The Missing Road

The green spaces and places of Leeds
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Brunel
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Post by Brunel »

"Once that housing project never materialised the road was dug up."Another Q..... If the original Connaught Rd. was dug up, why were all the drains and covers left in place?

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chameleon
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Post by chameleon »

Brunel wrote: "Once that housing project never materialised the road was dug up."Another Q..... If the original Connaught Rd. was dug up, why were all the drains and covers left in place? The simple and cheaper option would and still is I suppose, to allow nature to take its course and gradually reclaim it as seems to be the case.    

The Parksider
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Post by The Parksider »

Brunel wrote: "Once that housing project never materialised the road was dug up."Another Q..... If the original Connaught Rd. was dug up, why were all the drains and covers left in place? If chameleon says it it's right, but I may add that sports pitches benefit from drainage?Anyway you can't find the road surface (except a tiny bit) of the abandoned lane from Calverley to Calverley and Rodley station any more, but the drains and covers are still there too.

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chameleon
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Post by chameleon »

The Parksider wrote: Brunel wrote: "Once that housing project never materialised the road was dug up."Another Q..... If the original Connaught Rd. was dug up, why were all the drains and covers left in place? If chameleon says it it's right, but I may add that sports pitches benefit from drainage?Anyway you can't find the road surface (except a tiny bit) of the abandoned lane from Calverley to Calverley and Rodley station any more, but the drains and covers are still there too. I haven't had opportunity to visit - is there no trace of a road surface?That suggests two possibilities - was the road actually completed - I suspect it was and, if so, it would likely be stone or granite sets - have these been scavanged for use elsewhere (legitimately or otherwise)? Does seem odd that the drainage remains.

The Parksider
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Post by The Parksider »

chameleon wrote: The Parksider wrote: Brunel wrote: "Once that housing project never materialised the road was dug up."Another Q..... If the original Connaught Rd. was dug up, why were all the drains and covers left in place? If chameleon says it it's right, but I may add that sports pitches benefit from drainage?Anyway you can't find the road surface (except a tiny bit) of the abandoned lane from Calverley to Calverley and Rodley station any more, but the drains and covers are still there too. I haven't had opportunity to visit - is there no trace of a road surface?That suggests two possibilities - was the road actually completed - I suspect it was and, if so, it would likely be stone or granite sets - have these been scavanged for use elsewhere (legitimately or otherwise)? Does seem odd that the drainage remains. I will drop by to check out the drains (what an anorak) and I think there's the start of the road showing in kerbstones and some sets alongside old park road.But I doubt that the road would have been given a final surface before any houses had been built. There'd be enough hardcore to take the construction traffic, but any final surface would probably have gone on after that?

The Parksider
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Post by The Parksider »

Brunels wonderful pictures of Connaught Road came alive today! The road is marked at the start by the old round drain cover in Old Park Road then some more drain covers and flags where the road goes onto the playing fields.At the corner of Gledhow Lane and OPR and opposite Roundhay school, the stone flag pavement is twice broken by kerbstones and stone sets - the start of two more roads which equally go nowhere and are often mistake for the start of connaught road. These are mysteries, but I can only guess that each one is an entrance to the private building land, one for the east side of Connaught Road and one for the west side with the public funded? Connaught road probably being left alone for some reason?The road is hard to see at the south end as it climbs to the changing rooms, but easy to walk as it's just a straight line. For some reason there's a lampost and lamp on the road by the changing rooms - odd.Going north the road is easier to see as the land has been built up below the brow of the hill, but the brow of the hill has been cut through (with the spoil building up the road below to level it) Along here are the drains and storm drain covers set in the grass where once was a road. As you descend north to the junction with Princes Avenue a hardcore road surface appears, which may be (I'm better at Minerals) limestone.If we are right and this road divided into two land for housing which consequently wasn't built on then you can see this in that there are a few houses on it fronting onto OPR, but obviously nothing more was built and after that that a cricket club, allotments and Bowls club were constructed, so the rest of the land was then abandoned for more recreation in parks cricket and football......Finding the air raid shelter, the King George bench mark plate and the old tramways electrical cabinet just made a good walk perfect.Thanks to Brunel for his lovely pictorial guidance on Flicker......

