Leeds Railway Station's 'Lost World'

[chameleon]

Just seen your message Jim, wasn't about much yesterday - hospital timeHere is the link again, then click on all sizes to get a bigger on. If you go to the small pics to the right and clickon the next map as it appears you will be able to go through all four segments to see the whole thinghttp://www.flickr.com/photos/chameleon2008/4437220147/

[jim]

Good suggestion Big N.Such "stanking" (no giggling at the back) was, on canals,usually carried out by lowering stop-planks down grooves cut into bridge-hole masonry to cut off sections for work to be carried out,or in the event of a breach in the canal .Thy would always be at a narrowing of the canal so that the stop-planks were as short as possible.I'll take a look today.Anyone wanting to join me,be on the steps opposite the site at 12.00.Oh, and thanks for the try Chameleon,can't see the link on my laptop??

[chameleon]

jim wrote: Good suggestion Big N.Such "stanking" (no giggling at the back) was, on canals,usually carried out by lowering stop-planks down grooves cut into bridge-hole masonry to cut off sections for work to be carried out,or in the event of a breach in the canal .Thy would always be at a narrowing of the canal so that the stop-planks were as short as possible.I'll take a look today.Anyone wanting to join me,be on the steps opposite the site at 12.00.Oh, and thanks for the try Chameleon,can't see the link on my laptop?? It dropped off JIm - replaced above.

[jim]

Thanks Chameleon.

[buffaloskinner]

The southern side indicates it was called Monk Pit Lock, that been the case was it specifically for Monk Pit Cloth Mills? I don’t think that the river speed would have been a big problem because the river was dammed by High Dam in those days and the boats would have been heading in that direction.Well that’s my theory, I could however be completely wrong.Unfortunately Jim would love to meet you but unable to make 12 as my lunch isn’t till 1pm, cannot get there till 1.20ish.

[jim]

I've lots of time Buffalo Skinner,see you 13.20ish.,I'll also be there at 12.00 as previously indicated for if any one else turns up.

[Chrism]

buffaloskinner wrote: The southern side indicates it was called Monk Pit Lock, that been the case was it specifically for Monk Pit Cloth Mills? I don’t think that the river speed would have been a big problem because the river was dammed by High Dam in those days and the boats would have been heading in that direction.Well that’s my theory, I could however be completely wrong.Unfortunately Jim would love to meet you but unable to make 12 as my lunch isn’t till 1pm, cannot get there till 1.20ish. The Ordnance survey map of 1847 shows us the waterfront area in great detail. The Canal Basin was now connected to the river at its northwestern end. A lock known as the Monk Pit lock, along with a small section of canal (the Monk Pit branch) was built, to provide access between the Canal Basin and wharves above the Bondman Dam. Later, this became very important in providing coal to the power station at Whitehall Road. The Leeds and Liverpool Canal Office, and the stone bridge over the canal were built in 1841. The bridge provided access from the canal wharves to the mills and factories south of the canal.

[jim]

Interesting visit today,new info,things worked out,new questions,arch counting makes my brain hurt,I think I need to lie down............Starting from the west,the first arch contains the platform I mentioned in an earlier post,which starts from the right hand wall,sets off at about thirty degrees,turns gently towards the LH wall and diverts the entire flow through into arch 2.This arch will definitely not deliver water to the Granary Arch bridge.In the gloom of the depths of arch 1 I think I can detect a partition wall with a small arch in it giving walking access behind the wall and so to the rest of the complex,but can't be sure.Arch 2 has no distinguishing feature,other than the small arch carrying water as just mentioned.No 3 arch has the vertical iron ladder and a section of the bridge leading to it,and arch 4 has the rest of that bridge reaching right across it.The next arch,no 4,is visible but has no special features,whilst further arches must obviously exist,by the visible river width,they cannot be seen.Looking at picture no 13 of Cardiarms' posting,at least 7 and possibly 9 arches were present at that time-the image I can see is not sufficiently clear.If anybody has a version clear enough for positive identification,please let us know.Buffaloskinner (a pleasure to meet you sir) and I agree that the High Dam and present weir are one and the same,so that item is dealt with.Now,round to the Granary Arch bridge to try and tie the two sides together,so to speak.The first and most apparent thing is.......only FOUR arches pass under the bridge!Arch 1 (using my numbering,though Network Rail count in the opposite direction,and use several "datum" counting series) is accounted for above,and looking through the arches,although a pronounced dogleg in all of them about two-thirds of the way up makes a minor difficulty,arches 2,3,4 and 5 can be clearly identified as what we are looking at by the footbridge/ladder presence at the far end,with the difference that arch 5 has a further footbridge section at a lower level,and presumably slightly further under the station than the other parts .The next thing to notice is that in the eastern wall is an archway with a channel leading up and to the east at about 45 to 55 degrees,fed by two further arches which for consistency we'll call 6 and 7.The next doorway arch east marked as DN10 is therefore very short,cut off at an angle,and blocks off both 6 and 7,as the next arch east,DN9 is the cross arch roadway,Although it is gated,barred,and for all I know,mined and electrified,at least we can see clear through it.Now,round to Sandford Street.The cross arch roadway is there to our left,immediately followed by a barred and gated obstruction in front of us,but at least we can,with some difficulty,see beyond it.It is evident that the dogleg common to all the river arches is aligned exactly with the north wall of Sandford Street to our left.Ahead is an arch bricked off as mentioned in an earlier post,and to the right is an arch used for car parking on the dogleg alignment and sloping upwards at more or less the same gradient as the river arches.To the left ,the single arch is split into two ,which are blanked off by brickwork.First thought is,the left hand arch was once a river arch,was blocked off and built up to roadway level,and this all ties up very nicely with what we see at the Granary Arch bridge.Very quickly sober reality intrudes.It also says that there is only the possibility of SIX arches upstream at Aire Street,and we were looking for 7 to 9!Shall I draw a discreet veil over our intrepid investigator's reeling progress,sobbing gently as he.........no,I'd better leave it in as I know you all enjoy a good laugh.Moving swiftly along to my meeting with Buffaloskinner,after a chat and map perusal we headed for the station car park and the canal tunnel.The holes in the wing walls were agreed to be most likely for a beam of some sort to have been put in place permanently or temporarily,but as it would then have been 3 or 4 feet above the water,so its possible purpose eludes us.Suggestions on a postcard please................... B.showed me an access point I'd not earlier considered,from which stanking board slots in the two towpaths were clearly visible.They were however just too far from the cast beam to be in some way connected.We did however notice that the wing walls extend to the top of the beam,but on the river side only.This would infer the possibility that the beam would have been subjected to near horizontal loads,ie from across the river rather than ,as we had all assumed,a vertically loaded function.Let's have some theories on this and the other questions raised and we can all fall out arguing over which is the daftest!

[The Doggers]

Just seen two guys up on the Holbeck viaduct, at the Leeds Station end. Anyone off here?

[chameleon]

Thinking there's a need to print all this out, pack a flask and mars bar and go for a long walk.