SecretLeeds - History, culture and architecture in Leeds

Sometimes i think were too bothered with the folklore tunnels that we miss the ones right under our noses, Such as this bricked up arch on Lady lane near the old west riding bus station. I can't remember any building standing there for a long time. It may only be an old cellar or basement or indeed it could be an undiscovered tunnel. One thing is for sure...there's deffinately something behind it.

Car added for scale

did some investigating for you and came up with something.....http://www.leodis.net/display.aspx?reso ... AY=FULLyou can see the white wall in your photo in this photo here, which was part of a demolished work house. dunno if thats helpful, im gonna take a walk down there today and see what i can see

Well what can i say my little friend... Top notch investigating. The old work house eh... I wonder whats the other side of the arch then? 1st down there with lump hammer & chisel.....

The comment from Leodis (quote) I used to work for ncp as an attendant on this site during the 1990s and although the work house was demolished many years ago,the retaining wall stiil stands,which you can see as the white wall on the photo,also the shower and toilet cubicles can still be seen on what is now a car park,ncp have never made any attempt to clean this up

hehe well y'know, leodis makes it very easy sometimes. The geography around there has changed quite a bit but it sounds to be a colourful history, the big derelict building you can see in your photo was first the lady lane chapel, then a hoover cleaning company, then offices! there was a big cocoa manufacturers there too, so the whole lane smelt like chocolate im always most interested in institutional buildings though so id love to see if that tunnel is something to do with the workhouse, me and briony are going to take a walk down and see whats about, where dya think the shower and toilet remains are?

mmm. Hard to say.. It's only a small site. I bet you'll be having a good look at the old place next door too when you pass

ive avoided that place like the plague even when it was wide open cos it was full of old electrical cables when i looked in and that scares the beejezus out of me, ive had a mains electric shock when i was little, dont fancy that again...but yes, it should be easy to see if the guy was right....

it was Alexandre Ltd. tailors that was there not sure the date and before that might be that the tunnel is from the lady beck covering ..maybe..btw do you know why it will not let me attach a pic? i have a few to show you.the chapel was also the dole hole in the 70s. (posh name job centre) thats where i signed on for 10 weeks b4 i got my first job,

Hi jojo, Ladybeck lies further to the east, just before Quarry Hill.This is a pic of the same arch a couple of years ago I think. It might just be breezeblocked up to retain the structural integrity of the wall, but it would be nice to know!! My money is on it being the cocoa works. I'm going to go and have a good sniff around and see if you can still smell it.