:44 pm

You'd hardly no this place existed from the outside.

simonm · Post by **simonm** » Sat 01 Dec, 2007 5:15 pm

Bloody hell. never spoted that! However, it was very overgrown. I was wondering if the iron bridge is the original, looking at the stone work at each end I thought it may have been added at a leter date. Modernisation as it were. Which end of the bridge is the tunnel then? Far bank (south side) I take it?

Phill_d · Post by **Phill_d** » Sat 01 Dec, 2007 5:41 pm

It's the end nearest the golf coursel.. just at the side of the canal.

simonm · Post by **simonm** » Sat 01 Dec, 2007 5:55 pm

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