SecretLeeds - History, culture and architecture in Leeds

Great info there simmo! A lot of it has gone, I suspect in the Sheepscar redevelopment.Egg and Pongo! Must remember that.The Slants are still there though.

riki, I have not been in Leeds since 86. I live in Oz. Grew up on Oxford Road and played in and around Meanwood Beck, Sugerwell Hills area as a kid. We swam in the beck in the 50's, great for the immune system they say!By the early 60's it was a cesspool full of old prams, bike frames and sacks of unwanted puppies and pets. The effluent from the dye works and industries on Meanwood Road was discharged into it. Of course this was only a short stretch of the beck and it could be accessed in Batty Woods and Adel.The view of Oxford Road from Google Earth shows a stump of what it used to be, with Roscoe Clothing factory still there at the junction of Meanwood Road.Our house would be where the lower goal post of the football pitch now is. Leodis shows Buslingthorpe School and some of Buggy Park, and fortunately the house I was born and grew up in. Across Cambridge Road in the Servia Hills area, I understand the council pulled down those old slums along with Oxford Road and built new slums.

Heh. Thanks simmo. I envy you your memory.

rikj, those photos of Meanwood Beck are great. Nothing seems to have changed since the 60s. Even the weeds and overgrowth looks the same!!Imagine pricing and constructing that project today. Cutting stone, fitted and finished. It would have to be constructed from pre-cast as the cost would be prohibitive.Did you get any photos from before the start of the formed culvert. just before the bridge at the bottom of Buslingthorpe Lane. That section was wide like a normally flowing beck with random stepping stones in it?The beck flows under the road bridge and appears in the open culvertas a managed water flow.Google Earth 53 41 56 92 N 32 39 85 W I think.

simmo wrote: The beck flows under the road bridge and appears in the open culvertas a managed water flow.Google Earth 53 41 56 92 N 32 39 85 W I think. 53 48 56 92 N 1 32 39 85 W is a few thousand miles nearer to the mark

simmo, I've only one pic of that, looking back from the culverted part, but it's too dark to see much. I'll try and get you one when I'm next passing.As you say it is a remarkable feat of engineering. I haven't been able to find out when the culverting began, but it was probably around the 1820-40s. What's most impressive is how the form fits the function. The deep central channel runs quickly, meaning that it is largely self cleaning. The broad stone setts at the sides, and high walls, allow the volume of flow to increase maybe 50 fold in times of torrential rain.Under Sheepscar junction and the industrial estates there the old stone culverts have been replaced with rectangular concrete sections, which can't handle the flow half as well.All-in-all it is a huge feat of engineering, akin really to a massive railway viaduct or the like. When the city centre sections were covered, then the engineering gets even more impressive. It's a shame in some ways that this may now be in danger as the city planners have visions of "opening out" the beck as part of the development of the Mabgate and Quarry Hill areas.If I get the time I'd be quite keen to put together a lot of info from different places to put up a feature on the beck here. Munki permitting.In the meantime if you have a reasonable net connection then there are some pics of the becks here.

simmo wrote: rikj, those photos of Meanwood Beck are great. Nothing seems to have changed since the 60s. Even the weeds and overgrowth looks the same!!Imagine pricing and constructing that project today. Cutting stone, fitted and finished. It would have to be constructed from pre-cast as the cost would be prohibitive.Did you get any photos from before the start of the formed culvert. just before the bridge at the bottom of Buslingthorpe Lane. That section was wide like a normally flowing beck with random stepping stones in it?The beck flows under the road bridge and appears in the open culvertas a managed water flow.Google Earth 53 41 56 92 N 32 39 85 W I think. When we had the bad floods i looked over Buslingthorrpe bidge. I couldn't believe the amount of stones & bricks blocking up under the bridge, It seriously looked like a skip full had been tipped in although it must have been washed away in the torrent but i can't think where such large stones had come from. It looked like a whole bridge had collapsed further up. The contractors only just finished clearing it on Weds morning as i've been looking over everyday day as i pass. There was still a large amount of rubble from the beck on the spare land next to it this morning.

I noticed them contractors aswell phil. I did wonder what they were upto, until I realised the beck looked a lot tidier. It's good to know that some parts of Leeds are being looked after.

Rikj, thanks for the info. I have had a good gander at your photos and they are Marvellous! An eye opener. As kids in our small world we thought the Meanwood Beck tunnels were unique, and guarded our area as carefully as Bonfire Night chumps from September on. I had not taken notice before, but you are right, the water flowed at a fair old rate throughout the culvert, so the fall, unnoticeable when walking, must have been significant as there are no weirs along the Meanwood beck culvert.There was however an access from just above the Jackos tunnell entrance into the Dunlopillo factory, where we spent many a wet Sunday arvo bouncing merrily upon a mountain of foam mattresses.

Here's another brief glimpse of the beck further on.