The Parksider
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Post by The Parksider »

chameleon wrote: I haven't had opportunity to visit - is there no trace of a road surface?That suggests two possibilities - was the road actually completed - I suspect it was and, if so, it would likely be stone or granite sets - have these been scavanged for use elsewhere (legitimately or otherwise)? Does seem odd that the drainage remains. It's grass on 6" + soil now apart from where it drops to Princes Ave junction and you see hardcore. They threfore put the drains in and hardcored the road. I suspect to remove the drains would create more needless cost so they just grassed everything over.What the final surface would have been I don't know. If stone sets/cobbles then OK, but maybe they were going to tarmac it and didn't want that ruining by construction traffic? Tarmacadam is an old road surfaceing nmaterial - wether they'd have used it in the 1870's I dunno.History of road surfacing anyone???

Beadleem
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Post by Beadleem »

I have a 2001 publication by the Oakwood & District Historical Society and it talks about Connaught Road being prepared for development and being included in the list of roads authorised for a supply of electricity by the Roundhay & District Electric Light Company in 1901 but frustratingly doesn't say why the area wasn't developed. It does talk about plots of land never being sold due to the remoteness of Roundhay but that was before the tram service was introduced and doesn't explain why the proposed housing didn't subsequently get built.    

The Parksider
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Post by The Parksider »

Beadleem wrote: I have a 2001 publication by the Oakwood & District Historical Society and it talks about Connaught Road being prepared for development and being included in the list of roads authorised for a supply of electricity by the Roundhay & District Electric Light Company in 1901 but frustratingly doesn't say why the area wasn't developed. It does talk about plots of land never being sold due to the remoteness of Roundhay but that was before the tram service was introduced and doesn't explain why the proposed housing didn't subsequently get built.     Page 32 of the Illustrated history of Roundhay Park shows an artist impression of "How the villas may have been developed looking from the top of the Mansion".Given that reference point the drawing can only be looking south to Princes Avenure on the left, Connaught Road in the centre and Old Park Road to the right.Clearly drawn are all the plots and big houses that were envisaged for the area. Certainly many big houses did get built in roundhay mostly on and west of Old Park Road. Why plots didn't sell (apart from the odd one where the North Leeds cricket ground is) along the approach to the Park I don't know either, but I would guess that as the "masses" of Leeds would pile up to the park every weekend the moneyed class didn't want them trooping past their front door and sought their big houses in more secluded streets.

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chameleon
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Post by chameleon »

The Parksider wrote: Beadleem wrote: I have a 2001 publication by the Oakwood & District Historical Society and it talks about Connaught Road being prepared for development and being included in the list of roads authorised for a supply of electricity by the Roundhay & District Electric Light Company in 1901 but frustratingly doesn't say why the area wasn't developed. It does talk about plots of land never being sold due to the remoteness of Roundhay but that was before the tram service was introduced and doesn't explain why the proposed housing didn't subsequently get built.     Page 32 of the Illustrated history of Roundhay Park shows an artist impression of "How the villas may have been developed looking from the top of the Mansion".Given that reference point the drawing can only be looking south to Princes Avenure on the left, Connaught Road in the centre and Old Park Road to the right.Clearly drawn are all the plots and big houses that were envisaged for the area. Certainly many big houses did get built in roundhay mostly on and west of Old Park Road. Why plots didn't sell (apart from the odd one where the North Leeds cricket ground is) along the approach to the Park I don't know either, but I would guess that as the "masses" of Leeds would pile up to the park every weekend the moneyed class didn't want them trooping past their front door and sought their big houses in more secluded streets. Bloomin' eck! Was re-reading that exact passage this pm during a quiet spell - Halloween spookies abound

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