Fleece Inn Hotel

[Si]

Here's Fleece Lane on the 1847 map. Note there is a Fleece Court. Fleece Square was a seperate yard. I've written on where it was on the 1908 map. Neither seem connected to the pub.    

[drapesy]

Thanks for that Si, you've saved me the job of looking up the map at the library. So I was wrong about 'Fleece Court' being behind the pub - oh well it was just a hunch. Fleece Lane must have been quite unusual as it is a 'cul -de-sac'.Besides the Fleece and the Red House there are 2 more pubs on the 1847 map. Above is a picture of the Spread Eagle from Leodis.This picture dates from 1964 - The building had ceased to be a pub many years previously (Leodis has an inferior pic from 1937 and it was no longer a pub even then. Address 104 Meadow Lane.    Sadly I cant find anything on the 'Brown Cow'

[drapesy]

Here's an interesting Leodis pic from 1937. The entrance to Fleece Lane is at the extreme right (compare with second picture I posted on this thread )- shop with awning and Hovis sign is visible on both.the Old Red House is just out of shot to the right. The former Spread eagle can be seen in the centre whilst beyond (No.114 Meadow Lane - junction with New Lane)) the Tetley sign is for the 'Jacob's Well'.This pub (which has featured, with a better pic. on the lost pubs thread) , like the Old Red House', survived in to living memory (c1965 -poss even later)    

[Si]

Good finds, Drapesy. The pub names only occur on the larger scale map of 1847, and unfortunately, The Spread Eagle is on the very bottom edge of the map. This pub is not marked on the 1908 map, and neither is the Brown Cow. There's a big gap at the end of Barstow Street where it appears on the 1847 map. There is a 'PH' further down Meadow Lane on the later map, presumably the Jacob's Well. Further down on the opposite side is The Union, which I've posted before somewhere.    

[Si]

Here's the 1908 map of the Fleece Lane area. The Spread Eagle was just above the "M" of Meadow Lane and The Brown Cow was just below the "E." The Union Tavern is the "PH" opposite the end of John Street. Anyone know the pub at the top of the map on Meadow Lane fronting Holroyd Court? Click on the map to blow it up (the map, not the pub, obviously.) There are also two more pubs just south of the Union Tavern.

[Si]

I found a few pictures of Fleece Lane on Leodis. Most show it in the process of demolition. It doesn't look the most salubrious of areas!Judging by the narrowness, this is looking towards Meadow Lane, so The Fleece Inn would be over the photographer's left shoulder. Further up the lane would be Fleece Court to the right.

[Si]

This one from Leodis shows the grimness of the place! Who knows, but my hunch is that this could be the site of the yard beside The Fleece Inn? (See 1847 map, above.) If the camera which took the picture above was swivelled 45 degrees to the left, this might be the view.    

[simonm]

Nice family shot there Si....

[Si]

Thanks, Simon. We were so poor our windows were made of brick. Seriously though, comparing both the 1847 and 1908 maps, apart from a wall and two buildings forming Fleece Square, the street is exactly the same. The building opposite the Fleece looks like a very old house. It has two projecting bays overlooking a formal garden, between Hinchliffe's Court and Mitchell's Court. Anyone know about the other big house on the older map? It looks like "Anstorpe Hall?"    

[Tasa]

Si wrote: Anyone know about the other big house on the older map? It looks like "Anstorpe Hall?"     It's called Austhorpe Hall (not to be confused with the one near Cross Gates!) - apparently "thorpe" and "torpe" are interchangeable. A snippet view on Google Books search says "Mr. Douglas's house in Meadow Lane still stands between that Lane and Victoria Road. It is called Austhorpe Hall — its garden is still unbuilt upon, ..."It's on a map dated 1893 but gone by 1908.There is also something about it in the 1862 Annals of Yorkshire which I have out of the library at the moment. If I remember this evening, I'll have a look!