tunnel in wortley

Places to explore
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tilly
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Post by tilly »

HI Phill Also Belle Isle i think is named after the old Bell Pits in the area.    
No matter were i end my days im an Hunslet lad with Hunslet ways.

Tarkus
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Joined: Wed 03 Jun, 2009 9:20 am

Post by Tarkus »

What a bizarre coincidence! I noticed this thread only today (18 Aug) but was actually walking along Trapper Tom Way only yesterday! I'd often noticed the raised area of ground behind the factories on Wortley Moor Road and finally decided to have a poke around. I was actually hoping to see evidence of the old tramway from the mines on Wortley Rec and Gelderd Road, but didn't find anything. Trapper Tom Way isn't marked with any nameplate, but it's easy to find. Just walk along Wortley Moor Road towards the Tong Road junction - it's the only left turn that doesn't lead into private property. There's around 40-50 yards of metalled/cobbled surface before it turns into a loose dirt track - which leads up the embankment (and is quite steep). Nothing much to see on the embankment itself but, on a lovely clear evening, the views to the east and west were well worth the effort.Incidentally, en route to Wortley Moor Road, I walked along the Ring Road from Gelderd Road towards Whitehall Road. Just before the railway bridge (in the old Trust Motors compound) some contractors were working in the area where Wortley Beck emerges from under the railway embankment. They had shored up the ground around the short section of open water (between the railway and the culvert which crosses the old Trust/Wallace Arnold land) with some heavy steel plates, so they must be doing something serious. Anyone know anything?

Phill_dvsn
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Joined: Wed 21 Feb, 2007 5:47 am

Post by Phill_dvsn »

How about there putting that small section of open beck underground for a future development? I know the very spot on Wallace Arnold old ground you mean.    
My flickr pictures are herehttp://www.flickr.com/photos/phill_dvsn/Because lunacy was the influence for an album. It goes without saying that an album about lunacy will breed a lunatics obsessions with an album - The Dark side of the moon!

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Leeds Hippo
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Joined: Sun 04 Jul, 2010 2:59 pm

Post by Leeds Hippo »

Tarkus wrote: What a bizarre coincidence! I noticed this thread only today (18 Aug) but was actually walking along Trapper Tom Way only yesterday! I'd often noticed the raised area of ground behind the factories on Wortley Moor Road and finally decided to have a poke around. I was actually hoping to see evidence of the old tramway from the mines on Wortley Rec and Gelderd Road, but didn't find anything. Trapper Tom Way isn't marked with any nameplate, but it's easy to find. Just walk along Wortley Moor Road towards the Tong Road junction - it's the only left turn that doesn't lead into private property. There's around 40-50 yards of metalled/cobbled surface before it turns into a loose dirt track - which leads up the embankment (and is quite steep). Nothing much to see on the embankment itself but, on a lovely clear evening, the views to the east and west were well worth the effort.Incidentally, en route to Wortley Moor Road, I walked along the Ring Road from Gelderd Road towards Whitehall Road. Just before the railway bridge (in the old Trust Motors compound) some contractors were working in the area where Wortley Beck emerges from under the railway embankment. They had shored up the ground around the short section of open water (between the railway and the culvert which crosses the old Trust/Wallace Arnold land) with some heavy steel plates, so they must be doing something serious. Anyone know anything? Hello TarkusI can only assume that you are fit if you walked all that way! Interesting you mentioned looking for tram tracks of the old Wortley industrial tram line running from Wortley Rec to Wortley Moor Road. I recalled as a child seeing some track crossing the ginnel at the corner of Oldfield Lane cemetry leading to the donkey field (as we called it back then) - see pic - don't know if they are still there.    
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tilly
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Post by tilly »

Phill_dvsn wrote: How about there putting that small section of open beck underground for a future development? I know the very spot on Wallace Arnold old ground you mean.     Could it be anything to do with the new building they are going to put up for B O C.?
No matter were i end my days im an Hunslet lad with Hunslet ways.

