SecretLeeds - History, culture and architecture in Leeds

I happened to catch part of the 'Homes under the hammer' on BBC1 this morning when an old farmhouse and its associated buildings situated next to the Ring Road Meanwood were being auctioned. The farmhouse at least had been vandalised and partly set on fire. The sale was in 2008 and the property went for around £260,000. In the 2010 follow up (the programme was presumably a repeat) it seemed nothing had been done to the property but some of the 3 acres of ground had been converted to a garden. It was also revealed that the buildings were 18th century and are grade 2 listed, which could limit development. It was however said that if planning permissions are given to develop the site then it could be worth up to at least £1 million.Does anyone know where the property is? Looking at Google Street View I suspect it may be at least part of the buildings near Scotland Mill Lane but I am by no means sure.

I didn't see the programme but is this it?http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk ... ds/bingmap

Bywater Farm in top 50 on leodis.I found one of the comments very interestingName:Michael FowlerComment:I was interested to see the photos of the caravan at Bywater Farm, (after all these years I understand its proper name should be Bywater’s Farm after the Bywater family who I understand lived there in the 1800’s and early 1900’s. I was born at Bywater Farm in December 1927 my father Arthur Fowler was the tenant and my mother was Edith Carr Fowler, nee Hodgson. Apart from three temporary periods I lived there until 1953/54. My father was the tenant from the mid 1920’s, before that he was a tenant on a poultry smallholding on the land which subsequently became the recreation park next to the school in Green Lane, Meanwood. He had been a Regular soldier and was invalided back from France in 1916 and like a few more of the returning troops from the horrors of the Western Front opted for a life in the countryside. Leeds Corporation wanted the land for the recreation park and through the good offices of the Lupton family he obtained the tenancy of Bywater Farm. Initially it was a poultry business but after a marketing venture that went wrong and in combination with the farming depression he had to sell a large part of his stock and this is where the dogs boarding kennel business started. How this came about I will not bore you with but it saved the farm business. We had a large sign at the end of the farm track facing out into the Ring Road which had:- “Holiday Home for Dogs, Country Walks twice daily.” The dogs were taken out for exercise in the nearby wood morning and afternoon. We had as many as approx: 100 kennels, these were open fronted and the dogs were restrained in the open kennels with a chain. We kept a supply of strong collars. I must comment that this is an example of where the animal welfare lobby gets it wrong, they insist on cages with runs but in our experience the dogs preferred the open front where they could see and bark at each other during exercise and feeding time. Suffice to say some of the dogs used to return to us after their owners had collected them after their holidays and other car owners used to say that if they drove up or down the Ring Road past us their dog would try to jump out of the car to return to the kennels. Initially my parents were helped by my father’s Aunt, Miss Mary Fowler. Miss Fowler’s father, George Fowler, played for the fore runners of Leeds R.L. ie Leeds St Johns and later was a referee. I once saw a photo of his funeral, the crowd of mourners brought the centre of Leeds to a standstill. Aunt Mary used to attend the matches from the days when they played in Kirkstall Fields and then when they moved to Headingly. The story is told that when the wooden stand caught fire she had to be lifted down to the playing pitch from the burning stand. She had a season ticket and attended the matches until well into her 80’s. My mother started the turkey business in about 1943. On my return from HMF we kept pigs, their sties were sited alongside where the S bend in the Ring Road was and in current terms would be on the central reservation !!. The caravan arrived in about mid 1946/8 and originally was occupied by Frank, he had been evicted from his home in the Parklands, he was a regular at the Myrtle Tavern, subsequently he was housed in the council estate at Meanwood. The next occupant was Ernest (known as Little Ernie due his small stature) another customer from the Myrtle. He worked at Fairburn Lawson’s and walked from the caravan through the Meanwood woods and Hollies to the tram depot at Headingley. As I left Bywater in 54/55 I don’t know what happened to him.________________________________________________________________________________    Buy a copy of this photograph 200448_4

Geordie-exile wrote: I didn't see the programme but is this it?http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk ... ds/bingmap That is what I thought it would be. This is a link to a more up to date Google Satellite View which shows what I assume is the work done on the garden. http://www.google.com/maps?q=SCOTLAND+L ... psrc=6Edit added shortly after posting. Thanks dogduke. From your post I've now found that it is Bywater Farm which is at where I thought.     

A significant location for Leeds and the Industrial Revolution.http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/TE ... L2&tabR=R4