SecretLeeds - History, culture and architecture in Leeds

While trawling through some old books and empheria looking for any hints of the location of Harehills Colliery I came across a couple of fabulous photos of the East Leeds collieries less glamourous younger sister the East Leeds Opencast Coal Sites.Sir Lindsay Parkinson were a 'public works' contractor who became one of the power houses of UK muckshifting during WWII building airfields, defence works and of course providing the vital resource coal via opencast coal mining contracts for the Ministery of Works which extending beyond WWII into the coal thirsty late 1940's. At this time Parkinsons began a sixty year relationship with East Leeds coal industry from their yard on Ponterfract Lane:http://www.leodis.net/display.aspx?reso ... Ultimately they became Fairclough Parkinson then AMEC mining (but known to all in the muckshifing world as Parkys) until their final opencast mine in the area [?] Skelton Grange Opencast Coal Site operated under contract for British CoalOne of the sites they operated in the 1940s was Dunstan Hill Opencast Coal Site to the immediate south of Templenewsam House (where the golf course sits). The first photograph is of the operation in 1946 and shows just how close to the house they operated (the heap backfill has been cast by the dragline in the mid ground, and would have been levelled by dozers). The photo is of Dunstan Hill Opencast No.2, if you look in the top right it appears there is another dragline operating.

The second picture shows one of Lindsay Parkinson draglines being tramped past their offices sometime in the late 1940s

I'd love to see how these actually walked. Amazing stuff!

Thank heavens for good old youtube. there's a load of walking drag line stuff. It might not be the fastest thing in the world by any means http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=-NhAR_qJVZk

Very good.Lindsay Parkinson were also responsible for some of the 'non-traditional' build council houses in East Leeds.

Another picture of Parkinson's working at Temple Newsam

Change of location this time but still a Sir Lindsay Parkinson operation at Longdyke Lane site, part of the complex of sites known as the Owl Wood Group, outside KippaxA Marion 7400 dragline has slipped from it's bench and ended up in the cut. I have no idea how they sorted this mess out, but in such circumstances the dragline would have normally dug its way out (casting the backfill to make a ramp it was capable of climbing ....... the operator would have needed to do some explaining!)    

Parkinsons (Amec Mining) also had extensive plant workshops on the site. They had welding and turning fascilities that would be the envy of many large engineering factories. When the site closed much of the expertise was transferred to a company at Doncaster which specialised in this sort of work. The company ceased to exist about 1993/4.Parkinsons also built part of the M62 - the bit from Milnrow (Rochdale) to the West Yorkshire border, they also built the Boothwood dam that you can see on the left hand side of the M62 between jcts 22 and 23 (not the Scammonden Dam)

Only just discovered this thread. I lived in Meynell Road, Colton as a child and went to what was then called Templenewsam Colton County Primary School at the junction of Meynell Road, Colton Lane and School Lane. I distinctly remember that for a period the fields out over which the old school building (now replaced by a development of 'executive homes') looked between that junction and what we called Templenewsam Woods but which Google Map shows as Avenue Wood, with Paxtons's Farm to their left and Holly Tree Farm to their right, were ripped up for open cast coal mining in the 1950's and later restored as pasture again. We used to creep out in the night to nick bits of coal for our fire.    

Ain't those the two Draglines that ended up at St Aidens opencast at Bowers Row (Allerton Bywater)?? Oddball and the other one that i can never recall the name of!