SecretLeeds - History, culture and architecture in Leeds

If anybody is interested in the history of Leeds during the two wars, here's an interesting snippet which I didn't know until recently. In one of the quarries in the woods which are at the edge of Meanwood Park, there is an old gun testing range from the First World War.Apprently, as the field guns became worn out from use on the Western Front, they were sent back to Leeds to be reconditioned. They then needed to be tested before sending them back to the front, so a firing range was set up in one of the quarries. The guns were fired across the quarry into a soft wall at the end and there was two observation bunkers (some remains of which are still there). There's the full story available in the book "Meanwood quarries and quarrymen" plus a map of the plans for the site.

Great stuff. Thanks for that. Will have to look at those books.Also, during WWII Golden Acre Park was taken over by the army for training. Still trying to find out any info on that. Never knew about Meanwood though.

Sounds interesting eh Rik???

This is the book (chapter 2)http://www.lhi.org.uk/docs/Meanwood_qua ... men.pdfI'm sure the local libraries will have it. I got my copy from Fobi DIY in the Meanwood shopping centre opposite the Co-Op. This was Christmas time, so I'm not sure if they'll still have any in. You can't beat a DIY shop that also sells local history!

i was growing up in meanwood in the seventies and i remember the rubble of two red brick buildings in the small quarry in meanwood woods well. had heard something about it being the remains of a gun enplacement and often wondered what it looked like in the war years . i also went down into the bunker in adel woods on a couple of occasions, not one for the claustraphobic that heh heh

The place near the cows tunnel in Meanwood you mean Pid?

which one phil ? but neither are around there if youre going under the ring road ? in the woods up by the big meanwood quarry is a smaller pit ? for want of a better word and in there are the red brick remains of the gun stuff . just where hustlers row begins there is a nice slope up into the woods and its at the top of there, and the adel bunker is just off stairfootlane . it was long ago man but i think still worth a look . good work on the photo stuff too , very pleasant cheers

Cheers Pid. There's quite a few remains of stuff in them old Meanwoods. I wasn't sure if you meant the old brick thing lower down from the severn arches. Cheers about the Hustlers row thing. I'll have to have a nosey

We used to play in Meanwood woods as kids and I was always intrigued by the small quarry at the top of the slope above Hustlers Row. My mum grew up in Meanwood in the 30's and she told me that the bricks were actually a small house lived in by an old bloke who kept pigs. As you'd expect he was a target for local kids and was usually good for teasing followed by a chase!We also knew that pit as the 'devil worship pit'. In the 70;s there were many tales of strange goings on late at night. I remember going in the woods on a Sunday morning and finding stones arranged in a path to a large stone covered in red and green candle wax. Of course, in our opinion this was the altar on which satans disciples had sacrificed a virgin at midnight! Probably nothing as dramatic, but I always felt uneasy in that quarry, but happily walked through the rest of the woods alone.

I have a picture that matches the description of this "Gun Testing Range". I'll try and upload it.