Phill_dvsn
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Joined: Wed 21 Feb, 2007 5:47 am

Post by Phill_dvsn »

tilly wrote: Phill_dvsn wrote: How about there putting that small section of open beck underground for a future development? I know the very spot on Wallace Arnold old ground you mean.     Could it be anything to do with the new building they are going to put up for B O C.? More than likely Tilly. Although i've not been down that way for a while to see what's going up there. It's ony a short section of open beck. I guess it would make sense to cover it over now. Hosted from flickr.com herehttp://www.flickr.com/photos/phill_dvsn/That's the only small part of the beck in the open. It next comes out into the open at the top of water lane, Holbeck.            
My flickr pictures are herehttp://www.flickr.com/photos/phill_dvsn/Because lunacy was the influence for an album. It goes without saying that an album about lunacy will breed a lunatics obsessions with an album - The Dark side of the moon!

Tarkus
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Joined: Wed 03 Jun, 2009 9:20 am

Post by Tarkus »

Leeds Hippo wrote: I can only assume that you are fit if you walked all that way! Interesting you mentioned looking for tram tracks of the old Wortley industrial tram line running from Wortley Rec to Wortley Moor Road. I recalled as a child seeing some track crossing the ginnel at the corner of Oldfield Lane cemetry leading to the donkey field (as we called it back then) - see pic - don't know if they are still there. Not fit, really. I just enjoy a stroll after a full day of sitting on my behind - particularly when the weather is good. I walk over to Oldfield Lane pretty frequently, so I'll look out for that corner. Some new housing is going up at the Oldfield Lane end of the cemetery, so I'm not holding my breath, but worth a look.

Tarkus
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Post by Tarkus »

Phill_dvsn wrote: That's the only small part of the beck in the open. It next comes out into the open at the top of water lane, Holbeck. Actually, Wortley Beck re-appears just past the old Wallace Arnold depot, on the other side of Gelderd Road (there's a bridge parapet visible just beyond the YEB offices). It then wanders in the open for 100 yards through the grounds of a new office development (West Court) before disappearing into another culvert. Somewhere near that point, the Wortley Beck is joined by Millshaw Beck (also culverted). I think the combined waters become Low Beck at this point. It's then culverted all the way to Water Lane where it is known as Hol Beck. When I was a kid, the Low Beck was plainly visible in many places in this area - behind the Kop end at Elland Road stadium for instance, or running under a bridge on Brown Lane, or through the big arch in the Holbeck viaduct at Domestic Street. This all disppeared when the M621 was built. Also, the Low Fields area was highly prone to flooding, which probably helped the decision to culvert. A shame, because the water quality in these becks is higher now than for many decades.

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Leeds Hippo
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Post by Leeds Hippo »

Tarkus wrote: Phill_dvsn wrote: That's the only small part of the beck in the open. It next comes out into the open at the top of water lane, Holbeck. Actually, Wortley Beck re-appears just past the old Wallace Arnold depot, on the other side of Gelderd Road (there's a bridge parapet visible just beyond the YEB offices). It then wanders in the open for 100 yards through the grounds of a new office development (West Court) before disappearing into another culvert. Somewhere near that point, the Wortley Beck is joined by Millshaw Beck (also culverted). I think the combined waters become Low Beck at this point. It's then culverted all the way to Water Lane where it is known as Hol Beck. When I was a kid, the Low Beck was plainly visible in many places in this area - behind the Kop end at Elland Road stadium for instance, or running under a bridge on Brown Lane, or through the big arch in the Holbeck viaduct at Domestic Street. This all disppeared when the M621 was built. Also, the Low Fields area was highly prone to flooding, which probably helped the decision to culvert. A shame, because the water quality in these becks is higher now than for many decades. I could never understand how such a large plain had such a small stream running through it (Wortley Beck) - I wonder in days's past if the entire flood plain was covered in water - I recall the flooded Lowfields area when the buses used to line up along Lowfields road for Elland road.

jim
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Post by jim »

Leeds Hippo, I happened to pass the SW corner of Oldfield Lane Cemetery yesterday, and there are neither rail nor route remains to be seen. To the SE the ground levels have been seriously altered by later housebuilding, and although NW of the corner is an open field, any remains must have been ploughed out.There is some slight possibility that some minor earthworks running across Wortley "Rec" were connected with the earlier tramway branch to the colliery at the SE corner of the later playing fields, but I would hesitate to put money on it.    

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