Old Moot Hall in Kirkgate

[Steve Jones]

I was passing by the boarded up buildings in Kirkgate this morning on the bus as usual. I was told by Ken Goor on one of his wonderful guided tours of Leeds that this is actually the old moot hall still hidden under all the hoardings and remnants of shops it turned into. It seems to me that it has been left rotting in the wind and rain for nearly 20 years?Anyone any idea when the shops closed down and it was boarded up? I don't rember ever seeing the shops there open.I mean the place just up from Hellblazer heading into town.

[Squatch_11]

It's all been boarded up since I used to get the 14/15 bus from that bus stop back to Farnley, so that must be 17 years or so, and it looked wrecked then. Sort of surprised it's allowed to get into (and stay in) that state for years at a time, does it have to fall on someone before the council intervenes?

[electricaldave]

Much of the buildings are just a facade, with a car park at the back.I always thought the Moot Hall was on Briggate around where it is joined by Kirkgate and was demolished a long long time ago.

[LS1]

Original Moot Hall was at the top of Briggate, demolised when New Briggate was incepted.

[cnosni]

electricaldave wrote: Much of the buildings are just a facade, with a car park at the back.I always thought the Moot Hall was on Briggate around where it is joined by Kirkgate and was demolished a long long time ago. Electricdave you are right,the building on Kirkgate is the remnants of the original white cloth hall,built 1710,and not the Moot Hall which was in the middle of Briggate,just above the juncture of Kirkgate.

[cnosni]

The building on Kirkgate thats all covered over with scaffolding is what remains of the original white cloth hall,opened 1711.The layout,as you can see above,is of an open courtyard,surronded by a building at the rear with two wings.This reconstruction is drawn as if viewed from the Royal Oak Pub,looking towards the Las Vegas amusement arcade.The Las Vegas is the "left" wing in the picture,the courtyard being obscured by a later building built between the two wings,making a square.From what i can gather the right wing and the rear hold very little of the original fabric of the cloth hall,where as the Las vegas wing holds quite a lot.The rear and the right wing are beyond help,but the Las Vegas is deemed to be able to be saved.As a result of this a Leeds development firm is looking at removing the later building that was placed between the two wings,demolishing the rear and right wing,and with the remains of the left wing actually build a reconstruction of the Cloth hall,with a view to redeveloping the rest of this dilapidated looking end of Leeds first street.s far as i know its all still in the pipeline,below is link to the civic trust article,though its 2005 i have heard that there were still some rumblings last year. http://www.leedscivictrust.org.uk/news0 ... th.htmLets hope so,its looked decrepit for as long as i can remember.Kirkgate would be the perfect area for a Camden Market type area,utilising the car park at the back and opening up the closed off ginnel for Cherry Tree Yard would bring the area back to life.    

[cnosni]

Hopefully attached is google earth image of Kirkgate,with the white Cloth Hall court marked.s you can see the courtyard appears to still be there,the basic layout of the two wings and rear range is quite easy to make out,and you can see that the later added building between the two wings looks distinctly different from above,wheree as at street level its not as easy to tell.

[Phill_d]

Hey there's no stopping you these days csnosi since you've learn't how to post picture attachments.. Nice bit of info mate

[wiggy]

lets hope it gets the recognition and funding it deserves...and please,please,please...NO FLATS!!!

[jonleeds]

What is a Moot hall? I thought a Moot was like a meeting or something?