Tunnels from City Station

Phill_d · Post by **Phill_d** » Thu 19 Apr, 2007 10:14 am

bigpants wrote: big s wrote: under the lgi old buildings there is a tunnel which heads toward city square i should know ,i was down there today .after so long the tunnel is bricked up .diffrent and newer brick than the tunnel walls Hi big S, dunno if you worked there back when i did - where abouts is the bricked up tunnel you refer to? Yeah i'd be intriqued to know more about this big s

big s · Post by **big s** » Sun 29 Apr, 2007 9:10 pm

when i said goes to city square i only meant it pointed that way.the tunnel heads toward great george street.ive taken a few photos and when i figure how to put them on here i will.i figured it out.

buffaloskinner · Post by **buffaloskinner** » Mon 30 Apr, 2007 11:56 pm

Phill_d wrote: For a while i'd been thinking i've uncovered something like Ro-mans long lost Liverpool tunnels untill i found this page here http://www.leedsphilandlit.org.uk/publications.html & found out the proffesionals had been there 20yr's earlier! DOH :-/ Hi PhilI worked for LCT then Metro and then Yorkshire Rider for 23 years, when Sovereign Street closed (the bus depot), it was put onto the market about 15 years ago, a number of surveyors came to drill test pits etc.On one particular occasion I just happened to be able to talk to one about what he was looking for, and lo and behold he pulled out lots of maps dating back to the early 1900s, the maps showed all the underground waterways that all came from river in the Station area to drive the watermills which were all dotted about in the vicinity of Swinegate, Queens Hall and Sovereign Street triangle and the area was riddled with them, difficult to recall how many though, but a lot. They all seemed to empty around the Leeds Bridge area.Those maps must be available somewhere, probably from the Council Offices I would imagine.A picture looking west from Leeds Bridge in 1904

Phill_d · Post by **Phill_d** » Tue 01 May, 2007 7:46 pm

Yes i keep looking at these old goits... Anybody got a canoe? I'd love to see how far they go... Under city square by boat would be a real scoop for the L.G.E.S

jf · Post by jf » Tue 01 May, 2007 8:06 pm

I've done similar exploration in Bristol, canoeing up one waterway under the city to a 'beach' where you could get out, hop across a concrete wall and canoe back in the other direction. There were also a few access grates in the central area which you could peer out at people on the street and make scary noises at them. It was pretty grotty down there, rats and rubbish, in places not unlike the trash compactor scene in Star Wars. The underground waterways in Bristol are quite well documented due to the size of the rivers involved (Frome and Avon). I think from what I've seen that the various drains and becks in Leeds aren't navigable by canoe unfortunately. I guess you could have a good look for them from the river.If the library has any 1:1250 plans of the city these might show underground waterways as dotted lines. Often these historic watercourses would form district boundaries which remain after they have been culverted or backfilled. Plans from the very late nineteenth century are usually the most likely to show these.

big s · Post by **big s** » Tue 01 May, 2007 9:41 pm

the chap who mentioned looking up through the grates in the bristol tunnels reminded me of about 35 years ago we were told how to catch eels in leeds centre.there were 2 grates at the side of the road next to the queens hall near where the mass x ray place was.if you dropped a weighted hook and line down a long way staight away you would get bites and once,but only once a lad with us caught an eel.

lilcheekychops · Post by **lilcheekychops** » Fri 11 May, 2007 12:30 pm

my bro works at a famous fast food restaurant in the city station and he says downstairs in the cellar at the very bottom of the train station store room corridoor there is a locked door if u go thru this door which is practically always locked there are a series of arches and tunnels maybe this could lead to other parts of the tunnel network of the city centre???

Ro-Man · Post by **Ro-Man** » Fri 11 May, 2007 1:23 pm

To go right back to the start of the thread and the speculation about tunnels around the Civic Hall and the old Town and Country building.I came across these two old air raid shelter pictures on Leodis.The first one has the comments:11th June 1938 Air raid shelter, situated to the back of the Civic Hall. Steps to underground shelter, with man. Door to shelter on right.The second one, somebody has added:This old air raid shelter is on the site of Leeds Metropolitan University on Portland Way. The white building in the background is the Civic Hall and the brick building in the distance is the Gaumont on Cookridge Street.If the area has a history of shelters, plus what's underneath Millennium Square, I suppose it's quite easy to see how legends like this spring up.

Ro-Man · Post by **Ro-Man** » Fri 11 May, 2007 1:26 pm

This is the second shelter mentioned in the post above

Phill_d · Post by **Phill_d** » Fri 11 May, 2007 1:57 pm

lilcheekychops wrote: my bro works at a famous fast food restaurant in the city station and he says downstairs in the cellar at the very bottom of the train station store room corridoor there is a locked door if u go thru this door which is practically always locked there are a series of arches and tunnels maybe this could lead to other parts of the tunnel network of the city centre??? It's the kings mill goit again... Yeah check out the page before cheeky chops.. I did a piece about it.. It's been mentioned on the site by folk several times now....