Your Stories of Playing Out in Leeds

biofichompinc · Post by **biofichompinc** » Fri 17 May, 2013 12:38 pm

One of the great adventure 'playgrounds' in Morley was the 'Delph' - or 'Delf'. Anyway, you will know what I am trying to say. It came back to me with the very recent emphasis on what constituted - or did not constitute - H&S back in the day. No mention on SL before as far as I can see.This was a tip site inbetween High Street and Bridge Street. There have been two football pitches and a childrens playground - note no inverted commas this time - on there since the early seventies, maybe even the late sixties. I have heard that it was the tipping ground for the Beacon Works but I don't know if that is absolutely correct.Nor do I know the origin of the name 'Delph'. Was it something to do with the ceramics, pottery and glass etc that were strewn across the place, or was it something that went even further back in time than the Beacon Works?Perhaps the Major knows.

jim · Post by **jim** » Fri 17 May, 2013 1:23 pm

A "delph" can be a reference to a small quarry, from the old english "delf". Check the Wikipedia entry for Delph, the village near Saddleworth.

biofichompinc · Post by **biofichompinc** » Fri 17 May, 2013 1:50 pm

Cheers Jim.Me and her have been to Delph many times. Well, about half a dozen.The Old Bell Inn is a particular favourite.We were there about two or three weekends ago taking our usual route on the A640 past the former Buckstones Inn. And before we passed that we were surprised to see that Nont Sarah's is going the same way. Closed with all the shutters up. Not Leeds I know but still a great pity. I wish I was a natural optimist instead of the other road up.

Phallica2000 · Post by **Phallica2000** » Sun 19 May, 2013 7:56 am

Phill_dvsn wrote: Jogon wrote: HelloWhat is Interplay, how is it funded (who by and how much) and what does it do?Cheers. I was reading this yesterdayDilly, trolley, bogie, buggy or go-kart.Whatever you called it, it will bring back a flood of memories for thousands of Loiners for whom the home-made wheeled contraptions were a childhood staple.http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/n ... -1-5610054 Yes, excellent. When my family moved to Wortley from Armley a friend had one, I was awestruck by it, lol.

Phallica2000 · Post by **Phallica2000** » Sun 19 May, 2013 9:59 am

Me and friends used to play on the fields behind the Kirkdale estate in Wortley back when Dunlop and Ranken was there (and shortly after it was all demolished) and along the unused train track (which at some point was removed, along with a small bridge further up the path) and also in an air raid shelter up that way, which was behind Makro.

Interplay · Post by **Interplay** » Thu 23 May, 2013 3:49 pm

Phallica2000 wrote: Me and friends used to play on the fields behind the Kirkdale estate in Wortley back when Dunlop and Ranken was there (and shortly after it was all demolished) and along the unused train track (which at some point was removed, along with a small bridge further up the path) and also in an air raid shelter up that way, which was behind Makro. Don't suppose anyone has any images of these areas they'd like to share?

stutterdog · Post by **stutterdog** » Sat 25 May, 2013 12:52 am

jim wrote: Stutterdog, don't remember a tunnel (other than the one I dug!) in the particular small quarry I spoke of. At the NW corner of the Forge (ie the one nearest Old Farnley) there was a very overgrown quarry just north of the railway that had once served the furnace bank (or Roman Wall as it was known) and the quarry I refer to was just south of the same railway track, but lower down. The floor of it was directly adjacent to the then working area of the site. Several of the more or less abandoned parts of the forge area had ponds and bogs and a huge variety of flora and fauna, so that mention doesn't help me to pinpoint your particular memory site.Interplay, the picture you link to is of the channel leading from the main millpond at the SW corner of the Forge, adjacent to Whitehall Road. It is all still extant - or it was when Si, Glenny, and I paid it a visit on our way to our second (I think) wander round the Cockersdale mills "trail" that we reported on in a SL thread on that subject. The channel falls for some thirty yards or so to where it disappeared underground, and, I believe, fed the waterwheels that drove the machinery in the engineers buildings of the old Ironworks. The ground level to the north of the channel has been seriously altered by tens of feet of tipping during land reclamation and reformation in more recent years. However, at least three of the dens I recall from the fifties were in the small wood that surrounded the channel and extended from the mill pond to the buildings of the engineers facility.At one time I had custody of a large (about 24" x 36") plan of the entire Ironworks site identifying the functions of all the buildings. It was dated 1922, approximately the date of closure as an ironworks and reconstitution as the Fireclay Company. I decided the plan would be better in the hands of the local history group for the area, and passed it to them, but retained a duplicate in the form of a set of A4 copies.For those taking notes, I lived at the "farm" end of Cow Close Roadfrom 1949 -1956, and my mother taught for a while at Lower Wortley Infants. Anyone who can work out who I am from my site name and the above info is welcome to get in touch to exchange memories via the email address in my SL profile. The quarry with the pond in the bottom could be accessed from Blue Hill Ln and also Wortley Ln. Just looked on Leeds tithe maps 1910 O.S and the quarry is shown and the tunnel! It was starting to be filled in around the mid 50's.There were newts,gudgeon,frog and toads in too.They would all be killed of coarse. They didn't care in those days!

jim · Post by **jim** » Sat 25 May, 2013 11:52 am

I think we are talking about two different sites stutterdog. The one you recall would appear to be that in the Cabbage Hill/Leysholme Estate area, whereas my fifties playground was about a mile south over the other side of the Wortley Beck valley and is now the Whitehall Industrial Estate, between Whitehall Road and the Butterbowl Estate.I did know of the site you refer to, but can't recall ever entering it. I seem to recall past threads on SL referring to it, and the tunnel you speak of. Hopefully someone who can recall on which thread the info appeared will be along shortly.

Caron · Post by **Caron** » Sat 25 May, 2013 12:19 pm

Our first family home was in Burley near to St Matthias church. The houses were back to backs with the loo's up the street and were demolished years ago.There was always a gang of lads with a Bogey they'd built together and plenty of kids hanging around the corner shops.Skipping in the streets seemed to be the most popular pass-time for we girls. I used to take great delight in sitting on the pavement curb of our street and prodding a stick into the gas tar which would bubble and go soft in the sun. I was always getting told off for getting it on my dress!Burley Park was our haunt but I didn't like it much as it used to be full of tramps. Some days we'd go for a walk through Kirkstall power station and look at the canal and wander onto Bramley fall woods. Second family home was Argie Avenue and I was much older by then. Mostly we played on our bikes on the local streets with hardly a car to be seen. The houses on Argie Avenue had gardens so we'd mostly play in the back gardens on the swings, whip and tops, hop scotch, roller skating and skipping. Often we would walk to Kirkstall Abbey and back home again.What really baffles me is how I was so young yet was allowed to venture so far without an adult. I remember I once asked my mam wasn't she worried about us wandering so far? She said she wasn't because in those days you didn't hear about so many horrible things.In later years when I had my children I'm sorry to say they had very little freedom in their younger years. They had no chance of playing in the streets due to all the traffic and wandering off anywhere was a definite no-no until they were 12/13 yrs old.

Phallica2000 · Post by **Phallica2000** » Sun 26 May, 2013 5:17 pm

Interplay wrote: Phallica2000 wrote: Me and friends used to play on the fields behind the Kirkdale estate in Wortley back when Dunlop and Ranken was there (and shortly after it was all demolished) and along the unused train track (which at some point was removed, along with a small bridge further up the path) and also in an air raid shelter up that way, which was behind Makro. Don't suppose anyone has any images of these areas they'd like to share? Sadly not, owing to me being a child and the distinct lack of camera phones etc. then, lol. The best I could do is some Google Earth shots.