First house to have running water in Leeds?

[jim]

Tasa wrote: I've found something in the wonderfully-titled "The tourist's companion; or, The history of the scenes and places on the route by rail-road and steam-packet from Leeds and Selby to Hull", written in 1835 by Edward Parsons:"The first works for the supply of the inhabitants of Leeds with Water were constructed in 1694, under the direction of an engineer whose name was Sorocold; a large reservoir was prepared at Lidgate, to supply the pipes, and Kirkgate was the street in which those pipes were first laid. In 1754 new premises were taken for the site of the requisite works; in 1790 an act was obtained to regulate the whole system, and in the next year the present works were made. The act by which the Leeds Water Works are at present regulated was passed in 1809- The works are under the superintendence of thirteen commissioners, chosen annually. Great attention has recently been paid to the necessity of adopting some new plan for the supply of the town with water, and it is highly probable that at no great distance of time, that supply will be procured from the copious and excellent springs at Alwoodley and Eccup."I can't find any record of where Lidgate was - could it be the predecessor of Ludgate Hill (the other side of what is now the market), or an early name for Lidgett Park, which could arguably have been a good location for a reservoir? Burt and Grady's "The Illustrated History of Leeds", p32, gives the site of the reservoir as "near St John's Church". Both Fowler's Plan of Leeds, 1821, and the Godfrey repro Leeds ( Headrow ) 1847 map show what is presumably this reservoir on the site now occupied by the refurbished Assembly Rooms, part of the Grand Theatre complex. It is directly opposite the gateway to St John's church, and, in the absence of any street so labelled in the vicinity, it may be that the term "Lidgate" refers to that entrance.    

[dogduke]

Leodis has 3 photos of derelict propertyin the 1900's at Lydgate which was in the Wade Lanewoodhouse Lane area.

[jim]

Well spotted, Dogduke, I missed that one completely! And then in searching for a reservoir in that area ( unsuccessfully ) I find that Thomas Jeffrey's 1770 map identifies the length of what is now Woodhouse Lane from present day Claypit Lane to The Headrow as - Lidgate!Looks like this one will run and run.

[jim]

Thinking further on this subject, it might be that at one time Lidgate and Lydgate were at one time regarded as a continuous thorouhfare, and that there was an extension more or less along the line of the present Mark Lane to the entrance to St John's Church.This solution would account for all the references we can find on the topic, and the lack of a further identifiable reservoir site in the area around the top of Briggate, but is, of course, speculation.

[Tasa]

A couple more bits to add to this:A Google Book search led to a Leeds Guide dated 1806, with this quote: "The Leeds end of Woodhouse-Lane was anciently called Lidgate, and as we have nothing to add to the statement of Mr. Thoresby, we shall give it in his own words. 'The street adjoining to the Bar is yet called Lidgate, from a Saxon word importing a populous gate, from the great concourse of people who passed through it. This gate seems to have been the ancient road from the North. This being the highest part of the town, was made choice of for building a tower upon. I have perused some manuscript surrenders belonging to the Lords of this Manor, wherein it is called Tower-Hill; and in 1695, when some workmen were digging deep to lay a foundation for the vast cistern which was to serve as a repository for river water, (which was then conveyed in lead pipes from the Bridge foot to this place) they found at a considerable depth below the foundation of the late houses, prodigious large stones, and the ruins of a great wall, which seems to have been the ground work of such a fabric'.I also have a book on Leeds by Ivan Broadhead, which says: "A freshwater supply from Eccup arrived in the town in 1842; before that time, the only piped water was obtained by pumping from the polluted River Aire near Leeds Bridge to two reservoirs in Albion Place and the site of the Grand Theatre".This would tie in with an extension of Lidgate through what is now Mark Lane, as Jim says.    

[Leeds Hippo]

Tasa wrote: A couple more bits to add to this:A Google Book search led to a Leeds Guide dated 1806, with this quote: "The Leeds end of Woodhouse-Lane was anciently called Lidgate, and as we have nothing to add to the statement of Mr. Thoresby, we shall give it in his own words. 'The street adjoining to the Bar is yet called Lidgate, from a Saxon word importing a populous gate, from the great concourse of people who passed through it. This gate seems to have been the ancient road from the North. This being the highest part of the town, was made choice of for building a tower upon. I have perused some manuscript surrenders belonging to the Lords of this Manor, wherein it is called Tower-Hill; and in 1695, when some workmen were digging deep to lay a foundation for the vast cistern which was to serve as a repository for river water, (which was then conveyed in lead pipes from the Bridge foot to this place) they found at a considerable depth below the foundation of the late houses, prodigious large stones, and the ruins of a great wall, which seems to have been the ground work of such a fabric'.I also have a book on Leeds by Ivan Broadhead, which says: "A freshwater supply from Eccup arrived in the town in 1842; before that time, the only piped water was obtained by pumping from the polluted River Aire near Leeds Bridge to two reservoirs in Albion Place and the site of the Grand Theatre".This would tie in with an extension of Lidgate through what is now Mark Lane, as Jim says.     That's fascinating Tasa - so lead pipes - but what on earth were the "prodigious large stones"! Did Leeds have a wall like York?

[Tasa]

I think Thoresby is speculating that the stones were part of the foundations of the tower which was supposed to have been built on or near that site, hence the name Tower Hill. The Annals of Leeds mention "A tower also stood near Lydgate, in Woodhouse Lane, called Tower Hill; which was probably connected with the castle; but not a vestige of either fabric remains."It's wonderful how threads like this branch out into other revelations - I'm learning a lot about Leeds which I never knew!

[Steve Jones]

[It's funny you say that, as there's supposed to be the graves of a group of French Nuns in Kirkthorpe Churchyard, who were stranded there after (I think??) the Napoleonic warsI run past the graveyard (other side of road from Church, opposite the Stocks, & Freeston 'Hospital'), & around the back of the Church on one of my 'cross-country' routes. but never stopped to lookApparantly, it also has the grave of a survivor of 'The Charge of the Light-Brigade'!!I'll have to stop & look one dayyes, the graves are there although as the order frowned on ostention they are very plain nad there is hardly any inscriptions on them,they are at the back of the church against the wall.I don't know about the light brigade survivor there but Stanley St Peters has definitely got one in their graveyard.

[jim]

Good stuff Tasa. The second reservoir in Ivan Broadhead's book that you refer to is to be seen on the 1821 Fowler map. It was at the south western end of Albion Place, and by the time of the 1847 OS it had been replaced by the Leeds Stock Exchange Building.I wonder if the name of the Tower Cinema at the top of New Briggate was a reference to the Tower your researches mention?

[Cardiarms]

RichT wrote: Apparantly, it also has the grave of a survivor of 'The Charge of the Light-Brigade'!!I'll have to stop & look one day Most did, out of about 660, 550 came home to dine out on the experience. It was a military blunder and they were immensely brave, but not the massacre it was made out to be.