SecretLeeds - History, culture and architecture in Leeds

hi Munki..I guess the real reason is down to the fact of burials performed atst marys in the wood church..but a more recent and popular one with the locals is that its a very narrow twisty blind corner there..the scene of many prangs with vehicles..i had one once but lived to tell the tale...cheers

I live in a back to back in Harehills and I seem to remember when we saw the deeds it said 1870 something or other. Interestingly I'm not allowed to use my home for a public house hospital piggery or cow shed. Having said that it cant extend to some of my neighbor's, next door seems to use her's for 3 out of the 4 LOL.    

munki wrote: Do we know why it was called Coffin Corner? My Great Aunt lived on Zoar Street for many years. I understand that Coffin Corner is called that because the shape of the walls would look like a coffin if looked at from above. I tried looking on Google Earth, but there's a tree in the way, typical!I remember the house on Zoar Street vaguely, but always remember that the stairs didn't have any kind on handrail, just the wall on one side and a drop to the living room on the other. And to get to my Great Aunt's house in the middle of a row, you effectively had to walk through everyone else's gardens. Can't see that going down too well these days!!

hi munkiactually the houses you refer to are at the back of Zoar street..that road is called Troy road..with troy hill adjacent..a short cut was to go up the ginnel from Zoar street..and as you say you had to encroach on other peoples property that way...Morley of course is built on seven hills .......just like rome...

Zoar street lies in a conservation area,so i suspect in time it will be the oldest street in Leeds.....not that we morleyonians like to be classed as Leeds..we have a town hall

All be it a pale imititation of Leeds Town Hall, but that's nothing for Morleyonians to be ashamed of. Leeds does have the best town hall in Europe, after all!

To quote from the Thoresby Society book East End, West End. The first building club were the 'Union'.Which was an association of 18 members. And they constructed a row of 10 back-to-backs, and 12 one room cottages, on land north of Quarry Hill. And the slope of the land prevented them continuing the back-to-back row further. And all this was in 1786, and called, fittingly enough, Union Row. There were 32 homes built. And the cost of the land per plot was £5.45.

There's a small clump of stone built back to backs just across the road from me here in Yeadon. Well, I *think* they're back to backs - I know that one row of houses, Albert Terrace, has its front doors up a fairly small and somewhat overgrown path which is very hard to find - I live on Albert Square and I've had deliveries for my numbersake there in the past.There are also some in Guiseley, around Cambridge Street, just behind the wells. I was reminded of them when I took a small detour past them on the way to Coopers last week. A friend lived there a few years ago and they were quite poky, with just enough room for a galley kitchen on the back wall downstairs and one bedroom and a bathroom upstairs. Both Yeadon and Guiseley developed in the 1860s and 70s and there are references to Albert Terrace and Queen Street at that time on Leodis. My house dates from 1872 or thereabouts as I have the deeds for the original land purchase.As a small sideline, I just had a look for some pictures of the wells on Leodis and there don't seem to be any - I know that they're not the most spectacular sight in the city but it's a little odd that there are no photos of them either from the time when the town was built around them, or from the times when they have been renovated.

Where Morrisons is now in Yeadon there were a large number of terraced houses which were demolished around 1963 and probably pre dated the 1860's/70's. I lived on Starkeys Field which was built around a large courtyard area.(there is a photo of it on Leodis ) It was a through terrace but I think a lot were back to back. I think our back door backed onto Queen st. They were demolished as part of the slum!!! clearance of the 60's.With a damp proof course and a bathroom fitted they would still be desirable properties today and worth a bob or two. We had a loo upstairs but the bath was a tin one infront of the fire. We had electricity but the gas mantles were still on the walls.

Lilysmum wrote: Where Morrisons is now in Yeadon there were a large number of terraced houses which were demolished around 1963 and probably pre dated the 1860's/70's. I lived on Starkeys Field which was built around a large courtyard area.(there is a photo of it on Leodis ) It was a through terrace but I think a lot were back to back. I think our back door backed onto Queen st. They were demolished as part of the slum!!! clearance of the 60's.With a damp proof course and a bathroom fitted they would still be desirable properties today and worth a bob or two. We had a loo upstairs but the bath was a tin one infront of the fire. We had electricity but the gas mantles were still on the walls. I hadn't looked at those pictures before, and assumed that there had been a mill on the Morrison's site, but of course Albert Mill was across the road on the end of Albert Square. The council seem to have taken a varying view of different parts of Yeadon - where Starkies Field was knocked down, houses on the High Street were refurbished - there are lots of pictures of the houses further up the street having been refitted in the late 50s.